Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

Coming back to practice Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Concerto op. 99 is always a joy. To me, for the balance, the elegance, the themes, the best concerto for guitar of that period. He was a genial composer, very clever, sensitive, with the rare ability to find themes that can live together at the same time, a gift that not all composers got. I think it’s a real privilege for us, guitar players, to have music written by this giant. I like a lot also his way to collocate the guitar in music history, writing pieces homage to great predecessors of his country like Paganini, Boccherini, Roncalli, following the gestures of Ravel (Couperin), Brahms (Haendel), Dukas (Rameau) etc. or writing his first Concerto op. 99 in D, like Beethoven, Paganini, Brahms and Tchaikovsky did for the violin. Maybe someone can say that’s too much but I’m very proud of that.