Fandango de SOLER - Silvano G. Bernasconi, Spinet

www.silvanobern... playing ANTONIO SOLER
Pare Antoni Francesc Xavier Josep Soler Ramos “El diablo vestido de Frail” pupil of Domenico Scarlatti, in addition to the Sacred Works (*) and 120 Sonatas for keyboard, influenced by the style of his master, in his Fandango* Soler finds daring and always new rhythmic-melodic solutions on a bass ostinato for a good 12 minutes.
In his brilliant interpretation on the Spinet alternating the Lute effect in the first part, Silvano Giuseppe Bernasconi offers a version faithful to the original manuscript.
(*) In 1752 he entered the order of the Hieronymites at the monastery of El Escorial, where he also became organist: from 1765 he maintained a correspondence with Father Martini.
In his life Soler composed 10 Masses, 51 Psalms, 13 Magnificats, 24 Hymns, 132 Villancicos, 4 Salve Regina, 31 Miserere, 16 Responsories, 5 Requiems, etc.
*In ancient times the Fandango was a dance with sung parts for life and death: originally was an intimate dance accompanied by singing, a fiesta, and instruments. The dancers are accompanied by guitars and dance slowly and rhythmically until the musicians pick up the tempo and every once and a while stop the music. While the music is stopped the dancers perform complicated moves, all the while singing sexually and politically provocative lyrics. This pattern continues until another couple enters the process.
The Roman Catholic Church regularly condemned the dance as being lewd and morally dangerous. It was also thought to be potentially subversive. In Spain there was an economic collapse from 1709-1711 and grumblings of discontent grew stronger. The government feared large gatherings of people and in 1717 an intense campaign began against regional folk cultures. A ban was put on the fandango, which was condemned as offensive to the nobility. The playing of castanets in public was also forbidden because they suggested disorder and rebellion. In 1776 a crown minister described the dance as reprehensible and in the same year the viceroy of Rio de la Plata banned the dance.
Finally Fandango could no longer be suppressed and became acceptable again.
Among the composers of Fandango Domenico Scarlatti, Luigi Boccherini and Silvano Bernasconi himself in pulsando (Fandango Fantasy for Guitar and Orchestra) from his Art of Sound.