Buttitta, Giorgio
Vittorio Balsano: Canzoni E Danze, For Guitar
In Canzoni e Danze, contemporary Italian composer Gaetano Maurizio Balsano offers a cycle of pieces that deeply engage with the classical guitars 20th-century heritage of folk-inspired art music. As the title suggests ("Songs and Dances for Guitar"), Balsanos work knowingly echoes a lineage of compositions that fuse lyrical song-like melodies with characteristic dance rhythms. This lineage is epitomized by the Catalan composer Frederic Mompous celebrated Canons i danses ("Songs and Dances") for piano, a series of miniature works that draw on folk themes and styles. Balsano expands on Mompous model, crafting a full suite of guitar pieces that pay homage to both popular musical idioms and the classical masters who elevated those idioms. Gaetano Maurizio Balsanos Canzoni e Danze emerges from the above tradition with a distinctly Italian perspective and a personal voice. Balsano makes it clear that he conceived these pieces as an homage to the spirit of folk music filtered through a contemporary lens. Following Mompous archetype, Balsano structures his pieces around the dual concepts of canzone and danza: each piece juxtaposes songlike expressivity with dance rhythms, either within a single integrated form or as complementary movements.