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SONATE for solo guitar by Bernard PIRIS
This is a most enjoyable new composition and has to be one of the best solo offerings I’ve come across in recent times. The whole work is well crafted, full of inventive ideas both melodically, harmonically, and rhythmically and from the opening few bars one’s attention is immediately grabbed and the interest never wanes for a second. Here is a man who really knows how to write for the instrument. Occasionally there is evidence (particularly in the final movement, a frantic toccata) that Piris has perhaps been influenced by the compositional style of Leo Brouwer.
Both outer movements are as one would expect, quite high-speed affairs in general, but the highlight as far as I am concerned comes with the mysterious, haunting second movement where the composer seems to have poured his heart out in a piece which could easily stand on its own merits.
Throughout the work Piris draws on and makes ample use of one of the guitar’s most natural qualities and attractive attributes, that of campanella (the ability to let one or more notes ring into another notes).
This stylish new accessible contemporary publication is very well presented here with just about the right amount of suggested fingering and it is to be hoped that Piris’ Sonate receives the attention it well deserves from recitals and recordings.
Highly recommended.
Steve Marsh, Classical Guitar
SUR LES TRACES DE DON QUICHOTTE for guitar and melodic instrument
by Laurent Méneret
This is an agreeable and amusing little offering ideally suited towards the grade 2-3 players; the melodic line could be recorder, violin, even a vocalise, but obviously could also be played on guitar and would be a good introduction for the lower grade player into the art of phrasing as well as moving higher up the fingerboard.
There are four sections to this work titled Sancho, El Caballero, Dulcinée and Rossinante, all drawing from the tale of the classical literary work of “Don Quixote”.
The music is very agreeable with some nice tunes along the way and quite descriptive in parts (one can almost hear the clopping of the hooves of Sancho’s donkey in the first movement).
Quite fun to play and an excellent addition to the lower grade student repertoire.
The piece is presented in score-only but there are no page turns involved.
Steve Marsh (Classical Guitar Magazine)
SUITE FOR MARIA for 2 guitars and string orchestra
by Sébastien Vachez
This French composer’s latest oeuvre is in four movements and is set for two guitars (to be amplified), a string quartet and a double bass.
It begins with a very short largo introduction that acquaints us with the melodic cell that the whole of the rest of the piece is based upon. Here it is first introduced on the cello with shimmering guitars thrumming open D chords. After these eight bars the next movement entitled Promenade is in triple time (as are all the rest of the movements). It begins with a jaunty idea atop pizzicato strings that at bar eight take over the idea themselves. This swapping of the main idea continues for a while until a gradual gathering’ of momentum in the guitar parts brings back the introductory largo from the 1st movement this time on the guitars that leads directly to the 3rd movement a valse lente. Here the motto theme is instantly evident on the guitars that solo for a while until bar 21 when the strings take over this melody. This situation carries on for a brief time until a sudden vivo followed by a pause that leads us straight into the valse finale. To the accompaniment of the guitars the violins present us yet again with the main motto theme, this time however with much more swing and excitement. A brief solo on guitar one leads us back into the opening idea and then to a meno mosso that begins with the 2nd guitar playing a theme that, being in two, crosses the bar lines. This takes us then to a con calma idea marked “Alla Wes Montgomery”, before the opening themes return for one last time and then take us to a brief but satisfying coda,
At 12 minutes in length this item is quite substantial but not so hard to put off any relative amateurs from having a go. The music itself is melodic and the parts are only moderately hard for all. So, if you have a couple of guitarists and a few string player friends, this might be right for you. Any schools or colleges with the necessary musicians would have a great time getting involved with this fine piece.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
BAMBOU CALYPSO and HABANERA BOHEME for 3 guitars
by Thierry Tisserand
It is always a delight to review Tisserand’s pieces for they are fun to play, full of invention, very musical and effortlessly guitaristic.
Here are two trios for the moderate players amongst you. Nothing is very difficult at all and for a great deal of the time the top two parts are solo notes only: when they are not they are usually simple pairs of notes. The third part does have some chords to play but then the rest of the time they are only playing the bass runs. so nothing there needs to give players too many worries.
What is important is the quality of the two pieces on offer. The first, Bambou Calypso set in G, is full of the 3/3/2 rhythmic structure of this style. It opens up with this in guitar 3 followed by the other two guitars harmonising the melody. After a middle section the opening idea returns with a more involved structure. followed by a brief coda and a close on a tonic 6th chord.
Habanera Boheme is in D minor and marked “avec émotion”. Again the 3rd guitar takes up the rhythmic bass line and the top two guitars play the melody and close harmony work. There is an excursion into the tonic major: a situation that repeats twice more with musical variation and in the final instance there is a friendly close on a D6 chord.
Neither piece is longer than three or four minutes.
Moreover both are excellent for recitals or just for fun amongst friends, as indeed are just about every piece I have ever seen by this writer.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
ANTS MOVING A MOUNTAIN for choir and guitar (or piano)
by Nathan Kolosko
This work is based on a poem by the Taiwanese poet Xie An-Tong and can be performed with a guitar backing a small group of Singers, or a piano backing a larger choir. The vocal parts are only set for two voices, soprano and baritone, and are set in Taiwanese both in their script and phonetically in our alphabet, and moreover are expected also to provide the tambourine and bass drum parts too. The guitar part, which mirrors the piano part, which is not meant to be played at the same time, is relatively easy throughout most of the piece, only getting a little more adventurous at the closing section. The music is very modal in style and extremely pleasant and I could see a relatively inexperienced group of musicians having a lot of fun with this little gem.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
TANGO for solo guitar
by Albeniz (arr. Roland Dyens)
As always with anything that Dyens touches, it has a multitude of detailed markings, along with a two-page glossary of notation signs found within the piece. This is the Albeniz Tango, here moved in to A major, that everyone will no doubt know.
Dyens manages to get just about all the notes and their salient harmonies in but the end result, whilst very true to the original, is extremely difficult, for he has gone out of his way to make sure the accompaniment flows along with the melody without appearing disjointed or awkward, and this is achieved at the cost of difficulty.
Of course Dyens is a master of his craft; what he does is impeccable and faultless and this is really only for the very talented players amongst the readership.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
BIRD OF PARADISE for solo guitar
by Nick Fletcher
I have seen quite a few things lately from this Sheffield-born composer. This new offering is a tremolo piece in D minor, beginning with a little introduction of 24 bars before the tremolo technique enters, with its opening melody based on that of the introduction. It is in 3/4 time with six quavers in the bass against 24 demisemiquavers in the treble. The melody is good as are the harmonies and providing you have a decent tremolo technique (not always the case, even with really good players) you may find much to enjoy in this work, although there is nothing particularly original in its conception, but is nevertheless a pleasant piece of writing.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
BARCAROLLE Opus 37 No. 6, for solo guitar
by Tchaikovsky (arr. Roland Dyens)
When Roland Dyens’s name appears in any publication you know that quality comes hand in hand. This latest arrangement of the famous melody from Tchaikovsky’s oddly-named The Seasons (odd because it comes from a set of 12 pieces, named after the months),
originally a piano piece in G minor, it is set here in B minor with a 6th string to D and a 5th to B. As usual with Dyens’s arrangements nothing is left to chance and there are many and various notations along the way for all manner of musical situations, all of which are carefully notated in the Preface at the beginning. Of course the entire fingerboard is used throughout therefore one might class this arrangement as “rather difficult to play but definitely fun to get your hands around”. The result is a fine piece that never betrays its pianistic origins and would be a fine contribution to a recital as something a little unusual that the audience might not expect.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
COME QUANDO FUORI PIOVE for solo guitar
by Simone Iannarelli
Coming hand-in-hand with Iannarelli’s other scordatura based piece (Duerme Martina) is this little tune, here with a 5th string at Bb and a 6th at F,
Again there is the feeling of slight dislocation at the odd resonances this tuning gives the gUitar. This piece is in F with modal tendencies that create a slight feeling of dislocation, key-wise. Having the scordatura creates a few problems here again until one gets used to the feel of it but after that is done you are left with a piece that is very harmonic, usually in two or three voices and not too hard to play. A few chords need careful attention, as the actual reading of them takes a fair amount of time with the bottom strings in their new tunings but otherwise this piece is easier than its companion piece mentioned above (and reviewed elsewhere).
If the slightly exotic nature of these very friendly harmonies appeals, then don’t let the scordatura put you off, as this quiet little piece with its peaceful exoticism and its gentle nature is well worth your time and effort,
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
CHANSON D’ELFÉE for solo guitar
by Jean Marie Raymond
Here is a composer who has recently become known in the pages of this magazine for his short and romantic little pieces, and for his direct and warmly melodic little tunes.
This latest piece is no exception. It is written in an “alla breve” E minor and is marked “libre, éthéré comme un songe”, which it most certainly is. The opening section is one of gentle arpeggios in quavers atop a long flowing melody in minims that after a repetition moves into a chordal section in static crotchets for eight bars before a new idea, based on the figurations of the opening arpeggios, takes over again, here marked “appassionata e lirico”. Then the melody moves to the treble area where it stays for much of the remainder of the piece, only to end with a coda that hearkens back to the opening.
Pleasant, melodic and effectively written, this little trifle of a piece is ideal for the moderate player and as such should do well.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
DEUX CONSONNES for solo guitar
by Lorenzo Micheli
The first piece Enne is on two staves throughout much of its length, the top stave being at the beginning an open B being played on the offbeat, with the melody and odd harmonies ending up on stave two in direct rhythmic contradiction to the open B. So immediately one spends a fair amount of time trying to accommodate the clashing rhythms, a real case of rubbing your head and patting your tummy at the same time! After 32 bars the opening melody returns topped with a counter melody surrounding the open Bs, before developing still further in its middle section and as a result getting edgy and somewhat emotional too. Then a new idea brings relative calm, continuing for quite a time before closing on a gradual repeat and fade.
Number two, Elle is ostensibly in 4/4 and E major, but has a complex semiquaver idea that stretches over two bars but in odd groups of 2s and 3s and 4s resulting in an idea that is almost constantly on the offbeat. With more than a hint of the sort of style employed by many acoustic players currently, this piece crosses several musical borders and is extremely difficult to play. At seven pages in length this piece does not let up on its semiquaver assault for a bar and anyone who can play this would certainly, to start with, have an advanced technique.
So, two interesting pieces that require an extremely good performing technique to do them justice and are both worth playing, if you are physically able to do so.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
DUERME MARTINA for solo guitar
by Simone Iannarelli
This Italian composer has produced much good work, and here we find a modest little piece with the 2nd string at C, and the 6th at F, which is a tad unusual for guitar pieces, giving the guitar a quite different sound when allowed to ring out.
The piece’s key is a little vague, right from the start with its chords of fourths, and with the main theme having an opening chord of a chord of C with an F bass, you realise that this enigmatic harmony is all part of the mood of the piece. As with any piece using a scordatura, one spends a fair amount of time just getting used to the unusual places for the notes on strings 2 and 6, but having done that the piece gets a little easier, although with its cadenza-like passages of small notes that crop up throughout its length, it is never an easy piece to play.
This was an interesting little piece that took some time to get to the bottom of but with all good pieces, the effort is worth it. Recommended for the moderately advanced guitarist.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
EUROPA for solo guitar
by Carlos Santana (arr. Jean-Marie Raymond)
Not having ever been a particular follower of Santana this arrangement was completely new to me, so I came to it completely cold, so to speak.
As it stands here, it is without tempo markings, although one guesses that it is moderate to slow, and quite short, only 49 bars in length. It is pleasant enough, and set here in E minor, with a few rock-like guitar riffs thrown in that enable the player to sound more impressive than he might well be, as they are not difficult to get your hands around.
This is a nice little trifle that might well fit in to a recital as an encore to lighten the mood a little and appears nicely arranged by Raymond.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
INTRODUCTION ET DANSE for violin (or flute) and guitar
by Laurent Boutros
This latest work by this Parisian composer follows on from a trend of basing his music from 1992 onwards on music imbued with the characteristic modes and rhythms of Asia Minor.
The opening Introduction is a mixture of 5/8 and 6/8, and although set in A minor, makes much use of the G# and Bb in its harmonies. The guitar and flute (or violin) have a flowing melody that moves quite quickly before suddenly pausing on a D chord. that brings in the Danse.
This section now turns to 2/4 with the guitar playing an “um-diddle, um-ching” type of rhythm that underpins a melody that sounds like a clone of if I Were A Rich Man from “Fiddler a The Roof”, A slower section moves to the relative minor before the initial idea returns and everything hurtles along to its final conclusion.
Both musicians have to be good players as nothing is very easy for them. The music itself is pleasant and very eastern in style but is very friendly music and lots of fun for players and audiences alike. It is not very long (only 160 bars) and would fit well into any concert where something a little exotic might work well.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
LA VIE EN ROSE for solo guitar
by Edith Piaf/Luis Giuglielmi (arr. Jean-Marie Raymond)
Here is another justly famous piece, this time one of Edith Piaf’s most famous melodies that she also helped to write.
It is set here in A and after a little eight-bar introduction of what is no doubt the verse, the famous chorus enters, with the tune sitting atop a bass/chord kind of structure. It is quite easy to play and a very friendly to get your hands around and to listen to. Again, it is a little short but there is plenty of scope for a repeat or three should the player want it lengthened a little.
Nicely done.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
LADY DI for solo guitar
by Jim Ferguson
Assuming that the Lady Di in question is our late Lady Di, then this piece has a lot to live up to. One might expect a schmaltzy tragic piece full of angst and emotion but instead you get a swiftly moving lively little piece with a nicely individual touch in its slightly unexpected harmonies.
Although ostensibly in E major, the opening takes four bars to get there starting with a sequence of G minor, D, A, A minor and then finally E, although the substitution sometimes of the expected D# with a D natural makes parts of this melody sound distinctly modal. The occasional use of chords with fourths makes one think at certain points of jazz chordings. After this upbeat and jaunty idea comes a new section with sliding minor chords set against a bass line wherein the thumb is asked to play both forwards and backwards similarly to a plectrum, although it falls nicely under the fingers so there is nothing to worry about. A return to the opening idea brings a swift conclusion to this little gem.
This is a warm-hearted three-minute piece, full of unexpected little details and moreover only moderately difficult. This would be ideal as a little filler in a concert and deserves to do well.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
LES MOULINS DE MON COEUR for solo guitar
by Michel Legrand (arr. Jean-Marie Raymond)
If this title is unknown to you, then you might know it better in its English version where it is called The Windmills of Your Mind; the tune that came from the original version of the film The Thomas Crown Affair and sung there by Noel Harrison in the 60s.
It is set in E minor but not in any arpeggiated way, as one might have expected but rather as a heavily chordal arrangement, that works surprisingly well. It is a very short piece and is only 42 bars from start to finish but is not too easy and with its gently exotic chordings, it might take the player a little time to successfully negotiate the speed of some of the changes.
This is a good arrangement and one that will win many friends because I have seen very few done that work, which is perhaps a situation you might not expect with such a guitar friendly melody.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
LUCEROS for solo guitar
by Juan Gallino
This is a charming little miniature set in a 4/4 A major, It has lots of warm harmonies, a nicely flowing and beautiful melody that just saves itself from sounding too twee. After a brief excursion into the tonic minor via a little melody that begins in C major, we find ourselves back in A major again for one more time with the main idea and a short but effective coda that is destined to leave a warm glow with everyone who hears it.
Only moderately difficult, this is a perfect piece for any talented pupils, who will love its immediacy and beauty. Lovely.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
PARTITA BWV 826 for solo guitar
by J.S. Bach (arr. Tristan Manoukian)
Here is the keyboard Partita in C minor transcribed by Tristan Manoukian into D minor. It begins with a large Sinfonia consisting of an opening Grave, Adagio, before becoming Andante at bar eight. Not too fast then, you might think, yes, but it is full of demisemiquavers throughout much of its six pages and is quite a handful, ending with a two-voiced fugue for its last two-and-a-half pages.
An allemande follows in two and sometimes three voices and herein lies most of the difficulty for the guitarist, as the parts are constantly moving and never easy to negotiate, even at the modest pace of an allemande.
The courante is in a quick three and flows along with wonderful harmonies and effortless invention and is beautifully fingered and carefully thought out for the guitar.
The following sarabande is of course slower, and, as a result a little less difficult, although the wonderful close to the first section includes some necessarily tricky fingering that is difficult to bring off.
A 3/8 Rondeau is next and goes at a swift pace in mostly two voices that are constantly on the go. You are changing hand positions every few seconds and there is no let up, effective though it all is as music.
The final 2/4 capriccio replaces the usual 6/8 gigue and is a fittingly robust end to this marvellous composition.
The problem, if it is one, is that it is astonishingly hard to play, and yet every bar is utterly playable and really well worked out for the guitar player. However, unlike the “lute” works and some of the violin and cello suites, where there is occasionally a respite to enable you to get your bearings, here the music rattles on in every movement in mostly two or three voices throughout, and simply put, makes it extremely tough going and really only the truly gifted will get the piece to sound as it should.
However if it appeals to players of lesser ability, who no doubt will love plodding through it at a third of its real pace, (and let’s face it, who hasn’t done that when we were learning our craft) then this beautifully arranged piece of guitar arranging might do very well.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
LE CIRQUE DU SOUL for solo guitar
by Jim Ferguson
Cirque du Soul is a quirky and humorous piece, with an occasional hint of menace, which successfully evokes the strange world of the circus with its slightly off-kilter view of the world. It takes the form of a quick waltz with a somewhat strange bass-line melody linked together almost throughout the first part of the work by two-note chords.
A middle segment illustrates the composer’s jazz background with a slower, graceful and moody passage containing some lush harmonies and some nice integration of harmonics with natural notes. The work concludes with a return of the waltz.
Cirque du Soul is an interesting and attractive composition, not too difficult for the Intermediate player, and one, which I would imagine, could become many a student’s favourite piece for a while.
The presentation is excellent with very useful fingering ideas and the ever-delightful artwork of Swiss artist Corina Sierk dominates the front cover in eye-catching style.
Steve Marsh (Classical Guitar Magazine)
EUCALYPTA for two guitars
by Annette Kruisbrink
Based on a story of a witch by Dutch writer Jan Dulieu. Eucalypta begins with a misterioso harmonics section from both players that leads into a set of grinding chords against a scurrying semi tonally-based idea. After a brief return to harmonics momentarily, a ritmico intervenes marked agitato. The chords used are deliberately angular and violent and there is a good deal of interplay between the players here. A few bars of slower material based on the opening harmonics theme before semiquaver runs bring back the agitato material which in turn melds into a new section where a low booming semiquaver line appears under some sharp biting chords. The opening melody then enters at the same time as all this is still going on and one gets the feeling of a battle taking place with lots of action in both parts. A brief reminder of the opening leads to some further angular chords (from the agitato section) and then - a surprise. The last three bars wind down with an instruction for the guitarists to recite a few lines of text whilst closing the piece. I’m not sure how successful that would be in concert. There are no other areas where the recitation is required, just the last three bars, and they appear as if out of the blue, so to speak.
I found this very characterful. Obviously the music is meant to portray the strange witch that is Eucalypta and one could certainly glean that from the angularity of much of the music, which is only moderately difficult to play, with a lot of work from both players, you understand. As for the odd ending - don’t know. I’d have to see it performed before I could make my mind up on that score.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
WALTZ TRIPTYCH for 4 guitars
by Dan Cosley
Commissioned by the Guitar Ensemble Association of Japan, this is a big piece, with the part scores running to eight sides of paper. The outer sections of the work are jazzy and light, whereas the centre section begins slowly in an almost classical fourpart harmony.
The opening is brisk - one-bar-a-second - and much of the writing is in quavers (eighth notes), so we’re proceeding at six-notes-a-second. The texture is light, with frequent changes of tone and volume, and the paletle of dynamics and Italian terms that the composer uses is both extensive and expressive. Some of the harmonies are dark, with closely spaced notes quite low in the guitar’s register, and some of the imitation is astringent but very effective. But there is also some writing that is light and sweet and the contrast is all the more effective. The concept of a waltz being in 3/4 gives way to some 7/4 and 6/4 writing, and an increase in the note density and volume.
The central section is almost chorale-like with extended harmonic passages, and a tempo that’s one-third of the opening theme. The challenge here is in keeping the parts in step as the passage moves from one-note-per-beat to two, then via triplets to three, then four, then five and finally six-notes-per-beat.
The closing section reprises the opening. but the harmony is thicker and darker,
Although the forces are broadly assembled in order of pitch, Guitar Four does venture high up the neck, and even when underpinning the other parts, has a line that is satisfying.
It’s a big and competent piece of writing aimed at Grade 8 standard, and it’s an interesting listen.
Derek Hasted (Classical Guitar Magazine)
MIMI’S SUITE, opus 72 for solo guitar
by Mark Houghton
Here is a ten-movement suite of delightful miniatures from this Liverpudlian composer. The general mood of the set is of light and innocence with every piece having a lovely melodic touch that is really effective.
Welsh Caravan is in C and/has a great little tune’ that manages to slide effortlessly into Eb for its middle section, A return to the opening idea brings in a small touch of tremolo and an adagio coda. It is all very brief but beautifully written and effective. March of the Piper begins with an “um-ching” type of rhythm and a sliding tune interwoven that needs careful watching if you start the seemingly easy opening too fast. Loyola’s Hymn is a tune in the bass in A major and warm chords above, whilst A Lark in the Park is very fast, in two brief sections that are to be repeated and is in two voices throughout and is lots of fun. The Trip to Bowland has a rippling style of chordal structure with the tune weaving in and out as it goes making this a little harder than the others so far, “The Cat’s Back Waltz” is gentle, and in D major with a rocking two note figure accompaniment that pervades the whole piece. The Angry Woman is another very brief piece of one page in a 6/8-3/4 type of rhythm that slams around in two main voices and ends on a bang with a dissonance, A Study (for the Art Gallery) is jaunty affair with plenty of bounce and some nicely harmonised chords. Bandana (Bolero) is deliberately cod-Spanish in A major (and therefore lots of Bbs lying around), whilst the final Postlude is endearingly warm with another lovely melody that leaves you wanting to try the piece out for friends to hear: that was my immediate reaction anyway.
Yet another nice set from Houghton and not a dud movement in sight. Any moderately good player will really enjoy it, for nothing is too difficult and the music is refreshingly innocent and instantly enjoyable. Lovely.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
FRETBOARD HARMONY
by Jeffery McFadden
For years I taught a course in Fingerboard Skills (fingerboard harmony) at Cal State Fullerton. I searched assiduously for a text that would be usable, given my concept of the course structure. I imagined that I would write such a text - someday - but I never got around to doing it. I always had to cobble together a hodgepodge of items from a wide range of sources. Well, here is the book I would have wanted to use.
Very many guitarists (maybe most?) suffer from inadequate knowledge of the fingerboard and from insufficient familiarity with the logical patterns that musical elements form on the guitar. Increased command of basic harmonic concepts on the instrument brings greatly improved sightreading, memorization, and musical understanding. These, in turn, contribute significantly to secure performance and more informed interpretation.
The book proceeds systematically from elementary scale forms to interval shapes and common chord patterns. Building upon these, it presents chord progressions and simple modulations within common-practice harmonic language. Along the way, the student is introduced to figured bass and harmonization of melodies. Numerous exercises give plenty of application and encourage further experimentation and improvisation.
Highly recommended.
David Grimes (Soundboard Magazine)
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