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| New Recording - SACD/CD - Scarlatti Sonatas |
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Released worldwide 26 January 2010
A new high quality SACD release from the German record label MDG-Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm, of Stephen's transcriptions of Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti.
www.amazon.com/Sonatas-Scarlatti/dp/B002QJ51MK |
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| Gramophone Review - Scarlatti Sonatas - April 2010 |
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Marchionda's arrangements of these sonatas are impressively idiomatic.
Stephen Marchionda is an Italian-American guitarist living in Barcelona. Like Domenico Scarlatti before him, he is a foreigner living in Spain. And while in his book-let notes he identifies as questionable the claim that "non-Spanish artists capture the allure of Spain more successfully that the Spanish themselves do“, it's difficult not to hear in Marchionda's insightful performances of a selection of Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas a certain authenticity.
This arises not out of any obvious virtuosity, but out of skilfully transcribing the works so as to preserve as much as possible the original voicings, intervals and ornamentation and then performing them in a manner that likewise preserves their inherent colour and humour.
This is immediately evident in the opening pair, Kk449 and Kk450, the one dappled in sunlight, the other ringing with ghostly fanfares. The delicacy of Kk213 makes a perfect counterpoint to the aggressive drama of Kk175, while in the multiple moods of Kk402 Marchionda uses a subtle rubato and plenty of changes in tone colour to magical effect. Kk462 and Kk474 have an almost tentative, searching quality about them that contrasts nicely with the sharp strums of the final work on the disc, Kk475.
Cross-string trills and agogic accents à la harpsichord technique further reinforce the notion that these sonatas work even better on the guitar than they do on the piano. And after all, Scarlatti was directly inspired by the sound of the former instrument. Highly recommended. William Yeoman
www.gramophone.co.uk |
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| Recent Fanfare Review - Scarlatti SACD - May 2010 |
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ArkivMusic.com Recommendation
This glorious recording takes me back to some of the best days in my musical memory. The excellence of the music, the mastery of the playing, and the outstanding SACD audio engineering together come as close as I can remember to some live recitals I’ve heard in Madrid or Barcelona. This album of harpsichord sonatas transcribed by solo guitarist Stephen Marchionda is a gem. In particular, the reproduction of the guitar is superlative. It isn’t hard to hear the stand-out difference a good SACD recording makes. The smallest performance details are there without upstaging the content of the music, as sometimes happens. Particularly, the dynamic range, or the difference between very soft and very loud, and the ability to jump from one to the other, places this CD-compatible recording in the highest rank. I listen to many review CDs late at night (at my computer), through my separate headphone rig (so my household can sleep), which is like examining things under a microscope. I am not often pleasantly surprised, or startled. This CD did both.
Domenico Scarlatti’s music is simply a pleasure. Scarlatti has become known for bringing freedom of style to harpsichord playing, and guitarist Marchionda notes these sonatas are “playful and joyful” as well as “profoundly expressive.” He’ll get no argument from me. Somehow, he inserts little performance jokes or other unexpected reversals into each sonata for the amusement of the general public as well as guitar players and guitar fans. The American Marchionda’s joyful playing is period-perfect, though he’s becoming equally known for his affinity for contemporary music, and is equally comfortable premiering new compositions.
Marchionda’s guitar skills and musicianship are equal to anyone’s, and he brings Scarlatti’s goodies to the audience with style and grace, though I’d have enjoyed the inclusion of the Sonata in C, K 159. Marchionda has a considerable résumé, having won just about all the prizes available to a classical guitarist, and performed with symphony orchestras in many of the major cities of the U.S. and the E.U. He has lived in New York, London, and Granada, and currently resides in Barcelona. For more about him, go to StephenMarchionda.com. If you go there, and if you click on the reviews, you will read a list of valentines seldom matched. Rather than disagree with the prevailing wisdom, I’ll give them no argument. Marchionda is a guitar community treasure. If you’re a guitar-head and don’t know his work, you ought to. If you know his work, don’t ignore this CD.
These Domenico Scarlatti compositions are ever more pleasing than some others’ brooding or yearning. Marchionda plays them with great élan. And, lest I forget, the audio engineering of Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm deserves at least equal billing and praise. Kudos to all involved. Great job. Well done. Most highly recommended.
FANFARE: Ilya Oblomov
www.fanfaremag.com/index.php?option=com_ff_toc&rqissue=335&rqdeptcode=az&rqpage=5 |
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| Class Aktuell Article |
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(Transcribed from German) From 1738 onward, the Italian Domenico Scarlatti, while living in Spain, composed more than five hundred sonatas for harpsichord that are flavored by Iberian temperament. That these works can also very well be performed on the modern guitar has been shown by the American guitarist and Spanish resident Stephen Marchionda, who has now recorded these works for the first time on a Super Audio CD....When combining these two elements with the highly virtuosic and colorful playing of Stephen Marchionda, we discover a totally different side to these wonderful works which, mostly, have not been recorded on the guitar before and which, however, sound as though they were meant to be performed on this instrument...
www.class-germany.de/aktuell/4-2009.pdf |
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| Online Concert from the Frick Collection NYC |
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With the tenor Rufus Müller; a program of Dowland, Purcell, Britten and Schubert. For over sixty years, the series Concerts from The Frick Collection has delighted WNYC listeners. Many of the century's greatest artists have performed in the 175-seat music room at the Frick Collection, the former Upper East Side residence of industrialist Henry Clay Frick.
www.wnyc.org/shows/frick/episodes/2008/03/15 |
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| CD Re-Release - |
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Stephen's recording of the "Complete Variations and 24 Preludes by Manuel Maria Ponce" on ASV / Sanctuary was re-released 3 September 2007 (with new cover art). "With this recording Stephen Marchionda mantains his reputation as one of the best masters of the guitar." DeutschlandRadio Magazine, Berlin
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WYYS9I |
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| Feature Interview for Classical Guitar Magazine |
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Stephen Marchionda on Nicholas Maw and Domenico Scarlatti By Oliver McGhie. This is my second meeting with Stephen. The first time it was in a coffee house after his concert at the Wigmore Hall, this time in a small pub in Belgravia near to Victoria station down one of those small alleys into cobbled court yard, where it looks like you’ve stepped a hundred years back into Dickensian/Edwardian London...‘The quality of learning with other musicians and what you can teach each other is amazing. When you can get up on stage with musicians of whatever calibre and share, that is amazing. The actual art of performing is in the moment when you are sharing with the audience – it’s a wonderful experience, and the same feeling comes with playing with other musicians'...Among the Mendelssohnesque, interludes surrounded by a sea of romantic gestures Marchionda showed his mastery of the guitar with impressive playing...Overall, Marchionda provided an assertive concert performance showing how he has become a star on the international classical guitar stage... Full article to be added on this website soon.
www.classicalguitarmagazine.com/ |
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| Scarlatti Concert Review - BBC Music, Oxford, UK |
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"The management of the Jacqueline Du Pre Building are clearly not afraid of taking risks, and their high risk strategy paid off handsomely when a full house witnessed a terrific performance by Stephen Marchionda, a virtuoso classical guitarist. This evening’s performance was inspired by the 250th anniversary of the death of the great musical innovator Dominico Scarlatti (1685-1737), whose sonatas Stephen has transposed to the guitar with impressive results - stately and sparse, with an even tempo of extraordinary complexity. Its charm was the unconventional pattern of notes, more akin to the piano than the guitar. Risks are worth taking when you can rely on such virtuoso talent as Stephen Marchionda, so let’s hope he is back to visit us in Oxford soon."
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| Recent appearance at the Wigmore Hall, London - Nicholas Maw at 70 |
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Reviews..."Stephen Marchionda was impeccably musical and wonderfully deft with Maw's intricate writing in the Six Interiors and again later in the solo 'Music of Memory'."
(Financial Times, UK) - **** "Stephen Marchionda gave the performance of the evening in 'Music of Memory'. Beautifully varied in texture, a sense of transformation, putting a musical idea before your ears, taking it through various adventures and, when it returns, making you hear it anew in the light of experience." (The Independent) - ***** "Music stamped as much with romantic ardour as intellectual rigour was sensitively dispatched by Stephen Marchionda." (The Times, First Night Reviews)
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| New CD - Songs For Tenor and Guitar |
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In a special collaboration with British tenor Philip Langridge Mr. Marchionda has recently finished a recording (for Chandos) with performances of music by Benjamin Britten, Nicholas Maw and John Dowland. This is the premiere recording of both the masterpiece "Music of Memory" for solo guitar and the "Six Interiors for Tenor and Guitar" by Nicholas Maw. With Benjamin Britten's "Nocturnal after John Dowland Op.70" (solo guitar) and "Songs from the Chinese".
www.chandos.net/ |
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| BBC Music Magazine Editors Choice - 5 Stars |
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"A Perfect Partnership.
This is rather special: one of the finest British tenors plus a
guitarist who can obtain such a range of colour and expression from his
instrument that 74 minutes doesn't seem a second too long...The performances
are outstanding. Langridge, phrases even the simplest two-note figures with
breathtaking elegance and intensity...Marchionda is a near-ideal partner,
and he's a compelling soloist...Superb recording."
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| Recent Concert Review - The Washington Post |
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"...Nicholas Maw's tour de force for solo guitar, "Music of Memory." Devised as variations woven around a theme by Mendelssohn, the piece was an excellent vehicle to show off guitarist Stephen Marchionda's versatile talents, full of artistry and confidence. His brilliant technique made for a splendid and engrossing performance of this rewarding music."
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| New realizations of Henry Purcell's incidental theatre music |
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Stephen Marchionda has recently realized Purcell's (1659-1695) incidental music to Thomas D'Urfey's play "A Fool's Preferment",(written 1688). The work for tenor and guitar was premiered at the Cheltenham Festival to great response.
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| 'Today Too' New composition for Tenor, Flute and Guitar by Sir Harrison Birtwistle |
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Famed British composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle has composed for the Langridge - Marchionda Duo, in collaboration with flutist Sebastian Bell. The new work was premiered at the Cheltenham Festival, England.
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| BBC Radio 3 Live Performance |
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Stephen Marchionda gave a live concert performance for the UK's BBC Radio 3 on July 14th in a special collaboration with Philip Langridge, Sebastian Bell and Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Featured were Birtwistle's "Today Too" based on Japanese traditional haiku and Nicholas Maw's "Tango from Sophie's Choice".
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| New Transcription - Nicholas Maw's Tango from 'Sophie's Choice' |
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Stephen Marchionda has
transcribed the fabulous
Tango from Nicholas Maw's
new opera 'Sophie's Choice'.
The premiere of 'Sophie's
Choice' was a highlight
of the Royal Covent Garden's
season last year. The 'Tango'
proved so popular that it was
featured in a concert given by the Orchestra of
the Royal Covent Garden Opera
with Sir Simon Rattle
conducting. The transcription
was done in close collaboration
with the composer.
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