Ficco: Solo Guitar Works – Edoardo Pieri

The figure of Davide Ficco occupies a special place among the numerous guitarists/composers who enlarged the repertoire for their instrument. In fact, his figure is not exclusively limited to the universe of the six strings; rather, he gathers its idioms and intertwines them in a thick network of artistic, cultural, historical and ethnic references, making use also of the possibilities for research and expansion provided by new technologies. His output for the guitar’s six strings is in fact a successful example of cultural eclecticism. His vast knowledge does not only encompass the guitar repertoire, or the classical repertoire in general, but rather embraces various artistic forms, lingering also over the history of extra-European cultures and traditions. This all is poured into his music, in the form of countless extra-musical references, which may be more or less hidden, and which bestow refinement and elegance on his music without being burdened by an ostentatious intellectualism. Such richness does not belong to Ficco’s compositional activity only, but also derives from his work as a performer. Ficco has practised this activity for years, combining the musician’s technical know-how with the ability to draw diverse influences together and to let them emerge. However, this all happens in the service of the musical score, and not of an intellectual hedonism.
Such features are common to all of his compositions, beyond their heterogeneous surface appearance. Rather, this diversity bears witness to the composer’s fantasy and to his generous creative vein. It gives life (in an almost Stravinskyan fashion) to an extremely varied corpus. Still, its recognizable red thread is constituted by an unceasing effort to hybridize his instrument through external media (and this is certainly an unusual fact in the world of guitarists/composers). We can therefore speak of an “expanded guitar”, a guitar “widened” in its manifestations thanks to the large cultural horizons into which it is projected.
Another characteristic feature shared by Ficco’s entire output is the almost “rhapsodic” freedom with which he treats the different forms and the various references he pours in them. It seems as if the composer, in his creative act, claims some liberties which are rather typical for interpreters. The result is a musical flow which is not “plastered up” through rigid schemes. Instead, it is rich in spontaneity and freshness, making this music very enjoyable and worth disseminating.