Salvatore della Vecchia

Onyricon

The mandolin tradition endures a chronic delay, compared to the necessity to consolidate new technical and musical achievements, almost self-satisfying for the long time perceived cultural debt that places this instrument on the fragile border between amateurism and professionalism. In quite recent times the establishment of mandolin chairs in the Italian Conservatories and Music High School has offered a propulsive thrust for all the chain of the mandolin sector such as repertoire, concerts, contests and manufacture. And exactly on the wave of this favourable conjunction Salvatore Della Vecchia's compositional style finds its inspiration. Through the emulation of some of his celebrated predecessors like Calace, Munier and Ranieri, he dusts off the old and established combination between the composer and concert performer.

In 'Onyricon' the aesthetic poise of compositional form and content, virtuosism and lyricism coexist in a perfect harmony, feeding one another. The technical endowment of the performer who wants to approach the piece is put to the test by its high level of complexity. As a sort of compendium, all the main techniques of the instrument (tremolos and arpeggios on three and four chords, tremolos with accompaniment, the extensions of the left hand) are skilfully used and put at the service of a masterful and functional polyphony, that reaches one of the highest peaks of the solo instrument repertoire for the quality of its musical proposal, while not representing a unicum of the instrument literature. I therefore wish for this composition to be full-fledged included among the masterpieces of contemporary solo literature and be understood for its intrinsic value in the concert repertoires of the great solo mandolin players. (Michele De Martino)