GHIGLIA OPENS GUITAR FESTIVAL

Any departure from the programming norm is always welcome in the tradition-laden world of the classical guitar.

But Oscar Ghiglia seemed to go a bit overboard in the unusual agenda he chose in opening the week-long Guitar Foundation of America Festival at Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday. Rather than the overly tried and not-so-true formula of Baroque dances/Villa-Lobos etudes/Spanish piano transcriptions, the Italian guitarist opened and closed with lute suites of Bach (in E major and A minor), then devoted the remainder of his brief recital to the “Quatre Pieces Breves,” by the late Swiss composer Frank Martin, and “Algo” (1977), a short bit of modernism by Franco Donatoni.

This particular juxtaposition of the old and new didn’t make sense, and Ghiglia’s uneven performances didn’t make the pulse quicken.

The Donatoni piece, set in two movements (the second titled after the evening’s soloist), proved the most arresting, though the guitarist preceded it with an apologetic you’ll-love-it-or-hate-it introduction. The two pointillistic sections contrast starkly: the first, bold and loud, the last, introspective and almost silent (though punctuated by guitar tappings); the first, harsh and jittery, the last, soft-edged and relaxed. Ghiglia, working from the score, here gave his best playing.

Though the concluding A-minor Suite received a strong reading, neither Bach offering proved wholly satisfying. Only rarely did Ghiglia inject energy and movement into these pieces, which are, after all, collections of dances. The approach here was intellectual, exemplified by an almost motionless Sarabande from the A-minor Suite. Memory lapses marred the E-major.

Martin’s atmospheric, mildly dissonant appraisal of Baroque dance forms emerged disjointed and unconvincing.