I first became aware of the Swiss-born composer Giulio Regondi when I wrote a preview for a recital by Scottish-born classical guitarist David Russell. It took place in Herbst Theatre in March of 2020, presented jointly by the Omni Foundation of the Performing Arts and the San Francisco Performances Guitar Series. I have come to believe that just about any guitar recital I attend will involve at least one “journey of discovery.” In this particular case I “discovered” the Swiss-born composer Giulio Regondi when Russell played his Opus 21, the first of two compositions given the title “Air varié.”
A brief departure from the guitar performance to show some of the elegant exterior of the church in which David Russell performed (from the YouTube video of the performance being discussed)
A little over a year later Russell recorded a performance of Regondi’s Opus 21, producing a video in partnership with Maria Jesus Rodriguez. The selected venue was the Church of Saint Martin of Tours in Frómista, which is located in Spain in the province of Palencia. For the most part, the video captures Russell playing on the altar, but there are a few brief shots of the intricate detail in the overall architecture (as can be seen above).
The music itself follows familiar nineteenth-century conventions. The theme is preceded by an extended introduction and followed by a moderate number of acceptably inventive variations. (The duration of the composition is about ten minutes.) As I have previously written, I have tried to follow Russell’s performances for almost as long as I have been writing about the performance of music; and I still find each encounter, even when it is on a video, a refreshing journey of discovery. Regondi may not receive much attention in music history books, but Russell definitely made a strong case for his imaginative inventiveness. The video production did well to focus in Russell’s performance technique, rather than the architecture in which he was playing!
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