Record of the day: Elena Casoli, “Changes Chances”

Elena Casoli, “Changes Chances” (Cd Stradivarius STR 33718)

The guitar is an instrument with infinite possibilities, if entrusted to a performer who possesses imagination, variety of touch and ability to stimulate today’s composers to create a new repertoire, freeing themselves from the usual tradition. Elena Casoli is all this and much more. An exceptional soloist for his technical stature and musical intelligence, over the years he has made records and concerts throughout Europe (and beyond), giving life to an entire repertoire composed especially for his magical hands.

Versatile both with the classical guitar and with dozens of electric and electronic gadgets, Elena is a specialist in transmuting the strangest sounds, extracting them from an instrument that seems altogether familiar, and is able to overturn any pre-packaged idea you have of the guitar; in his concerts it transforms into a rainbow of different colors and sounds. This album deals with pages by avant-garde authors, who played with the guitar and achieved very different results. “Changes” by Elliott Carter is a page with a rhapsodic flavour, where Elena’s skill manages to blow away that always slightly dusty air that hovers in the pages of the American composer; in this performance “Changes” flows away in a flash, sewing numerous ideas of contrasting character into an embroidery of delicate and enveloping flavours. Terry Riley’s pieces also have an Iberian flavor that at first seems already heard, but they subsequently develop in a very different direction, requiring great virtuosity and articulating the real themes in a way that has nothing to do with the minimalist Riley of “In C”.

The absolute highlight of the album is the amazing realization of “Four/6”, composed by John Cage; it is one of the last pages of the American composer, not intended for a particular instrumental ensemble. Elena’s version uses many different timbres: acoustic guitars, electric guitars, even an archlute. Filtered, subjected to incessant sound manipulation, these guitars draw a metaphysical landscape, where one of De Chirico’s mannequins seems to appear. Mysterious echoes reach us, plays of shadows, shreds of melody suspended in the air, chimes that seem to come out of some ancient Japanese city, in an atmosphere of suspended poetry

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.