Concerto

The Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra by Josef Bardanashvili was first performed in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, on 23, October, 1979. The performance was presented at the Malie Zal (Small Hall) of the Tbilisi Conservatory under the auspices of the Georgian Union of Composers. The Georgian Chamber orchestra was conducted by E. Isakadze and the solo part was played by Ike Sarkisian, for whom this concerto was originally written. This is the composer’s first experiment involving polystylistic references. At the outer slow sections neo-baroque, “oriental” and popular melodic gestures are organically fused and in the Finale the improvisational ornamental elements come forth (though there is very little traditional “oriental” chromaticism). An important role is played in the Finale by a theme that has been crystallized at the ending segment of the prefatory cadenza. One hears in it something of the romantic declamatory entreaty. The emotional content of the outer sections is contrasted by the Allegro, which has been auspiciously called a carnival of stylized masks. The composer fashions the material, involving different images and melodic gestures, divergent types of texture and stylistic layers, into a rapid and bubbling stream which is secured from within by a strong melodic coherence and structural logic, numerous cross-references between the movements and all as though just tinkering with it. The Vivaldiesque unison ritornello itself is being constantly challenged by metric and tonal shifts, unexpectedly slipping into now Jewish then quasi-Hispanic dance instrumentalism. Indeed, the composer often refers to this work fondly, and with a mischievous smile, as his Jewish Vivaldiana.