Haug: Guitar Concertino - Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Guitar Quintet

The name of the work Concertino provokes two key questions: How did the composer understand the genre name, and how did he shape the relationship between the guitar and a reduced orchestra? It consists only of a flute, an oboe, two clarinets, a bassoon, a trumpet and a horn, timpani and strings - but this would be enough to mask the guitar as a solo instrument. Haug chose instrument constellations to form two ensembles that accompany each other: the strings with their sustained sounds and the guitar with its percussive interventions. The plucked instrument occasionally plays in duo with a wind instrument. But even more decisive are the layers of opposing rhythms and meters or the antagonism of scales, chords and short empty phrases in the ensemble itself. The Concertino was first performed in Lausanne by soloist Alexandre Lagoya. Similar characteristics are found in the Wind Quintet; the vocal ranges here are even more balanced than in the Concertino. The summary contains remarkable combinations of different melodies, and the dualism of the tempi poses a particular challenge for the processing and execution.