5 newly recorded solo nylon string guitar pieces; in the first two I have reimagined other composers works as guitar lullabies. My arrangements stay strongly reverent to the original form and structure of the compositions, but I present the pieces in a way that I anticipate neither composer would have ever expected to hear their work...Mendelssohn in his Violin Concerto #1 in E minor (excerpt from 2nd Movement) and Silvestrov in his Serenade for Solo Violin...as solo nylon string guitar lullabies.
I pick up the composing from there to introduce 3 new pieces that I have recently written and recorded.
PRESS REVIEWS:
December 9, 2024 Press Review - Peter Thelen, Expose.Org: ...the two classical covers “Mendelssohn’s Andante” and “Silvestrov’s Serenade” are front loaded, staying very respectful of the form and structure of the originals, though both were originally intended for violin, not guitar, with the three Salvatori originals following after that. The first of the three new compositions “To and Fro” serving as a bridge between the classical leanings of the two openers and the originals. “Lullaby for Henry” is a warm and emotional effort that closes the album nicely.
November 11, 2024 - Press review - Dmitry Esptein, DMME.net: Locating his place between the past and the future, Illinoisian master of six-string lace embraces the vibe of lullabies.
There’s a fine line between playing a tune that’s supposed to get the audience to sleep and not sounding so soporific as to spoil the listening experience, and Tom Salvatori is walking this line quite elegantly on a short, yet sweet, mini-album which follows 2021’s "Seven Guitar Miniatures" in stylistic terms while offering a different concept. The five pieces on display here pick up where the “Goodnight Lullaby” EP left off a year earlier, and, if combined, the two instrumental cycles, could form a lengthier, though hardly deeper, dive into hypnagogic state, but the American musician didn’t dare and endanger the wakeful perception of his enchanting melodies. And not only his.
Starting “La Bella Vita” off are “Mendelssohn’s Andante” and “Silvestrov’s Serenade” – two classical pieces, both originally written for violin by Berlin-based composers – that perfectly lend their unhurried vibrancy to nylon strings which allow resonance reign when a note is let fly and suspended animation of the first number and exquisite sensuality of the latter one create a magnificent contrast. So when Salvatori’s own “To And Fro” adds chiming baroque grandeur to the flow, his strum introducing a stained-glass brightness along the way, the sparsely placed sounds and mesmeric tempo get amalgamated into something almost magical, and “Riposo” infuses it all with folk motifs. And then there’s an intimate “Lullaby For Henry” bringing the record to a close via personal touch contained in the guitar-song’s very title.
So if the listener will go into a dream, it’s guaranteed to be beauty sleep, for life feels good with music like this.
November 25, 2024 Press Review, Robert Silverstein, mwe3.com
Starting out in the 1970s as a founding member of the embryonic Chicago-based prog-rock band Apocalypse, co-founded with his brother Michael, Tom Salvatori has evolved into a guitarist and composer of the highest order. While he’s released a number of solo classical guitar-based albums over the past 30 years, Tom has been especially prolific in recent years and, late in 2024 he released a new 5-track CDEP called La Bella Vita.
In the spirit of his other recent CDEP releases including Respite Guitar (2021) and Seven Guitar Miniatures (2022), the 2024 release of La Bella Vita finds Tom performing music written by a couple of his favorite composers, while adding in a few new originals that shed further light on his wide-ranging classical guitar background.
Speaking about the new recordings on La Bella Vita, Tom explains, “5 newly recorded solo nylon string guitar pieces; in the first two I have reimagined other composers works as guitar lullabies. My arrangements stay strongly reverent to the original form and structure of the compositions, but I present the pieces in a way that I anticipate that neither composer would have ever expected to hear their work. Mendelssohn, in his “Violin Concerto #1 in E minor”, excerpt from 2nd Movement and Silvestrov, in his “Serenade for Solo Violin” ... as solo nylon string guitar lullabies. I pick up the composing from there to introduce 3 new pieces that I have recently written and recorded.”
Leading off the La Bella Vita CDEP, Felix Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto #1 in E minor (Excerpt from 2nd Movement)” was actually written in 1845 and nearly 180 years later, Tom Salvatori distills Mendelssohn’s essence in a solo guitar piece that clocks in a little over 3 minutes.
On track 2, Ukrainian composer Valentyn Silvestrov is paid homage to on La Bella Vita with Tom adapting his “Serenade For Solo Violin”, turning it into a brief yet effective minor keyed classic for classical guitar.
Of the new originals on La Bella Vita, the CD-closing track “Lullaby For Henry” is one of the most melodic solo classical guitar pieces Tom has put on record.
Track 4, “Riposo” is a studied solo classical piece written by Tom in a mostly minor key, yet the track fits in well on La Bella Vita, while “To And Fro” is another minor key classical guitar original written by Tom.
The 5-track CD-EP is a brief 15 minutes in length, yet with one noteworthy musical moment after the next, it’s over way too soon. Music listeners lucky enough to have heard Tom’s Respite Guitar and Seven Guitar Miniatures will thoroughly enjoy La Bella Vita. Despite the abbreviated time, one thing is clear; La Bella Vita is a most welcome return to form by classical guitarist and composer Tom Salvatori.
