Sonata Italiana

Puerto Rican guitarist/composer Ernesto Cordero has written a wealth of guitar music including works for one, two and four guitars, and other compositions pairing up the guitar with voice, flute, cello and percussion, plus four guitar concertos. Written in 1972, Sonata Iialiana is one of his earlier guitar works being preceded only by two pieces he composed whilst at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid. These were later included in his Cinco Preludios which appeared in the late 1970s and were re-issued in 2001 under the new title of Preludios Primaverales. The lasting impression of this sonata is one of optimism. The outer movements are vivacious, jubilant, humorous. and very rhythmic, (the third one seemingly paying a brief acknowledgment to Rodrigo here and there) and both containing a brief change of pace and mood part-way through. The beautiful middle movement, an Andante Meditativo, written in D major, as opposed to the other two movements in A major, contains some of the best writing of the entire work. There are some lush harmonies underpinning fine melody lines and a couple of excursions into different rhythmic areas. The work is nicely presented, with clear printing, good fingering, and ideally would be most suited to the higher grade player.

Steve Marsh (Classical Guitar Magazine)