The First Guitar Hero ?

Occasionally, the BBC Music magazine cover disk is a joint promotion with a small independant record company, instead of an in house production using the BBC orchestras or Young Generation artists. That is the case here, with a disk that is a co-production with ARTS Music. The disk features two Haydn symphonies, No 6 ( Le matin ) and No 8 ( Le soir ), plus Guitar Concerto No 1 by Mauro Giuliani. The performers are the Wiener Akadamie under Martin Haselbock and the guitarist in the concerto, using Giuliani's original guitar, is Edoardo Catemario. It is much preferable to hear the Haydn symphonies played by a chamber orchestra on period instruments rather than a full blown modern BBC symphony orchestra as might otherwise have been the case. These two symphonies are part of a set of three written to illustrate the times of day and were composed at the request of his Haydn's first Esterhazy patron who wanted a response to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. They incorporate many solos for several of the ensemble's instruments and evoke a suitably civilised Haydnesque ambience. Giuliani was renoened as the guitar virtuoso of his time ( contemporaneous with Beethoven ) when the guitar was first coming to prominence. It is notoriously difficult to balance an acoustic guitar with a full orchestra, so again the chamber orchestra forces here are ideal. The work follows the classical conceto style of Mozart but has many individual touches designed specifically for the instrument in question. The Neopolitan Catemario is a fine advocate.