Florence String Ensemble, Augusto Vismara & Giorgio Mirto - Mirto: Norwegian Memories & Krogseth: Viking Concerto (2015)

Tracklist

01. Norwegian Memories for Guitar and String Orchestra: The Grave Under the Hill
02. Norwegian Memories for Guitar and String Orchestra: The Blue Light
03. Norwegian Memories for Guitar and String Orchestra: Olav
04. Norwegian Memories for Guitar and String Orchestra: Sailing Through the North Sea
05. Landscapes for String Orchestra
06. The Viking Concerto for Guitar and String Orchestra: Returning from Abroad
07. The Viking Concerto for Guitar and String Orchestra: At Night in the Forest
08. The Viking Concerto for Guitar and String Orchestra: A Feast a Fight and a Funeral



Giorgio Mirto follows in a long and distinguished line of guitarist-composers stretching back to his fellow Italian Mauro Giuliani, and he is justifiably a regular contributor to the catalogue of Brilliant Classics, playing both the classic (mostly Spanish-oriented) repertoire and new music of his own and others’ invention, by himself or with others.

His latest album derives from his visits to Norway, both the Viking legends of yore and ‘the weather, the silence, the woods, the fjords, the light and the sea have completed the palette of inspiration’. “Landscapes” for string orchestra takes its shape from those physical memories, whereas Norwegian Memories is a four-movement concerto for guitar and strings with darkly suggestive movement titles that tell their own story: The grave under the hill; The blue light; Olav; Sailing through the North Sea. To complement these Northern-inflected works, Mirto has chosen a concerto by a native Norwegian, Gisle Krogseth (b.1952). His Viking Concerto programmatically tells the story of a Norwegian sailor returning from a long journey at sea. The names of the movements are: "Returning from Abroad", "At night in the Forest" and "A Feast a Fight and a Funeral". With works such as a Sonata dell’Adriatico in his catalogue, Krogseth returns Mirto’s compliment with his own affection for Southern Europe, and his own expertise as a guitarist as well as composer.

New works these may be, but anyone with a passion for the Romantic guitar should find much pleasure in the music on this soulful album.

DOWNLOAD ALBUM [flac]