Self-Portrait
This is an album of the complete solo guitar compositions of David Leisner played
by the composer. Ranging from 1982 to 1998, and from jazz-, blues- and folk-
inspired music to a thornier, darker chromaticism, these five works add up to a
musical self-portrait (with Leisner's self-portrait drawing on the cover echoing
this as well). While Leisner has written music for orchestra, chamber music with
and without guitar, and vocal music, his solo guitar pieces are perhaps his most
intimate and personal works.
Guitar Review
"The emotions of Leisner's solo works are dizzying. Here, Leisner exudes creativity and
expression at every moment, and each piece has an almost improvisatory quality that sounds like
music, not "composition." Nel Mezzo: Sonata is a brilliant chromatic exploration. The middle
movement, Lamento, is six and a half minutes of tension building that hooks the ear to its
beautiful and surprising dissonances. On Four Pieces Leisner strums with such intensity that I
can't believe his nails are intact...
Leisner performs this music with the vigor of Glenn Gould playing a Brahms Ballade. Every
piece on here is inventive and refreshing, pushing the expressive envelope, while keeping
harmony and rhythm accessible but never boring. Most importantly, SP never sounds like
you've heard it before: a must have for guitar lovers and players alike."
Il Fronimo magazine, Italy
David Leisner is truly a Personality: anyone who has heard him play live cannot help but note his
remarkable musical stature, marked by a great interpretive lucidity. Yet perhaps the field in
which his musical personality is even more clearly manifested is composition. In this CD,
accurately entitled "Self-Portrait", Leisner offers a series of pieces for solo guitar which he
composed between 1982 and 2003. This is a sufficient amount of time to appreciate the
evolution of his style, and even more, the eclecticism of his musical writing.
The CD opens with the Sonata, Nel Mezzo, from 1998, a mature work born of suffering,
belonging to a difficult period in Leisner's life. He gives it a title with a reference to Dante, partly
because of his age of 45 at the time ("nel mezzo del cammin") and partly to characterize his
emotions (he was in the grip of a "selva oscura" of the soul). The Sonata is articulated in three
extensive movements. The language is deeply chromatic, as Leisner points out in the excellent
liner notes. The first is in a sonata-form that is modified in the manner of a spiral form, the
second is in song form, and the third consists of a long, trembling and percussive Rondo. It is,
in substance, a "calling card" of most notable musical character and hopefully will become a
repertory piece, played by other sensitive interpreters.
The rest of the program is a bit more immediate, thanks to frequent excursions to the realm of
"mother tonality" or to traditional American music, including Spirituals. Thus, the Four Pieces
become, in comparison with the tormented Sonata, pleasant pieces that are a little "New Age".
On the other hand, a very solid sense of compositional form is reaffirmed in Passacaglia and
Toccata, a diptych of excellent quality. The three Freedom Fantasies, written in 1992 and
revised in 2003, and also the gentle Billy Boy Variations of 1983, constitute a lovely tribute to
North American traditional music, sometimes blues, sometimes swing, sometimes "afro", but
always corrected through the lens of a fine composer.
In short, this is a very successful self-portrait, thanks also to the customary beauty of Leisner's
tone, admirably captured in the superb recorded sound of Azica Records. Leisner explains
perfectly in the booklet the spirit in which he has made these self-interpretations, sweeping away
any suspicion of narcissism. In fact, he wishes that other interpreters will play this music soon,
giving even more beautiful and objective readings. In our opinion, it is the Sonata, Nel Mezzo,
and the diptych, Passacaglia and Toccata, that above all have a chance for new prospective
interpretations in the hands of intelligent and well-equipped guitarists. Now we hope that Leisner
(according to his wishes expressed in the liner notes) will put together a "volume 2", dedicated
to his chamber works with guitar, which the writer knows quite well and can verify their worth.
Francesco Biraghi
Website content © David Leisner 2008. All rights reserved.
This is an album of the complete solo guitar compositions of David Leisner played
by the composer. Ranging from 1982 to 1998, and from jazz-, blues- and folk-
inspired music to a thornier, darker chromaticism, these five works add up to a
musical self-portrait (with Leisner's self-portrait drawing on the cover echoing
this as well). While Leisner has written music for orchestra, chamber music with
and without guitar, and vocal music, his solo guitar pieces are perhaps his most
intimate and personal works.
Guitar Review
"The emotions of Leisner's solo works are dizzying. Here, Leisner exudes creativity and
expression at every moment, and each piece has an almost improvisatory quality that sounds like
music, not "composition." Nel Mezzo: Sonata is a brilliant chromatic exploration. The middle
movement, Lamento, is six and a half minutes of tension building that hooks the ear to its
beautiful and surprising dissonances. On Four Pieces Leisner strums with such intensity that I
can't believe his nails are intact...
Leisner performs this music with the vigor of Glenn Gould playing a Brahms Ballade. Every
piece on here is inventive and refreshing, pushing the expressive envelope, while keeping
harmony and rhythm accessible but never boring. Most importantly, SP never sounds like
you've heard it before: a must have for guitar lovers and players alike."
Il Fronimo magazine, Italy
David Leisner is truly a Personality: anyone who has heard him play live cannot help but note his
remarkable musical stature, marked by a great interpretive lucidity. Yet perhaps the field in
which his musical personality is even more clearly manifested is composition. In this CD,
accurately entitled "Self-Portrait", Leisner offers a series of pieces for solo guitar which he
composed between 1982 and 2003. This is a sufficient amount of time to appreciate the
evolution of his style, and even more, the eclecticism of his musical writing.
The CD opens with the Sonata, Nel Mezzo, from 1998, a mature work born of suffering,
belonging to a difficult period in Leisner's life. He gives it a title with a reference to Dante, partly
because of his age of 45 at the time ("nel mezzo del cammin") and partly to characterize his
emotions (he was in the grip of a "selva oscura" of the soul). The Sonata is articulated in three
extensive movements. The language is deeply chromatic, as Leisner points out in the excellent
liner notes. The first is in a sonata-form that is modified in the manner of a spiral form, the
second is in song form, and the third consists of a long, trembling and percussive Rondo. It is,
in substance, a "calling card" of most notable musical character and hopefully will become a
repertory piece, played by other sensitive interpreters.
The rest of the program is a bit more immediate, thanks to frequent excursions to the realm of
"mother tonality" or to traditional American music, including Spirituals. Thus, the Four Pieces
become, in comparison with the tormented Sonata, pleasant pieces that are a little "New Age".
On the other hand, a very solid sense of compositional form is reaffirmed in Passacaglia and
Toccata, a diptych of excellent quality. The three Freedom Fantasies, written in 1992 and
revised in 2003, and also the gentle Billy Boy Variations of 1983, constitute a lovely tribute to
North American traditional music, sometimes blues, sometimes swing, sometimes "afro", but
always corrected through the lens of a fine composer.
In short, this is a very successful self-portrait, thanks also to the customary beauty of Leisner's
tone, admirably captured in the superb recorded sound of Azica Records. Leisner explains
perfectly in the booklet the spirit in which he has made these self-interpretations, sweeping away
any suspicion of narcissism. In fact, he wishes that other interpreters will play this music soon,
giving even more beautiful and objective readings. In our opinion, it is the Sonata, Nel Mezzo,
and the diptych, Passacaglia and Toccata, that above all have a chance for new prospective
interpretations in the hands of intelligent and well-equipped guitarists. Now we hope that Leisner
(according to his wishes expressed in the liner notes) will put together a "volume 2", dedicated
to his chamber works with guitar, which the writer knows quite well and can verify their worth.
Francesco Biraghi
Website content © David Leisner 2008. All rights reserved.
| CD Program Nel Mezzo: SonatA Four Pieces (Prelude, Episode, Ritual and Dance) Passacaglia and Toccata Freedom Fantasies "Billy Boy" Variations |