Grand Overture, Op. 61

Grand Overture- Giuliani was influential in defining the new role for the guitar in Europe in the early 19th century. He worked with Rossini and Beethoven and cooperated with the best active concert musicians in Vienna. He was a virtuoso performer of the highest calibre as well as a composer of three major guitar concertos, numerous solo works and a variety of chamber music that included the guitar. Giuliani, like Tárrega a century later, made important contributions to the guitar's repertoire when radical innovations in the construction of the guitar were taking place. Grand Overture is written in the Italian style and is a perfect example of the dramatic late eighteenth century sonata form applied to the solo guitar. Grand Overture contains many topics and gestures found in the classical sonatas of Mozart and Haydn - French Overture, Mannheim crescendo, galant melodies, ombra style, aria, hunting style, Alberti bass, Sturm und Drang, to name a few. Perhaps in no other composition does Giuliani so admirably strike the balance between form and virtuosity This is performed by Peter Argondizza. Recorded at the University of Strathclyde.