Francesco Molino
Grand Trio Concertant for flute or
violin, viola and guitar, op. 30
Preface by Francesco Biraghi whose
idea it was to make this present edition
Regularly active in the guitar-chamber
music area, in the middle of the '80s I was carrying out a survey in
order to find additional works for violin, viola and guitar. At that
time in fact I was involved in a good deal of concert activity with my
"Art Trio": one of our favourites was Francesco Molino's
Trio op. 45 ("Second Grand Trio Concertant") in D major,
until then only available in the old Zimmermann edition, but just in
those years (1986) re-published in a facsimile edition by Tecla. Op.
45 had been usually performed or recorded in the flute-viola-guitar
version, but I was persuaded - and still I remain - that the violin
choice gives the work a more authentic atmosphere, mainly from the
point of view of sonority. A couple of further reasons confirmed me in
this opinion: the first is that Molino was a good violinist and viola
player, even before being a guitarist, and the second is the clear
indication "2e Corde" (second string) in the flute(!)/violin
part of the original edition (second movement, "Romance"),
almost a mistake that probably reveals the primary inspiration of the
composer.
In the same facsimile collection Tecla
published also in 1986 three small Trios (op. 4) for flute, viola, and
guitar, adding new richness to this repertoire, but unfortunately the
main chamber work by Molino (together with op. 45), that is the
"Grand Trio Concertant op. 30", was still absent; only in
the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris was there an incomplete copy, so
that the work remained unplayable. I was once talking to Ruggero
Chiesa (my former teacher in the Conservatory) about my regret at not
having this work, and he suggested that I might try beyond the
Atlantic Ocean, in the U.S.A. A few weeks later I succeeded in
locating a complete copy of the work. At the beginning of the '90s I
was probably the only Italian guitarist that had this score!
Unfortunately my concert activity with the old ensemble was over and
op. 30 remained unplayed for some years in my collection.
A few years later I began to work with
the new group "Lo Specchio dei Suoni" ("The Mirror of
Sounds") and I soon suggested to my new collaborators that we
might read through some unusual scores, among them the unpublished
Molino. It was love at first sight. From the very first reading op. 30
showed itself as a clear classical work, very well fitting the bowed
instruments and quite virtuosic in the "concertante" guitar
part. The beauty of the Larghetto in E minor, or the brightness of the
G major Rondo, will not pass unnoticed to anyone! I have played this
work many times with "Lo Specchio dei Suoni", always with
good results: I especially remember the emotion of a live broadcast
for Radio Clásica in Madrid in 1999, in a wonderful Concert Hall of
the "Real Academia de San Fernando". The concert met with
enthusiastic reactions both from audience and organizers. I have not
yet had the opportunity to play this work with flute instead of
violin: I think however that in this work, differently from opus 45,
the double choice is probably a more valid suggestion, both for the
liveliness of the melodic part, and for the G major key so bright and
well suited to the wind instrument. Finally I want to thank Brian
Jeffery who accepted my invitation to publish in a modern and reliable
edition a work that represents, in my opinion, an excellent addition
to the chamber repertoire with guitar.
FRANCESCO BIRAGHI
(Guitar professor at the "Giuseppe Verdi" Conservatory in
Milan)
(the same in
italiano).
Back to the main Molino page which
includes links to all of Molino's trios opp. 4, 30, and 45.
