{"id":9442,"date":"2018-03-26T15:14:15","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T22:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=9442"},"modified":"2019-05-18T15:26:36","modified_gmt":"2019-05-18T22:26:36","slug":"the-genius-of-francois-de-fossa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/the-genius-of-francois-de-fossa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Genius of Fran\u00e7ois de Fossa: Runar Kjeldsberg Records the Complete Solo Guitar Works"},"content":{"rendered":"
BY BLAIR JACKSON | FROM THE SPRING 2018 ISSUE OF CLASSICAL GUITAR<\/em><\/a><\/h6>\n

The autumn of 2017 saw the release of the remarkable and important third (and final) volume of Norwegian guitarist Runar Kjeldsberg\u2019s series of recordings covering the complete solo works for guitar by the brilliant, but still under-appreciated, French composer, guitarist (and soldier!) Fran\u00e7ois de Fossa (1775\u20131849). Inspirations <\/i><\/strong><\/a>(Vol. 3)<\/i>\u2014featuring de Fossa\u2019s transcriptions and interpretations of works by Haydn (perhaps de Fossa\u2019s strongest influence) and Mozart, as well as of popular dances of the era\u2014joins the extraordinary set from 2014, Four Fantasias<\/i> <\/strong><\/a>(Vol. 1), and 2016\u2019s Divertissements: Op. 6, Op. 15<\/i><\/strong><\/a> (Vol. 2); five discs in all. <\/span><\/p>\n

All three are exciting and surprising discs, full of inspired writing and beautiful and at times dazzling playing. If you are not familiar with de Fossa, or have only heard a piece or two, you are in for a real treat. Kjeldsberg performs the pieces on Romantic period guitars crafted by the noted luthiers Rene Lac\u00f4te and Gennaro Fabricatore, and the music is expertly recorded by Roger Langvik.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was utterly transported by all three volumes of de Fossa pieces, so I tracked down Kjeldsberg in Norway and asked him a few questions about his labor-of-love project.<\/span><\/p>\n

CLASSICAL GUITAR:<\/b> What originally attracted you to de Fossa and to then undertake this project?<\/p>\n

RUNAR KJELDSBERG:<\/b> I took my master\u2019s degree studying with Carlo Marchione. I remember listening to his album with rondos by Aguado and de Fossa in the car on my way back from Frankfurt, where I had just picked up my brand-new Gernot Wagner guitar. I was broke but happy, and I decided I had to play one of those rondos on my master exam. I decided on the F<\/span>#<\/span> minor Divertimento No. 2<\/i>. Two years later, I performed the same piece at a recital at the Academy of Music in Oslo. After the concert, Professor Erik Stenstadvold told me that there were very few of de Fossa\u00b4s solo pieces that were recorded. That got me searching, and the idea of recording the complete solo pieces slowly started to grow. I drew up a plan for recording the pieces I could find info about on the internet and applied for a grant from the Norwegian governmental art fund. To my great pleasure they decided to fund my project. Without the financial support it would have been impossible to complete such a large undertaking.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

CG:<\/b> Was it difficult to find the music for all the known solo guitar works? Are there any that you personally discovered in libraries or archives that had not previously been found?<\/span><\/p>\n

KJELDSBERG: <\/b>There are so many fantastic musicologists out there that do all the research for us musicians, so I focus my work on performing the music as well as I can. When I started the project, Op. 6<\/i>, 15<\/i>, and 9<\/i> were completely unknown to me, and not available through any conventional channels. Luckily, I had help from Erik
\nStenstadvold to get in touch with the right people. Matanya Ophee helped me to identify the missing pieces on my list of works. \u00a0Op. 9<\/i> was in the private collection of Gerhard Penn, and Op. 6<\/i> and 15<\/i> I had to get from Luis Briso de Montiano. Today, all those works have been published by the late Matanya Ophee on Editions Orph\u00e9e. So all the solo works that I recorded are now available to any guitarist that would like to play them.<\/span><\/p>\n

CG: <\/b>What do we know about how de Fossa\u2019s music was appreciated in his lifetime?<\/span><\/p>\n

KJELDSBERG: <\/b>We know that while he was in Madrid he was called the \u201cHaydn of the guitar.\u201d There is also a letter from de Fossa to his sister where he writes that he was given an offer by a publisher, but the offer was so bad that it would not cover the cost of the paper it was written on. Greatly offended, de Fossa decided to give up the idea of making a living as a composer. Since he only wrote music for himself, he didn\u2019t need to simplify his pieces or produce large numbers of simple melodies such as we see from many of his contemporaries [to make ends meet]. De Fossa was the copyist of the famous Boccherini guitar quintets. The manuscripts we have today are by de Fossa\u2019s hand. He was also the translator of Aguado\u2019s Escuela de Guitarra<\/i> method, where he added the musical excerpts in the chapter on modulations. So he was clearly well-connected and respected.<\/span><\/p>\n

CG:<\/b> He must have been an exceptional guitarist to have written some of these pieces, such as the Allegro for the Overture of\u00a0Le calife de Bagdad<\/i>, to mention just one. Were you surprised by the high level of both the arrangements\/transcriptions and the original pieces?<\/span><\/p>\n

KJELDSBERG: <\/b>Indeed. What surprised me the most was that all of his pieces gave me a thorough challenge as a musician. Even the shorter pieces, such as the divertissements from Op. 6<\/i> and 15<\/i> are all solid miniature compositions that would be a challenge to anyone who takes this music seriously. Today, we would consider it madness to transcribe Haydn symphonies for solo guitar, but at the time this was the only way for people to get the great music of Haydn into their living rooms. I also find it amazing how well these transcriptions work for the solo guitar. You really get the feeling of playing an orchestral work. It is idiomatic, but far from easy. I was surprised by the overall level of all the pieces, because I didn\u2019t expect that all of them would be of such high quality. <\/span><\/p>\n