Following the success of Intrecci – New Compositions and Arrangements for Solo Guitar (Stradivarius, 2024), winner of the Amadeus d’Oro award, Giacomo Susani presents his new recording project Under a Crescent Moon, an album that continues and deepens the ex-ploration of the expressive possibilities of the classical guitar. The CD is the winner of the “Per Chi Crea” grant by SIAE and the Italian Ministry of Culture (MiC), 2024 edition, as was the previous album Intrecci, which won the 2023 edition. Unlike the previous work, structured in distinct pairs of pieces, Under a Crescent Moon takes on a more unified character.

All the music—original compositions and arrangements—was conceived, studied, and recorded within a highly concentrated period of just over one month, giving the album a strong linguistic and expressive coherence. The three original works share a consistency of language that defines a distinctive style, while remaining sufficiently flexible to convey clearly defined expressive nuances and, consequently, ever-changing musical qualities. The album’s title is drawn from a haiku by Matsuo Bashō and serves as a poetic invitation to delve into the intangible and evocative sonorities of the guitar, its resonances, and the richness of its sound. As the artist explains: “The guitar is not only the recipient of my abstract ideas, but a generative engine of visions, sounds, and form: at once a poetic inspiration and concrete destination of the creative act”.

The album features three large-scale original compositions: Due appunti – structured in two movements (Preludio and Toccata), the piece moves from the mysterious and questioning character of the Preludio to the brilliant and highly fluid Toccata, which radically transforms the music’s character from suspended to assertive and forward-driving. Under a Crescent Moon – six musical miniatures inspired by as many haiku by Matsuo Bashō, translating poetic imagery and content into sound. These brief yet densely expressive poems inspire six musical moments, each aiming to depict not only the image evoked by the words, but also their emotional resonance in the composer. Suite a uno – a five-movement suite (Preludio, Arabesque, Interludio, Corale, Finale) built upon a single harmonic structure, maintaining a clear formal coherence. Arrangements of masterpieces by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel frame and permeate the original compositions: from Ravel’s Prélude in A minor to selected piano pieces from Debussy’s Children’s Corner and Préludes (Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, The Little Shepherd, Golliwogg’s Cakewalk, La Fille aux cheveux de lin). These are not simply transcriptions, but true arrangements that engage deeply with the idiomatic nature of the guitar.

The recording was made using a remarkable historical guitar built in 1926 by Spanish luthier Domingo Esteso. Now celebrating its 100th anniversary, the instrument displays extraordinary elegance, depth, and nobility—an ideal medium for these sonorities and a powerful source of inspiration for their imagination.