Naples and the Anniversary of the Death of Giuliani

Today Robin is in Naples.
He has been a number of times before and always seems to have some sort of adventure, as you can read here on the post 'Navigating Naples and the Tale of the Mandolin.'

But today isn't as much an adventure but more a time of reflection.
181 years ago, this very day, Mauro Giuliani died in Naples at the age of 48.
The Italian guitarist and composer has played a huge part in Robin's life, and that of all classical guitarists world wide.
I have written about him before in the post, 'The Divine Giuliani - Beethoven'
It somehow seems fitting, that by coincidence, Robin is there today.

However, Naples has a strong musical history, Ferdinando Carulli was born there, Rossini spent some of his early career as musical director of the Teatro Del Fondo in Naples, where he was commissioned to compose one opera a year, and Paganini is known to have been at various points in his career.

It is somehow comforting to know these incredible musicians have walked these very streets:



Naples is also the location of one of the most active volcanoes, Mount Vesuvius. It last erupted in 1944, but is constantly monitored, so that anyone living in 'the red zone' can be moved to safety if any changes are detected.
Hopefully that won't be today as here is the enormous ship 'Eurodam' with the mighty Vesuvius in the background:



However it was this picture that really made me nervous:



As always on his travels Robin somehow manages to find a music shop.
This one specialises in mandolins plus the rather unusual Italian guitar.
I can relax though as I have been assured that it has remained firmly on the top shelf.

Arrival in Peru and the Liverpool Philharmonic

Well it certainly was a busy day yesterday, which started before 4 am, when the taxi arrived to take Robin to the airport.
He then had a quick flight to Amsterdam, before a far more gruelling 13 hour, 6539 mile, flight to Lima, Peru.

When I heard from him, very much later in the day, the journey had been pretty uneventful except for two incidents.

The first occurred with only an hour left of the flight.
Robin could hear a dog barking in the seat in front of him.
Initially he couldn't decide whether he had started with auditory hallucinations, or, the person was playing 'nintendogs' and the sound was exceptionally realistic.
After deliberating the point for a while (you have to pass the time somehow on these long flights) he realised the sound was more persistent, and that the shoulder bag of the person in front, was actually moving.
On closer inspection, a very small, beautiful little dog was in residence!
The dog must have been an official passenger as it had no trouble at the security checks on arrival in Lima.
This has, of course, sparked a thought in Robin's mind.
Can he get a shoulder bag big enough to fit one of our Labradors in, which would be of great comfort to him, on these long trips away from home.
He soon decided against it as he already has a large, heavy suitcase, a flight bag, and, his guitar to deal with.

The other incident was at the pick up point.
Robin was being collected, along with a few other people, and being transported from the airport.
There seemed to be a case of mistaken identity, as the other travellers thought he was the Captain!
I'm not quite sure how this came about, as you would think his concert guitar, in a flight case, was a bit of a give away.
I'm also not sure at this stage whether the 'real' Captain ever materialised, but Robin is now on board ship, and hopefully not in charge of it...

Whilst he spent the day flying, I attended the 'Royal Liverpool Philharmonic' with a party of 97 school boys...
The Liverpool Phil should be proud of themselves.
The hall was full of many different school parties and consequently rather a noisy place to be.
The idea was to introduce children to music from around the world, under the theme, 'Music on the Menu'.
The fact that a few thousand excited children were entertained for 1 1/2 hours was a great achievement.
Along with extracts from Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker suite' and 'Morning' from Peer Gynt, there was some Bizet, Falla, Rossini, Britten, and amongst other things, some audience participation.
All credit to the Liverpool Phil, for managing to continue playing in time despite rather out of time clapping from the audience.
I hope the aim of introducing orchestral music to a new generation has been a success.
Both the presenter, Alasdair Malloy, and the conductor, Nick Davies, did a very good job, and I'm pretty sure it was the first, and possibly the last, time that I will see a conductor dressed as a chef!

Classical Guitarist Robin Hill plays Legnani

It's time for another audio clip.
This time it is 'Caprice No.7' by Luigi Legnani.

Legnani was born in Ferrara on the 7th November 1790 and died at the age of 87 in Ravenna on the 5th August 1877.
Legnani was a guitar virtuoso, composer and later in life, an instrument maker. He originally trained as an orchestral string player but devoted himself to singing and the guitar.

In 1807 and 1816 Legnani appeared in Ravenna as a tenor, performing arias by Cimarosa, Donizetti and Rossini. It was in 1819 when he launched his career as a concert guitarist in Milan.
Legnani was a friend of Paganini and together they gave concerts in the principal European Courts.

Legnani retired in 1840 to Ravenna where he became a guitar and violin maker.
250 works by Legnani have been published.

Although the Legnani Caprices have been part of the guitar repertoire for some time, concert performances and recordings have been sporadic, partly due to their difficulty and fast tempi.

Today you can hear Robin Hill performing, 'Caprice No.7', an ebullient piece, marked 'prestissimo', which as you can hear, it certainly is. This is in fact an out-take from the new CD, you should hear the final version...
This is an example of how important it is to practice your scales and arpeggios....

Recording For Teldec With Sutured Finger....

After reading, 'Painful gig story from Don Mincher', over on, 'Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog', and leaving a comment, I feel I should tell the whole story here.

Some years ago, the Hill/Wiltschinsky Guitar Duo were asked by Teldec to record two new albums, 'Les Deux Amis' and 'The Sound of Strings', with a five week break between each album.
This is, of course, an honour, from such a well respected label.
The duo obviously spent many weeks in preparation for their trip to Berlin.
One week prior to departure, Robin, who is so careful with his hands, cut the index finger of his left hand, opening a tin can.
This required a visit to the local Accident and Emergency department, where a very anxious doctor, was given the job of suturing a musician's finger....

There was no way Robin would cancel the recording.
He continued his rehearsal as well as he could, and a few days later, set off for Berlin.
The duo quickly got into the recording, and Robin was able to transcend the pain and focus on some rather demanding music. The sound engineer found the blood and sweat (but no tears) rather difficult to deal with, but he just had to focus on the mixing desk.

The music ranged from 'Suite Italiana', composed for the duo by Mario Gangi, Fernando Sor, Pierre Petit, J.S.Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Scarlatti, Rossini, Faure, Falla, Tarrega and many more, plus their own compositions.

For Robin, the main problem was barring, as the left index finger is under a lot of pressure, but he managed it.

The duo were so delighted when the last piece was finally recorded that they celebrated by walking into Berlin. They didn't appear to notice that it was a 12 mile hike, each way, until they got up next morning to discover the blisters - on their feet...