A review of the Ghirlanda Musicale by Albert G. Storace – the recital part of Gaulitana Festival 2025 was held at the Sacred Heart Seminary Chapel in Victoria on Sunday 13 April by the Counterpoint Duo .
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It was indeed a musical garland of one flower more beautiful and fragrant after the other. The duo are from different regions of Italy which happen to be among my favourites. The flautist is from Puglia and the guitarist is from Tuscany. These musicians are an experienced and well-honed duo, mutually supportive and balanced.
The first “‘flowers” were rather exotic, with their own particularly evocative sound world, backed as they were by strong tradition. They were by Japanese composers, the first piece being by Rentaro Taki (1879-1903). Sadly he died in his early 30s and his Kojo no Tsuki (The Moon over the Ruined Castle sounded nostalgic and sad and nonetheless beautiful.
The second Japanese work Haru no umu (The Sea in Spring) was by Michio Miyagi (1894-1956). The work is also based on Japanese traditional lines.
The duo continued with their performance by performing a very charming Duetto leggero in two sections by Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829). This composer was the greatest guitarist of his time yet we hardly ever hear his music here. I hope that in future more of his work will be performed in our islands.
This work was followed by one with a direct reference to flowers so the work seemed to be more “fragrant”. The work in question was by the prolific Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) and titled Distrbuiação de Flores”, a brightly rhythmic piece. Stil more Brazilian flavour was evoked and projected when the dance-like Quebra queixa by Celso Machado (b.1953). A renowned guitarist and percussionist, he was born in Brazil but has lived in Canada for many years.
The infectious mature of this Machado piece was followed by the only solo flute piece. This was the famous Syrinx by Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Serene and intense with, marked excellent breath control, and long sustained notes Filomena De Pasquale met with great acclaim at the end of this magical piece.
By then the duo and the audience had consolidated a mutual rapport which was very evident from the beginning. Giorgio Albiani
introduced each work in very simple and useful manner. He introduced another French work for the duo, an equally famous one, the Pavane by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924). It is warm and melancholic, originally a piano piece and later even orchestrated. This arrangement for flute and guitar was a welcome new experience for me.
Drawing close to the end of the concert, two works were performed. The first was by Francesco Santucci (b. 1963) an Italian composer with connections with the RAI orchestra. The duo performed his La Bruja Loca with great verve. The title which means the mad witch, had little that was really mad about it, except towards the end when the tempo accelerated a bit to a neat finish.
The end came with Tango Bordel 1900, by Astor Piazzolla (1921-92), famous Argentinian composer born of Italian immigrant parents. He perfected and improved the tango music genre, yet, as in this piece, he did not shy from the original roots the tango had in the taverns and brothels of La Boca, the inner harbour area of Buenos Aires.
The audience wanted more and as encore Counterpoint Duo performed another piece by Celso Machado. This was a merry piece called Paçeco which is a type of very sweet Brazilian dessert.
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