Antonio de Innocentis is a new guitarist to me with this recording. The registration date on the back of the CD cover is 1997. This means that the CD has been floating around for about three years, yet it has not gotten mainstream attention. This may be because of limited resources on the part of the label company. A web search on his name return only ONE reference!!! As my mother used to say, imperiously, "This simply will not do!" To anyone who will listen I rant on and on about this man's playing.

But enough of aimless enthusiasm, now for details.

Tracks 1-3 are of Sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti (specifically Kirkpatrick's 1, 208, and 209). In my experience only David Russell, the great Scottish guitarist, plays Scarlatti with the same combination of technical assurance (a very tricky thing with Scarlatti), musical and stylistic correctness, and true harpsichord-like playing. This player's way with Scarlatti sounds very much like the harpsichord playing of Rafael Puyana and Anthony Newman, two powerhouse players who are not afraid to play with both power and emotion. Innocentis's two-string trills are blazing and crystal-clear. His control of staccato and the stopping of notes at their exactly correct points is the mark of a finely honed technique and a very meticulous musical mind.

One exception, however, arrived when John Duarte pointed out to me that his only criticism of this guitarist's playing here was in K.208. Duarte indicated to me that the melodic line was "broken" by its jumps from one octave to another. At first, given that I am accustomed to this sort of thing from guitarists, I didn't even notice it. But Duarte is right. It's not that this it is NEVER appropriate to break the melody's octave register, but K. 208 is such an extraordinarily lovely cantilena that the melody loses its contour with the octave breaks. By the way, Scarlatti himself sometimes broke octaves in melodies for dramatic effect. The playing here is gorgeous as ever, but the arrangement does tend to "break up" the melodic line unnecessarily. It's not really as extreme as I make it out to be, however. It's not exactly like that marvelously spiky octave-eating melody in the last movement of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto #2!

Listen to an MP3 sound file of Scarlatti's Sonata K1 allegro, as performed by De Innocentis. Please forgive the long download.

Years ago, in Los Angeles, a radio host named John Schneider (who hosted a classical guitar program called "Soundboard") once said of David Russell's playing of Bach, Scarlatti, and Haendel , "He doesn't just play this music, he OWNS it!" Well, there is now a co-owner. Here is playing that is brim full of power, musical confidence, and swagger. And by the way, swagger (appropriately applied) is a quality in short supply in the classical music world. It comes from a player's assurance that the music is fully understood, within technical limits, and great fun to play. This last point is probably Innocentis's greatest gift: he clearly LOVES playing the guitar and its music. It shows. He can't help himself. He couldn't sound dull if he tried. Not since I heard Julian Bream at UCLA for the very first time in 1969 have I been SO overwhelmed by a new player.

Tracks 4-6 are Sonatina (for Antonio de Innocentis) a new work by the contemporary composer Giovanni Zaccari. This is a world-premiere recording. The three movements are Allegro vivace, Calmo, and Allegro deciso alla Tarantella. The first movement is an odd mix of different materials with very little development. I would have preferred a bit more expansion of the material here. The music seems to call for more than it gets in this first movement. The second movement is quite the opposite. The subject is a simple melody that is beautifully and spirally developed. The third movement is something I would love to WATCH Innocentis play! It is played at whirling-dervish speeds. The opening section gives way eventually to more introspective music that is highly melodic and simple. It is not long, however, before the opening speed and mood returns. When it does, it is with an exquisite "mimicking" of the opening passages of Castelnuovo-Tedesco's famous Tarantella. However, the pastiche doesn't last long and we are coralled back into Zaccari's own music again. The opening section's hair-raising chromatic scales and jaunty rhythms return and lead directly to what I wish were a more satisfying close. This beautiful music seems not so much to end as it does simply to stop.

Track 7 is a rare work from Castelnuovo-Tedesco, "Passacaglia, Op. 180, Hommage to Roncalli". The passacaglia, as a compositional form, is essentially a repeated bass with variational development in the upper lines (though there are also areas wherein the repeated idea is in the middle and upper ranges). Passacaglia is a difficult but extraordinarily beautiful musical form. JS Bach wrote them to perfection, as did Benjamin Britten (primarily as "catch your breath" sections in his operas) and others in the 20th century. Tedesco's Passacaglia is a masterwork of counterpoint, both imitative and non-imitative. It also has that same muscular quality that pervades his gorgeous Sonata ("alla Boccherini"). Innocentis holds the work together beautifully. The moods from one variation to another are appropriately and passionately expressed. I hope to hear others play this difficult but very satisfying music.

Track 8 is Introduction and Caprice, of Giulio Regondi. As I have stated before, I really don't care for most of the music written for the guitar in the 19th century (except for Sor). This piece opens with some truly charming music. After that, however, the music just pretty much leaves me cold. Maybe I've heard too much Brahms and Schumann, and I expect too much from others (who can't possibly stand up to such harsh comparison). And it's not just that the forms that 19th-century guitarists wrote in were simple. Beethoven wrote delightlful Bagatelles. They were simple, some even rustic. But they were still, well, Beethoven! It's not the complexity that makes the music, it's the ideas and how they are used. As parlor music Regondi is fine, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is great fun for students and some of it is VERY tough to play well (that makes it wonderful study material). This music just seems to go on too long, but it does have some VERY lovely moments. Also, Innocentis's playing is ravishing and he does great service to this music.

Track 9 is "Tango en Skai" by Roland Dyens. This is one of the wildest tangos I have ever heard. This one would do Piazzolla proud! In two minutes and 22 seconds, Dyens simply sizzles. There is nothing more to say. It is gorgeous music that is played with panache and more of that swagger that I love about this man's playing.

Tracks 10 and 11 are Mallorca and Asturias, of Isaac Albeniz. Old warhorse pieces in the guitar world, they run the risk of becoming ho-hum. In these renditions, they are quite intoxicating. They are also played very much in the spirit of how they are played on the piano (their original instrument, after all). Mallorca is quietly lovely and stately, with its characteristic long upward-moving melody. Asturias is played here in G minor. I still can't get used to hearing it in any key but E minor! However, the playing, again, is true to how you might hear the great Spanish pianists De Larrocha or Soriano play it. The approach is VERY pianistic, and I just love it. It is NOT what we have come to expect from guitarists, but it is ultimately very convincing. Also, playing Asturias in E minor makes for lots of resonating (and inappropriately sustained) repetitions of the note B -- especially the open second string. In the piano original, the repeated note (D, in the original key of G minor) is played as a machine-gun staccato. This presentation of the repeated notes is respected in this new arrangement. The more I hear it in G minor on the guitar, the more I like it.

Listen to Albeniz's Asturias, as performed by De Innocentis. This is a 5.9 meg download but this performance is unlike any other and important!

The CD closes with Giuliani's "Rossiniana, No. 6, Op. 124". Cadenzas here are by our hero, Mr. de Innocentis. As almost 12 minutes of nonstop music I don't really care too much for these pieces. This rendition succeeds more because of the quite spectacular performance than because of the compositional qualities of the music. Admittedly, there are many beautiful passages (more to the credit of Rossini than to Giuliani, I fear). These pieces work, when they do at all, because of superior performances such as this one. When Bream first brought these pieces to the attention of the guitar world almost 30 years ago, he reworked them (much as Innocentis does here, with his ravishing cadenzas). Make no mistake: the best thing about this performance is the player, not the composer.

I don't know how you will find this CD, as it appears to be a local label in Italy. Perhaps Larry Cooperman can arrange to have them available through NewMillGuitar.com.

This player must become better known -- and fast! For such a talent to lie fallow is truly an obscenity in a guitar world of so many well-connected half-talents. Many of us are working hard to make his name better known. When you see that he has finally been called to a music hall near you, GO! As you leave that concert, I assure you that you will wonder why I was so TEPID in my praise!

Unfortunately this CD is sold out and will not be re-released in the former incarnation. Look for a new release from Antonio De Innocentis featuring new works dedicated to him by John Duarte, Larry Cooperman and others.

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