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Soundboard The Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America
News and Personalities
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Reverberations, by Connie Sheu
Feature Articles 6 John Patykula: Ponce’s Concierto del sur:
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The Story of the 1941 Premiere in Montevideo
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57 Douglas Pringle: The Engineering Design of a Classical Guitar
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Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Return With Us Now/Featured Facsimile: Luigi Legnani: Air nouveau (Scherzo, Op. 10), introduced by Robert Coldwell GFA Contemporary Music Series: Michael Knopf: Bamboo & Running Waters, from Eclectic Fantasies, Set 2 The Guitarist’s Album Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata, K. 1, arranged by Yuri Liberzon Erik Satie, Gnossienne No. 1, arranged by Gonzalo Noqué
INTERVIEWs
61 65 68 18
Douglas Rust and Amy Houghton: Allegro ( J. S. Bach’s Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro, Part 3)
Pedagogy Forum 24 Dimitri van Halderen: A Closer Look at Position Shifts
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The Practice Studio: Dale Kavanagh: Are You a Victim of Auto-Pilot Syndrome?
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Essays in Playing the Guitar: Jack Sanders: Out of Commission
Music
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Renaissance Lute Music for Guitar: Vincente Capirola: Padoana belissima & Recerchar undecimo, ed. by Richard M. Long The Transcriber’s Art: Henriette Renié & Alfred Holý: Two Harp Pieces, transc. by Richard Yates
Chen Zhi, interviewed by Greg Byers Kazuhito Yamashita, interviewed by Lawrence Ferrara Xavier Jax & Thomas Pfefer, interviewed by Risa Carlson
EVENTS
71 75 78 81
First Tianjin International Guitar Festival, Tianjin, China, October, 2011 Hamilton International Guitar Festival Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, July, 2011 La Guitarra California, San Luis Obispo, California, September, 2011 34th Guitar Festival, Château of Ligoure, Limoges, France, July, 2011
REVIEWS & Recent Studies
84 85 90 94 95
Publications, ed. by David Grimes Recordings, ed. by Albert Kunze Publications Received, ed. by David Grimes Recordings Received, ed. by Albert Kunze Works In Progress, ed. by Thomas Heck
SoundboarD The Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America
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Editorial Staff Editor-in-chief: Richard M. Long 10905 Ridgedale Rd. Temple Terrace, FL 33617
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GFA Membership Annual dues include a subscription to Soundboard and are $50 ($30 for students); first class delivery is available for an additional $12 ($14 to Canada, $25 overseas). Single issues may be purchased for $12, and back issues for $7.90. Membership inquiries and questions regarding lost or missing issues should be directed to: GFA Membership Chairman P. O. Box 171269, Austin, TX, 78717 Soundboard is published quarterly by the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational and literary organization, devoted to furthering knowledge of and interest in the guitar and its music. All gifts are deductible for income tax purposes. The opinions expressed in the pages of Soundboard are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Editors, the Board of Directors, or the GFA Advisory Board. Soundboard invites contributions. Please contact the editor for submission requirements. Contributors are requested not to submit to other publications without advanced warning. Unsolicited contributions must be accompanied by return postage, and while every reasonable care will be given such contributions, Soundboard and the GFA are not responsible for loss or damage. ISSN 0145-6237. Copyright ©2011 by the Guitar Foundation of America, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
REvERBERATIOnS Soundboard’s News & personalities column
GFA News The Guitar Foundation of America’s 2012 Convention & International Competition The international classical guitar community’s premier annual event—the GFA Convention and Competition—will be held June 26–July 1, 2012, in historic Charleston, South Carolina. Our host will be the College of Charleston Department of Music and liaison Marc Regnier. The convention will be held at the Marion and Wayland H. Cato, Jr., Center for the Arts on the College of Charleston campus in the heart of the city. Please plan to attend what is certain to be another great GFA Convention in beautiful Charleston. See the GFA website for more details and registration information. The Competition Circuit Xo Certamen Internacional “Luys Milán” The finals for the Xo International Competition “Luys Milán” de Guitarra were held in Valencia, Spain, on December 16, 2011. Awards were presented to the following participants: First Prize was awarded to Ekachai Jearakul, Second Prize to Claire Sananikone, and Third Prize to Ihar Dzedusenka Sanja y Plohl. Shinichiro Tokunaga was a Finalist, and Sanja Plohl was awarded the Public Prize. Albert Rodríguez received the Rosa Gil Award for a performer born or resident in the Valencian Community, and Claire Sananikone received the Rosa Gil Award for Interpretation of Spanish music. Tokyo International Guitar Competition The 54th Tokyo International Guitar Competition was held on November 19–20, 2011, at Tokyo’s Nikkei Recital Hall. Organized by the Tokyo Federation of Guitarists, the competition included two preliminary rounds and a final round. Koki Fujimoto ( Japan) was awarded First Place, Florian Larousse (France) received Second Place, Hiroshi Kogure ( Japan) received Third Place, Andrey Parfinovich (Russia) received Fourth Place, and Fifth Place went to Oegmundur Thor Johannesson (Iceland). Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Michele Pittaluga Guitar Competition The 44th annual Classical Guitar Competition “Michele Pittaluga” was held September 26–October 1, 2011. The winners were Cecilio Perera of Mexico (First Prize), Kyuhee Park of South Korea (Second Prize), and Jonathan Bolívar of Venezuela (Third Prize). Congratulations to the winners of this year’s historic guitar competition. International Guitar Competition “Maurizio Biasini” With the final round on October 16, 2011, at the Teatro Manzoni of Bologna, the first edition of the International Guitar Competition “Maurizio Biasini” came to an end. Before the international jury, each of the three finalists played a guitar concerto accompanied by an orchestra directed by Maestro Alberto Martelli, President of the Jury and Artistic Director of the Competition. The other members of the jury were Gérard Abiton (Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Paris, France), Marco Vinicio Carnicelli (Conservatorio “N. Piccinni” of Bari, Italy), David Tanenbaum (Chairman of the Guitar Department at the San Francisco Conservatory) and Walter Zanetti (Conservatorio “G. B. Martini” of Bologna, Italy). The first prize, €12,000 and the opportunity to play two solo concerts, was awarded to the 24-year-old Petrit Çeku from Zagreb, Croatia (born in Kosovo), for his performance of
Cecilio Perera of Mexico, first place winner of the Classical Guitar Competition “Michele Pittaluga.”
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the Concerto No. 1 in D, Op. 99, by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. The second and third prizes (€5,000 and €3,000) went, respectively, to the 24-year-old Italian Emanuele Buono, who played Mauro Giuliani’s Concerto No. 1 in A, Op. 30, and to Srđjan Bulat, also 24-years old and from Zagreb, for playing the Concierto para un gentilhombre by Joaquín Rodrigo. For more details, visit: http://www.guitarcompetitionbiasini.org/ News Around the Globe Rafael Aguirre Wins Pro Musicus Award Spanish guitarist Rafael Aguirre has just been awarded the Pro Musicus Award, a prize which includes engagements at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Longy School of Music, and Salle Cortot in Paris. Aguirre is the first guitarist to obtain this prize in the past ten years, as this competitive award, with more than sixty entrants this year, is open to all instrumentalists. Segovia In Montevideo Translation In 2009, Alfredo Escande completed his Don Andrés y Paquita: La vida de Segovia en Montevideo, a very interesting book about Segovia’s “missing years,” the decade in which he called Montevideo, Uruguay, his home. An English translation was recently completed in the Uruguayan capital, and the American publisher Amadeus Press has contracted for the worldwide rights to the English edition, which is scheduled for release in the spring of 2012 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the passing of the Spanish maestro. Above, right: Rafael Aguirre; Below right: Alfredo Escande (left) with translators Marisa and Charles Postlewate and Paquita Madriguera’s daughter, María Rosa Puig Madriguera (second from right), in Montevideo, February 24, 2011.
Miodrag “Mijo” Ćupić, 1936-2011 Although the ex-Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro can be considered as the country in the region with the youngest classical guitar tradition, it is today an area where the instrument is very widely accepted. It was slowly introduced to the public between the two world wars, especially starting from 1930, first by joining the various tambour and mandolin ensembles. After the Second World War, with the rapid expansion of activity by serious guitarists, the instrument reached high levels of both theory and practice, and emerged with remarkable results in guitar pedagogy, performance, and composition. Much of this was accomplished thanks to the great Montene-
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gran classical guitar pioneer Miodrag Ćupić. Unfortunately, the end of the past summer brought us sad news: Miodrag died on August 20, about a year after the unexpected death of his beloved wife, Branka Ćupić. Born in the little town of Donji Zagarč on March 15, 1936, Mijo (as his friends use to call him) belonged to the first generation of Montenegran professional classical guitar musicians and teachers. Besides music, he has also studied art history and literature, and was one of the most brilliant and productive Montenegran authors. Throughout most of his life, Mijo taught guitar at the music school in the capital, Podgorica. In 1972, he published his first two didactic guitar Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
works, The Classical Guitar, Vols. I-II, together with notable musician Rudolf Zakrajšek, who was in those days director of the Elementary Music School “Vaso Pavić“ in Podgorica. Four years later, in 1976, Mijo completed his Guitar School, an instructive method, the pioneering work of classical guitar pedagogy in Montenegro. Ćupić’s large œuvre consists of more than one hundred different solo and duo guitar pieces, published in various editions in Montenegro, Serbia, and abroad. His music is often permeated with Mediterranean colors and tradition. For many years, he was president of the Composer Society of Montenegro. In addition to his musical works, Ćupić published over thirty books of poetry, prose, essays, music and literary criticism, etc. Some of these titles were forbidden during Tito’s time because Ćupić was considered a dissident and a writer who often stood up against Communism and totalitarianism. Later, he became one of the most active members of the Montenegran Writers’ Society, which has received a large number of domestic and foreign awards. Miodrag Ćupić will be remembered as a good and warm person, who used to say that, in life, everything can be considered at the same time as center and margin; he believed that a good writer and artist carefully looking at the margins can better perceive and comprehend the center. He was a man of refined sensitivity and an absolute believer in beauty. Not long before his death, Mijo established a special foundation “Miodrag i Branka Ćupić,” which will continue to assist and promote youthful talent. —Uroš Dojčinović John M. Gilbert, 1922-2012 With great sadness we report the sudden passing of the eminent luthier John Gilbert on February 23, 2012, at his home in Woodside, California. John was recognized by the Guitar Foundation of America with the Industry Leadership Award at the 2010 GFA Festival in Austin, Texas. John is survived by his wife of more than sixty years, Alice, daughters Jane, Valerie, Linda, and a son, William. Another daughter, Eileen, an artist, unfortunately passed away in 2003. As a self-taught luthier who built his first instrument in 1965, John retired as the Chief Tool Engineer for HewlettPackard in 1974 to build guitars fulltime. Gilbert Guitars ushered in a new era of instruments with their great tonal clarity, ability to project in large halls, and distinctive design. Receiving a U. S. Patent for his tuning-machine design, John began production of the Gilbert Tuners in 1990; they are now made exclusively by his son-in-law, Greg Matonis, who also trained as a machinist. In addition, John was a mentor to many Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
of the current generation of luthiers, notably his son, William, who carries on the legacy of his father’s approach and design. A more thorough chronicle of John and his work will appear in the next issue of Soundboard. Ronald Purcell Memorial Recital Former students, family, and many friends of Ron Purcell gathered at California State University Northridge (CSUN) at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012, to commemorate his life with the guitar. Here is a list of Ron’s former students and what they played: •Cameron O’Connor: Hommage to Purcell, Op. 170, No. 3, by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco; •Bryan Fasola: Lachrimae (Flow My Tears), by John Dowland; •David Schramm: “Fandanguillo” from Suite castellana, by F. Moreno Torroba; •Jordon Charnofsky: Two Impressions: Reflecting Pool at Kamakura, and Laguna Breeze, by the performer; •Jeff Miley: Nardis, by Miles Davis (arr. Ralph Towner); •Jeff Cogan: “Valseana” from Aquarelle, by Sergio Assad; •Gregory Newton, with pianist Patricia Hannifan: Guitar Concerto, first movement, by James Stewart; •Grant Geisman and Eddie Arkin: Guitarism ( for Ron Purcell), by Grant Geisman.
Each performer also shared personal reminiscences of Ron, and his wife Beth spoke briefly after the concert. The Continued on page 32
On the Cover
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t would probably not occur to the casual observer that the cover of the present issue was created by the same person who made the beautiful collage on the cover of Soundboard, Vol. XXXVII, No. 1. Not only is Marie Stone van Vuuren an incredibly versatile artist who works in a broad variety of media, but she is also an accomplished classical guitarist who teaches the instrument at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. She is also a partner (with her husband) in SV2 Studios (www.sv2studios.com), where she works with film and video production, producing music, and editing. Regarding this issue’s cover, she relates: “This piece is entitled Gypsy Guitar for its bright festive colors, movement, and rhythm. I was listening to Django Reinhardt and wondering what to paint. I took pastel in hand began making rhythmic strokes and this image emerged. A faint expression of laughter hides in the background. … I chose oil pastels for this piece because of their brilliant hues, which express the vibrancy of Gypsy guitar music.” •
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Ponce’s Concierto del sur The story of the 1941 premiere in Montevideo by John Patykula
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he great Mexican composer Manuel M. Ponce (18821948) began the earliest sketches of his guitar concerto in 1926 in Paris. Although the Italian Mario CastelnuovoTedesco (1895-1968) was the first major composer to actually produce a guitar concerto in the twentieth century, Ponce’s Concierto del sur was finally completed in 1941, the premiere taking place on October 4 in Montevideo with Andrés Segovia as soloist. Why did it take so long for Ponce’s guitar concerto to be completed? In many of his letters to Ponce, Segovia brings up the progress of the concerto: “How is the concerto going? Have you worked on it?” (1928); “And my concerto, how is it? (1929); “Are you continuing with the concerto? When will we be able to work on it?” (1930).
In a December, 1929, letter, Segovia even enticed Ponce with the opportunity to have his guitar concerto premiered in Barcelona with the great cellist Pablo Casals as the conductor. Segovia wrote, I was with Casals, … whom I told you were writing a concerto for guitar and small orchestra for me, and immediately he asked me to reserve the premiere for his orchestra in Barcelona, which I so promised, with supreme pleasure, naturally. I told him that it should be worked up for next fall, and that I would send him the score as soon as you have finished it.
The Orquestra Pau Casals, established in 1919, was considered one of the finest orchestras in Europe, with Casals as its principal conductor. Casals made it a point to include works of contemporary composers. The orchestra also attracted the world’s finest soloists and guest conductors. Unfortunately, the orchestra disbanded in 1936 at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Any possibility of having Ponce’s concerto premiered in Spain under Casals’ baton vanished. Segovia would later explain why Ponce delayed completing his concerto for guitar. From the spring of 1926 the principal themes of this work were germinating in his (Ponce’s) spirit, but the circumstances of my errant life, which separated us for long years, prevented him from continuing it and bringing it to a finish. It must be admitted that this delay was also due in part to a certain skepticism in both of us. We feared that the tenuous and expressive sound of the guitar would be swallowed up by the orchestra, or that its delicate and poetic timbres would fade before the sonorous mass, like small lanterns of the night before the invasion of day.
Manuel María Ponce
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In 1937, Segovia left Spain to escape the ravages of the Spanish Civil War. He relocated to Montevideo, Uruguay. While bringing a high level of sophistication to the guitar community and concert scene of the Rio de la Plata, he continued to maintain some level of touring in Europe for the next two years. In 1939, Castelnuovo-Tedesco completed his guitar concerto. Segovia had initially hoped to have this new work premiered in London by the BBC Orchestra in a Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
radio broadcast. In an August, 1939, letter to Ponce, Segovia wrote: “Through radio the correction, if it were lacking in sonority, would be easy: simply by moving the guitar a little towards the microphone and moving the orchestra back. If that test is good, I have already promised to do it with fifteen orchestras in Europe.” In that same letter to Ponce, Segovia wrote: While Castelnuovo was writing the first movement, I was in Florence with Paquita (Segovia’s wife at that time) and together we were remembering, with Castelnuovo and some other friends, the theme of the one you began. And believe me, we were all deploring the fact that you had not continued it.
Montevideo was considered to be one of the “essential stops” for any South American concert tour. Opera companies, orchestras, dance companies, ensembles, and soloists all wanted to perform there. The history of this important concert hall is well-documented in The Teatro Solís: 150 Years of Opera, Concert, and Ballet in Montevideo by Susanna Salgado. This beautifully written book provides not only a fascinating history of the quantity and quality of performances that became part of Montevideo’s cultural life, but also contains valuable information on the various performers, including when they performed and, in many instances, what was on the program. The year 1920 was a memorable one for the guitar at the Teatro Solís. Segovia made his debut at this historic concert hall with a series of three concerts, the first taking place on June 27. The program for that first concert included the following selections:
Segovia concluded his letter with these ominous thoughts: “I am grieving over the growing menace of the European war. It will be the destruction of our old world, dear Manuel.” With the outbreak of World War II, in September of 1939, any hopes of having Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s concerto premiered in Europe were dashed. Segovia decided to utilize the cultural resources that were available to him in Montevideo. One may wonder why Montevideo, Uruguay, would be such a major center for music during this period. It is important to look at Uruguay’s history and culture in order to get the answers. One musicologist wrote that Uruguay “is a white man’s land, and its culture has little of either the Indian or the Negro.” Because of its location and long coast line, Europeans were immediately attracted to this new land in the 1500s. As the ethnic Indian population was driven out, immigrants from Spain, Italy, England, and other European countries populated the land and strongly influenced every aspect of life. Uruguay became known as the “Switzerland of South America.” Culturally, educationally, and financially, Uruguay was a progressive society, one that was similar to most European countries. The concert audiences in Montevideo were considered to be some of the most cultured and sophisticated in the world. Italian opera became a favorite with the population beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. Montevideo’s Teatro Solís, originally built in La Matriz, the cathedral of Montevideo, which was the inspiration for Agustín 1856 as an opera house, became one of the most Barrios’ La Catedral. Barrios lived in Montevideo for a number of years important concert halls in South America. Indeed, beginning in 1912, and made his first recordings there. Photo R. M. Long. Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
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“Andante” and “Allegro”
Capricho árabe “Bourrée” “Andante” “Minuetto”
Canzonetta Two Dances Granada, Cádiz, and Sevilla
Sors Tárrega Bach Beethoven Schubert Mendelssohn Granados Albéniz
That same year, Segovia would also give performances at the Teatro Solís on July 4 and July 25. These ground-breaking performances opened the door for other guitarists to perform at the Teatro Solís, including Miguel Llobet, María Luisa Anido, Regino Saínz de la Maza, and Emilio Pujol. Segovia would return to the Teatro Solís in 1928 for a series of five concerts. In 1929, the government of Uruguay established the radio service “Servicio oficial de difusión radio-eléctrica,” also known as SODRE, as a cultural tool and resource to promote music and art. In 1931, the orchestra of the SODRE, Orquesta sinfónica del servicio oficial de difusión radio-eléctrica— OSSODRE—was established. Lamberto Baldi (1895-1979), who had emigrated from Italy to South America, became its first official conductor in 1932. He quickly established
Andrés Segovia
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the OSSODRE as one of the finest orchestras in all of Latin America. The orchestra helped Montevideo “become a symphonic capital of the first rank.” The OSSODRE would play a vital role in the premiere of Ponce’s concerto. In the late 1930s, Segovia and Baldi became acquaintances, allowing for an historic musical collaboration between the great Spanish guitarist and Baldi’s orchestra. The eminent Italian guitarist Angelo Gilardino wrote: Segovia premiered the Concerto in D by CastelnuovoTedesco on October 28th, 1939, at Montevideo, Uruguay, with the SODRE (Servicio Oficial de Difusión RadioEléctrica) Orchestra. The conductor was, as usual, Lamberto Baldi. The composer did not attend the premiere; at that epoque he was in the U.S.A., where he had emigrated three months earlier. He would listen to his own concerto only several years later, after the Second World War.
Segovia would later perform Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s concerto in Mexico. Segovia wrote, “Ponce himself led the orchestra when I performed this concerto in Mexico, and the unforgettable experience was just the spur that the Mexican composer needed to make him exhume and reawaken his long-sleeping themes, and work on them with ardor.” With the success of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s concerto, the precedent of a guitar concerto had been set. This event helped to dispel any doubts that Ponce had about the feasibility of a guitar concerto, in particular, the balance of the guitar and orchestra. With Segovia’s constant encouragement, Ponce renewed his work on his concerto with the idea that the premiere, like Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s concerto, would take place in Montevideo. In order for this premiere to become a reality, Segovia enlisted the help of the distinguished musicologist Francisco Curt Lange (1903-1997) in arranging a cultural visit by Ponce to Uruguay. The visit would be an official one, sponsored by the government of Uruguay with the assistance of the government of Mexico. Ponce would give a lecture on the history of Mexican music, as well as conduct two concerts of his orchestral works with the SODRE orchestra. One of these concerts would feature the premiere of Ponce’s concerto for guitar. Segovia also would arrange another concert in Buenos Aires, which was a short plane or boat trip over the Rio de la Plata from Montevideo. One cannot overestimate the importance of Francisco Curt Lange to Latin American music during Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
this period. Lange, who came to Uruguay from Germany in 1923, was the foremost Latin American musicologist of his time. He was known as a great promoter of cultural activities, including advancing the works of Latin American composers. He also had strong to ties to Montevideo’s SODRE radio service and its orchestra. Lange was well-known throughout North and South America for his Boletín latino americano de música (BLAM), a periodical that was published in Montevideo from 1935-1941 through the Instituto interamericano de musicología, which he co-founded. He also founded the Editorial cooperativa interamericana de compositores, which helped promote and publish the works of Latin American composers. Through these publications and his work as an educator and organizer, Lange initiated a movement called americanismo musical, which fostered the music of both North and South America. Lange was a patient person who knew how to overcome all of the difficulties in organizing a big cultural event, including negotiating with the various government officials. While these negotiations were taking place, Ponce worked in earnest on his concerto, sending segments of it written on “the finest air mail paper” to Segovia. Ponce included a piano reduction of the score so that Segovia could work on it with the assistance of his wife, Paquita, who was a brilliant concert pianist. The first portions of the concerto arrived in early October, 1940. Segovia wrote to Ponce:
Eureka … ! The surprise has been a true outburst of happiness. Paquita and I immediately put ourselves to deciphering your tiny writing and we both congratulate you with all our heart. At the same time we admire your spiritual fortitude for extra work reducing the guitar and piano parts to such a clear miniature.
Segovia would later write that: “Every time the postman came to the house with a bulky envelope, it was a holiday for my wife and me. We used to suspend our daily study so that we could put our whole hearts into the reading and rereading of the pages which had just come from the venturesome pen of the Maestro.” Segovia was very fortunate to have had the assistance of his wife Paquita at this time in his career. According to one source, Paquita Madriguera (1900–1965) first met Segovia in 1919. The two musicians eventually married in 1935; this was Segovia’s second marriage. As a wedding present for the couple, Ponce added a keyboard part to his Baroque inspired Prelude in E Major for guitar, which he had composed years earlier. Of this gift, Segovia wrote to Ponce stating: “It is the best wedding gift that Paquita and I have received. It benefits both of us at the same time and the using of it produces ineffable pleasure in us ….” Many years later, Segovia would record this work with the Colombian harpsichordist Rafael Puyana. Guitarist Enric Madriguera, director of guitar studies in the School of Arts and Humanities at University of Texas at Dallas, wrote that,
Montevideo’s celebrated venue Teatro Solís, where Andrés Segovia premiered Ponce’s Concierto del sur. Photo R. M. Long.
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Paquita Madriguera was a pianist and student of Granados in Barcelona. Paquita was my aunt. She had quite a career as a concert soloist and performed also with Maestro Segovia in many concerts internationally. Alberto Escande, an Uruguayan journalist, has released a book entitled Don Andrés and Paquita. The book discusses their lives together on many levels. It is in Spanish, and I believe that the book was reviewed recently in Soundboard. … Also, a biography of Segovia by Alberto Lopez Poveda, the director of the Segovia Museum and Archive, has a photo and some detail about Segovia and Paquita. The two-volume set is a recent publication of the University of Jaen (Spain). Finally, there is a CD of Paquita Madriguera released by a British company on a series entitled Great Women Pianists. It is re-mastered from a piano roll which my aunt made, in the late 1920s I believe. While Paquita did not play the guitar, she did compose at least one piece, Humorada, published by Columbia Music and recorded by John Williams.
As with other works by Ponce, Segovia did suggest several changes to the guitar part of the concerto. In one letter, Segovia wrote Ponce stating that: “I have modified a few small things … All the essentials are intact.” In another, Segovia requested several changes to the cadenza of the first movement. Viewing a copy of the original score, one can immediately see that several modifications to the guitar part were made. However, a thorough comparison of the original score with the published score will be left for another article. Finally, through Segovia’s tenacity and hard work, the plans for Ponce’s visit to Montevideo were completed. The composer arrived there on August 29, 1941. The next evening, Lange hosted a reception of the Society of Authors and Composers of Uruguay, with Ponce as the honored guest. On September 20, Ponce gave a lecture on the history of Mexican music to an audience of about two thousand. Ponce wrote to his wife, Clema, that: “I don’t think there could ever have been a more cultured and attentive audience … I had to go back on the stage three times. More than two hundred people came to congratulate me.” The following review of Ponce’s lecture appeared the next day in the newspaper La Mañana: Yesterday in the SODRE, before a large audience, the Mexican composer Manuel Ponce gave a lecture, as announced, on the development of the art of music in his country. He began with the Aztecs and all pre-Hispanic music, down to our own day, in the course of this interesting lecture. One can say, then, that yesterday we were present at a worthy expression of Latin-Americanism.
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Ponce’s first concert took place on Oct. 4, 1941, at the Estudio auditorio del SODRE. The program featured some of Ponce’s most important orchestral works and the newly composed Concierto del sur. Ponce conducted all of the works except the Concierto del sur, which was conducted by Lamberto Baldi. According to the Uruguayan guitarist Abel Carlevaro (1916-2001), who attended the rehearsals and the premiere, Ponce specifically “asked Baldi to take over for his own work so that he could listen to its first public performance.” The program included the following compositions: Pequeña suite en estilo antiguo Concierto del sur (with Andrés Segovia, soloist) Poema elegíaca Chapultepec
This first concert was a tremendous success. El Debate, one of the major newspapers in Montevideo, published the following review the day after the concert: The magnificent concert offered yesterday in the OSSODRE with music by maestro Ponce, and with the guitarist Andrés Segovia, has left a very deep impression. We have been present at an evening of superior art. The music of the eminent composer Manuel Ponce is magnificently inspired and of extraordinary quality. His guitar concerto, a new work offered in absolutely its first performance, gave much pleasure and drew from the public a long ovation, so that the third movement had to be repeated.
After this first concert, Ponce wrote to his wife, “God be thanked; enormous success last night. I cannot remember how often I had to go out and thank the audience. The public was delirious.” A second concert of Ponce’s music took place on October 11, 1941, again at the Estudio auditorio del SODRE. This concert featured the following orchestral works: Estampas nocturnas Concierto para piano y orquesta (with Paquita Madriguera as soloist) Ferial
Ponce would later travel to Buenos Aire where a concert of his orchestral works was presented on October 20, 1941, in the Teatro nacional de comedia. Ponce was the conductor for all of the works. The program included the following works: Chapultepec Concierto del Sur (with Andrés Segovia as soloist)
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Poema elegíaca Ferial
As part of his tour, Ponce travelled to Santiago, Chile, where he conducted a concert of his works. The Concierto del sur was not performed there, but the program did include the following compositions for orchestra: Pequeña suite en estilo antiguo Chapultepec Poema elegíaca Ferial
Years later, when Segovia gave the New York premiere of the Concierto del sur in Carnegie Hall, a reviewer for the New York Times wrote that the balance between the guitar and orchestra was not a problem and that “the orchestral scoring never gave the sense of skimpiness … it afforded far better opportunities for effective solo work on the guitar.” The reviewer for the Herald Tribune was more laudatory, writing that Ponce’s concerto: was a marvelous success and a true musical experience, a work so perfectly conceived for guitar and orchestra that it recreated the Andalucian ambience with variety and subtlety, by the amplification and development of Andalucian themes on which it was based, so appropriate to the guitar. The guitar has perhaps never reached a higher level than was enjoyed by [the] Carnegie Hall [audience] listening to Segovia in this admirable concerto.
From the earliest sketches in 1926 in Paris to its premiere in 1941 in Montevideo, Ponce’s Concierto del sur is also an excellent example of the creative process, a process that took many years with doubts and obstacles to overcome. Segovia’s assessment of the importance of this work can be seen in a November, 1940, letter to Ponce: “It is a delight. If this is not your best work, I do not know what other one would be … I do not know what to tell you about it, only that I would not have wanted to die without having gotten to know your delightful music.” Years later, the Mexican guitar virtuoso and pedagogue Jesús Silva, who studied with Ponce at the Conservatory in Mexico City, would comment that Ponce’s music is “strong because it is subtle. It has that power. It goes deep into the performer and the audience.” Sources Alcázar, Miguel, ed., The Segovia-Ponce Letters. Trans. by Peter Segal. Columbus, Ohio: Editions Orphée, Inc., 1989.
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Boletín latino americano de música (Instituto interamericano de Musicologia, Montevideo). Francisco Curt Lange, ed. Vol. 5 (1941) Carlevaro, Abel. My Guitar and My World. Heidelberg: Chanterelle, 2006. Casals, Pablo. Joys and Sorrow. New York: Touchstone Books [Simon and Schuster]), 1970. Corvera, Jorge Barrón. Manuel María Ponce: A Bio-Biography. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2004. Escande, Alfredo, Don Andrés y Paquita: La vida de Segovia en Montevideo (Montevideo: Alfredo Escande, 2009). Lange, Francisco Kurt, ed., Latin-American Art Music for the Piano by Twelve Contemporary Composers. Selected and provided with a preface and biographical data by Francisco Curt Lange. New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 1942. Otero, Corazón. Manuel M. Ponce y la guitarra. Mexico City: Fondo nacional para actividades sociales, 1981. Pinnell, Richard. The Rioplatense Guitar: The Early Guitar and Its Context in Argentina and Uruguay. Westport, Connecticut: The Bold Strummer, Ltd., 1991. Salgado, Susanna. The Teatro Solis: 150 Years of Opera, Concert, and Ballet in Montevideo. Middleton, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2003. Segovia, Andrés. “Manuel M. Ponce: Sketches from the Heart and Memory,” in Guitar Review, Vol. 7 (1948). Slonimsky, Nicholas. Music of Latin America. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., Inc., 1945. Other: Angelo Gilardino (personal email communication, February 6, 2011) Enric Madriguera (personal email communication, January 13, 2011) Curt Lange Archive web site. Biographical note on Francisco Curt Lange. Retrieved September 28, 2011, from http://www.curtlange. bu.ufmg.br/iguia_pgs/iguia03.htm New York Times concert review. January 14, 1946. Reviewer listed as “N. S.” Ponce, Manuel M., Concierto del sur. Copy of autographed score. Acknowledgement: Shaun McCracken, researcher with literaryresearcher.com, for her help in editing this article. John Patykula is Assistant Chair and Coordinator of the Guitar Program for the VCU Department of Music. %
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The Engineering Design of a Classical Guitar by Douglas Pringle, Engineer and Luthier
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his article will be structured by presenting the design attributes sought after in a world-class guitar (see the box on this page), and how engineering and art are brought to bear in the development and optimization of these. The attributes are presented in order of importance as reflected by the opinion of the author; of course, the list is subjective and each person can come up with a different list and order.
honeycomb) as a means of separating two thin soundboard plates. Others use balsa braces capped with carbon fiber composite in a lattice pattern. These approaches lighten the soundboard considerably and usually result in significantly higher volume, but they still alter the filtering characteristics and can introduce a different timbre. Wood such as German spruce is a natural material that has an amazingly favorable stiffness-to-weight ratio. Using a systematic structural meTimbre or Quality of Sound chanics approach to the design of the soundboard has yielded This is that quality that makes us say “that is a great sounding ultra light weight in an all wood construction. The result is a guitar;” it is, of course, very subjective. One of the character- thin plate (1.1 mm) supported by a lattice patterned bracing. istics of most acoustic instruments is the use of wood in its The braces that support the torque created by the string tenconstruction. Wood has non-linear internal dampening that sion are solid spruce while the lateral braces (orthogonal to causes a specific filtering of different vibration frequencies. the longitudinal dimension) are balsa-capped with German In fact, each wood species results in a different filtering. An spruce. By using a high aspect ratio (2.2:1), the braces mainanalog of this effect can be thought of as different equaliza- tain a weight of less than 1 gram each while maintaining the tion settings. required moment of inertia (stiffness) This results in a timbre that is often to effectively support the string tension. Desired described as a “woody” tone, and is genAnother very important factor afAttributes of the erally found to be quite beautiful. The fecting volume is impedance matching. classical guitar: introduction of engineered materials In simple terms, impedance matching such as carbon fiber composites to the allows an efficient transfer of energy Timbre, or Quality of Sound flexing areas such as the soundboard between the string, soundboard, and air. Volume alters the filtering characteristics. This is somewhat analogous to riding a Balance These result in a different timbre; some ten-speed bike at the gear position that Sustain people claim to be able to hear a plastic best matches the riders pedal cadence to Projection overtone. This can be desirable to some the forward speed. The classical guitar Intonation people and not to others. I prefer the use has a sweet spot for impedance matchPlayability and Action of all wood in the soundboard, which ing when the fundamental resonance Range of Color Palette is the principal flexing/vibrating area of is in the area of notes between the low Harmonics the instrument. G and A. Serviceability Finally, the soundboard is built Upgradability Volume with what I have called “intentional Physical Balance or Center of Gravity Volume can be measured objectively asymmetry.” This places the nodes of Weight using a digital sound pressure meter vibration of the fundamental and the Aesthetics in units of decibels. The same meter is higher modes at optimal positions on Value used to quantify balance. The holy grail the soundboard with respect to the Price of guitar construction has been to make string positions at the bridge (IllustraManufacturability the soundboard as light as possible tion No. 1). Durability while respecting the structural demands An often overlooked part of the Odor of string tension. Some approach the weight equation is the bridge. A roseInspiration challenge by using Nomax (Kevlar wood bridge of traditional design Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
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that produces similar volume in any of the notes rendered. Timbre is enhanced by allowing the higher harmonics of each note to be present, and this results in richness of tone. Harmonics is the ability of an instrument to reproduce specific harmonics by plucking a string while stopping it at the natural nodal points, and is also related to being able to access higher vibration harmonics. It is a wellknown fact the soundboard has several modes Illustration No. 1 (above): Soundboard and Bracing; of vibration. The trick is to produce a dellustration No. 2 (below): Pyramidal Bridge Design – 10 g sign that provides a smooth and continuous access to the higher vibrational modes. The modes should come in a somewhat regular pattern of frequencies which are evenly spaced. I use an approach which I call “soundboard mapping.” The flexibility of the soundboard is measured at strategic points, and the bracing pattern and final thicknessing support a smooth pattern of flexibilities that avoids sharp differences or discontinuities (Illustration No. 3). The results of a lightweight soundboard and bridge and careful control of flexibilities is a guitar that produces 96 decibels measured at 38 cm. from the soundboard. The balance is measured by looking at the standard deviation of the weighs about 28 g. This adds a considerable amount of weight volumes of all notes and results in 1.4 decibels. at the origin of vibrations where it is least wanted. Again, by using a structural mechanics approach, the bridge is hol- Sustain lowed out selectively in areas that have minimal structural Sustain is the measure of how long a plucked string can susimportance. The result is a bridge weighing 10 g. shown in tain an audible note. It is a measure of energy efficiency. A Illustration No. 2. lightweight soundboard has less material to cause internal dampening and the corresponding loss of energy. A rigid back, Balance: sides, and neck also reduce the loss of string energy to surfaces There is a correlation among balance, timbre, harmonics, and and structures that are peripheral to the production of sound, width of color palette. Balance results from an instrument allowing more energy to be focused at the soundboard and
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the production of sound. Also, the choice of wood affects the sustain since some wood “rings” more when tapped. I use ringtone in wood selection, but I place more priority on the relation between density and stiffness. I have developed a simple equation that relates density and stiffness to allow for a more optimal selection of wood. Stiffer is generally better, and so is lighter, but they seldom go hand-in-hand. Using engineering principles, the following equation was derived to properly account for each factor: S=E/d3 where d is the density of the material; E is the modulus of elasticity (stiffness) and S is the predictor number; the higher the S the better. What this equation shows is that lower density is much more important than higher stiffness. Projection: Projection is the ability of an instrument to focus the sound forward, toward the audience. By focusing the sound production on the soundboard and minimizing the vibrations of the back, sides, and neck, the projection is enhanced. One design feature that addresses this is a double back and double side design. Two hardwood sheets such as rosewood are spaced apart by 6.37 mm of structural aircraft foam. Similar designs are being used by other luthiers. Separation of the load bearing surfaces causes a significant increase in stiffness and a minimization of energy loss to these peripheral structures. The small additional weight in this area is welcome, since it improves the physical balance of the instrument (see Illustrations Nos. 4-5). Intonation, Playability and Action Intonation, playability, and action result from the accuracy of the fret placement and the bridge saddle placement and
Illustration 3 (below): Apparatus Used to Measure Flexibilities
shaping. The bridge saddle is compensated differently at each string by the placement of the saddle and individual crowning where each of the strings rest. Playability results mostly from a low action and an instrument sensitive enough to produce high volumes of sound at moderate attack energy. A low action is enabled when the neck is straight and stable. The neck
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Illustration No. 4 (above): Wood / Foam / Wood Sandwich Back; Ilustration No. 5 (below): Wood / Structural Foam / Wood Sides
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We could give you stupendous quotes from various famous critics and recommendations by the great icons of music and the guitar. But we feel that you, the listener can decide for yourselves on the qualities of these recordings. Visit our website and audition over 45 minutes of complete pieces and/or movements in mp3 and streaming audio format. Also included are rare recordings and sound samples of music by Fuenllana and Segovia. (And for those who are interested; reviews, interviews, essays on Sor and the use of period instruments in 19th century guitar music, libraries which currently own our recordings and links to other music and guitar related sites.)
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is reinforced with two 12.7 x 6.35 mm carbon fiber beams placed internally. The flex and vibration of such a stiff neck is minimal, and the effect of alterations in filtering by the carbon fiber material is negligible. The use of these beams also allows the elimination of the heel, as shown in Illustration No. 6. To further enhance playability, the neck is elevated. This allows easier access to the higher fret positions beyond fret XII, and a very precise fret dressing which results in the lowest action possible without string buzzing. The resulting string height over the twelfth fret is 2.2 mm at the first string and 3.3 mm at the sixth string.
sides with a cumulative force of one hundred pounds. The neck is attached with three bolts to allow removal. A fully assembled guitar can be taken apart within fifteen minutes. This allows complete access to the inside for adjustments, repairs, upgrades, or replacements. Having an easily removable soundboard also allows for a precise calibration of the map of flexibilities and an optimization of the timbre and volume. The removable neck allows for a precise adjustment of the neck angle and action. Upgrades and alterations can be made to the instrument such as a change in neck width, spruce to cedar conversion of the soundboard, and others.
Range of Color Palette and Harmonics: Smooth access to the higher vibrational modes enhances the width of the color palette and the production of the string harmonics. This adds to the ability of the musician to express the different nuances and phrases required by the composition and his or her sensibility. The methods to achieve this are similar to those described above, under Balance, but wood selection is also important. Each species and specimen of wood is unique in the way it filters and allows some vibrations to go out and others to be attenuated. An intimate knowledge of these characteristics can be harnessed to good effect.
Physical Balance and Center of Gravity Center of gravity should be such that the instrument is not top- or bottom-heavy. The player should be able to play with a minimum force required to maintain the neck at the most comfortable playing angle. Although this might be considered a nuance, it does add to the satisfaction and playability. The double-back and double-side design facilitates the placement of an optimal center of gravity.
Serviceability and Upgradability: During my 25 years building and servicing guitars, I have come across many fine instruments that have a bowed neck and/or bellied soundboards. Some of them have been total losses because the cost of repair surpassed the value of the instrument. The traditional classical guitar is glued together extensively and it is very difficult to access the interior for repairs or replacement of parts. I have incorporated the use of small rare-earth magnets to produce an easily removable soundboard. The soundboard is attached magnetically to the
Illustration No. 6: Elevated Neck with No Heel
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Weight: Some musicians prefer a lightweight instrument; others prefer to feel some heft. Too much weight can be fatiguing, too little can allow the whole instrument to vibrate excessively with a corresponding loss in focus, sustain, and projection. I design the instrument to weigh between 1.75 and 2.25 kg. Æsthetics, Value, Price, and Manufacturability A guitar made with select woods, high craftsmanship, and good design is not only beautiful to look at, it is a pleasure to play and should be a good investment. The price should be affordable and the instrument should appreciate in value over time. Designing with manufacturability in mind should allow an instrument to be affordable. Durability A good guitar should be durable and have an expected lifetime of over 25 years. Careful design and execution of the soundboard and bracing should provide not only acoustic responsiveness but long-term stability against deformation from string tension. Using carbon fiber composite beams to reinforce the neck is a guarantee against bowing and loss of playability. Finally, a guitar that can be Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
taken apart greatly simplifies adjustments, service, upgrades, and repairs. Odor This aspect is not often talked about, but a guitar that has a great odor improves the æsthetic experience. Sometimes this is subliminal, but it is more important than commonly acknowledged. The use of unfinished Spanish cedar parts in the interior of the guitar provides a very pleasant olfactory experience. Inspiration We normally tend to over-analyze our artistic appreciation, but the guitar is a holon, and should provide a holistic experience. Everything should blend together seamlessly—sound, action, projection, visuals, odor, balance, etc. Inspiration results when all the above-mentioned attributes come together in a well designed and executed instrument that is a joy to play. Douglas Pringle’s engineering career has spanned work with NASA, Intel, Pfizer and MiMedx in the areas of manufacturing, management and research and development. As a luthier, he has built 89 classical guitars since 1987. During the past two years he has worked intensively on the design and development of several innovations on the classical guitar. %
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Above: Douglas Pringle at his band saw.
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The Bach Prelude, Fugue & Allegro, Part III:
Allegro by Douglas Rust & Amy Houghton1
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his article, the last in a series of three about Bach’s Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro, BWV 998, will discuss the kind of performance decisions that result from its phrasing and how those decisions could shape the expression of this piece on the large scale. The discussion is meant to interest guitarists who either are studying to perform this piece or who are developing their approach to teaching it. The article will demonstrate that relationships between phrases in this brief and sunny Allegro are surprisingly complex, and that they lead to deeper issues that enrich its interpretation. Written for lute or lute harpsichord around 1740 (the exact composition date is not known2), the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E Major has been transcribed for guitar and is now performed and recorded most often by guitarists. This article will refer to the piece in its transposed key of D Major. Returning to the topic of phrasing, a good place to begin is with a single clearly-defined phrase such as the one that occurs in the last six measures of the A section (the piece is in binary form with sections A and B). We hear the phrase beginning when a familiar melodic idea starts a new ascending pattern that alternates with a persistent pitch (notated A4, but on the guitar sounding an octave lower) in the implied inner voice. The ending of this phrase sounds even more convincing as it concludes on a strong cadence six bars later—followed by a repeat sign that marks the end of the entire A section. Performers who group together these six measures as one phrase probably will feel justified when they find that the whole six-bar phrase repeats (transposed) at the end of the B section. This phrase is the only one in the composition that occurs in both sections. Once a guitarist has identified this phrase, he or she will have to decide how to perform it with a musically expressive shape. Relying upon their intuition and training, guitarists will seek a way to impart to these six measures the same kind of natural musicality that one hears in a sung vocal phrase. The extent to which they succeed will have a strong effect on
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the artistic merit of their performances. After all, the way that each phrase leads on to the next in Bach’s Allegro regulates the pace of musical development in the piece, builds metric relationships that are on a larger scale than the notated meter, and reveals characteristic patterns of phrasing that are different between the A and B sections of this binary form. Such a wealth of interpretation hinges upon one’s ability to communicate phrases. Our discussion of phrases began with a six-bar phrase at the end of the A section that is repeated at the end of the B section. More commonly found in the Allegro are phrases that result from a two-bar musical idea that is sequenced. Example No. 1 shows how mm. 7-8 relate sequentially to mm. 9-10 and 11-12, respectively, forming a six-bar group. Performers will often choose a specific dynamic shape (with accompanying timbre, phrasing, and articulations) that can be replicated for each two-bar unit of this sequence to make the repeat sound more noticeable. Articulations and slurs on Example No. 1 approximate the way that David Russell performs this passage.3 Slurs in the upper voice follow the rhythms of the lower voice during m. 7; then, the highest three notes in the next measure receive a more emphatic articulation, one that draws attention to these notes through changes in dynamics and timbre without breaking the continuity of Russell’s underlying legato approach. Certainly, this is only one of many possible interpretations, yet the important message here is that crafting a specific approach to measures 7-8, to be repeated over the next two pairs of measures, is a first step toward showing sensitivity to a musical context of sequential repetition. Bringing out the sequential repetition in mm. 7-12 achieves a desirable side effect by helping the audience to perceive the measure groupings intended by the composer. Bach carefully wrote half-barlines after each odd measure and full-barlines after each even-numbered measure of the Allegro, thus implying a metric pairing of accented and unaccented measures throughout the movement.4 The repetition
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of two-bar musical ideas reinforces the hearing of such a metrical organization, especially since the pattern begins in an odd-numbered measure (m. 7). And the benefits do not stop there. Such a performance could possibly achieve yet another metrical consequence, because the perception of two-bar sequential repetitions in mm. 7-12 points to an even deeper metrical structure taking place in this Allegro—a grouping of pairs into larger units of six measures. When the music of mm. 7-8 is twice repeated sequentially, the resulting passage subtly acquires its own unique identity within the A section as a separate contrapuntal pattern of six measures’ length. The same can be said of the sequential repetition that follows immediately from mm. 1318, or of the last six bars of the A section (mm. 27-32) which, as the reader will recall, prolong a melodic ascent and lead to a strong cadence. Each of these passages groups together six measures into a distinct entity (the unit beginning at m. 7 also groups together the first six measures, upon reflection) so that almost all of the A section follows a pattern of musical ideas which cohere into six-bar groups (see Example No. 2). Such frequent use of six-measure entities imposes a stabilizing effect upon the pace of musical events throughout the A section. Yet there is one small passage that does not follow this pattern, the eight bars from mm. 19-26.
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Measure 19 begins to repeat the music heard at m. 1 and, since m. 19 happens to be the point at which the music modulates decisively to A Major, it can sound as if the piece were beginning again in a new key. The repeated opening material lasts four complete measures before the exact musical resemblance begins to fade quickly away; thus, it readily divides mm. 19-26 into two phrases of four bars each—four bars of repetition followed by four bars of new material. Daniel Lippel, in his recorded version of the Allegro,5 brings out the phrase division by beginning an accelerando in m. 23 (the first bar of the new phrase) that rushes to reach the highest note of the A section on the downbeat of m. 25. Other guitarists use a noticeable rise and fall in dynamics to coax the four bars of mm. 23-26 together into a phrase. Such decisions ultimately will be entrusted to the creativity and intuition of the performer, whose decisions about phrasing will have a dramatic effect upon the expressive shape of this A section. One last phrasing issue to consider in the A section arises from the melodic contour of m. 12. This is the last of a sixbar grouping and it is a sequential repetition of m. 10 and m. 8 before it, yet it also bears a strong likeness to the melodic contour of the next measure, m. 13, and also to the measures that follow. In a way, m. 12 can be perceived as simultaneously the last of one six-bar group and a prototype of the next
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six-bar group. Perhaps it is for this reason that Julian Bream6 chooses to change his right-hand position at this moment in the Allegro and begin picking closer to the bridge. The striking timbral change associates m. 12 more strongly with the music that follows and it encourages the perception that perhaps Bach used the last melodic idea of the old sequence to inspire the first idea of the new one. In contrast with the first half of the Allegro, the B section begins not with pairs of measures joined into six-bar groups, but with four-bar musical ideas. These groupings of four are reinforced through repetition (see the summary in Example No. 3). The six-bar organization does not return until the end of the piece. Just as the repetition of two-bar musical ideas held together passages of six measures in the A section, so the fourbar repetitions within the B section combine to form units of
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eight, or even more than eight, measures. Thus, when listening carefully to a performance of the Allegro, one can hear musical organization over gradually increasing spans of time. At the beginning of the B section, for example, the four-bar passage of mm. 33-36 repeats (transposed down a fifth) in mm. 3740, forming a distinct group of eight measures. Then, an even longer passage starts in m. 41 as the tonality shifts to E minor, elaborated by a descending bass, first in the upper register (mm. 41-44) and then answered at a lower octave register (mm. 45-48). Yet, there is a consequence to this lower-octave repetition beyond a mere echoing of the previous four-bars; it widens the register in preparation for the varied repetition of this same chord progression that follows immediately (mm. 49-52). Example No. 4 shows how the two upper voices of the original four-bar idea exchange places to provide the upper counterpoint for mm. 49-52. This varied repetition recalls the
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descending-bass progressions using a voicing that combines the registral expanse of both its predecessors. The breadth of this passage, once it is attained in m. 49, is held until the E minor cadence formula confirms the tonality eight bars later. What results is the largest distinct musical structure articulated thus far, a sixteen-measure grouping held together by a common key center (E minor) and by the double repetition of its first four bars which expands into wider and wider registers until it is answered finally by an extended cadence formula. This descending-bass progression marks the first time in the piece that we hear a musical idea followed immediately by its octave transposition. Perhaps there is some irony in the way that the simplest, most-audible repetition leads into the largest single-measure grouping heard thus far. Nevertheless, there is one measure grouping that extends even longer than this one. It begins when the descending-bass idea returns in the tonic, D Major, and it concludes at the end of the piece, spanning some thirty-two measures! When the descending bass progression returns in D Major at m. 65, it begins in exactly the same way as the earlier, E minor, version, with a four-bar bass descent repeated one octave lower. Were it to continue to follow the pattern established in the E minor passage, then the two iterations of the descending bass would be followed by a revoiced variation of that progression in a wider register that would lead to a convincing cadence in the sixteenth measure. The expected cadence does not arrive, however, and the progression restarts at m. 81, delaying the full tonal closure until the movement’s last bar.
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The eight measures leading up to m. 80 contain some of the most intense musical expression in this otherwise cheerful Allegro, as they approach the place where the expected cadence is denied—replaced by a dramatic ascent to the highest pitch in the piece (notated D6, but on the guitar it sounds an octave lower). Relying upon what has been heard earlier in the piece, one might expect to hear a variation on the D-Major descending-bass progression (like the variation that followed the E-minor descending basses around m. 49), but instead of that, Bach wrote a new passage that is a remarkable hybrid of motivic references—one passage that relates to four different places in this movement simultaneously (see Example No. 5). The music of mm. 73-80 appears in the center of Example No. 5 surrounded above and below by four excerpts from other places in the Allegro. Beginning in m. 73, a two-bar melodic idea is sequenced in a manner reminiscent of the A section as shown at the top left of Example No. 5 by an excerpt from mm. 7-12. This excerpt has a two-bar contour pattern that recurs twice, to make a six-bar sequential repetition (just like the top voice of mm. 73-78). Descending lines in the implied inner voice recall the stepwise bass descent of m. 69, shown at the bottom left (with notes of the descending line encircled) while the four outer-voice tenths in every other measure follow the voice leading outline of the transition passage from mm. 57-64 shown at the bottom right. The ascent of the uppermost voice from F 5 in m. 65 to the D6 of m.72 prepares the rapid descent of that line from D6 back down to F 5—itself a reference to the melodic falling sixth that begins the piece. The opening motive at m. 1 is shown at the top right of Example No. 5.
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Performers could choose a variety of approaches to highlight some of the motivic connections shown on Example No. 5. Jason Vieaux,7 for example, plays two-bar crescendos that make the two-bar contour patterns of mm. 73-78 sound more noticeable. Each two-bar crescendo begins a little louder, and the last one continues past its second bar and culminates at the high note in m. 80, so the combined effect of his three crescendos brings out the upper-voice ascent from (notated) F 5 and it grows louder until the D6 is attained. Meanwhile, Vieaux plays tenuto upbeats in this passage that lend urgency to the arrival of each downbeat. This practice, along with the two-bar crescendos already noted, places extra emphasis on the outer-voice tenths in mm. 75, 77 and 79. In summary, Vieaux’s interpretation brings out at least three different motivic features of this dense passage: the two-bar contour patterns, the outer-voice tenths, and the gradual preparation of the Allegro’s highest pitch. His is just one good example of how well-chosen performance techniques can enhance the drama of this passage and help listeners to notice the confluence of musical ideas that shape its expression. Instead of the tonic resolution that is expected at m. 80, Bach wrote a dominant harmony that stamps the end of this passage with the stark impression of an anticipated goal left unfulfilled. Ending with such a disappointing outcome, it seems only appropriate that the passage would start over and try again for a better solution, so the return of the D Major descending bass music (heard before in m. 65) is readily interpreted as a renewed beginning, even as the consistent eighth-notes of the bass line propel that repeated music with more momentum. Christopher Parkening’s recording of this piece8 underscores the effect of restarting at m. 81 through at least two different methods. First, he applies a tenuto emphasis on beat two (using a shorter duration for its upbeat) throughout the phrase that begins in the upper voice at m. 65, at its repetition in m. 69, and at its return in m. 81 to make the association between descending basses sound more noticeable. Secondly, he uses a freer, more flexible time feel during mm. 73-80 and then returns to a strict meter as the descending bass restarts this passage at m. 81. After the passage begins again at m. 81, followed by a brief transitional passage, the return of the opening motive at m. 89 (this time over tonic harmony) signals the long-awaited tonic cadential closure. Guitarists often do not play the leading tone to the tonic cadence at mm. 90-91, even though its presence is implied in the organ tablature of the original manuscript and it appears in the Neue Bach Ausgabe.9 This practice has some advantages, because the omission of the leading tone from this cadence,
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coupled with the sudden change to the middle register in m. 90, leaves some unfinished business to be resolved by the final cadence six bars later. That last cadence provides the expected closure in the upper register using a chord progression that comes fully equipped with a properly-resolved leading tone. In conclusion, a thoughtful awareness of the phrasing in this piece can unlock important secrets to its musical expression. Recall, for example, how repeated passages in the A section form groups of six measures to produce a higher level of metric organization.10 A performer who recognizes that organization and who identifies those few passages that challenge the six-bar pattern gains the privilege of responding creatively to Bach’s design (either through intuition, or conscious planning, or both). Likewise, a deeper understanding of the more intricate B section design and the important role of repetition in it can help guitarists to consider a broader perspective when fashioning their own creative approach to this piece. To the extent that this broad perspective brings musical concerns and new technical challenges to one’s interpretation, it can add artistic depth to performance. It should be noted, at this juncture, that many structures, ideas, and patterns in other domains such as rhythm and voice leading have not been discussed here, partly for space limitations. An interpretation of the voice leading alone could easily double the length of this article. For now, may it suffice to recognize that other structures exist and their interaction sometimes will coincide with the phrasing and repetition discussed above and sometimes will contradict them. Despite the fact that the Allegro moves faster than its Prelude and Fugue, and despite its shorter duration, it is rich with musical and expressive ideas that require a lifetime to learn and appreciate. It is hoped that this brief article will help inspire guitarists to follow the quest. Having noted the faster tempo of the Allegro in the preceding paragraph, it seems appropriate to add some comments about the guitarist’s choice of tempo for each movement of the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro. There is a wide variety of issues to be considered, and that probably accounts for the wide variety of tempos chosen by different performers (see Example No. 6 for a table of tempos). Movement titles such as “prelude” and “fugue” offer less direction than pieces titled “menuet” or “alla breve” in terms of the composer’s tempo intentions. Even the title “allegro,” which places the beat value between 120-168 on a metronome,11 is not very prescriptive (less than half of the performers in Example No. 6 perform the Allegro at a tempo within this range) and probably identifies the mood of the piece more than it specifies a tempo.12 As a result, performers Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
follow different inclinations in choosing a tempo. Some favor slower tempos, others tend towards faster tempos, and some vary their tempo choices from movement to movement more drastically than others.13 Ultimately, guitarist must take into account the context of each performance, the instruments they will use, and their own dispositions and temperaments, combining these factors with their own experience and understanding of the piece in order to find the tempo that will convey their artistic visions most clearly. We hope that the analyses presented in these three articles will help deepen artistic responses to the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, and that a comparison of the tempo markings in Example No. 6, along with a careful listening to some of the recordings, will help performers to discover the tempos that work best for them. Notes
Unlike the earlier two articles in this series, this article is cowritten. Amy Houghton provided much of the form analysis presented here (especially the overall design of the B section) and worked together with Douglas Rust on the editing and production of this article. 2 The approximate composition date of 1740 is suggested by the editors of the new Bach edition; see Hartwig Eichberg and Thomas Kohlhase, eds., Johann Sebastian Bach: Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke: Kritische Berichte, Series V, Vol. 10 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1
Artist
Prelude Fugue Allegro
1982), 92. 3 David Russell, David Russell Plays Bach, Telarc 80584-25, compact disc. An interesting variation of this idea occurs in Karl Wolff ’s recording of this passage [Baroque Music for Guitar, Clear Note CN-BFMG, compact disk]. Like Russell, Wolff emphasizes the three notes atop m. 8 with a specific articulation pattern, but Wolff uses that same pattern also on the downbeat of m. 7 (his pattern emphasizes all three notes but it forges an audible separation between the second and third note). As a result, Wolff ’s performance creates a motivic relationship between the first three notes of m. 7 and the highest three notes of m. 8). 4 Ledbetter writes a detailed account of this metric situation that is well worth reading. He describes the meter of this movement as “triple time with a second, lighter downbeat after the half bar-line.” David Ledbetter, Unaccompanied Bach: Performing the Solo Works (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), 263. 5 Daniel Lippell, J. S. Bach: BWV 998, 1003, 1010, New Focus Recordings 2005, compact disk. Yamashita also accelerates towards this same high note in his recording, but the accelerando begins much earlier—I first notice it around m. 7 (Kazuhito Yamashita, Bach: Works for Lute (Guitar Version), brinrinri 2008 [a reissue of Crown CRCC-12], compact disk). 6 Julian Bream, Julian Bream plays Dowland and Bach, Deutsche Grammophon (reissue of A Bach Recital for Guitar, Westminster CLP 1929), compact disk. The listener will notice that Bream changes the octave register of the F# on the downbeat of m. 12, which further separates this bar from what is heard in m. CD Documentation
Barrueco, Manuel
82
Manuel Barrueco Plays Bach and … Visée, Angel/EMI CDC 66575
Bream, Julian
82
56
158
Julian Bream Plays Dowland and Bach, Deutsche Grammophon (2008).
Galbraith, Paul
100
78
170
J. S. Bach: Lute Music (arranged for guitar), Delos DE3258.
Hackett, Steve
120
Tribute, Camino Records CAMCD39
Leisner, Jacob
70
68
162
J. S. Bach, Azica ACD-71210
Lindberg, Jakob (lute)
76
64
164
Bach’s Lute Music, Vol. 2, BIS 588.
Lippel, Daniel
70
62
162
J. S. Bach: BWV 998, 1003, 1010, New Focus Recordings (2005)
Martínez, David
70
64
192
Guitar Recital, Naxos 8.557808.
Ostersjo, Stefan
78
104
202
J. S. Bach: Lute Suites, Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro, dB Productions dBCD80
Parkening, Christopher
78
206
Parkening Plays Bach, EMI/Angel CDC 47191
Russell, David
68
62
182
David Russell Plays Bach, Telarc 80584
Vieaux, Jason
76
64
172
Bach: Works for Lute, Vol. 1, Azica ACD-71250.
Williams, John
70
72
202
John Williams Plays Bach: The Complete Lute Music …, Columbia M2 33510
Wolff, Karl
66
72
154
Baroque Music for Guitar, Clear Note CN-BFMG
Yamashita, Kazuhito
66
64
220
Bach: Works for Lute (Guitar Version), brinrinri (2008)
Example No. 6, Approximate tempos for selected recordings of J. S. Bach’s Prelude, Fugue & Allegro, BWV 998. Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
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11 immediately before it. 7 Jason Vieaux, Bach: Works for Lute, Vol. 1, Azica ACD 71250, compact disk. 8 Christopher Parkening, Parkening Plays Bach, EMI/Angel 47191, compact disk. 9 Hartwig Eichberg and Thomas Kohlhase, eds., Johann Sebastian Bach, Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke: Kritische Berichte, Series V, Vol. 10 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1982), 121. 10 This higher level of metric organization is better known as hypermeter, an organization in which groups of measures are said to form hypermeasures; see Frank Samarotto, “Strange Dimensions: Regularity and Irregularity in Deep Levels of Rhythmic Reduction,”
in Schenker Studies 2, edited by Carl Schacher and Hedi Siegel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 222. 11 The authors recognize that Maelzel did not invent the metronome until 1816, too late to influence the tempo indications of J. S. Bach. 12 Thus performers are advised by musicologists Mary Cyr and Reinhard Pauly. Concerning the allegro tempo marking specifically, they write, “Allegro in Baroque music implies ‘cheerfully’ (but not necessarily fast).” Mary Cyr and Reinhard G. Pauly, Performing Baroque Music (Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1992), 31. 13 Yamashita, for example, has the fastest Allegro tempo and is tied for the slowest Prelude on our table. %
Pedagogy Forum
A Closer Look at Position Shifts by Dimitri van Halderen
W
hen I am teaching, it never ceases to surprise me that some students don’t seem to relate technical difficulties to the actual work they do on technique. I know this sounds like a rather extravagant statement, so let me elaborate a little. I once had a guitar student who was particularly apprehensive about a scale passage in a chamber music piece. I asked her how she practiced her scales, to which she replied that she didn’t. It seems completely obvious to me, and to most teachers, I’m sure, that you have to work on scales, arpeggios, slurs, and other specific techniques to be able to play them well when they appear in a piece. In fact, it seems so obvious that some of us sometimes forget to mention it! I’m a firm believer in working on the basis of your technique. It’s how I cleaned up my own playing, and I am very grateful to my teachers who showed me the way. More and more, I have come to realize that technique is knowledge— knowledge of the instrument and of your movements (that is, all your movements, not just hands and fingers). And I believe that this approach is vital when it comes to working on position shifts. Every so often, I exclaim to my students, “But this position shift is very easy,” only to receive a rather hurt kind of look from them in return. In chamber music, we, more often than not, have to learn to play rather difficult music in a short period of time. If you are not thoroughly familiar with the geography of your instrument, you will be lost. And how much time do we spend per day practicing the technique of position shifts? Right! Very little. So here are some ideas that have helped me and my students.
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Posture Very basic, but oh so important! I gave a chamber music concert the other day and made the classic mistake of not asking the organizers if there were chairs without armrests in the hall. They eventually brought me a foldable chair that was so old and battered that the seat inclined forward. This made me sit some ten centimeters lower than I’m used to and, as a result, changed completely the relationship of my body to the instrument. The result is that I played less securely. Usually, this kind of problem is easily avoidable. What is more important, however, is practicing with a good posture. Classical guitarists who play too often without their footstools or guitar supports (except Flamenco technique, of course) tend to be messy players. You are what you practice, and every time you play sloppily you take a step backwards. But even if we play with a correct position, I often observe (not least in myself ) that we tend to move our bodies during the position change. We bend our backs, we move our entire bodies to the left, we lift our legs, we make faces …. All of this is fine, of course, providing that we know at every moment how our hand is moving in relation to the fretboard. I recommend that you practice your position shifts with your body completely still, moving only from the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints. Then, if you still feel the need for an additional movement, either make it before the position shift, or during the shift. Focus on your physical awareness and let all your muscles work together towards a single goal. Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Exercises Here are some exercises that I like to do. The first of these (above) is designed to familiarize yourself daily with the most common positions (I, III, V, VII and XI). During this exercise, pay attention to your posture. Do not play fast at first; it is of the utmost importance that you play it perfectly. Strive for a firm, clear sound. When changing to the second finger, gently shift the weight from the first to the second finger. When preparing for the position change, gently lift up the fingers in a relaxed manner, relax your thumb, and make a calm and gentle
Then you can turn it into the Exercise below, a rather difficult exercise. Again, this should be done with all the two-finger combinations, on all strings, and if you want, you
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movement into the next position. Imagine you’re moving in water; slow is the key word here. Make sure that the position change brings both fingers above their respective frets, and not just the one that plays first. The whole exercise should give you a pleasant physical sensation. When you speed up the exercise, keep the feeling of slowness in your movements. This exercise should be done on all strings, with all possible two-finger combinations, until you master it. Here I give you all of them on the sixth string:
can apply this exercise to any left-hand fingering pattern that you want to practice. Have fun!
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Scales Most people practice position shifts when they practice their scales. Separating the two, however, can be helpful for both the shifts and the scales. Let’s take a close look at the shift from second to fifth position in the basic C-major scale (above). To execute the shift from second to fifth position, we have to lift the third finger, shift the first finger while keeping it on the string, play the note C, and then play the note D with the third finger. Please keep in mind that that last step is an integral part of the shift, because if we can’t press down the third finger comfortably, how can we continue with the rest of the scale? I would like to highlight various important points here. First, make sure that the notes A and B are executed perfectly, and that your body is as relaxed as possible. To check this, make a sighing sound. (It is impossible to sigh with a tense upper body. Try it!) Lift the third finger calmly, keeping everything relaxed (including the thumb), and now easily slide into the fifth position. Imagine that an invisible string is softly and slowly pulling your little finger, instead of forcing the movement, pushing from your first finger. I like to imagine this movement as being akin to sliding into a hot bathtub. Instead of focusing on where the first finger ends up, focus on the location of the third finger above the note D. Be aware that the movement of the shift is not a movement of your hand, but of your entire arm. If you move (without the guitar) only from the elbow, you will see that your hand moves along a curved line. To make a straight line with the hand, we must, therefore, move the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints simultaneously. This sounds a lot more complicated than it is. Just try to move your hand along the neck of an imaginary guitar. Then repeat this on your actual guitar, but not touching the strings. Lastly, repeat the shift with this same relaxed feeling. Better? Things get more complicated when we play a three-octave scale, for instance, G-major (below). Let’s analyze the shift from seventh to twelfth position (if you use a different fingering, just bear with me for now, and later apply these ideas
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to whatever fingering you use). To me, and I guess to most of us, the seventh position is one of the most comfortable, because the spacing between the frets is very well adjusted to the spacing between the fingers. But when I shift to the twelfth position, suddenly my hand is forced into a position that it doesn’t like at all, and the tension even extends to my arm, shoulder, and neck. Why is this? Fortunately the answer is very easy. The reason is that it is physically impossible to play comfortably with the same hand position in the twelfth position as in the seventh. The best way to work is to start with the tricky bit, the twelfth position. First, relax your body, straighten your back (pushing upward from the pelvis) and let your left arm hang down. Now, position your first, third and fourth finger on the twelfth, fourteenth, and fifteenth frets, respectively. Move slowly and be aware of all your movements. To do this well, all of us have to adjust our basic position a little bit, leaning slightly to the left. Keep this movement to a minimum, and, above all, be aware of it. Now put your left-hand thumb in a comfortable position. When I do this exercise, I end up with my fingers well curved, leaning on the fingertips, my wrist slightly curved forward and my thumb placed very low behind the neck, more or less behind the tenth fret. Beware of simply copying the hand position of another player, however, because we all have different hand shapes. What feels the same to two different players might look quite different. Once we have found a comfortable position for the fingers, move the hand slowly to the seventh position. Relax the fingers, letting them slide along the string without pressing it down. Imagine that an invisible string is pulling your hand from the side of the first finger. Don’t forget to relax your thumb, especially as it will have to take up its normal position again (more or less behind the second finger). Also, bring your back into the standard position again. Now repeat the exercise, but playing the notes (top of next page). Once you feel comfortable, work on the shift from seventh to twelfth position in the same way.
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Now let’s look at the whole scale (this page, second from the top). One problem with a scale like this is accumulated tension. And we accumulate tension mostly by not executing the shifts correctly. In my opinion, the only way to get rid of this kind of tension is to be aware of our posture (back, shoulder, upper arm, lower arm, wrist, hand, and ultimately the fingers) at all times. To achieve this awareness, I’ve developed another exercise. We’re going to make all the movements needed for the left-hand to execute the notes, except the movements of the fingers themselves. I like to think of it as a choreography. Position the fingers of your left hand comfortably in the second position, letting them “hover” above the sixth string. Now, slowly bring them down to the third string, make the shift to seventh position, bring the fingers down to the first string, shift to the twelfth, shift back to seventh, etc., until you’re back where you started. Practice this exercise very slowly, again focusing on the awareness of all your movements. Now, play the whole scale (with the notes), but with the same awareness. Realize that all of these movements are quite slow, even when playing a fast scale. When you work on this kind of position shifts, the following checklist might be useful: •Am I relaxed before the shift ? And are all my fingers in a good position? •Am I relaxed during the shift (thumb!)? Sigh during the shift if this is a problem for you. This will relax you automatically. •Am I relaxed after the shift ? Are my posture and hand position such that I can play all the notes that I need to play in this position? •Did I alter my posture? If so, how does this affect my right hand? Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
•Where am I going next? Is my current posture sufficiently relaxed and prepared for the next shift, or am I blocked in some way? And if I am blocked, when and how did this happen? Slurs and shifts All guitarists should practice their slurs daily. Most of us use some variation on the next exercise (above, third from the
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top). Although I believe this exercise essential for building up left-hand strength and stamina—and it certainly improves our coordination—it does not train us for slurs in combination with position shifts. There are many examples in the standard repertory of instances where the left hand has to fly all over the neck while executing all kinds of slurs; for instance, the first and sixth variation of Sor’s Opus 9, the last movement of Barrios’ La Catedral or the fifth variation of Ponce’s Thème varié et finale (Segovia edition). I have found these passages much less difficult after working on the exercises above. Again, the exercises have to be executed on all strings with all possible left-hand finger combinations. I give them with first and second fingers on the third string. I would highly recommend working again on body awareness, and I also recommend that these exercises be varied to train the execution of multiple note slurs, trills, and all sorts of left-hand embellishments. Then, if you are brave enough,
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you can start working on Barrios’ fiendishly difficult Estudio de ligados. Chords and shifts This may be the most common problem of them all. The misconception is that we often think that the position shift is the problem, when usually it is the chord shape. The key here is again to separate the two. Prepare the chord shape without putting the fingers down, then gently shift the hand into the desired position. It helps, of course, to have a guide finger on one of the strings, and this may even be a finger that later does not play. Once you can do this fluently, try to prepare the chord shape during the position change, again focusing on the bodily awareness and slowness of movement. The ideal is to use all your muscles together, helping each other, to achieve a single goal: to go from one comfortable position to another. Also be aware in this kind of situation that often the entire
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hand position changes during the position shift. To work on independence of the fingers during position changes, I recommend the chord exercise on the previous page, below. Again, you can vary this exercise endlessly, for instance by substituting these chords for chords from the pieces you are practicing. Some General Observations •Your eyes are slower than your hands, do not try to follow a shift with your eyes, but look ahead to where you are going. •Think of what comes after the shift; don’t become tense. You have to be able to play what comes after the shift as well. •Be aware that the frets are closer together in the higher positions than in the lower positions, and adjust your hand accordingly during the shift. •Don’t rush! The movement of the arm is already quite fast. (Baseball pitchers throw their fast balls at a speed around 100 miles per hour.) More time is lost correcting a sloppily executed shift than is won by a fast movement of your arm. •Even if you execute a shift completely cleanly (that is, without any form of glissando), imagine a subtle portamento in your inner ear. That way, the movement will become a part of the music and therefore will come more naturally to you. •Practice separately the choreography of your movements, i.e., everything except the fingers. Awareness of these movements will greatly increase your security when performing under pressure. •Enjoy the technical aspects of your playing. It is very hard indeed to communicate the joy of music when you are engaged in a battle with your instrument. •Avoid a “blocked” feeling. Make sure that at any time you can move your hand into any direction without having to “unlock” any muscles. •Focus on all that you will play when you reach the new position, not just the first note. •If you have a lot of consecutive position changes, find a bodily posture that allows you to play comfortably in all of these positions. For instance, when we play in very high positions we incline our bodies to the left, which makes it impossible (at least for me) to play in the lower positions. Try, instead, to make your back hollow, pushing your belly forward into the guitar. This posture will allow you to connect all the shifts. Work daily on the basics. It will be your reference during your whole life. It will make you know and love your instrument. Don’t be afraid of shifts! They are not as hard as you think. % Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
T H E
1 2 T H
New York Guitar Seminar A T
M A N N E S
HIGH PERFORMANCE: Preparation for Auditions, Concerts, and Competitions June 19 – 24, 2012 Featuring: Denis Azabagic, Jason Vieaux, Dale Kavanagh, Stephen Goss, Amadeus Duo, Cavatina Duo, Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo, Mariano Aguirre, Duo Cantabile, Peter Argondizza, Francisco Roldán, Carlo Valte, Mário da Silva and others. 150 W. 85th Street, NY, NY 10024
212-580-0210 x 4883 www.newschool.edu/mannes/guitar
The Practice Studio
Are You a Victim of Auto-Pilot Syndrome? by Dale Kavanagh
I
n master classes over the past twenty years, I have repeatedly run into the classic case of “autopilot playing.” As musicians, we are attracted to the world of music though the love of sounds and atmospheres, rhythms, etc. Different techniques are required in order to learn, enjoy, memorize, and understand a piece—in order to make it really our own. When students sit down to learn a new piece, often they have not given themselves enough tasks or projects to keep practice time interesting. Maybe they are trying to do everything at one time, or it may appear easier simply to play a piece over and over and over again. I am not saying, of course, difficult sections should not be drilled. Drilling is also required at times, but a lot of practice time is wasted and injuries are developed by mindless repetition. So what to do? How many times have we had a brilliant idea and not written it down? I suggest to students to make a list of “Things to Do” and hang it on the walls of their practice rooms. Each day, or each practice session, will consist of some technical preparation (of course), but when it comes down to working on the actual repertoire for the day, pick an exercise from the list and try to really achieve success with this little project. So what goes on the list? Lots! I will give some suggestions, but please add whatever you can think of to your list. Let’s first look at the music. I would assume that we understand the structure, know about the performance practice style of the piece, have sight read through and identified the different problem areas. Think of the other incredible responsibilities that we have while learning this piece. We don’t just have a single line to play, we have to do it all: melody, accompaniSoundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
ment, control of rhythmic structure, precision, dynamic plan, articulation, line independence, colors, and all at the same time. It can be quite overwhelming. We must learn by listening, singing, and doing the dance. 1. Is it a piece with a complicated rhythmic structure? How about drumming? 2. Sing, sing, sing. This is intended for every line and every note in a chord, everything. I want a piece to become part of me, and singing makes me feel that I have really gotten to know every note. I want to shake hands with every note. 3. The Dance. Choreography! The left hand. Beautiful hand movement is almost always good hand movement. The left hand is, for me, like ballet dancing. I feel it is important to connect every possible movement in the left hand. Make your piece completely legato first, and articulate after. 4. Count, count, count. Out loud! Conduct yourself ! 5. Check out your right-hand tricky parts. Are you aware of what the right hand is doing, or are you simply thinking of the left hand and letting the right hand do “whatever”? 6. How many personalities does your piece have? A piece has, in fact, multiple personalities. At different tempos, it has a totally different character. In order to have a complete personality, each one of the personalities must be met. Extremely slow, medium slow, slow, a little faster, etc., until it is so fast that the control is on the verge of collapsing. Every speed must be played as intensely musically as possible. 7. Motor skills are also important, if the other techniques of mastering a piece are conquered. Put your guitar out of tune miserably and play through the piece; this can check your auto
31
pilot. Just in case. 8. Dynamics. What is your dynamic plan? Try to think things through to the end. Exaggerate dynamics, experiment with other ideas just for the exercise, but (of course) do respect what the composer has written. 9. Breathing. Some guitarists breath loudly, or hold their breath so that they cannot hear themselves. Play through a piece while consciously concentrating on smooth, relaxed breathing. 10. Check the last note of every phrase, and check the last note of every bar with faster notes, to make sure that they are not being cut off. 11. Think of the attack precision for the first note of every run. I find that if that first note is secure, then I am well on my way. 12. Visualize your entire piece: notes, dynamics, etc. 13. Concentrate on totally relaxing the muscles while playing the piece. Think of shoulders, back, neck, and tongue for example. 14. Record yourself, phrase by phrase. These are just some of many practice time exercises that you can use to make your practice time both more useful and more enjoyable .%
Reverberations, continued from page 5 Music Department hosted a reception afterwards. —Thomas Heck New Guitar Concerto Available Derwyn Holder has composed a pleasantly modern-sounding Concerto for Classic Guitar and Orchestra (three movements, 17'30"), and wants to let GFA members know that it is available for consideration and programming. He has mounted two-minute synthesized excerpts of each movement on YouTube to give classic guitarists a way to check out the sound and pursue further contact with the composer, if interested. The link is http://youtu.be/PAzsClrhvZg. — Thomas Heck A Correction Mychal Gendron has requested the following clarification regarding the article “The Suzuki Guitar Experience,” published in the Pedagogy Forum section of Soundboard, Vol. XXXVII, No. 3 (2011). The last paragraph on p. 44 reads “A U. S. Suzuki Guitar Committee was later formed, consisting of Bill Kossler, Frank Longay, Seth Himmelhoch, Andy LaFreniere and David Madsen.” Instead, the paragraph should read, “A U. S. Suzuki Guitar Committee was later formed, consisting of Frank Longay, Bill Kossler, Seth Himmelhoch, Andy La Freniere, Simon Salz, and Erin Johnson.” %
I get a lot of musical and artistic
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even new things learned in the towns I just played,
WKDW·VDQH[FLWLQJWKLQJ JASON VIEAUX Head, Guitar Department BACHELOR OF MUSIC | MASTER OF MUSIC | DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS | ARTIST CERTIFICATE | ARTIST DIPLOMA | PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
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32
Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
international classical guitar competition
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Essays on Playing the Guitar
Out of Commission by Jack Sanders
I
n 2011, David Starobin was recognized by the Guitar Foundation of America with an Artistic Achievement Award for his lifetime of performances, teaching, and, especially, the incredible body of music that he has commissioned from more than three hundred composers. Almost every significant composer from the past fifty years, including George Crumb, Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, Mario Davidovsky, Lucas Foss. and too many others to mention, wrote music for David. The torch that Andrés Segovia lit when he asked Ponce, Rodrigo, Tansman, Moreno Torroba, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, et. al., to write pieces for him was well passed to Julian Bream and his list of notable commissions: Takemitsu, Britten, Henze, Walton, Tippett and others. Mr. Starobin carried the torch well, substantially raising the bar for guitarists who pursue commissions. Not insignificantly, the respected composer Mel Powell also wrote a piece for Starobin. Setting (1986) was composed more than a decade before Powell’s passing in 1998. A sixminute piece of atonal, pointillist musings, Setting is very challenging and has not established itself in the standard classical guitar repertoire. This, despite Starobin’s excellent 1993 recording on Bridge Records and Powell’s significant musical background, which vaulted him to the top of two very different musical genres—be-bop jazz and avant-garde classical music. Born in 1923, Powell played piano, composed and arranged music for Benny Goodman in the early 1940s, was a member of Glenn Miller’s Army Air Force band during World War II, and even performed in Paris with Django Reinhardt at the end of the war. Turning exclusively towards classical music in 1948, Powell studied composition at Yale with Paul Hindemith. Powell’s compositional output was relatively small; the publishing house G. Schirmer shows only 41 published works in its catalog. The Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Powell in 1990 for his piece Duplicates: A Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, a work commissioned by Betty Freeman for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He taught composition at Yale from 1958 to 1969, whereupon he was called upon to be founding Dean at an upstart college outside of Los Angeles—Walt Disney’s final Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
dream project—California Institute of the Arts, sometimes affectionately referred to as Mickey Mouse U. As a charter member of Mel’s Mouseketeers, I never passed up the opportunity to enroll in any of his courses. Powell’s Advanced Orchestration was a memorable course, as was a composition seminar. A man who spoke eloquently and with a flair for drama, Mel zinged the following during one lecture: “Whenever I hear a piece of bad music, invariably it was composed by Villa-Lobos.” As he spoke these words he turned and, with a wry smile, looked me right in the eye. Other than perhaps The Jet Whistle for flute and cello, and Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 for soprano and eight ’cellos, the only music of Villa-Lobos to be regularly performed by college students is his guitar music: the Suite populaire brésilienne, the Twelve Etudes, Choros No. 1, and the ubiquitous Five Preludes. I have always assumed that my being the sole guitarist in the class was why Powell looked at me. Apparently, other composers agreed with him; Aaron Copland referred to the most notable characteristic of Villa-Lobos’ music: its “abundance.” However, Brian Head, composer, guitarist, teacher, Artistic Director (and past President) of the GFA, shares these thoughts about Villa-Lobos: Ironically, none of this criticism applies well to Villa-Lobos’ guitar music, which tends to be some of the most concise and disciplined in his œuvre. The Suite populaire brésilienne is pure simplicity and beauty. The Preludes are conventional sectional forms, and the Etudes are highly ordered and motivically focused. Really, the only examples of Villa-Lobos’ i,patience as an editor might be aspects of the Concerto and perhaps the Distribution of Flowers. But one can easily argue those are highly original and beautiful.
Admiring the music of J. S. Bach, Villa-Lobos modeled some aspects of his guitar works after the great master. One of the most notable examples is Etude No. 1, where Villa-Lobos mimics the dramatic harmonic scheme of some of Bach’s preludes. This Etude has the interesting juxtaposition of a baroque harmonic structure with the Impressionistic colors of chord parallelism. And yes, the Villa-Lobos Etude No. 1
33
is in the fingers of thousands of earnest classical guitarists, world-wide, at any given moment. In fact, the venerable Etude No. 1 is not only studied and practiced vigorously, it represents one of the ultimate tests of our repertoire. How many guitarists practice this Etude, and how few perform the piece? Most guitarists fall into the same trap that I did when I began working on the Etude. When my teacher at Cal Arts, Stuart Fox, gave me the piece, I dutifully bought the Christopher Parkening album, In the Spanish Style, and proceeded to wail away, trying fruitlessly to play as fast as the recording. Usually spending upwards of 45 minutes drilling the two-minute Etude, my self-preservation instinct kicked in after about a year, telling me that no piece should be as physically punishing as this one—I must be on the wrong track. I was. There was a significant problem in my approach to the Etude, and just about every piece that I worked on in those years. Struggling with the piece day after day, I always believed that the piece would get better and easier, which of course, never happened. What I didn’t realize was the significance of physical association. By this I mean that whatever feeling the player is experiencing when practicing a piece becomes automatic whenever they play that piece.
GUITAR STUDIES
The challenge with a piece like the Villa-Lobos Etude No. 1 is to make it feel physically comfortable as soon as possible. Should the piece feel easy on the first day, by repetition of good habits, it will be easier the next. A piece that feels difficult the first day will simply be more difficult the next. Establishing positive physical sensations on the first day of practice is of paramount importance. How is this done? After learning the notes, rhythm, and fingerings of a piece, the next step is to play through each phrase or section, experimenting with various relaxation techniques: •With each chord change, release both arms and hands, shaking out any built-up tensions. Don’t carry any accumulated tension from one musical event to another. •Play with a piano or mezzo piano dynamic, both hands having a light touch; more energy can be added later as your comfort level improves. Depending on the piece, muting the strings with a cloth or sponge placed underneath, so that you can practice with total fluidity, can be extremely helpful. Think of this as practicing pure movement. •Practicing at tempi that allow for complete control is critical. Playing in control means that the player is relaxed throughout his or her body, especially the upper arms and shoulders, which allows the finger muscles to move fluidly. If a player has locked up large muscles such as the deltoid and biceps, it will be virtually impossible for them to have relaxed finger movement. Occasionally, I will challenge a student to play a piece for me, week after week, with only one stipulation: the student must be in 100% physical control during the entirety of the performance. They are allowed any tempo, dynamic, or other liberties they choose, but their body must not be locked up, what I call Static Muscle Mode, where opposing muscle groups are simultaneously contracted. Being in what I call Fluid Muscle Mode means that the player fingers feel light, loose, and easy. Once this is achieved, progress with the piece will be rapid, and performances will be at a high level. For decades after they were written, the Villa-Lobos Etudes were performed infrequently. Perhaps in future years, Mel Powell’s Setting will enjoy increased attention. %
With Robert Trent, DMA Peabody Conservatory
Department of Music http://music.asp.radford.edu 34
Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Renaissance Lute Music for the Guitar Selected and Transcribed by Richard M. Long
Vincenzo Capirola
V
incenzo Capirola’s lute manuscript is one of several rare manuscripts dating to the early sixteenth century that give us a glimpse of instrumental music for lute at a seminal moment in its evolution. Capirola (1474–after 1548) was a composer from Leno (Brescia), who spent the years 15151520 in Venice. It was there, in about 1517,1 in the capital of the nascent industry of music printing, that a Capirola disciple named “Vidal” made meticulous hand copies of 43 of his teacher’s compositions, decorating many of the pages of the manuscript with paintings. This manuscript, now preserved in the Newberry Library in Chicago, thus harkens back to the Medieval tradition of the illuminated manuscript, and stands in sharp contrast to the earliest printed music books of Ottaviano Petrucci, in which both the content and the presentation sometimes lacks a certain élan. Cristoforetti suggests that “Vidal” may even have been an anagram for Capirola himself: “VIncenzo DA Leno.”2 Capirola seems not to have been well-known in his own era, perhaps because he eschewed the new printing industry. He remained largely unknown until 1883, when the manuscript, of unknown provenance, appeared in London. Capirola includes the usual intabulations of vocal music, some ricercars, and some dances. The pieces range from easy to very difficult. The music is unique from that of his contemporaries in a number of respects. Douglas Alton Smith notes that Capirola: … systematically developed the echo effect, made the first reference to dynamics in Renaissance music (the indication “Toca pian piano” …), and fingered separately Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
the two strings of the third course in short sections of three of the pieces for a double pedal-point effect.3 Capirola also specifies some ornaments or graces, and has symbols for tenuto and release, although what he intends is not always clear in the context of the music. The present pieces incorporate trills, mordents, and—in the Padoana—a number of measures in which Capirola (as Smith notes above) calls for playing different notes simultaneously on the two strings of the third course. Fortunately, all of these notes can be played easily with some simple refingering of the passages in question; I have indicated these measures for anyone who wishes to try this technique on a lute. The Padoana ending is abrupt and ineffective, so I suggest improvising something, perhaps a da capo, or a transition into another piece. I assume lute tuning in both pieces, but standard guitar tuning works quite well on the Recercar. Notes The date was suggested by Otto Gombosi, and has become widely accepted. It seems to have been based on evidence that this manuscript is almost certainly Venetian and Capirola was known to have been in Venice at about this time. 1
2
Orlando Cristoforetti, ed., Compositione di meser Vicenzo Capirola [gentil homo bresano] [Facsimile.] (Florence: Studio per edizioni scelte, 1981). 3
Douglas Alton Smith, A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance (n. p.: Lute Society of America, 2002), 118-120. %
35
Recerchar undecimo
ala spagnola facile. bello.
Transcribed from the tablature and arranged for guitar by Richard M. Long
Vicenzo Capirola (1517?)
œœ œœœ j œ œ œ œ œ #m 2 j œ #œœ. & 4 œ. œ #œ œ œœœœ ˙ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ 3 = F 8
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29
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& œ˙˙ œ
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36
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51
‰ j & ‰ œœ. œ œ œ˙ ˙ ˙
58
#œ œ œ #œ #œ œ #œœ œ # œ œ œ & œ œœ ˙ Œ ˙
65
& œ˙ #œ ˙
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Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
œ
#œ œ ˙
œ œ
nœ #œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ ˙
œœ
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œ nœ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ ˙ œ #œœ #œ nœ J ‰ Œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙
88
95
œ #œ œ #œ ˙ #˙ ˙ ˙
cI
#˙ #œ œ œ ˙ œ & ˙ ˙ & œœ œœ œ œ
œ œ #˙ ˙
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72
80
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œ œ #œœ # œ œ #˙ ˙ ˙
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#˙˙˙ ˙
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U #˙˙˙ ˙ u 37
Padoana belissima descorda come s[anc]ta trinitas
Transcribed from the tablature and arranged for guitar by Richard M. Long
# 2 & #4
œ œ ˙œ 3 = F
6=D
313
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9
m ## ˙ & ˙œ
19
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Vicenzo Capirola (1517?) 232
m œ œ œœ 1 œ œœ ˙ œ
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m œ œ œ œ ˙
m ˙ œ œœ œ˙ œ œ œ˙ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œœ œœœ œ˙ œ œ ˙˙œ ˙œ ˙˙ ˙ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ m ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙ œœ ˙˙ œ #œ œ œ ˙ ˙œ ˙˙ œ˙ ˙ œ ˙ ˙ œ œ œ
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28
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67
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Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
# œ œ œ ˙ œ˙ œ œ œ˙ œ œ œ j œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ˙ #œ & # œœ œœ ˙ œ ˙œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ˙ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ ˙ œ ˙
77
## ˙˙ ˙ œ œ œ & œ œ œ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ˙ œ œ ˙œ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
87
˙˙ œ
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M m m œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙˙ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ ˙œ œ ˙œ # œ œ œ œ ˙ & # ˙˙ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ œ
96
M 106 ## œ œ œ œ œœ œœ & ˙ ˙ # &#
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125
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144
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Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
˙˙ ˙˙ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ ˙ œ
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134
j œœ œ. œ
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Notes with small noteheads were intended to be played on the two strings of the third course.
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39
The Transcriber’s Art, No. 54
Henriette Renié and Alfred Holý
Two Harp Pieces Transcribed for Guitar by Richard Yates “Even though the guitar does not produce the same notes as the orchestra, nor in quantity nor in register, the accompaniment will be the same.” –Fernando Sor
W
hat beginning guitarist has not had at least a brief enchantment with campanella fingering commonly kindled by our first exposure to Alonso Mudarra’s greatest hit from 1546, Fantasy that Imitates the Harp in the Style of Ludovico. “Campanella,” or “little bell” in Italian, is produced on the guitar by placing consecutive scale notes on different strings and so allowing the durations of the notes to overlap. It can make a shimmering sonority much like such a passage played on a piano with the sustain pedal pressed, or on a harp without damping any notes. This is well-illustrated by a few measures from Mudarra’s celebrated fantasía as played or published by countless guitarists (Figure No. 1) Four notes in a scale are arranged across four strings while the left-hand fingers are held at their frets as long as possible, and lifted only when necessary to stop another fret. But, however seductive the technique and ravishing this sound, it actually is not the way Mudarra played it, nor the primary means by which he imitated the harp. The same measures as transcribed from the vihuela tablature, which specifies the strings to be used, show a more conventional fingering (Figure No. 2). But if Mudarra was imitating the harp in the style of Ludovico, who was Ludovico and what was different about
his style? Our only source on this latter question dates from a 1555 instruction book by Juan Bermudo, who described Ludovico raising the pitch of a string by stopping it near the end with his thumb. As far as we know today, in the early sixteenth century harps were almost always tuned diatonically. While there are other unusual features of Mudarra’s fantasía—John Griffiths lists “arpeggios, embellished and syncopated passages, as well as various kinds of chromaticism and dissonance”—the altered scale tones may be the aspect inspired by Ludovico. While not shown in the example above, the fantasía is filled with chromatically altered notes and even some cross-relations between melody and bass. All of this would not normally be possible on a diatonic harp. Over the centuries, various attempts were made to expand the harp’s chromatic flexibility. Some makers added in-line strings that were tuned to all of the semitones (the chromatic harp); others added distinct rows of strings with the necessary pitches (the multi-rank harp). After more than three hundred years, the technique of Ludovico—changing the pitch of existing strings—was mechanically implemented and the double-action harp became the predominant instrument for solo and orchestral use. This harp, invented in 1810 by Sebastian Erard, uses pedals that, when pressed, raise the pitch of strings by one or two semitones. There are seven pedals—one for each note of the scale. Pressing a pedal raises the pitch of all octaves of that note. The tuning with all pedals up is a diatonic C scale, so pressing one pedal down one notch raises all C strings to C . Pressing it two notches makes all those strings C . The other six pedals raise the
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Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
pitches of, respectively, all D strings, the E strings, and so on. This allows one to play in all keys by beginning with the pedals in the necessary configuration or changing them during performance for altered notes or modulations. I find it interesting that, despite all the thought and technology that has gone into the development of the harp, it still cannot play Mudarra’s fantasía, and so presumably cannot imitate some of Ludovico’s performances. While it is admittedly a terribly obscure bit of trivia, look at the following measure, one about which Mudarra famously wrote “does not sound too bad.” Notice the cross-relation between the D in the bass and D in the melody and remember that on a pedal harp the Ds can be either natural or sharp, but not both at once (Figure No. 3).
¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 8 Ì ¡ ¡ OÌ¡ ¡ ¡ Figure 3 But whether campanella technique is historically accurate or not in most guitar transcriptions of Mudarra’s fantasía, it is an idiomatic sonority of the harp and is a useful addition to the guitarist’s technical bag of tricks. A thoughtful and informed transcription takes into account the characteristics of the original instrument. This does not mean a slavish imitation of the original that too often results in caricature. But rather, the composition may rely in part for its persuasiveness on the strengths and quirks of the instrument for which it was composed. This can suggest analogous methods on the guitar or even lead to inspiration and exploration of the edges of the guitar’s capabilities. Harp music is a natural source for transcription material, but one that seems to be largely overlooked. Certainly, much of its repertoire, with its characteristically wide-ranging arpeggios and glissandi, must be skipped by guitarists. And the modern pedal harp has quite a large range—seven full octaves. But it is also close to the guitar in that it is a plucked string instrument with a modest dynamic range, and so it is well-suited for simpler pieces. The harp repertoire has its virtuosic concert pieces, but also a wealth of smaller scale works. Prominent harpists of the previous century were also composers. Guitarists would do well to look for music by Alphonse Hasselmans (1845–1912), Henriette Renié (1875–1956), Carlos Salzedo (1885–1961), and Marcel-Georges-Lucien Grandjany (1891–1975). Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Alfred Holý An accomplished harpist and composer of Czech origin, Holý performed in orchestras under the most famous conductors of his day, including Bruno Walter, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. A career of solo recitals was followed by years as the principal harpist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and professor at the New England Conservatory of Music. Although many of his compositions were lost in the Second World War, a portion survived and are still performed. Oriental The first harp piece I transcribed included many grace notes. Being unsure if these were long or short, on the beat or before it, I listened to solo harp recordings. While doing this answered my questions, it also strongly impressed on me the characteristic resonant sonority of the harp. Those grace notes were played as is most natural on that instrument—without damping of the initial note. On the guitar, slurring on one string is far more common and natural. So the differences in the instruments immediately led to a fundamental issue about the transcription. Rather than trying to force the music into the guitar’s idiom, for a time I went with the harp sound using campanella fingerings in many contexts, some successful and some awkward. I soon came across Holý’s Oriental and in it found a delicious merging of uncomplicated cross-string resonance and exotic tonality. Campanella technique does take close attention, as it is often not the most natural way. Small details in the length of time that fingers are kept on their frets can make a large difference in the sound. Our ingrained tendency is to leave notes when their nominal duration is finished, so in a campanella passage always look for places where a finger can be left where it is. For instance, in the first measure of Oriental, it is easy to overlook leaving the 4 finger on the second C so that it rings over together with the following D . In this piece, that clash of the interval of an augmented second is entirely characteristic of the tonality and should be relished rather than avoided. This can even be emphasized with careful adjustment of dynamics, sometimes in ways that are not obvious. In those two notes, the most natural way of playing them is for the C to be a weaker upbeat leading to a stronger sounding, on-the-beat D . But try reversing the dynamic. Play the D more softly so that its volume merges and blends in equal parts with the C , which has already started to decay. The dissonance is heightened. Sometimes several notes in a row can be played this way—with a decreasing dynamic—so, that after the last note, all are still sounding in equal volume. It is easiest to hear and practice this
41
in places where all left-hand fingers can remain in place so that attention can be on the subtle right-hand dynamics. Figure No. 4 is from a guitar transcription of the opening of Henriette Renié’s Petite valse. Start with the 4 and 2 fingers in place and put the 1 finger down (and leave it there) only when needed for the B. Playing these notes with a decreasing dynamic yields an Impressionistic wash of color instead of a less interesting linear, directed melody fragment (Figure No. 4).
0 ¡ 4 ¡ 2 ¡ 1 ¡ ¡ ¶ ¡¡ , 8 ¡ ¡ 3
2
1
Ì Ì
Figure 4 While harp notation includes some special symbols, the standard layout is the same as for keyboard instruments. There will be occasional signs such as “F ” between the staves that are instructions to press harp pedals. Guitarists can ignore these. Octave harmonics on a harp are notated on the string where they are played, not where they sound. A small circle indicates harmonics. The harmonics you see in m. 15 of the guitar transcription of Oriental are also harmonics in the original, and fall quite happily as strong, natural harmonics on the guitar. The two transcriptions with this article make frequent use of campanella fingering. You may not want to employ all of them, but consider the pieces as small studies in this technique, that is, concentrated applications of the technique for training. You may find it helpful to listen to my recordings of them at the link listed below in Useful Resources. Then, keep what works for you and ignore the rest. Henriette Renié As an early pupil of Alphonse Hasselman’s at the Paris Conservatoire, Renié showed precocious talent and rapid development. At age twelve, she won the Premier Prix for harp performance and was herself giving lessons to students twice her age. (Renié’s most famous student was Harpo Marx!) Instruction in composition by teachers including Jules Massenet led to a body of work that spanned the concerto, chamber music, transcriptions from other instruments, and solo pieces ranging from the didactic to the virtuosic. Perhaps because the instrument was rather new, most harpists of the era added to the repertoire through both composition and transcription.
42
Although she and Hasselmans had a falling out for many years over competition for students, they eventually resolved their differences, and he recommended her as his successor at the Conservatoire. A distinguished career of performing, teaching, composing, and recording led to her being awarded France’s highest accolade, the Legion of Honor. Grand’mère raconte une histoire Although she was a key figure in promoting the pedal harp, Renié also wrote music for the diatonic harp. The compositional challenge there is to convey harmonic interest without any alterations to the notes of the diatonic scale. In Grand’mère raconte une histoire (Grandmother Tells a Story) she deftly moves from a sunny G major to a darker E minor modality without a single leading tone. The second half of this piece has a phrase that reaches the top of the fingerboard with some octave harmonics for accompaniment. Attempting to transpose this down so that it is more convenient would do great damage to the episodic story. The transcription is not so difficult with a bit of slow practice. Useful Resources John Griffiths, “Mudarra’s Harp Fantasy: History and Analysis,” Australian Guitar Journal, I(1989), 19-25. International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), http://imslp. org/index.php?title=Category:Scores_featuring_the_harp. Xavier Maistre, Pièces pour harpe, Vol. 1, CD recording, Vanderbilt Music Company, 2006. Richard Yates, http://www.yatesguitar.com/Soundboard/harp. html. (There you will find sound files and scores for both pieces featured in this article.)
Please send comments, suggestions or your transcriptions to: Richard Yates
[email protected] www.yatesguitar.com Errata In his Transcriber’s Art column in the previous issue, Richard Yates correctly identified Haydn’s Adagio as H.XVII:9. However, on the title page of the column in question (p. 54), a typographical error incorrectly identified the piece as H.VII:9, and this typo was duplicated in the Table of Contents of the issue. The Editor apologizes to Mr. Yates, Soundboard readers, and most particularly to Mr. Haydn, for the errors. % Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Oriental Transcribed for guitar by Richard Yates
Alfred Holý (1868–1948)
Lento, ma non troppo
K 8 ¡Ì ¡ ¡ 8 Ì
espressivo
K¡ ¡ 1 ¡K¡ ¡ 1 ¡ÌK ¡ ¡ 3 ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ Ì 3 ¡X ¡¡¡ 2X Ì Ì 2 3 À 5 ( 1
¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ Ì Ì
4
V
K 4¡ ¡ 0¡ 1Ì Ì 2
V3
¡ -4 ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 4 2 Ì Ì 3 3Ì Ì
¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 3¡ 4Ì -1 Ì Ì Ì Ì
0 ¡ Ì 8 1 Ì 4 ¡ 0 ¡ 2 ¡ ¡ ¡ 3-1 Ì Ì Ì Q dreamingly 4 4 K ¡ ¡ ³K ³ ³ ¡3 ¡ 4 0¡ 0 ¡ 4¡ 8 1 XX Ì 2 Ì 0 5 VII
V
2
¡¡ À3 ¡ ¡
IV3
¡X ¡ ¡ 0 ¡ 4X
K K5 ¡ ¡ 4¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 2 ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 4 0 ÌÌ 0¡ 4 8 1 ¡¡ 4 ¡ 4 ¡ 1¡ 1 ¡ 4¡ ¡ 3 3 ¡ ¡ 1 Ì Q
11
0
14
8 2¡ 4¡ 3¡ 0 ¡ 1¡4¡ Ì espressivo
K ¡ Ì ¡ ¡ Ì
IX
K ¡Ì ¡ ¡ 3 ¡ 4 ¡ 3 ¡ 0 ¡ 8 Ì 1Ì 2 -2 Ì
17
3
nat. harm.
K ³ ³ ³K ³ ³ ³ 6
5
2
h
K ¡ ¡ ¡K -4 ¡ ¡ ¡ Ì 0Ì Ì -1 -1 Ì 2 V3
K ¡Ì ¡ ¡ ¡Ì ¡ ¡ ¡ Ì Ì Q
¡Ì 4 ¡ ¡ 1 ¡ ¡ ¡ 4 ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ Ì 1 Ì ¡ 2Ì 1Ì Ì Ì 0 Ì 3 5
espressivo
5
rit. sempre. . . . .
Ì 1Ì -3 ¡ ¡ 1¡ 3¡ ¡ ¡ 2¡ 0¡ ¡ 2 ÌÌ ¡ 2¡ ¡ 8 1 ÌÌ ¡ ¡ À ¡ 1 X 4 ¡ 3 ¡ 2Ì X 4 ¡ 3 2
20
4
3
Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Ì
3
X XÌ
V3
Ì 43
Grand’mère Raconte une Histoire Transcribed for guitar by Richard Yates Moderato, sans lenteur
Henriette Renié (1875–1956)
III
¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ E ¡ ¡ ¡ 8 2 Ì4 ¡ ¡ 3 Q
4
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III
¡¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡¡ ¡ ¡ Ì
4¡ ¡ 8 1 ¡ ¡Ì ¡ 00 ¡ ¡ 4 2 ¡
4
3 4
¡ <
cresc.
¡ 2 ¡Ì 4 4 ÌÌ 8 -3 Ì -3 Ì
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8
2 1 3
ÌÌ
0 Ì¡ ¡ ¡¡ ¡ 1 8 ¡ 3¡ ¡ 2¡
Ì¡ ¡ ¡¡ ¡¡ ¡ 8 ¡ ¡ Q
44
VII
1 3
ÌÌ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡¡ ¡ 1 Q
Ì¡ ¡ ¡ ¡¡ ¡¡ ¡ ¡
3 1 2
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1
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V
Ì¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 3¡ 2¡ ¡ ¶ 4 1¡
V
II
15
¡¡ ¡ ¡ ¡¡ ¡ ¡¡ Ì ¡
¡¡ -3 ¡¡ 4 ¡ 2Ì
II 12
4 3
Ì¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡¡ ¡ ¡ cresc.
Ì¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¶ 2¡ Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
II
Ì ¡ ¡¡ Ì ¡ Ì ¡ ¡ 1 (
Ì À 8 4 3¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ G
18
K 8 2¡ 4¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ Ì
22
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26
29
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¡¡ ¡¡
Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
3 2
ÌÌ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ 1
2 4
¡Ì ¡ 4 ¡ ¡ Ì 1¡ 2¡ dim.
Ì ¡ ¡ 2 ¡¡ ¡ -23 ¡ ¡
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45
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Return With Us Now …
Selected & Introduced by Robert Coldwell
Luigi Legnani, Air nouveau (Scherzo, Op. 10)
T
his issue’s facsimile is by Luigi Legnani (1790-1877) and raises some curious questions. While the composition is definitely his Op. 10, the edition states that it is Op. 40. Perhaps this is just a misprint, but the title of the edition is completely different from that of the original Op. 10. The title of this edition: Air Nouveau, / avec/ Variations / par / Legnani. / dédié / a Mad’lle Berry. / Londres. / Se vend (by Permission of the Author) chez Rougé, Professeur de Guitare. / 54, Greek Street, Soho. / & to be had of Johanning, 6, John Street, 159 Martins Court , Oxford Street.1
The title of the original Op. 10: Scherzo / ossia / quattro Variazioni / a Sola / Chitarra / da eseguirsi con un solo dito della mano sinistra / composte / da / Luigi Legnani. / Op. 10 / No. 2857 / Proprietà degli editori / Pr. 24 X.C.M. / Vienna. presso Artaria & Comp.
The date of the London edition is not entirely clear, but it could have been some time in 1835. Johanning was at 6 John Street around 1835-37. I have found an advertisement for a “M. Rouge’s, Foreign Music Publisher and Seller” in the Morning Post on July 4, 1835. I have not been able to find any information about the guitarist Rougé, but he could possibly be the M. Rouge from the ad. The dedication to Mademoiselle Berry is also unclear. It seems reasonable that this could be Mary Berry (1763-1852), who was a writer and connected with Horace Walpole.5 She did travel between London and Paris, so it is possible either Berry or Rougé met Legnani in Paris or another city shortly before publication of the edition presented here. However, this is conjecture and no concrete information has been found connecting Rougé, Berry and Legnani. Notes 1
The Artaria edition was published in July, 1825.2 Legnani had been living in Vienna from 1822 to 1823, and published at least his Opp. 16, 19, 20 and 23 during that time. Legnani’s Op. 12 was published at the same time as Op.10. The title of Op. 10 explains that it should be performed with just one finger of the left hand; the London edition is missing this detail. Music by Legnani had appeared in guitar anthologies in London since at least 1827, but these were usually extracts less than a page in length.3 A long extract of Legnani’s Op. 64 appeared in an issue of the Giulianiad around 1835.4 Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
“6, John Street” is crossed out and “159 Martins Court” written in pencil. 2 Danilo Prefumo, “L’attività concertistica di Luigi Legnani nei resoconti dei giornali dell’epoca” il “Fronimo,” No. 41 (October 1982), 22. 3 L’Aurore, / ou / Journal de Guitare, / choix des plus beaux Morceaux, / Composés pour cet Instrument. / No. 2, / Contenant / Dix huit Pieces pour la Guitare Seule, / Giuliani, Legnani, Aguado, Carulli, Diabelli & Horetzky, / … / Choisi et corrigé par Monsieur Horetzky. / London, Ewer & Johanning Importers of Foreign Music. / Spanish Guitars, Harp & Guitar Strings, Violins &c. / 20, Titchborne Str. Piccadilly & Bow Church Yard Cheapside. 4 Giulianiad, Vol. II, No. 11 (London, 1835), 148-150. 5 Edited by Lady Theresa Lewis. Extracts of the Journals and Correspondence of Miss Berry from the years 1783 to 1852. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1865). %
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The GFA Contemporary Music Series, No. 78
Bamboo & Running Waters
from Eclectic Fantasies, Set 2
by Michael Knopf
D
r. Michael Knopf (his doctorate is from the Queensland Conservatorium) is an award-winning American-born Australian concert guitarist and composer who currently serves as lecturer in guitar at Southern Cross University and teaches composition in Brisbane. Knopf has had an intentionally eclectic career spanning 45 years, having performed and composed in diverse musical fields. This has led to the development of his multi-style performances and recordings on classical guitar including works inspired by various cultural vocal chants. One of his emphases is composing within genres and styles drawn from myriad historical and cultural models. In recent years, Michael has produced works for guitar embodying this ethos, including his ten Eclectic Fantasies for Solo Guitar, The Bricoleur, Two Persian Pieces, and The New Earth: Concerto for Guitar & Orchestra. Knopf ’s new CD, Guitar Chant, features a highly original vocal-chant style of guitar
52
music-making. It brings together pieces from previous albums along with two new pieces to feature a highly idiomatic and resonant guitar style that draws on Flamenco, Arab, Indian, and Persian chant practices, and contemporary guitar techniques. In past years, Knopf has specialized in composing music for ’cello and has also written many works for choir, jazz ensembles, chamber music and orchestral works. Michael’s seven recordings feature mostly original music for guitar solo or with ensemble. He is currently planning a new CD of original works for classical guitar, a new work for guitar and choir, and a planned work for violin and guitar entitled Ten Forms of Change, using ten codified musicdevelopment strategies. Bamboo and Running Waters, presented here by kind permission of the composer, is one of his Eclectic Fantasies, composed in 2006. It draws its inspiration from the composer’s memory of Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. The piece uses the guitar’s open string and harmonic sonorities to provide a sense of spaciousness surrounding the pentatonic melodic treatment. One of these sounds appears at letter “D” with the use of the traditional upper leading tone dominant chord used in the Flamenco rondeña song form. The work concludes with the use of bell-tone harmonics played by the right hand while the left hand creates a cascading effect with legato pull-offs. Visit Michael’s website at www.michaelknopf.com for details, contact information, a list of his compositions, and a complete discography. A number of his performances are available on YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/michaelknopf including the present piece and videos of some of his new pieces for guitar/choir/ensemble. % Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Eclectic Fantasies (set two) for guitar solo No. 2: Bamboo & RunningWaters
8 E =F# 2
Michael Knopf © 2006
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Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Domenico
Erik
Scarlatti
Satie
Sonata, K. 1, L. 366
Gnossienne No. 1
arranged by Yuri Liberzon
arranged by Gonzalo Noqué
he music of Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) is wellknown to guitarists; there have been literally hundreds of transcriptions for guitar (or guitars) of his single-movement keyboard sonatas. Scarlatti was the son of Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725), a respected Neapolitan composer best known for his operas. The father, recognizing his son’s prodigious talent, encouraged him to travel to Rome, where young Domenico found a series of aristocratic patrons. In 1719, he moved to Lisbon to serve as a musician in the Portuguese court. His principal responsibility came to be the musical education of the Princess Maria Barbara, for whom he composed his hundreds of sonatas. When the Princess married into the Spanish royal family in 1729, Scarlatti went with her to Madrid. It is probably this Spanish connection that first attracted guitarists to Scarlatti’s sonatas; many of these pieces reveal the influence of characteristic Spanish rhythms and progressions, and may well have been inspired by the sounds of the guitar. Sonata, K. 1 (Longo 366), was the first piece in Scarlatti’s first printed work, Essercizi per gravicembalo, published in London in 1738; it thus became “number one” in Ralph Kirkpatrick’s catalog of the composer’s works. Yuri Liberzon’s transcription for guitar demonstrates his usual meticulous attention to the functioning of both hands. For more about the Russian-Israeli guitarist Liberzon, visit www.yuriguitar.com. —RML
rik Satie (born Eric Alfred Leslie Satie in Honfleur (Normandy), 1866-1925) was always attracted to the esoteric, the exotic, and the mystical. In a musical world dominated by grand opera and grandiose symphonic works, he quixotically moved in the opposite direction, paring his music down to the barest essentials, producing exquisitely crafted miniatures in which every single note was essential. After spending time at the Paris Conservatoire and in the French army (and failing to distinguish himself in either), he began composing and publishing music. In spite of a long career, the spare simplicity and haunting melodies of his early Sarabandes (1887), Gymnopédies (1888), and Gnossiennes (1890) remain his best-known works. Guitarists looking for music from this era to transcribe inevitably discover Satie, because his æsthetic (as opposed to the grand gestures and noisy pianism of many of his contemporaries), matches well with that of the guitar. The Gnossiennes were probably named for the ruins of Knossus, recently uncovered on the island of Crete, although a pun on the Greek word gnosis (γνῶσις) was almost certainly also intended. Early reports from the excavations at Knossus suggested a fascinating ancient civilization. Satie imagines its music, as he had done with the music of ancient Sparta in the case of the Gymnopédies two years earlier. Spanish guitarist Gonzalo Noqué’s arrangement can be heard at his website, www.gonzalonoque.com. —RML
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Gnossienne No. 1 (1890)
Arranged for guitar by Gonzalo Noqué
ERIK SATIE (1866-1925)
Lent
Œ œ œ #œ œ œœ & Œ ˙˙ wp
j œ
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Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
INTERVIEWs Chen Zhi interviewed by Greg Byers
I
first met Chen Zhi at the Dominguez Hills GFA Convention in 2007, where he brought some very talented young students. I met him again in Ithaca in 2009, and in Columbus, Georgia, in 2011. Each time he brought with him different young guitarists who performed remarkably well in the competitions. As bits of his story became known to me, I realized that something very interesting was happening with the classical guitar in China, and that he had an important role in this development. I also became aware that his presence at GFA conventions was noted by many other attendees, but because he spoke no English, we could interact in only limited ways, and he and his entourage remained largely mysterious. Gradually, it occurred to me I might be able to interview him. He was very agreeable and we chose to correspond via email. I sent him a list of questions, which he answered with the help of a translator in China. Although I did not have the opportunity to ask follow-up questions, I think his answers and the accompanying photos give a glimpse of how the guitar has taken a root in modern China. GB: If you don’t mind: When were you born, and what was going on in China at that time? CZ: I was born in Shanghai, China, in 1936. Shanghai was the most prosperous city in China then, and the most important channel for the entry of Western culture. My father used to be an educator and once set up a school, but he became a high ranking official in the government later. My mother believed
Chen Zhi & Greg Byers
Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
in both Buddhism and Christianity and had a close tie with churches. So, I grew up under the nurture of both Chinese and Western cultures. My family employed private music teachers who were Russian musicians who had immigrated to Shanghai after the 1917 Revolution in Russia. I studied piano and violin with them. We often had mini music parties at home when I was young. I remember that I was fond of Hollywood movies at that time, and one of the servants in my family had the duty to accompany me to cinemas. I think my childhood environment had a strong influence upon me on the enlightenment of music. GB: Growing up, what was your ambition or passion? CZ: My school reports were excellent in all subjects, and my parents wanted me to become an engineer or a scientist. So, I majored in mathematics at the university, but music was only my hobby in my spare time. I was going along the way directed by my parents, hoping to become a mathematical expert, though I was interested in music. GB: Did you attend a university after secondary school, and did you study music? CZ: As I mentioned, I majored in mathematics at the university after secondary school. I did not go to any conservatories of music, but I spent a lot of my spare time on activities related to music—orga-
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nizing a band, acting as a conductor, making transcriptions, and playing instruments, including guitar sometimes. I graduated in the late ’50s of last century. Due to the political environment, I was not able to enter any important scientific institutes because of my family background. I had to give up mathematics and I turned to music. In 1958, I began to teach keyboard instruments and guitar as selective courses in Qinghua University (one of the most famous universities in China). Later on, I entered a professional orchestra to record guitar music for movies. GB: When did you become aware of the guitar, and did you own one, and take lessons? CZ: All of my Russian music teachers could play sevenstring guitar, and I liked listening to their playing /singing Russian folk songs. I also touched Hawaiian guitar later, and its graceful and moving melody impressed me very much. I had a guitar which was given me by a Japanese friend when I was in a secondary school. This guitar accompanied me ’til I graduated from the university. But I did not have a teacher, and I just played it for fun in my spare time. GB: Did you study in the West? CZ: Since I had excellent marks at school, I was selected to be sent to Moscow University for further study in mathematics. But I failed to continue the study because of my family background and the fact that many of my relatives were living abroad. Because there was no way for me to engage in scientific research after I had finished the university, I could only take the path of music. I never had the opportunity for systematic music study abroad. Thanks to the “opening and reform” policy initiated by Mr. Deng in the late ’70s of the last century, I was able to feel and be nurtured directly by Western culture (including the Japanese) through traveling abroad, sightseeing, and attending various music activities. GB: Were western instruments banned during the Cultural Revolution? What did you do then? CZ: The so called “Cultural Revolution” started in 1966. During that period, almost all Western music and instruments were banned. You could play piano and violin with assigned music only. Guitar was strictly banned, and whoever taught
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guitar could be punished and put into custody because it was regarded as spreading Western decadent capitalist culture. Professional musicians were sent to the countryside or factories to do hard labor. I was among them, and did heavy physical labor in goods transportation. For ten years (19661976), I could not touch my guitar, give performances or teach. This kind of pain is beyond the imagination of Western musicians. GB: From such a beginning, how did you become perhaps the most influential guitar teacher in China? CZ: In 1976, the “Cultural Revolution” ended. I was able to return to a professional orchestra and come back to music. As the opening went wider, and through my great efforts, I founded a classical guitar school in 1982, the first of its kind in China. In 1984, I made a guitar-teaching program which was broadcast nationwide, openly, on national radio. Eventually, the guitar in China entered a new state; it had gotten out of the sealed situation and became popular. After years of hard work cultivating students and expanding the team of guitar teachers constantly, my students are now all over China and many of them have become teachers. GB: I understand you were Xuefei Yang’s teacher. Can you tell us a little about this?
Above center: the young Chen Zhi; Below right: the young guitar teacher.
Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
CZ: Xuefei Yang began to study guitar with me when she wa s about nine years old. (She played Left: Chen Zhi with Joaquín Rodrigo & students; Center: a master class at the Royal Academy of guitar before). In Music in London (in the front row are Michael Lewin, Chen Zhi, & Timothy Walker); 1987, she played Right: with Yameng Wang & Meng Su after their Beijing concert in 2008. a Bach Courante in the First China International Guitar Festival organized students and teachers. Since then, I have been very busy and by me, and she drew broad attention. She was ten years old I do not play the instrument much any longer. then, and there were few children at her age playing classical guitar at that time. So, I taught her with special attention. GB: This is the most remarkable part of your story, in my Eventually, in 1990, the classical guitar department was set up opinion; from observing the success of your students, you are in Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, the top conserva- obviously a brilliant teacher. How have you been able to teach tory in China. We began to enroll students from the attached so successfully this difficult Western instrument? middle school, and Xuefei Yang was the first student in this CZ: I may be called a very special music teacher. On the first department. She spent six years in the middle school attached point, I have never received any systematic music education to the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music and four years in any conservatories. Secondly, I have never had a teacher in our Conservatory. Then I recommended her to the Royal with whom I studied guitar in a formal way. Third, I have Academy of Music of Britain to study with Professor Michael almost given up playing guitar for almost thirty years, since Lewin. She studied with Lewin for two years and now she 1982. Any of the above points are definitely a great imperfechas become a very active guitarist. I feel very happy about tion for a music teacher. I knew that I had to do something to mend these imperfections. Guitar is a Western traditional her achievements. instrument, and little known here for centuries. In order to GB: Tell us about the system in China whereby promising stu- merge into the international guitar family, I was aware that we must explore a new approach while learning from the West. So dents are discovered and nurtured. CZ: We can find some promising students through competi- first, I must make great efforts to study music and its theories. tions, taking Yameng Wang and Meng Su for example. They Secondly, I take all the successful guitarists as my teachers, attended competitions held separately in Shanghai, but both learning from them through their concerts, works, as well were at the age of nine. Afterwards, their parents brought them as their CDs/DVDs. Third, since I actually gave up playing to me. Sometimes, parents reached me through different chan- guitar so I could spend all my energy to focus on teaching, I nels and asked me to listen to their children play. But I have think about how to make my students play guitar well. I tried to apply the principle of traditional Chinese medionly accepted a few children. Nowadays, we have a complete guitar education system which covers primary school, middle cal science to improving my students’ ability: Treat the same school, university, and postgraduate study. Any promising illness for a specific patient with a different “therapy” and students can enter into this system through fair examinations. change the “therapy” (the herbal composition of the mediAfter graduation, many of my students set up classical cine) for the patient in time according to his/her situation. guitar departments in conservatories of other cities; some of In addition to classical etudes, I designed some progressive them even founded guitar schools so that more children could etudes to solve the difficult points in skill for each of them. study classical guitar. They also recommend their excellent Thus, complicated problems become simple and the study time has been greatly shortened. In the aspect of musical students to me for further study. expression, I inspire and enlighten them on comprehension GB: I am told by Meng and Yameng that you don’t actually from the shallower to the deeper rather than simple imitation. My efforts began to bear fruit. In 1993, my student play guitar. Is this so? CZ: It is true. During the Cultural Revolution, guitar was Yameng Wang (age twelve) won the first prize in the adult banned. In 1982, I founded a classical guitar school to nurture division of the 36th Tokyo International Guitar CompetiSoundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
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tion. It was the first time that a Chinese won first prize in an international guitar competition. It also created a record for the youngest champion in an adult event. Later on, Yameng Wang won prizes in international competitions held in Alessandria, Italy, and Madrid, Spain. So far, my students have won 27 prizes in important international competitions. John Williams, the well-known great master, made a visit to China in1995. He was deeply moved by the performances given by Yameng Wang, Xuefei Yang, and other students of mine. Then, he decided to give me two of his own used Smallman guitars. From then on, my students began to use these guitars—two wonderful instruments—for international competitions. John Williams’s generosity not only gave us two top guitars, but also strengthened our confidence, which inspired our morale for marching towards the international arena. It is very unusual in the history of guitar that a great master of world fame presented his own instruments to others. GB: What is the current state of the guitar in China? Is it increasing in popularity? CZ: Now all important Chinese conservatories (Beijing, Xi’an, Sichuan, Wuhan, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Nanjing, Shenzhen, and Macao, etc.) have set up classical guitar departments. More and more people are studying classical guitar systematically. As for the classical guitar lovers, it is a great number. GB: What about the future? CZ: Young Chinese guitar players are working very hard, and they get all-out support from their families, so they are making rapid progress. Since there are so many guitar lovers, guitar teachers are in a high demand. Graduates can find a lot of job opportunities. Some of them go abroad for further study. China manufactures a great number of instruments (popular models) every year. It also processes guitars for foreign guitar companies. Although the quality of Chinese hand-made guitars is improving, it still falls behind the level of international first-class hand-made guitars. We do not have a lot of music created for guitar; there are some arrangements and transcriptions. We are now making great efforts to encourage professional musicians to write guitar music. In the near future, a guitar music competition will be held for the promotion of guitar composition. On the whole, the guitar is still a “young” instrument in China. But all Chinese guitarists and teachers are working hard to merge into the international guitar family and put their hearts and souls into making real contributions to the guitar world. % Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
“The trees of the wood sing out for joy before the Lord” - I Chronicles 16:33
Kazuhito Yamashita Interviewed by Lawrence Ferrara
K
azuhito Yamashita performed for the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts on October 7, 2011, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The Omni series is the longest running and most extensive guitar series in the United States, and is considered to be one of the foremost guitar series in the world. The Omni Foundation is under the artistic direction of its founder, Richard Patterson, who presents over twenty exceptional guitarists in San Francisco each season. Thanks go to the following individuals for making this interview possible: Dean Kamei, proprietor of Guitar Solo, who was host during the interview; Minako Taitani, who served as interpreter; Teresa Tam, photographer; Richard Patterson, director of Omni, who brought Kazuhito to San Francisco; Martha Masters, President of the Guitar Foundation of America; and David Tanenbaum, who had the idea of interviewing Kazuhito for Soundboard. LF: Last time we spoke, you had performed a concert of an allBach Program and performed at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. What projects have you been working on since then? KY: My most recent projects involve working on music composed by my wife, Keiko Fujiie. In addition to her Sonata No. 1, “The Blue Flower,” Op. 75, which I just performed for Omni concerts at the San Francisco Conservatory, one of her current pieces is called A Cantastoria of One Thousand and One Nights and it’s inspired by the tale of The Arabian Nights which emphasizes friendship, great travelers, changing phases or conditions of life and fortune, ups and downs, and so on.
I premiered it in Turin, Italy, in 2010. Also, for the last ten years, I have been researching ancient music from eighth- to eleventh-century Japan and other Asian countries. I spend a lot of time studying and researching these manuscripts that are over a thousand years old. I’ve visited Korea, Vietnam, and Cambodia to research the roots of their many musics. In addition, I’m working on a piece called Kasane by Fujiie. Kasane is taken from the concept of the many-layered factors that make up human personality. It is written as a guitar quartet and is also inspired by The Tale of Genji, an eleventh-century novel, a classic of Japanese literature, written by noblewoman
Kazuhito Yamashita & Lawrence Ferrara
Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
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Murasaki Shikibu. Genji were the principal social unit from the Japanese Imperial family (794-1185). LF: What do you see as the current direction of the classical guitar? KY: When I was in my teens and twenties, I performed solo concerts every three or four days, and I went on tours. Then, at thirty, I realized that a younger generation of musicians was doing so many new things and that needed to be in the spotlight too. As I still continue with new projects, and as I get older, I see things differently, and with a bigger perspective. I look at the present and realize the importance of the future.
KY: I learned this from growing up with the Japanese Noh, in which time is often depicted as passing in a non-linear fashion. Action in Noh drama may switch between two or more time frames from moment to moment. [Interviewers note: In the Noh idea of transience, moments in time stay only briefly. Noh uses actors who wear masks. Slight adjustments in the position of a masked head can express a number of different emotions due to the variance in lighting and the angle shown towards the audience. Similarly, artistic changes in guitar timbre could be an equivalent. These masks are used by Noh actors to elevate an actor’s mind and be seen at great distances from the stage. Actors feel the mind of the character they play when they don a Noh mask.]
LF: What criteria do you look for in an original score when you’re choosing to do an arrangement for guitar? How do you approach the arrangement? KY: I look at the music from the perspective of the composer. I don’t think of an arrangement as an adaptation, but more like taking a composition and all it stands for and then putting it together naturally into a performance on guitar.
LF: What is your approach to practicing? How do you practice? KY: I work on my repertoire primarily. Then, I practice what I’m scheduled to perform. I don’t have any strict practice regimen other than what I’m going to perform in the near future. I have so much to perform, from so many historic periods and genres, and that takes precedence over any other aspect of my practice.
LF: When you perform standard guitar works, how is your approach different from playing a big transcription? KY: It’s no different. I look for the same musical intentions, and play all my music with the goal of expression and performance in mind. The æsthetic quality of the music is my guide.
LF: What teaching experiences have been important to you, and what advice do you hope to impart to aspiring guitarists and teachers? KY: I hope the student of guitar is inspired to hear sounds, silence, and tone. With that, I especially hope to make the student aware that silence is the parent of sounds; all sounds come from and return to silence. In addition, guitarists today need to find their own voice based on their history and personality.
LF: Besides your father, who or what influenced you the most with your playing? What influences you now? KY: My former teacher, Kojiro Kobune, Japanese composer and conductor. I studied with him at a young age. I learned not only music fundamentals but artistry from Mr. Kobune. When my father taught me guitar, along with the other students at his Guitar Institute in Nagasaki, he stressed the standard etudes of Sor, Carcassi, and other didactic works by Segovia. At that time, I was more interested in learning larger works such as Sor Fantasies, and the Bach Partitas, Sonatas, and Suites. In that way, I went against the norm at an early age, and in the long run it paid off. In addition, and most recently, I am influenced by my family. LF: You have a seemingly unlimited right-hand agility, control of timbre, and contrasts. In addition, you have the ability to make time stop when the music calls for silence in the pieces you perform. Do you have any advice for aspiring players about developing the right hand, and performing musical silence?
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LF: When you play your Ramírez guitar, you make it sound fantastic! How many guitars do you have and are there any modern day luthiers that interest you? KY: I have several Ramírez guitars, and there are many very fine luthiers active today. Kenny Hill recently showed me his signature model guitar, which is very good! I tend to prefer guitars that are not too loud and favor a guitar with more potential for tonal variety than volume . LF: One thing that is a hallmark of your playing is the dramatic intensity you bring to the music you perform live. Is that difficult in a recording studio? How do you prepare for a recording? KY: My live performances are inspired by my desire to communicate with the audience. I look for similar inspirations in my recordings. I want them to sound like my live performances. Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
LF: Do you play other kinds of music besides classical? KY: I have recorded an all-Beatles CD, and I’m interested in the contemporary popular arrangements by Toru Takemitsu. LF: I’ve noticed you perform slower paced pieces now. Although you still play very fast and complex works, your slower tempo(ed) music is very profound and insightful. What is your idea behind playing slower pieces? KY: There is a greater challenge in playing slower music. Fast music is something I have performed my whole career. I still perform many fast-paced pieces. Slow music has a special place on the concert stage. I choose to work on pieces I like to perform, fast or slow. LF: What is the most unusual or most satisfying concert you’ve given? KY: Good acoustics in a venue is the most satisfying element and helps greatly with my performance inspiration. Often, the bigger the hall, the better the communication and concert experience. For example, I like Davis Symphony Hall in San Francisco. In June, I played at a castle in the Czech Republic (the Křivoklát castle) that had a very lively musical acoustic. I have a performance coming up at a shrine called ShimaOkunitama-Miiko. The shrine is surrounded by a forest on Tshushima Island. I will try to match musically the spirit of Gagaku ( Japanese classical music performed at the Imperial Court) into the atmosphere and the surroundings of the concert. I can do this best by allowing the resounding timbre of the guitar to mingle in communication with nature and the worldly spirits. That way, there is a complete union of music and spirit. LF: Beautiful concept. We’re coming to a close with the interview and I have just a few more questions: What advice do you have for students preparing for competitions, or partaking in college or conservatory auditions? KY: Be overly prepared, concentrate on what needs to be done musically, let the music sing through the guitar and by way of the performance. LF: What makes a great performer, and what do you think all successful people share? KY: Wonder. %
Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
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Eastman Summer Guitar Master Classes July 16-20 Nicholas Goluses, director with Matthew Ardizzone, John Covach, Petar Kodzas, Bob Sneider The Eastman Summer Guitar Master Classes are designed for college and advanced high-school guitarists wishing to refine and develop their artistry, technique, and interpretive skills in the classical, jazz, or rock styles. Each day will have lectures, performance master classes, industry vendors, and concerts by artist faculty. All events, including the participant recital, will be held in Eastman’s new Hatch Recital Hall, a perfect venue for guitarists. Participant Recital: Friday, July 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall Professional Development Hours: 50 Tuition: $1,200/1 credit $540/noncredit
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See our website for complete descriptions of these and other courses and institutes. All programs subject to change.
Xavier Jax & Thomas Pfefer interviewed by Risa Carlson
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he winners of the Eighth Annual International Youth Guitar Competition at the GFA Convention in Columbus, Georgia, are both extraordinary young musicians. Seventeen-year-old Xavier Jax from Arlington, Minnesota, won the Senior Division, and twelve-year-old Thomas Pfefer from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, won the Junior Division. RC: How old were you when you started to study classical guitar, and what inspired you to choose the classical guitar? XJ: I started playing guitar when I was twelve. My family was having dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and there was a Mariachi band playing. It looked cool, so I thought, why not? Well, maybe there’s more to it than that. I think I was inspired by how happy everyone in the restaurant suddenly became when they started playing. Afterward, I signed up for guitar lessons. The teacher I had just happened to teach classical, so that’s what I learned. TP: When I was six and a half, my mother suggested I take up a musical instrument to express myself and to enrich my life. She let me choose between the violin and the guitar. I picked the guitar because that seemed to me very cool to play. I started playing guitar with the Suzuki method, which emphasizes, among other things, attending concerts. It was at one of those concerts that I fell in love with classical music. One of John Arnold’s graduate majors, James Schultheis, was playing one of the most beautiful melodies that I had ever heard. It was Tárrega’s Capricho árabe.
piece. I always look forward to his music lessons. I especially like it when we work on the fingering of a new piece, trying to sustain the legato of the melody or trying to play with the color of a passage. I also like our discussions about how we feel the music should be heard. RC: How much did you practice when you started, and how has that changed or evolved as you have gotten older? XJ: This is a very difficult question to answer because the amount that I practice is closely related to everything else that’s going on in my life at that moment. When I first started, I never counted how much I practiced; I would just start and stop when I felt like it. Plus, it wasn’t that efficient. Now, I time my practice to see how much I can accomplish within an hour. Overall, I’m much more organized then I used to be.
RC: Who or what inspires you to work hard at the classical guitar? XJ: A lot of things. For one, my teacher Alan Johnston has probably inspired me the most. His lessons are something that I’ll never forget. Also, my fellow students (of Alan) with whom I play in ensembles—they’re all fantastic guitarists, and I think it’s more fun to grow together than alone. Competitions also inspire me. TP: My guitar teacher, John Arnold. He is the classical guitar instructor at Moravian College, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He truly inspires me to work hard. I think he is the most caring and supportive teacher one could wish for. He teaches with incredible passion and kindness, which makes me always want to push my limits further. He makes me focus on the smallest details without ever losing sight of the general idea of the Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
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TP: I started with a daily twenty-minute practice when I was in first grade. My practice increased gradually as the pieces became more challenging. When I began to study classical guitar with John Arnold, in fourth grade, I was eager to put a lot more time into my practice, up to two hours a day. The prospect of playing pieces of a more advanced repertoire was really motivating. Last year, I started to enter competitions and do some local performances, which made me devote more time to my guitar practice. Since then, I have been practicing three to four hours a day, depending on my homework load. RC: How do you balance your practice schedule with other parts of your life, such as school, homework, friends, etc.? XJ: I try not to think about this too much, because I’m very bad at balancing it with other things that are going on, and I get a headache when I try. I was home schooled, so I had much more time to work on guitar. I’d do what I had to for school work, but guitar was always my main focus. TP: As I have school from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., I don’t have much time to do anything else other than my homework and my guitar practice. I try to read, though, for half an hour before going to sleep. It helps me wind down. This busy schedule doesn’t bother me, since everyone is also very occupied with his own activities and I always find some time during the weekend to relax, hang out with my friends, and play soccer. RC: Who are your musical or non-musical “heroes”? XJ: For me, I don’t know if I really have anyone that I would consider my “hero.” My favorite musicians, like David Russell, Soloduo, and the Assad brothers, as well as Arthur Rubenstein, Leonard Bernstein, and—probably my number-one favorite—Glenn Gould, come pretty close. But I think my “heroes” would be the composers and not necessarily the performers. So, yes, I think that I would say that composers are my heroes. TP: John Arnold is my hero because he makes things happen every day for me. He is the one who introduced me to my first big pieces and got me going with my first performances and competitions. Without him, I would never have been able to accomplish what I’ve done so far. He finds me opportunities to perform and he introduces me to great guitar players such as Jason Vieaux, the Duo Melis, William Kanengiser, Sergio Assad, and Adam Del Monte. I’m truly grateful to have him as my teacher and my friend.
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RC: Describe your competition experiences, including the IYC. XJ: For me, competitions have been a large part of my development as a guitarist because I prepare much harder than I would for a concert or anything else. They can be quite stressful, and sometimes I think it’s more of a mental exercise than anything else. But they are great to set as goals. My goal for several years was to get into the final of the GFA senior division. I did the competition three years in a row, and finally made it in on the third try. Placing this competition as a goal has had a monumental impact on my improvement as a guitarist. TP: Winning the GFA IYC was a total surprise for me! A really nice surprise! I didn’t expect it at all, and I still have a hard time believing it. I entered the competition with the advice of Mr. Kanengiser in my mind (I met him a few months earlier). He told me that I should not put too much pressure on myself, since it was the first time that I attempted it. He added that I should see it as a learning experience. Even if I had put in a tremendous amount of practice in order to get ready, I went there and played like I had nothing to lose. The second round was a little bit different though. Playing in the big concert hall in front of an audience made me nervous. I hadn’t prepared myself for that. But, once on stage, I managed to concentrate on my music. RC: What advice would you have for other kids who are studying classical guitar? XJ: My advice would be to practice right, listen to a lot of good music, and find the best teacher you can. Simple, right? Also, don’t let things like competitions determine your worth is as a guitarist. You know, take things seriously, but not too seriously. Guitar is a great instrument, and it’s totally worth all the effort! TP: Whatever your expectations for your achievements are, keep up the passion and the pleasure to play. They are the best tools to success. For me, being inspired is what helps me reach my goals. Attending concerts to see great guitar players perform inspires me to practice more. Listening to different interpretations of a piece inspires me to try to find out my own phrasing and to refine it. Listening to and studying the music of great composers makes me want to study music composition. Of course, practicing is the main ingredient to success and not always the most enjoyable. So, try to practice efficiently. Set up goals and measure your progress. The greatest motivation is to see the improvement you’re making. Discipline yourself, believe in yourself and never give up! % Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
evEnTS The First Tianjin International Guitar Festival
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he aims of the First Tianjin International Guitar Festival, succinctly stated by He Qing, the organizer of this event, were, “to have an exchange activity between conservatories, make new friends, and show a high standard guitar event to a Chinese audience. I have had a lot of good experience from different international guitar festivals in the world, but many of my guitarist friends and fellow teachers cannot all go abroad to see these festivals, so I hope to bring to China a festival of the calibres that I have seen.”1
professors will be heading the juries and giving center-stage performances and master classes. This is not simply a matter of courtesy or to help provide impartiality to the juries; instead, it represents the festival organizer He Qing’s desire to place more emphasis on other elements of guitar playing such as the interpretation of the music, the phrasing, articulation, general expressiveness, and the overall color and character of the music—all of this, of course, in conjunction with a fine playing technique. When asked why so much emphasis was given to the invited foreign guitar players, he said, “The guitar is a Western instrument, founded in Western culture. All of the teachers are professors at European conservatories, and all of them have had very successful careers. All in all, I want to present real and pure European guitar music to Chinese audiences.”2
Initial Impressions It is the sixth of October, midweek of the Chinese National Festival in Tianjin, a city a half hour’s train journey from the capital, Beijing. With a population similar in size to London, this city is big. At times, it can be claustrophobic, often leaving the unaccustomed person with a feeling that all of the people living here have descended on one area of town. Fortunately, Events today is not one of those days, as many have left the city for Arguably the most important event was the guitar competimore touristic destinations. There are, however, some visitors, tion, one of the points where the focus was taken away from a number of whom have come for Tianjin’s International Gui- the guest teachers and placed firmly on China’s next generatar Festival. So, on this pleasantly warm October morning, tion of guitar players. Over the course of two days, China’s with the distant booming sounds of fireworks from a wedding guitar talent was clearly displayed, drawing the following comand the ever-present sound of car horns on the street outside ment: “For the younger players, the technique was of a really of campus, guests and participants begin to trickle into the high standard, although the interpretation and sensibilities main library building at Tianjin Conservatory of Music, to were not always at the same level as the technique. For the more highly skilled senior group of guitarists, this distinction enroll and enjoy some of the exhibitions. was not so prominent.”3 Over the course of the next Besides the competition, three days, there are a number of there was a series of wonderful activities not uncommon to other concerts given by visiting guitar festivals, including a competition, experts, Eric Franceries, Darko performances, master classes, Petrinjak, and the Albert Guitar ceremonies, lectures, exhibiDuo, together covering a wide tions, and social events. What is body of music and featuring a particularly interesting is to see number of more contemporary that guitarists from Europe, in works not often performed. conjunction with teachers from There were also performances conservatories all over China, given by the competition winhave come together through ners, and a special performance their passion for the guitar. These Tianjin at twilight. by the Central Conservatory of afore-mentioned European guitar Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
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Music Zhi-Long Classical Guitar well have varying views towards Ensemble (accompanied by Prothese claims; nonetheless, at the fessor Chen Zhi). Tianjin Guitar Festival this was Between music performanvery much the case. Perhaps we ces, there were lectures about guican bear in mind the fact that tar strings and guitar constructhe majority of guitar teachers tion given by Bernard Maillot in Chinese conservatories have (Savarez Strings), as well as a numhad Professor Chen Zhi as their ber of master classes given by the teacher at some point. Chen Zhi visiting foreign guitarists. Beyond is considered by many people to be the official events, this festival was the father of the classical guitar in one of the few times that so many China, and so an allusion to one important figures related to the happy family is probably not so Chinese classical guitar could be far fetched. seen in one place, and so it was The Tianjin Guitar Festival a natural time to improve one’s did have a formal competition, guangxi (relationship networks) and although this was in a society and talk more informally about that places a large emphasis on the guitar and its teaching, as well examinations, it was not seen as as future events. a way to beat somebody or gain When asked about his overkudos; instead it was seen as more all impression from the previous of a learning experience for everydays, the head of the competition body. “I believe that competitions jury Darko Petrinjak stated, “The are an important part of teaching, people who impressed me most especially for younger people. were some of the competitors and To win the competition is not all of the students from the Cenimportant, but preparing for and tral Conservatory. We heard some taking part in the competition is truly beautiful performances, well Above left: Eric Franceries, Bernard Maillot, He Qing; very useful. That is the important Above right: He Qing, Chen Zhi, Bernard Maillot; crafted and musically most inspirthing.”8 He Qing also opined that, Below: Tianjin Festival poster. although he was very happy with ing. I think the time when Chinese guitarists were known only for their high technical level is the outcome of the competition, he did feel the competition behind us. I think this is my most important impression, and could have acknowledged the winners more evenly, expressing the idea that the concept of a first, second, and third place is one that I am very happy to have.”4 maybe a little bit dated, particularly with all the effort that Atmosphere students and teachers put into preparing for an event such as “It’s been like a big party! I have really enjoyed it.”5 “I thought this. Nonetheless, many competitors felt they drew a lot of the people in this festival were really welcoming and warm.”6 benefit from this competition; one of them said, “I feel that “These are my first steps in China, and what a welcome!”7 I came across many good players in the competition, and I These remarks are representative of the many different com- learned many things from them.”9 It is fair to say that pretty ments from both guests and the general public. This festival much everybody who attended this event left having learned was a family event, with parents watching their children something new. perform; friends supporting friends; and guitarists, teachers, What was particularly compelling for the foreign visitor and spectators all coming to enjoy the festival. Many read- was to see the close relationship between teacher and student. ers are probably familiar with the idea of China harmoni- Many of these teachers had travelled with their students and ously developing, and of a single, unified, contented society offered guidance throughout the competition, as well as havoften put forward by the Chinese media, and they may ing helped them prepare for the competition. In fact, the role
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Left: Darko Petrinjak master class; Center: Hans Michael Koch master class; Right: Darko Petrinjak performs.
of a teacher in China is often more like that of a godparent or family friend; this was noticed by a spectator who commented, “The thing that I liked was that there were so many teachers from all of China supporting this event.”10 Students will often say, “if you are my teacher for one day, then you are my teacher for life,”11 reflecting the importance and respect given to them. So when a student achieved recognition at the festival, it was only natural that the teacher was also acknowledged, and he/ she, in turn, bowed to the audience as a sign of respect. This is the Chinese way. Cultural Background People may be forgiven for thinking that the Tianjin Guitar Festival was just another guitar competition or guitar event held in another country. Certainly, there are many guitar events throughout the world, but this was different for three very important reasons. The guitar is a new instrument in China. In the last thirty years, people have started to play it, but only in the last twenty has it begun to be seen in the conservatories here. Before China’s policies of “opening up,” the guitar was viewed with deep suspicion, seen as a symbol of Western decadence, and even the ownership of such an instrument could have led to an unwelcome program of “re-education.” Even with a move away from the era of the Cultural Revolution, old attitudes have taken a long time to change. We really have to thank Chen Zhi for helping popularize the classical guitar in China, having essentially done for it here what Andrés Segovia did for it in the last century in Europe. One of the symptoms of this lack of guitar history is the fact that there had only ever been two previous large guitar events held in China (Zhuhai in 1987 and Beijing in 2008). Although successful, neither of these events involved teachers from all of the modern music conservatories of China, and the general standards were not as high as today. Credence to this is given by the words of a competitor: “A few years ago I didn’t realize that we could have this level of guitar playing in China.”12 This festival not only represents a cultural achievement but also a triumph of the individual. China is a country with Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
no welfare state; there is no job seeker’s allowance, free education, free medicine, or disability benefit. It is up to each citizen to look after his own welfare. There is an immense amount of pressure to perform well at school, graduate, and then obtain an “iron rice bowl”—a safe, though often boring, job for life. Becoming a guitarist is not a safe investment in one’s future. Furthermore, after witnessing the level of performances at the festival, one can tell that the competition is intense. Those people who took part in this competition, many of whom are not from rich families, have taken a brave and risky route. By following their dreams, they have avoided a path of mediocrity in search of real fulfilment. This is true passion and something that deserves real credit. The average citizens from developed Western nations know that if they fail in their music, at least they will not starve; unfortunately, this is still not the case in China. The last element that made this festival different was the fact that it was free. With the exception of the competitors (who paid a nominal fee), all the events, including concerts, the auditing of master classes, and lectures, were without charge. This is not only a policy of Tianjin Conservatory of Music, but can also be found throughout many institutions of education in China. Anybody who has passed through the Conservatory knows that there are free daily concerts of a very high standard given by guests, professors, and students. Having said this, it was not free to organize this event and, without sounding clichéd, thanks do need to be paid to the sponsors,13 without whom this festival would have been prohibitively expensive. The Meaning of this Festival When asked about the meaning of Tianjin’s International Guitar Festival, He Qing commented, “It is very meaningful. It is the first time for the Tianjin Conservatory of Music to organize a guitar event on this scale, especially as this is the tenth anniversary of the guitar faculty here. For China, I think it is important because we got together all the teachers from all of the conservatories in China.”14 Indeed, for the Tianjin Conservatory of Music to support and help finance such a fes-
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tival shows how seriously the guitar is being taken as a concert instrument. Furthermore, getting teachers from all parts of China to attend was no easy feat, especially when considering costs, logistics, and the ambitiousness of the project. This is something that many of those present were also aware of: “I think it is very difficult to hold an activity like this …. This has been a milestone for the guitar in China because it is the first time that a high level competition and a guitar festival have been combined into one big event.”15 Perhaps the real meaning of the festival is less tangible; certainly, new friendships were forged, good music was heard, and new experiences were gained. However, perhaps one of the biggest results of this Festival is a newfound confidence in the classical guitar and its teaching in China. “I feel encouraged, because all the teachers are working hard and very responsibly, irrespective of the age of their students. This is important for the future of the Chinese guitar.”16 A reflection of this teaching was seen in the high level of skill and the character of those competing guitarists. Many of those who attended this event will agree that there is sure to be a number of Chinese names being heard around international guitar festivals and competitions in the near future. Concluding Remarks The festival was a resounding success. “It was a wonderful event. Everything was very well organized, the public and the hosts were very friendly, and the concerts were of a great quality—in a very good concert hall. I hope this festival may continue and further help to promote the guitar.”17 Whether or not this event will happen again is hard to say, but there is a very definite interest in seeing festivals like this in China. There is increasing cooperation between conservatories now, as well as greater ties to foreign countries—something that is being actively encouraged at the highest levels of China’s cultural institutions. The Tianjin Conservatory of Music frequently invites guests from foreign conservatories, as well as maintaining links with a large number of foreign A week of ‘guitar immersion’ in the southern Alberta foothills. Guitarfest faculty: t8JMMJBN#FBVWBJT t)PMMZ#MB[JOB t%BOJFM#PMTIPZ t5IF0CFSPO(VJUBS5SJP t.BSD5FJDIPM[ t.BSL8JMTPO t.VSSBZ7JTTDIFS EJSFDUPS Fee: $400 EJTDPVOUGPSSFHJTUSBUJPOT Aug. 13 - 18, 2012 SFDFJWFECZ"QSJM MRU CONSERVATORY 2012 SUMMER PROGRAMS "QQMJDBOUTNVTUCF XJUIBNJOJNVN(SBEF3$. "QQMJDBUJPOEFBEMJOF+VMZ
403.440.6821 mtroyal.ca/summer
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institutions, and hosting overseas students. The guitar department here has a very strong link with the guitar departments of the Hochschule für Music und Theater Hannover (Hans Michael Koch) and the Central Conservatory of Music (Chen Zhi). These kinds of links are not exclusive to Tianjin, as many teachers are now making connections with other guitarists, both overseas and at home. What about the future of the Tianjin International Guitar Festival? “I would like to make this festival a regular event, and let guitarists from other cultures know that there is a regular event here in China. Also, if possible, I would like to try to move away from a formal ranking—one, two, three—as I think it is not necessary to rank the best players of the competition, especially for the top players; they need to focus on learning from each other.”18 Were the initial aims of the guitar festival met? The answer has to be a resounding yes—not only met but also exceeded. When asked to give his personal views on the festival, Chen Zhi said, “I have seen many competitions and I believe this one in Tianjin has been particularly successful. I hope there will be more events like this.”19 I am convinced that anyone who attended the Tianjin International Guitar Festival would unhesitatingly concur. —Steve Mann Notes 1
He Qing, Teacher, Tianjin Conservatory, Festival organizer. 2 He Qing. 3 Hans Michael Koch, teacher, Hannover Conservatory, Competition Jury. 4 Darko Petrinjak, professional guitarist, head of Competition Jury. 5 Chen Shan Shan, teacher, Macao Conservatory, Competition Jury. 6 Mélanie Portes, Representative of Savarez, sponsor. 7 Eric Franceries, professional guitarist, Jury Member. 8 He Qing. 9 Mu Huai Cong, student, Tianjin Conservatory (attached school), competitor. 10 Manuel Adalid, luthier, spectator. 11 Popular Chinese saying. 12 Chen Xi, student, Tianjin Conservatory, competitor. 13 The Tianjin Conservatory of Music, SAVAREZ Company, Guangzhou Minyard-Martinez Guitars, Guitar Era Website, Juan Hernández (luthier), Gao Jun (luthier). 14 He Qing. 15 Hong Yang, Student, Tianjin Conservatory, volunteer. 16 He Qing. 17 Toni Cotolí, professional guitarist, spectator. 18 He Qing. 19 Chen Zhi, Professor, China Central Conservatory, Festival consultant.
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Hamilton International Guitar Festival Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, July 8-10, 2011
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amilton, Ontario, is known as an industrial city, most notably for the steel and auto industries. The skyline, which includes many industrial buildings with smoke stacks, has been incorporated into the distinctive logo for the relatively new Hamilton Guitar Society under the Artistic Direction of Emma Rush. Emma is a native of Hamilton, but studied at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then completed post-graduate studies with Dale Kavanagh at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold in Germany. After spending several years abroad, she moved back home to teach and perform here. She is currently on the faculty at Mohawk College, Redeemer University, and the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts. In addition to performing throughout North America and Europe, she has recently won prizes at the Columbus State Guitar Competition and the Great Lakes International Guitar Competition. She also received the 2011 City of Hamilton Arts Award for Music. As well as establishing this busy career, Emma founded the Hamilton Guitar Society in 2009, and in its inaugural season met many challenges, including a lack of funding. She somehow developed a loyal audience in an area where there had been limited exposure to the classical guitar. Emma appears to have succeeded in this, largely due to the caliber of talent she has brought to the city—in her first season, Laura Young, the Amadeus Duo, Johannes Möller, and a spring gala featuring up-andcoming Canadian talent. During the next year, she presented Lagrimosa Belta, SoloDuo, and the Eden Stell Duo, all of whose concerts were extremely well attended. One would think that it would be quite satisfying to have founded a society that seems to be progressing so well, but Emma Rush wasn’t content to stop there. After only her second season, she hosted the first Hamilton International Guitar Festival, featuring the Katona Twins, Johannes Möller, the Henderson-Kolk Duo, Chroma Duo, her former teacher Dale Kavanagh, and Jeffrey McFadden. Tutors also included Will Douglas and Kevin
Above: Jeffrey McFadden in concert; Below: Dale Kavanagh (center) with Eli and Ann Kastner.
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Above left, from left: Emma Rush, Janet & Heather Morand Clark; Below left: Johannes Möller, Will Douglas, & Kevin Manderville model festival T-shirts; Above right: Zoltán & Peter Katona visit Niagara Falls. Opposite page: Johannes Möller.
Manderville from the U.S. This undertaking was largely a leap of faith. Guitar Hamilton is essentially funded by ticket sales, along with a few private donations and a small grant from the D’Addario Performing Arts Foundation. Artists were booked with the hope that enough people would come … and they did! The audience turnout was really wonderful. Many people came out to all five concerts and there were many new faces in the audience. The festival opened with the Katonas, playing to very nearly a full house. Their playing style is not perhaps what classical guitar audiences are used to, being somewhat more loud, aggressive, and involving lots of percussion. They played Scarlatti, some pieces in the style typically heard, and then one called Scarlatti’s Metamorphosis that was quite a contrast. Said Zoltán Katona of the set, “the first two pieces, we transcribed to a different key, but most of the notes are the same. In Metamorphosis, we
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kept the same key, but changed just about everything else!” The result was an energetic performance that would have blown any teen rock-star wannabe away! The duo also played Bizet’s Carmen Suite, Tonadilla by Rodrigo, Granados, Falla, and Piazzolla. Speaking with the Katonas afterwards, and discussing their style, they said that some classical guitarists don’t like that they don’t follow classical norms—guitars with cutaways, standing to play some pieces, or not sitting in the standard classical position. But, their counter to this way of thinking is that their music can appeal to a wider audience, not just other classical guitarists. If their arrangement of Scarlatti appeals to a younger audience, this can only be a good thing, in a world where classical music audiences are diminishing. After the success of the first event, the festival continued with lessons for the participants. This year there were about twenty people registered, and each had three lessons with tutors Dale Kavanagh, the Katonas, Johannes Möller, Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Kevin Manderville, and Will Douglas. As well, there were afternoon concerts, and a lecture by Canada’s “father of the classical guitar,” Eli Kassner. Eli was introduced with a short outline of his accomplishments, and he went on to show a video and speak about his life in the world of the classical guitar. The video included footage of Segovia, whom Eli knew well, a performance by Maria Luisa Anido, at the age of eighty, Julian Bream, Rodrigo, and a very young John Williams. At the evening concert, Eli was presented with a special award. Recently he had been the recipient of both a doctorate from Ottawa’s Carleton University and a GFA Hall of Fame Award for Lifetime Achievement. At the age of 87, Eli had been unable to travel to Columbus, Georgia, for the award ceremony. Jeffrey McFadden, the current artistic director of the Guitar Society of Toronto, which Eli Kassner founded in 1956, had accepted on his behalf. Jeffrey, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Guitar Foundation of America, was now able to present the award to Eli on behalf of the GFA. This concert by Jeffrey McFadden marked his Hamilton debut. This is notable in that he is a resident and native of Hamilton. Jeff has performed all over the world, but never in his hometown! During his performance, he played a copy of a Baroque guitar for pieces by seventeenth-century composer Francesco Corbetta, switching to a modern classical for music by James McGuire, Richard Rodney Bennett, and Antônio Carlos Jobim. After the presentation to Eli Kassner, Dale Kavanagh played Brouwer, Rodrigo, Domeniconi, and several of her own compositions. Afternoon performances were by the Chroma Duo, who played Dyens, Christopher William Pierce, and two pieces by Welsh composer Steven Goss: Still the Sea, and the oddly titled The Raw and the Cooked. The Henderson-Kolk Duo, fresh off a successful performance at the GFA convention in Georgia, wowed the audience with their new transcription of Mozart’s Symphony in D for two guitars! The final evening concert was the first concert of Johannes Möller’s GFA tour, which was kicked off just the week before at the Columbus Georgia GFA convention. Johannes, having played in Hamilton before he was famous for winning the GFA competition in 2010, was welcomed back with a near capacity crowd. His performances of Barrios, Gougeon, Swedish composer K. A. Craeyvanger, and his own compositions, were stunning and breathtaking. And so the inaugural festival came to a close. Emma is already busy planning for the second edition, which will run July 13-15, 2012. Confirmed artists and tutors include the Russian guitarist Irina Kulikova, Jorge Caballero from Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Peru, Canadian Laura Young, Armenian Gohar Vardanyan, Shawn Pickup, and the return of Kevin Manderville and Will Douglas. For more information, or to register, see www. guitarhamilton.com. —Heather Morand Clark
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La Guitarra California Festival San Luis Obispo, California, September 9-11, 2011
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he 2011 La Guitarra California Festival was held on the campus of Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, California, on September 9–11, 2011. Twenty acclaimed artists were presented in sixteen events, featuring eleven concerts, four master classes, a free lecture, 33 vendor exhibits, and a display of the famous Forderer Collection of Rare and Historic Guitars. Since 1999, this festival is renowned for presenting the world’s foremost guitarists, and this year’s lineup was exceptional: Pepe Romero, Roland Dyens Ana Vidović, Adam Del Monte, Johannes Möller, the San Francisco Guitar Quartet, Pavel Steidl, Thomas Viloteau, Raphaëlla Smits, the Chris Jácome Flamenco Quartet, Calmenco!, and Craig Russell. Congratulations to Festival Director Russ De Angelo for presenting these fantastic artists. Cal Poly University is the Festival’s new home, and this venue is ideal. The opening night concerts were in the acoustically-perfect, three-story symphony hall. The other ten concerts were in the Spanos Theatre, an intimate five-hundredseat theater with excellent sound quality. The master classes were conducted in a 180-seat classroom, and the vendor fair was in a large pavilion. Both of these venues are underneath the main concert hall, and all festival events were in the same building complex. The Festival Director had the brilliant plan of having all attendees enter and exit the festival through the vendor fair, so the luthiers were very busy the entire festival. Friday Music education is a hallmark of La Guitarra, with master classes, lectures, community outreach events, free lectures, and the display of a rare guitar collection. The Festival began with two afternoon master classes by Adam Del Monte and Roland Dyens. Each class was attended by one hunded people! The opening night concerts featured the San Francisco Guitar Quartet followed by Pepe Romero, and there were nine hundred people in the audience. The SFGQ began their program with a marvelous African-influenced piece by Mark Knippel titled Marenje. They ended their diverse program with their signature piece, Opals, written for them by Phillip Houghton. Their musical range and sheer virtuosity was unmistakable and the audience enthusiastically applauded this popular quartet.
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Then, the legendary Pepe Romero took the stage with a flamenco guitar built by his son, Pepe Jr. Romero played without amplification, and his sound filled the huge hall! He rarely speaks from the stage, but on this night he addressed the audience to announce that his concert was dedicated to the memory of the late Ron Purcell. His program was traditional repertoire and, of course, the great Spanish masters. But Romero breathes new life and excitement into these well-known pieces. He ended his program with the glorious Fantasía cubana composed by his father, Celedonio Romero. He thoroughly captivated the audience and gave three encores, the last a sizzling flamenco Bulerías. What a memorable concert! Russ De Angelo said, “Pepe loved the hall, and the hall loved Pepe!” One great aspect of La Guitarra is the casual, friendly and festive atmosphere. This three-day event truly deserves the title of “festival.” The attendees experienced the world’s greatest guitarists in concert and as master teachers, the vendor fair was full of guitars and accessories, and the Forderer Collection of Rare and Historic Guitars was simply awesome. This collection strives to chronicle the evolution of the guitar from its early beginnings to the modern six-string guitar. And at La Guitarra, you can hold these priceless instruments and (gently) play them! La Guitarra does some other unique things. Before each concert, two audience members are selected to receive a
Pepe Romero & Russ De Angelo. Photos on this and the next page by Mark Westling.
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Left: Adam Del Monte; Right: Pepe Romero.
Festival gift bag containing a bottle of wine, guitar strings, a T-shirt, a guitar cloth, and other guitar accessories. And all during the Festival, attendees lined up to receive free sets of guitar strings, compliments of the Festival. There was a guitar silent-auction, and people were placing bids on a beautiful classical guitar which was displayed in the lobby. And La Guitarra is affordable. Most concerts were $25, the lecture was free, and observing an inspiring master class was $10. The concert tickets are reserved seating, which provides a more sophisticated and enjoyable concert experience. A 2011 Festival souvenir program was given to each attendee at no charge. This 52-page program was very comprehensive and included the Festival schedule, all eleven concert programs with each composer’s birth/death dates, and even listed the luthier of each artist’s guitar. All sixteen master class students’ names and cities were listed in the program. This beautiful program is the finest and most complete I’ve ever seen. Saturday The day’s event’s began with a morning master class conducted by Ana Vidović. Her class was attended by 130 people! The first concert was by Adam Del Monte, certainly the most recognized flamenco guitarist in America. And he has also proven his talent in classical repertoire by winning the 1997 Stotsenberg Competition. His program consisted of his original flamenco compositions, except for a superb rendition of Tárrega’s Capricho árabe. His concert was scintillating. Then, the young Frenchman, Thomas Viloteau, took the stage. He graduated from the French National Conservatory of Music where he studied with Roland Dyens. Shortly after, and just nine years after he first picked up a guitar, he was awarded First Prize at the 2006 GFA Competition. His first set was four pieces by composers Luigi Legnani and J. K. Mertz. These great composers never sounded better than under Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Viloteau’s fingers, and the audience loved these lush and romantic melodies. His entire second set was Ponce’s huge piece, Variations on the Folías, which seemed somewhat rushed, but overall Viloteau played brilliantly. The next event was a double-bill concert—two concerts sold on one ticket. First up was Calmenco!, with three gifted guitarists and a Latin percussionist. Calmenco!’s lively performance ranged from their own original compositions to lyrical arrangements of familiar popular classics. They finished to standing ovations. Then it was time for some traditional flamenco with the Chris Jácome Flamenco Quartet. This group’s rhythm is provided by a blistering flamenco guitar, with two incredible dancers and a cantaor or flamenco singer. Their joy and enthusiasm for this energetic music was immediately apparent and infectious. The stage was “miked” for the dancers, and for the next hour it was hot and dazzling flamenco. ¡Ole! The evening concert was by the incomparable Roland Dyens. It is hard to overstate Dyens’ contribution to classical guitar. Not only is he a virtuoso performer, but also a renowned composer who has composed or arranged hundreds
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of pieces for guitar. He has a unique approach to performing, and his first piece is totally improvised. He never has a set program, but rather announces his pieces from the stage as the evening unfolds. The intimate rapport he creates with his audience is extraordinary. It’s as if he is telling a secret—just to you. What a spellbinding recital! Don’t miss a chance to see this amazing musician.
The lecture was conducted by well-known musicologist, guitarist, and author, Dr. Craig Russell. His topic revealed the humorous tone of the lecture, “Culture and Guitar Performance in Baroque Spain: Time to play a little Trash Metal and Blues!” The lecture was informative, well-attended, and most importantly it was witty and entertaining! The next concert was by Raphaëlla Smits. Smits began her guitar studSunday ies at age nine in Belgium. In the The Festival began with a master mid-1970s she was introduced to class by Pepe Romero. The large the eight-string guitar and has had a classroom was overflowing with two love affair with this instrument every hundred people in attendance. The since. And aren’t we glad! Her first set day’s concerts began with a recital was compositions by Fernando Sor, by the remarkable Pavel Steidl, from Napoléon Coste, and J. K. Mertz, the Czech Republic. When Russ which she played with a replica of an introduced him he said, “As guitar1843 eight-string Stauffer guitar. This ists, we focus on technique, and our is a small instrument, but in Raphaëlrepertoire can be somewhat strict and la’s hands it sang loud and clear as she rigid. But Pavel Steidl reminds us why filled the theater. Her entire second we play guitar—the pure delight of set was J. S. Bach’s Chaconne, and it making music!” Steidl often makes was a magnificent tour-de-force—a unique facial gestures and body movery impressive performance, and she tions during his performances. These left the stage to a sustained standing amusing gestures show his complete ovation. involvement in the music and give The Festival would end with a an additional dimension to his playrecital by the peerless Ana Vidović. ing. They help his phrasing become She is the Festival’s only three-time lyrical and serve to underline certain performer, and even a casual observer melodies, or hint at a crescendo, all could understand why; she is a specAbove: Ana Vidović; expressing emotions of fun and pure tacular guitarist in every sense. Her Below: Roland Dyens joy. And in some pieces, he incorpotone is full and warm, her phrasing rates the mind-boggling technique of Tibetan throat singing! is impeccable, and she effortlessly infuses deep emotion into Pavel Steidl is undoubtedly the most unusual classical guitarist each perfect note. Her luxurious three Venezuelan waltzes by in the world today. Antonio Lauro, and the immaculate La Catedral by Barrios The next recital was by the young Swedish guitarist and were the highlights of the evening! Delightfully enchanting, composer, Johannes Möller. He has received many first prize and the perfect ending to three magical days. awards from international competitions, including winning the 2010 GFA Competition. His program was mostly his own Summary compositions, which displayed his breathtaking technique It’s well-known that this Festival presents the world’s most celand limitless colors. A brilliant concert by this charismatic ebrated guitarists. But they also present magnificent virtuosos young star! Russ told me he is sure we will be hearing much who are not so recognized. Russ told me that at every festival more from this multitalented musician as his career unfolds. Continued on page 93
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34th Guitar Festival, Château of Ligoure Limoges, France, 19–28 July, 2011
M
usic is a worldwide language, a means to communicate prised by the sound of the guitar in these rooms. It was so clear one’s thoughts and feelings without the need of trans- and loud, as if the guitar had found its natural environment. lation. Music has no borders, no limits. Indeed, a lifetime is The daily schedule varied, which made the course even not enough to explore it all. This is what I love about music, more interesting. In the mornings there were ensemble lesand the guitar in particular. If you are one of those who have a sons. We were split into three different groups according to passion for the guitar, you definitely need to share it. Festivals our level—beginner, intermediate, or advanced. Also, we and international courses give you this unique and rare chance all took some private lessons where the professors focused to express yourself with other guitarists from different parts separately on each student’s needs and problems. of the world, to exchange ideas, and to gain knowledge. So, We were about thirty students from France, England, once you’ve decided you want to participate in a festival, the Greece, Belgium, Algeria, and Switzerland, with a mixture next question rises. Which one? of age and guitar skills. Our teachers were Timothy Walker, Although I did not have much experience in it, as I have Eleftheria Kotzia and Stephane de Carvalho. We learned that only recently started my career as a guitar student, I feel so all three of them were closely associated with each other, since lucky to have made the decision to travel all the way from Timothy was once Eleftheria’s teacher, and Stephane started Athens to the Château of Ligoure in Limoges, France, with studying the guitar with Eletheria. This knowedge influenced my guitar on my shoulders. For sure, the fact that the Festival the relationships among the pupils in a positive way. Director and one of the professors was Eleftheria Kotzia, Each professor gave a master class in which we gained the well known classical guitarist from my country, helped valuable information. Listening to the professor commenting influence me. about an advanced student is most fruitful; we discovered The fatigue of the long journey disappeared once I stepped some issues for the very first time and this widens one’s into the Château of Ligoure, a magnificent place, a nine- perspective. The instructors mentioned not only technical teenth-century French palace surrounded by green valleys with tall trees, rivers, and horses. Entering the château is like turning back time. Tall ceilings, beautiful paintings, carved stairs, spacious rooms mostly dressed in dark wood, made me feel I was reverting to a previous age. It is indeed the ideal place for playing classical music because the music seems to be part of the present, not of the past. From left to right: Timothy Walker, Charles Blagburn, Eleftheria Kotzia, Later on, I was also surJacques Blagburn, & Stephane de Carvalho. Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
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Clockwise from above left: Eleftheria Kotzia; Cindy Ghesquier practicing al fresco in the gardens of the château; Chris Chilcott, Rohalt Liebert, Alix Seigneurie, & Marcus Hope; Jacques & Charles Blagburn.
matters but also personal matters, such as the way to organize our time when we study, how to concentrate, correct posture, etc. If I had to express in one sentence what I learned, I would say that it doesn’t matter one’s age, or one’s level, or how many mistakes one makes, because if one really loves the guitar, sooner or later the ability will come to you. The program was balanced. We had the chance to watch a demonstration of how a guitar is made by the French luthier Dominique Bouges; we had time for rest, walks in the woods, socializing, and study, anywhere and everywhere. Beautiful melodies were coming from every room and every corner. The food was so much I gained two kilos, the rooms were clean and spacious, while the fees very reasonable for what the course offered. There were times when one suggested playing a song and all of a sudden a small group of people was gathered, taking the guitar in turns, setting a casual party with melodies of rock ballads, flamenco, Beatles’ songs, or romantic French chansons. Our only complaint was that we were not allowed to play late at night indoors, but I believe that there will be a solution for the late sleepers. In the evenings, the château turned into a concert hall for the festival “Les
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Maria Psarianou
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Nuits de la Guitare.” Our three teachers gave solo concerts and filled the main salle with glorious music by Barrios, Dyens, Bach, Rodrigo, Satie, Ponce, etc. The splendid sounds of the Sonata by Turina played by Stephane’s magic fingers, Eleftheria’s exuberant Walk Dance by Tadić, and her stillness in Satie’s Gnossienne, as well as my old favorite, Capricho árabe by Tárrega, performed by Tim, still resonate in my ears. Benjamin Thieriot’s concert impressed me with his perfect sound and beautiful program of jigs and dances. I really loved his rendering of Spatter the Dew. Also, Robert Ducret sang with his guitar, sentimental old French ballads by Jean Ferrat, Brassens, Moustaki, etc. The last three evenings were dedicated to the students. My group excelled in Mancini’s Peter Gunn while others excelled in duets, trio, quartets, and ensembles by Machado, Marchelie, Sor, Walker, and Granados. Some students, surprisingly young, distinguished themselves with virtuoso solo pieces by Bach, Legnani, Piazzolla, Turina, and Carlevaro. However, what counted most was the effort of every participant. I found those three concerts very touching because by that time a warm guitar family had been created. That’s the magic of the Château of Ligoure. By the end of the course, it feels like a home which you have to leave but you long to return next year. Not surprisingly, participants return every year! —Maria Psarianou
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PuBLICATIONS Fabienne Magnant: Trois Pièces. Saint-Romuald: Les Productions d’OZ, 2009 [DZ 1313]. 11 pp. $9.00. These three intriguing pieces add a very personal touch to familiar Brazilian idioms. The first, Ballade, creates a sultry sensuality with an ostinato bass pattern made possible by tuning the fourth string to E. This allows a freedom of melodic and harmonic invention that greatly enhances the effect. Clin d’oeil is an engaging samba, with the melody emerging in fragments from a style brisé texture and with insistent syncopations introduced by suggesting chord changes on the last sixteenth before the beat. Un, deux, toi (yes, the play on words is intentional) is a playful piece built from juxtaposing different meters (3/4 and 6/8). Moderate technical level. All three pieces are enjoyable to play and to hear. —David Grimes Claudio Camisassa: Brasileirinhas. For guitar and melody instrument. Saint-Romuald: Les Productions d’OZ, 2005 [DZ 850] Score. 12 pp. $9.00. Here are six small (one or two pages each) duets for a guitarist to accompany just about any other instrument that happens to be handy. Virtually all the melodic material is given to the other instrument, with the guitar almost always playing chordal or arpeggiated secondary parts. That is not to say that there is nothing interesting in the guitar parts. Most of the pieces are in the chôro form. The fourth piece, Chôrinho triste, is set for two guitars and the melody instrument. Here the second guitar does have quite a bit of melody to savor. The last of the six, Chôrinho, has a more challenging melodic part, but the others are fairly simple, as are the accompaniments. —David Grimes Jean Horreaux (editor): Guitare anthologie, Vol. III. Paris: Gerard Billaudot Editions, 2010 [35 933]. 54 pp. plus CD. No price. Recently, I was involved in an on-line discussion of the relative merits of the classical guitar versus the classical piano.
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One point that came up was that piano students have the opportunity to play “real music” much earlier in their course of studies than guitarists do. This sad fact is underscored by the opening statement of the introduction to this book: “In their sixth or seventh year of guitar practice, students may gradually approach the concert repertoire of their chosen instrument.” It goes on to say that this particular anthology under consideration is meant to serve as an introduction of excerpts; there are no full extended pieces here. Of the 31 compositions offered, three are duets and the remainder are solos. It is a bit difficult to determine which are full compositions and which are main-theme excerpts; some are marked, others are not. Most seem to be full pieces. The most complex is Albéniz’s Capricho catalán, as well as a Scott Joplin piano rag. There is good representation of repertoire from the Renaissance all the way to modern day, by way of solo selections by Maurice Ohana, Charles Chaynes, and Philippe LeRoux. My own favorite titles here are in a set of four lute works by Charles Mouton: Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gavotte. These are likely drawn from four different suites, but they make an effective set (so long as they aren’t played for Early Music puritans). A nice touch is that the pieces are printed in more or less chronological order, with a sequential order-of-difficulty given on the index page. The playing on the CD is commendable, and makes for enjoyable listening as a stand-alone product. —David Norton Anton Diabelli: Zwölf ungarische National Tänze, Op. 16. For violin (flute) and guitar. Edited by Fabio Rizza. Bologna: Ut Orpheus Edizioni, 2010. Score plus violin part. 15 + 7 pp. €9.95. In these twelve dances, the guitar does little but provide harmonic background and rhythmic stability for the violin. Only in the fifth does the guitar burst forth from its subservience–for a full four measures. So, … little to hold the guitarist’s interest, but a bit of non-challenging fun for the violinist and some pleasant listening for the audience. These could provide —David Grimes some very useful “gig” options. Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
RECORDInGS DVD Review Jérémy Jouve. Recital. Works by Rodrigo, CastelnuovoTedesco, Britten, Bogdanović, Monnot and Piaf, Tárrega, and Satie. Mel Bay Publications MB22060DVD, 2010. Jouve was the GFA winner in 2003, but this beautiful video, recorded live in a small French town near the artist’s birthplace, was not made until 2009. Well, the wait was certainly worth it. The program is very generous, including four (!) major works: sonatas by Rodrigo, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Bogdanović, plus Benjamin Britten’s Nocturnal. The lighter side is well represented by works of Tárrega, Piaf—yes, just who you think—and Satie. The program begins with beautiful Rodrigo: Tiento antiguo, Sonata giocosa, and Junto al Generalife. These works demand transcendent technique and the artist meets their tests triumphantly. His Rodrigo possesses the inner spirit which, even beyond meeting the enormous technical requirements, is necessary to animate much of Rodrigo’s music. Afterwards come two more great works: the Castelnuovo-Tedesco Sonata and Britten Nocturnal. Clearly Jouve is afraid of nothing! And he has no reason for fear, because these very different works are fully equal to the Rodrigo. To play Dušan Bogdanović’s Jazz Sonata after the Britten would seem to be a strange æsthetic shift, but the juxtaposition actually works very well. A “jazz” sonata it may be, but the sophistication of the rhythms and textures means that it is not a letdown after the previous work. And of course it helps that Jouve plays it so very convincingly. Roland Dyens’ lovely arrangement of the Edith Piaf classic L’hymne à l’amour serves as a sort of encore before the bonus tracks (see below). Jouve’s playing throughout is state-of-the-art. He is almost preternaturally close to perfection in every note and every movement. And this is a live video. In fact it makes me a little angry! (Yes, I know it is just the jealousy talking, but even so …) At any rate, watching him play is a lesson in itself in brilliant technique and total exploitation of the musical resources of the instrument. As seems to be inevitable with Mel Bay releases, the packaging is a bit problematic. First, the order of the Rodrigo Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
works does not match the actual program. Oh well, at least the titles in the video are correct. But what the back of the disc case lists as tracks 7 and 8 (Tárrega and Satie) do not play as part of the program, but must be accessed separately as “Bonus” tracks. This, I regret to say, is stupid and obtuse. (Using the chapter advance, they can be accessed after the last piece on the regular program, but why would anyone even know that? Weird.) What can be the point? Why must the buyer work to listen to the entire program? Recorded sound is excellent, resonant but always clear, and video quality is fine. Camera angles often include the microphones, but this is never annoying. Despite the quibbles about the packaging, this has become one of my very favorite guitar videos and is most highly recommended. —Al Kunze Laureates on Naxos • Irini Kulikova. Recital. Works by Bach, Sor, CastelnuovoTedesco, Gallardo del Rey, and Tárrega. Naxos 8.572717, 2011. (Laureate Series). • Anabel Montesinos. Recital. Works by Granados, Falla, Llobet, Rodrigo, López-Quiroga, Sor, and Pujol. Naxos 8.572843, 2011. (Laureate Series). Kulikova is an exceedingly gifted player. Her previous recording reviewed here was notable for her refined musicianship and exquisite sound. Now receiving more awards, she has another Naxos disc, and I am pleased to report it is also very fine indeed. She begins with a beautifully shaped performance of the Bach ’Cello Suite No. 1. Each movement is perfectly judged in tempo with an ear to the sometimes-elusive relationships of the tempi of each of the dances. Dynamic inflection and articulation are likewise exemplary. I confess that listening to extended works by Sor is not necessarily something calculated to make me well up with joy. But if things always went as well as they do in Kulikova’s performance of the Op. 30 Fantaisie, I would have no fear of Fernando. She really does a wonderful job with the piece, filling it with both lyricism and drama. The list of great works for the guitar is not large. My hypothetical framework for deciding if a work is great is to imagine it as a piece for piano, and then try to imagine whether any pianist
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would bother to play it. (As an experiment, play a piece or two in your imagination and see what you think.) Kulikova’s wonderful performance of the Castelnuovo-Tedesco Sonata is a reminder that here we have a work which passes this imaginary test. In fact, her performance is so fine that at times, such as the second movement, it has an almost orchestral gravity. The third movement really sounds like what a twentieth-century Boccherini minuet might sound like. And the fourth movement finale is a rousing affair. Anabel Montesinos is also represented by her second disc in the Laureate Series, having won another major competition. It is certainly clear why she is likely to win any contest she enters; this is extraordinarily fine playing with flawless technique and gorgeous sound. And concerning her sound, it is remarkable that she can retain complete beauty and warmth at all volume levels and can, therefore, employ beautifully varied dynamics in sculpting phrases. She begins her program with one of the best guitar performances I have heard of the Granados Valses poéticos, in which her playing is by turns extremely virtuosic and beautifully lyrical. Lovely works by Granados, Falla, Llobet follow. The Llobet song arrangements, in particular, are played with dazzling phrasing, articulation, use of timbral changes and oh, such lovely sensual sound. (The recorded capture of these performances is a triumph.) Her performance of Rodrigo’s Tres piezas españolas is very fine, although I would have preferred a faster, more ambitious tempo for the final “Zapateado.” Totally new to me were Carlos Trepat’s arrangements of three songs by the prolific zarzuela composer Manuel López-Quiroga. They are impressive pieces, sometimes densely textured and very Spanish in character. Montesinos plays them with great drama and passion. An exemplary performance of the Sor Mozart Variations precedes a delightful final set of pieces by Emilio Pujol. All are nice, but the “hemiola-flavored” pizzicati of the Guajira are really quite delicious! Finally, for both of these discs, please fill in my usual encomia to the work of Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver; they have a really remarkable list of flawless productions. And in both cases, Graham Wade contributes good liner notes printed in, well, maybe it’s as much as seven-point type. (I have taken to keeping a magnifying glass next to the computer.) —Al Kunze David Leisner. Favorites. Works by Bach, Paganini, Britten, and Ivanov-Kramskoi. Azica Records ACD-71268, 2011. When I looked at the title of David Leisner’s new CD, I imagined that the track list would include Leyenda, Recuerdos, all
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the usual suspects in a “favorites” disc. But Leisner is doing something much more interesting than that. Rather than light-hearted fare, he gives us Nocturnal, the Bach Chaconne, and the Paganini Grand Sonata. These landmarks of the repertoire are bookended and separated by brief and almost unknown pieces by the Russian player-composer Alexander Ivanov-Kramskoi (1912-1973). His was a name which turned up occasionally and exotically in guitar perodicals, but whose actual work was largely unknown. Bravo to Mr. Leisner for including these pieces, for they are really quite lovely. The Russian’s style is romantic and conservative, not following the lead of countrymen such as Stravinsky or Shostakovich. Try to imagine a Russian Tárrega or Barrios. Leisner plays them very well, and they are, one supposes, intended to cleanse the æsthetic palate between the larger “courses.” As far as the major works, we have, I fear, a mixed bag. The best performance is the Paganini, which Leisner plays with precision, allied with passion and drama. Even he cannot make the theme of the final variation movement anything but annoyingly trivial, but soon we are off into the variations which are, after all, the point. It is very enjoyable. But I could not warm to the Bach or the Britten. Leisner’s performances would probably be most welcome in concert, but do not hold up to repeated listenings. (I tried.) Nocturnal sounds long. It isn’t really; Leisner’s performance length is almost identical to Julian Bream’s two recordings. But several variations seem slow and cautious. It is certainly possible that the player really hears them at these tempi, but to the listener they lack energy and focus. It does not help that many of Leisner’s slurred notes vanish to near-inaudibility. The variations most afflicted by tempo problems are V (“March-like”) which has quite unjustifiable rubati and eccentric agogics and VII (“Gently rocking”) which is too slow to make its full effect. The problems in the Bach are not unrelated to the Britten, rhythmic unsteadiness which does not serve an æsthetic purpose. I am no fan at all of metronomic Bach, but Leisner’s fluctuations of pulse sound peculiar and at times really undercut his attempts to create a musical architecture. These problems peak at the end of each of the work’s three sections, with the central major section being the most affected. As I stated, if this were a live performance one might admire the artist’s pushing the edges of convention, but they are choices which do not make performances for the ages. Recorded sound is wonderfully pristine, and the liner notes illuminate Leisner’s reasons for picking the repertoire. But someone should tell the Azica design department that the small caps style font is not for body copy. Once again I say, “Grrrr!” —Al Kunze Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Ioana Gandrabur. From Bach to Barrios. Works by Bach, Regondi, Antonio José, Walton, and Barrios. No label or number, 2010. www.ioannagandrabur.com Ioana Gandrabur’s From Bach to Barrios is quite simply a superb disc. The repertoire is wonderful and her performances are magnificent. One of the very greatest works which can be played on the guitar is Bach’s Lute Suite No. 2, and one would have a hard time finding a recording which could top Gandrabur’s. In the densely contrapuntal Prelude and Fugue Gandrabur does not just create a series of vertical events which the ear of the listener must assemble into melodies, but rather beautifully shaped and intertwined voices whose interaction then creates harmonies. This effect comes from perfect control of articulation and dynamics, both in the sense of shaping lines and of balancing the voices. Very impressive. Her Sarabande is a paragon of elegant phrasing, and the Gigue and Double dance happily. Throughout the suite, her ornamentation is creative, tasteful, and executed with admirable rhythmic continuity. Gandrabur’s performance of the Regondi Rêverie reminds the listener of the beauty and substance such works can have when played as well as this. The Antonio José Sonata is marvelous. I simply have never heard it played better. Much the same can be said of the Walton Five Bagatelles, the last of which has an irresistible forward momentum. Finally, a flawless tremolo with a remarkable dynamic range makes the Barrios Una limosna por el amor de Dios an unalloyed delight. This is a recording which will stay in my collection and be revisited often. The great German guitarist Hubert Käppel is listed as engineer and editor of the recording, and it is beautiful. Another great recordist seems to have joined Norbert Kraft and company in the recording pantheon. —Al Kunze Quick Takes Part of an occasional series. Soundboard receives many more discs than we have time and space to review. Here, we include a series of brief reviews in an attempt to ensure that noteworthy discs are not lost in the plethora of submissions. Reviewed by Al Kunze. Solo discs •Cristina Azuma is a fine player in the light Brazilian music genre, and Dreams (GSP Recordings GSP 1033CD) is a good disc, I think. But not for me. For my taste, there is too much of the same kinds of things. After a while, even things which objectively are fairly different start to sound alike. I am well Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
aware of the contradictory nature of that statement. But this is repertoire—mostly quite short works—which lends itself to a kind of vaporous substance. Everything progresses, but with no drama or clear desire to communicate something: make me happy, make me mad, but don’t just run notes past my ears. When a work such as Lauro’s El niño comes along, some little æsthetically-repressed voice says “Ah, finally!” Of course, there are things which stand out, including works by Bellinati which, apparently use the viola caipira. My favorite work on the disc is Thierry Rougier’s Pels pichon, based on Occitan melodies. Sound is good and liner notes illuminate the æsthetic theme by which pieces were chosen for the album. •Soñando Caminos (ATMA Classique ACD2 2635) is Daniel Bolshoy’s take on works by Eduardo Saínz de la Maza. Although Eduardo was the brother of the archetypal Spanish guitarist Regino Saínz de la Maza—dedicatee of the Concierto de Aranjuez—he was more interested in the sounds of jazz and Impressionism than in overtly nationalistic music. Bolshoy makes a beautiful and persuasive case for each composition (including a few arrangements) on the disc. Eduardo’s music can be musically challenging to play, given the composer’s penchant for changes of meter, tempo, and subdivision, often happening at the same time. So, in lesser hands the pieces can be a bit amorphous. But Bolshoy avoids these traps and plays with an always-discernible rhythmic control. Throw in beautiful sound and you have a first rate, highly recommended disc. •William Carter is best known as the fretted instrument player in the highly-regarded early music group the Palladian Ensemble. Here we have his latest outing as a soloist, using, naturally, a period-style guitar in a low key collection of works by Fernando Sor—Late Works [:] Le Calme (Linn Records CKD 380). The title of the disc invokes le calme, but I fear for many listeners the result will be l’ennui. Choosing mostly slow pieces and favoring slow tempi, playing without nails and, I presume, on gut strings, the recording will appeal only to the most devoted enthusiasts of period performances. The presentation is exemplary and the sound is clear, although for some reason the upper strings of Carter’s guitar often seem to disappear in volume, leaving lines oddly incomplete sounding and textures rather unbalanced. •Colin Davin’s The Infinite Fabric of Dreams (No label or number, www.colindavin.com) is a first-rate disc which documents the artist’s repertoire and has been well “field tested” in concert. Davin knows the pieces deeply and delivers virtuosic and exciting performances. And the repertoire is impressive: Mertz’s finest works, Fantaisie hongroise and Élégie, the Castelnuovo-Tedesco Sonata and the Britten Nocturnal.
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So we have major works in state-of-the-art performances. The relatively unusual piece is the Prelude, tiento, et toccata by Hans Haug. We don’t hear works by this Swiss composer often, and Davin is to be congratulated for programming the piece and for making a persuasive case for it, culminating in an exciting “Toccata.” Recorded sound is quite dry, not unflattering, but with virtually no bloom. •Giuseppe Feola’s all-Albéniz recital (Brilliant Classics 94047) draws on the Suite española and Cantos de España, certainly prime material for transcription, as the years have proven. (I strongly urge you not to worry about which piece came from which set!) It is a fine piece of work. The transcriptions are not credited, but Feola seems to be using his own or some of the best versions available. I liked them very much, although I found a tremolo bit in Córdoba a bit off-putting at first. (Córdoba is really a tough nut to crack on one guitar.) The artist has abundant technique and beautiful musicality, very much attuned to the works. Recorded sound is fine and spacious, perhaps, in fact, a bit too spacious; the guitar seems about ten feet wide. The excellent liner note is by Emanuel Overbeeke. •Eduardo Fernández is an exceptionally talented guitarist whose acceptance by listeners has long been held back by an unattractive sound. This has gotten better over the years, and it is a pleasure to report that on this all-Giuliani disc (Varie idee sentimentali (Oehms Classics OC 401), he has a perfectly fine sound. It is far from truly sensuous, at least in the rather dry ambience here, but is seldom unattractive. Being no fan of the composer’s Rossiniane, each of which seems about three days long, the highlight of the disc for me was Le Giulianate, Op. 148, eight not-unsubstantial character pieces. It is quite nice to hear the set intact. Giuliani was a master of variation form and the Variations on “Ruhm und Liebe,” though quite brief, runs true to form. Fernández closes with the Sonata eroica which is adequately performed—virtuosic, but too noisy in the right hand. Check out Pepe Romero’s account on Philips for an ideal recording. •Finland has produced a significant crop of fine guitarists, and Osmo Palmu’s Recital español (Alba Records ABCD 321) is evidence that this process continues. Palmu begins with an exemplary traversal of Turina’s Fandanguillo, uniting the work’s impressionistic and virtuosic aspects ideally. Falla, Moreno Torroba, and more Turina continue the lovely program. His performance of Moreno Torroba’s Nocturno reminds the listener of how beautiful the composer’s shorter works can be. But his performance of Turina’s tricky Sevilla seems close to coming off the rails once or twice. After these
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mid-twentieth century pieces, Palmu presents extended sets of works by Milán and Tárrega. Recorded sound is warmly resonant, and liner notes are informative. It is a bit unfortunate that Paolo Pegoraro starts his recital disc (FaraRecords FAR/005) with the Turina Sevillana; not only is the piece technically difficult, but, like several of Turina’s pieces, it is hard to make musically coherent. Add to these difficulties Pegoraro’s struggle with the crucial rasgueados, and it is an underpowered opener. He quickly gets in his element with the lyricism of three Llobet song arrangements, and his Ponce Sonata III is very good, although the third movement is sometimes rhythmically slack. François de Fossa’s Premiére fantaisie is lovely, but only intermittently engaging, and the lack of a really firm rhythmic profile appears again in the Bach Chaconne, where it is even more vital than in the Ponce. Recorded sound is lovely, and the booklet is very fine except for multiple incidents of “translationitis.” Pegoraro was his own artistic director, and perhaps another set of ears should be added to the production of his next disc. Guitar Duos •Duo Amaral (Mia Pomerantz-Amaral and Jorge Amaral) has produced a fine disc in Súplica (No label or number, ca. 2011; www.duoamaral.com). Graduates of the Peabody Conservatory, the husband and wife have crafted a very enjoyable recital. Some of it is standard fare—Scarlatti, Sor, and Rodrigo—while other works are less- (or un-) known. Of particular interest is Saggio, a kind of invented suite arranged by Mr. Amaral from works by his musician father. Its three movements are all attractive and inventive. I hope that the guitarist explores his father’s output further. I love almost everything by Ginastera (except, sadly, the guitar Sonata) so it is wonderful to hear Three Dances from the ballet Estancia. The opening “Danza del Trigo” is especially lovely. Rodrigo’s Tonadilla is well played. No two performances use exactly the same text, so the fact that the notes are not quite what one expects is likely due to differences among the three published versions. The disc production is first rate with a multi-fold case and much helpful information. The sound is only serviceable; many notes come out rather “thumpy” (a highly technical term), most probably as a result of poor microphone placement. But is quite possible to listen through the sound and enjoy the music making. •Iki Elin Sesi/It Takes Two (Yayincilik CD006) is most unlikely to sound like any other disc in your collection, and let me say up front: very cool stuff ! Duoist consists of Turkish guitarists Erhan Birol and Tolgahan Çoğulu. Melody, Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
meter, harmony, timbre, percussion effects, and tuning are all exploited in original and exciting ways. It is unclear at times whether one is even listening to guitars, so inventive is the exploitation of technique and timbre. (Of course, there could be other instruments, but none is specified.) The music is often reminiscent of eastern Mediterranean sounds, but in its final effect it is almost entirely new to my ears. When Bartók and Bogdanović are the conservative composers on a disc, you know you are on new ground. Well recorded but, very sadly, no liner notes. See if you can find this one. Oh, did I mention that the last cut is Riders on the Storm? No, really! •Pura vida (Soundset Recordings SR 1038) is a fine effort by the Huston-Todd Guitar Duo (Richard Todd and John Huston, guitars). Things get off to a powerful and dramatic start with Paulo Bellinati’s Jongo in a performance reveling in the work’s sharp changes of perspective. Short works by Piazzolla, Gismonti, and Cardoso are all played very well, and there are two larger works. First is the Brouwer Tríptico, a reworking of the Tres danzas concertantes for guitar and string orchestra. Since the work is often performed by guitar and piano, the translation to two guitars is not a huge stretch, and it is published in this duo form. It is a wonderful piece and it is nice to hear it in any form when it is played as well as it is here. Gnattali’s Suite retratos is one of this rather inconsistent composer’s best works, and Huston-Todd play it well. Sound is good, though a bit boomy. Recommended. •Beings (Soundset Recordings SR 1035) is a new recording by the Kithara Duo (Fernand Vera and Olga AmelkinaVera). It gets off to a promising start with Piazzolla’s Lo que vendrá, played with lovely sound, unanimity of attack, and fine technique. Four of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Bach-inspired preludes and fugues are included. They play them very well, and do so despite the fact that the first one chosen is in E minor, even thinking of which key signature gives me a headache! The Prelude of the B set is a rumba, which takes us fairly far from the world of Bach. Several works by Olga Amelkina-Vera fill out the disc, and they are a pleasure to hear. I particularly enjoyed the first, a tribute to Mahler called Gustav’s Dream, and the eponymous second, a programmatic piece called Beings, depicting minotaur, sylphs, and salamander—an oddly assorted menagerie! Her writing is often pleasantly exotic, perhaps inspired by her Belarussian heritage. Other duos would do well to take note. Recorded sound is clear, but dry and often lacking warmth. Booklet design and notes are very good. •Spanish Music (QBK Records QBK 002) by the Kupiński Guitar Duo (Ewa Jabłczyńska and Darius Kupiński, guitars) presents thrice-familiar works in new guises. Rather Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
than the (mostly) piano originals or one of the customary guitar solo versions, we have two guitars. So what is the advantage? Well, a duo can, obviously, play more of the notes than one guitar and thus present a different, if not always clearly superior, experience. Additionally, faster tempi can be attained with less effort than on one guitar. At any rate, I enjoyed the Kupiński experience. The players are technically exemplary and consummately musical. Asturias (Leyenda) is played at a lightning pace which nonetheless does not seem rushed, and with an ease which, given the tempo, is very effective. Mallorca is less obviously augmented in texture, but achieves a freedom of tone color and phrasing which is quite lovely. The Granados Valses poéticos clearly benefits from having fewer notes excised, even though the work can be played quite beautifully on one guitar. In sum, a most interesting and enjoyable album. Recorded sound is a bit murky, but does not preclude enjoyment. •Levantine Journey (Guitar Art Festival CD 14) is a wonderfully eclectic recital by the appropriately named Levante Guitar Duo (Aleksandra Lazarević and Vojislav Ivanović). The works performed are composed or arranged by Vojislav Ivanović, and his notes to the album make clear that he was looking for cross-cultural synthesis. He has succeeded admirably. There are Eastern mixed-meter dances, lyrical ballads, and American jazz, with works “after” Bill Evans, Thelonius Monk, and Miles Davis. His compositional language is conservative but sophisticated, so everything sounds firmly like music of our time. I really must mention one track: Samba Tou Taki. I don’t know if Ivanović was going for the pun, but I’m giving him credit for it. (The piece, by the way, is not at all tacky, but very nice.) The players are flawless technicians with good sound admitting of no complaints. The recorded sound is absolutely clear and the booklet is a charming multipage production featuring an interesting photograph for each track. This disc will stay near the player for a while. •The geopolitically named Welsh Argentine Guitar Duo (Adam Khan and Luis Orias Diz) attempt to merge or at least juxtapose the musics of Wales and Argentina in Voyage to Patagonia (WAG Records, no number). The resulting disc, sadly, is a rather lackluster affair, with little music of any real distinction or even real sophistication. Much of it is aggressively trivial. The playing is on a similar level: nothing bad, but nothing very special either. Even arrangements by the usually reliable Stephen Goss don’t lift the tone of this well intentioned but disappointing disc. Sound is good (for what it’s worth), but the booklet is—despite much competition—the worst example of bad design and typography I have ever seen. %
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PuBLICATIOnS RECEIvED COMPILED BY DAVID GRIMES from Music Sales Limited 14-15 Berners Street, London W1T 3LJ United Kingdom www.musicsales.com Gershwin, George: Seventeen Pieces. Arranged by Jerry Willard. London: Wise Publications, 2011. [AM 1003101] 54 pp. Cd included. No price marked. from Ut Orpheus Edizioni Palazzo de’ Strazzaroli, Piazza di Porta Ravegnana, 1 40126 Bologna, Italy www.utorpheus.com Giuliani, Mauro: Sonata, Op. 15. Edited by Fabio Rizza. Bologna, 2011. [CH 127] 27 pp. €9.95. Grande, Antonio (arranger): Eight Neapolitan Songs and Arias. Elaborated and fingered by Antonio Grande. Bologna, 2011. [CH 134] Score plus guitar part. 72 + 22 pp. €20.95. Mirto, Giorgio: Trois Nocturnes. Bologna, 2011. [CH 137] 12 pp. €9.95. Mirto, Giorgio: Triste, solitario, y final. For guitar and string quartet. Bologna, 2011. [CH 138] Score plus parts. 40 + 19 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 14 pp. 26.95. Molino, Francesco: Premier Nocturne, Op. 36. For piano and guitar. Edited by Fabio Rizza. Bologna, 2011. [CH 131] Score plus guitar part. 20 + 7 pp. €10.95. Picciano, Stefano: Alirio Díaz Through Folk and Classical Music. Bologna, 2011. [LB 10] Softcover. 96 pp. €19.95. Rizza, Fabio (editor): Seven Romantic Fugues. Bologna, 2010. [CH 126] 28 pp. €9.95.
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Signorile, Giorgio: Two Miniatures. For flute and guitar. Bologna, 2011. [CH 135] Score plus parts. 8 + 2 + 4 pp. €9.95. Sor, Fernando: Variations, Op. 9. Edited by Fabio Rizza. Bologna, 2010. [CH 132] 23 pp. €9.95. Spazzoli, Alessandro: A Guitar Notebook. Fingered by Piero Bonaguri. Bologna, 2011. [CH 136] 8 pp. €9.95. Ugoletti, Paolo: Nuove polifonie. Fingered by Piero Bonaguri. Bologna, 2011. [CH 133] 14 pp. €8.95. from Theodore Presser 588 North Gulph Road, King of Prussia, PA 19406 www.presser.com Delpriora, Mark: Variations on a Theme by Sor. Columbus: Editions Orphée, 2011. [PWYS-101] 26 pp. $18.95. Weiss, Silvius Leopold: Ouverture und Capriccio. Arranged by Olaf Van Gonnissen. Vienna: Universal Edition, 2011. [UE 34 487] 13 pp. $17.95. Zimmerman, Ruth L.: Play a Song of Christmas. For variable mixed ensemble or soloist with accompaniment. King of Prussia, 2011. CD-ROM including piano accompaniments (mp3) and lyric sheets (pdf ). $7.95. from Hal Leonard Corporation 1210 Innovation Drive, P. O. Box 227, Winona, MN 55987 www.halleonard.com Burns, Hugh (arranger): Scottish Folk Tunes. London: Schott Music, 2011. [ED 13359] CD included. Standard notation and tablature. 64 pp. No price marked. Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Franke, Jens and Willis, Stuart (arrangers): Baroque Guitar Anthology. London: Schott Music, 2011. [ED 13357] CD included. 32 pp. No price marked. Franke, Jens (editor and arranger): Romantic Guitar Anthology (Volume 3). London: Schott Music, 2010. [ED 13112] CD included. 48 pp. No price marked. Franke, Jens (editor and arranger): Romantic Guitar Anthology (Volume 4). London: Schott Music, 2010. [ED 13113] CD included. 44 pp. No price marked. Méneret, Laurent: Comme un voyage. Mainz: Schott Frères, 2011. [SF 1004] 16 pp. No price marked. Mosóczi, Miklós (arranger): Easy Renaissance Music. Budapest: Editio Musica Budapest, 2011. [Z. 14 733] 23 pp. No price marked. from Guitar Academy 29 Dartmoor Walk, London E14 9WF United Kingdom www.guitaracademy.co.uk
Bach, J. S.: Toccata and Fugue, BWV 565. Arranged for four guitars by Jeremy Sparks. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2011. [DO 766] Score plus parts. 20 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 pp. $18.00. Bizet, Georges: Selections from Carmen, Vol. 2. Arranged for four guitars by Jeremy Sparks. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2011. [DO 752] Score plus parts. 24 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 pp. $26.00. Bogdanović, Dušan: Hello Theo Triptych. For three guitars. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2011. [DO 755] Score. 7 pp. $8.00. Bogdanović, Dušan: Mosaïque balkanique. For guitar and pipa. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2011. [DO 758] Score plus pipa part. 13 + 6 pp. $12.00. Bogdanović, Dušan: Ricercar for Jim. For two guitars. SaintRomuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2011. [DO 746] Score. 8 pp. $9.00. Bonfá, Luis: Manhã de Carnaval. Arranged by Cyrloud. SaintRomuald, 2011. [DZ 1557] 11 pp. $12.00.
Corr, Richard: Guitar Academy, Book 1. London, 2010. CD included. 48 pp. No price marked.
Callahan, Kevin: The Fourth Stream. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2010. [DO 696] 18 pp. $12.00.
Corr, Richard: Guitar Academy, Book 2. London, 2010. CD included. 48 pp. No price marked.
Callahan, Kevin: The Red Fantasy. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2010. [DO 695] 12 pp. $10.00.
Corr, Richard: Guitar Academy, Book 3. London, 2010. CD included. 68 pp. No price marked.
Callahan, Kevin: Suite Seattle. For three guitars. SaintRomuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2011. [DO 748] Score plus parts. 28 + 8 + 10 + 10 pp. $23.00.
from Les Productions d’OZ 2220 Chemin du fleuve, Saint-Romuald QC G6W1Y4 Québec, Canada www.productionsdoz.com
Dalle Ave, Michel: Deux heures du mat’. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1615] 3 pp. $5.00. Demillac, Yvon: Dunes. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1604] 7 pp. $8.00.
Amelkina-Vera, Olga: Intermezzo. For four guitars. SaintRomuald, 2011. [DZ 1595] Score plus parts. 11 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 pp. $14.00.
Farías, Javier: Evansiana. For four guitars. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1589] Score plus parts. 8 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 pp. $10.00.
Amelkina-Vera, Olga: Prelude and Bagatelle. For two guitars. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1601] Score plus parts. 7 + 4 + 4 pp. $10.00.
Farías, Javier: Cinco Fachadas. For viola and guitar. SaintRomuald, 2011. [DZ 1577] Score plus viola part. 19 + 7 pp. $14.00.
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Ferguson, Jim: Film noir. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1588] 15 pp. $10.00. Fletcher, Nick: Poema del canto jondo. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1573] 16 pp. $10.00. Foster, Stephen: Hard Times. Arranged for four guitars by Bryan Johanson. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1562] Score plus parts. 24 + 7 + 8 + 8 + 7 pp. $22.00. Gagnon, Claude: Sépia. For guitar and string quartet. SaintRomuald, 2011. [DZ 1627] Score plus parts. 12 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 pp. $14.00. Houghton, Mark: Twangology: Homage to Django Reinhart. For five guitars. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1611] Score plus parts. 15 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 pp. $16.00. Kindle, Jürg: Catwalk. For four guitars. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1534] Score plus parts. 7 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 pp. $10.00. Kleynjans, Francis: Radegonde. For two guitars. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1586] Score. 3 pp. $5.00. Kolosko, Nathan: Ama Lur. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2011. [DO 749] 15 pp. $12.00. Lemay, Sylvain (editor): 25 Compositions. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1625] 80 pp. CD included. No price marked. Magnant, Fabienne: Impression. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1594] 7 pp. $8.00. Marchelie, Erik: Historiettes. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1602] 7 pp. $8.00. Möller, Johannes: Future Hope. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2011. [DO 754] 4 pp. $6.00.
Ourkouzonov, Atanas: Rhodope’s Illusion. For ten guitars. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2011. [DO 747] Score plus parts. 35 + 7 + 6 + 7 + 7 +7 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 6 pp. $38.00. Pierce, Christopher William: Adagio and Fugue. For two guitars. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1521] Score plus parts. 13 + 7 + 8 pp. $14.00. Piris, Bernard: Sonate. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1634] 19 pp. $12.00. Poulin, Richard: Personnages arabes. For three guitars. SaintRomuald, 2011. [DZ 1590] Score plus parts. 12 + 8 + 6 + 6 pp. $16.00. Raymond, Jean-Marie: Élégie. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1618] 3 pp. $5.00. Raymond, Jean-Marie: Impressions fugitives. For three guitars. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1578] Score plus parts. 8 + 2 + 2 + 2 pp. $10.00. Raymond, Jean-Marie: Kizuna. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1609] 8 pp. $8.00. Raymond, Jean-Marie: Twilight Serenade. For guitar and string quartet. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1626] Score plus parts. 18 + 6 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 pp. Rehearsal CD included. $27.00. Roux, Patrick: Around the World. For four guitars. SaintRomuald, 2010. [DZ 1599] Score plus parts. 33 + 11 + 9 + 11 + 9 pp. $35.00. Sasseville Quoquochi, Pascal: Kaos. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 16194] 12 pp. $9.00.
Ourkouzounov, Atanas: Extension. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2011. [DO 756] 11 pp. $10.00.
Scarlatti, Domenico: Six Sonatas. Revised for mandolin and figured bass by Vincent Aeer-Demander and F. Gallucci. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1574] Score plus mandolin part. 27 pp. $25.00.
Ourkouzounov, Atanas: Mish Mash. For two guitars. SaintRomuald: Les Éditions Doberman-Yppan, 2011. [DO 768] Score plus parts. 14 + 8 + 8 pp. $15.00.
Scarlatti, Domenico: Sonates, Vol. 1: K. 386, K. 232. Arranged by Gérard Abiton. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions DobermanYppan, 2011. [DO 761] 11 pp. $10.00.
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Scarlatti, Domenico: Sonates, Vol. 2: K. 208, K. 209. Arranged by Gérard Abiton. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions DobermanYppan, 2011. [DO 762] 7 pp. $9.00.
Traditional: Rye Whiskey. Arranged for four guitars by Bryan Johanson. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1564] Score plus parts. 10 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 pp. $12.00.
Scarlatti, Domenico: Sonates, Vol. 3: K. 319, K. 69. Arranged by Gérard Abiton. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions DobermanYppan, 2011. [DO 763] 11 pp. $9.00.
Traditional: Shenandoah. Arranged for four guitars by Bryan Johanson. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1565] Score plus parts. 8 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 pp. $10.00.
Scarlatti, Domenico: Sonates, Vol. 4: K. 162, K. 555. Arranged by Gérard Abiton. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions DobermanYppan, 2011. [DO 764] 10 pp. $10.00.
Traditional: The St. James Infirmary. Arranged for four guitars by Bryan Johanson. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1566] Score plus parts. 8 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 pp. $10.00.
Scarlatti, Domenico: Sonates, Vol. 5: K. 261, K. 492. Arranged by Gérard Abiton. Saint-Romuald: Les Éditions DobermanYppan, 2011. [DO 765] 12 pp. $10.00.
Traditional: Whistling Molly. Arranged for four guitars by Bryan Johanson. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1567] Score plus parts. 15 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 pp. $14.00.
Sechan, Renaud: Mistral gagnant. Arranged by Jean-Marie Raymond. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1553] 3 pp. $8.00.
Van der Staak, Pieter: Arrivederci! For guitar ensemble. SaintRomuald, 2011. [DZ 1612] Score plus parts. 4 + 1 + 1 + (4x1) pp. $9.00.
Sytchev, Mikhail: Rondo. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1569] 7 pp. $8.00. Sytchev, Mikhail: Tango for One. For two guitars. SaintRomuald, 2011. [DZ 1610] Score plus parts. 6 + 3 + 3 pp. $10.00. Telemann, Georg Philipp: Partie polonaise. Original for two lutes, arranged for two guitars by Ernesto Quezada. SaintRomuald, 2011. [DZ 1549] Score plus parts. 15 + 11 + 11 pp. $18.00. Tisserand, Thierry: Camaieu. For five guitars. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1606] Score plus parts. 30 + 11 + 11 + 11 + 11 + 8 pp. $34.00. Traditional: Black is the Color. Arranged for four guitars by Bryan Johanson. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1560] Score plus parts. 8 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 pp. $10.00. Traditional: Brethren, We Have Met. Arranged for four guitars by Bryan Johanson. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1561] Score plus parts. 12 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 pp. $14.00. Traditional: Pick a Bale of Cotton. Arranged for four guitars by Bryan Johanson. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1563] Score plus parts. 19 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 pp. $16.00. Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
Van der Staak, Pieter: Happy End. For guitar ensemble. SaintRomuald, 2011. [DZ 1613] Score plus parts. 6 + 1 + (4x1) pp. $10.00. Van der Staak, Pieter: Hasta la vista! For guitar ensemble. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1600] Score plus parts. 8 + (12x1) pp. $12.00. Van der Staak, Pieter: Hopla! Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1614] Score plus parts. 8 + (12x1) pp. $12.00. Zohn, Andrew: Con pulso. Saint-Romuald, 2011. [DZ 1593] 10 pp. $9.00. Continued from Page 80 there has been a “breakthrough” artist. This year, he said, that honor was shared by three impressive virtuosos: Johannes Möller, Pavel Steidl, and Raphaëlla Smits. These three are renowned in Europe and Asia but they are not familiar names in the guitar community in America … yet. Compliments to Cal Poly Arts for presenting the Festival, and particular congratulations to Festival Director, Russ De Angelo, for over two years of tireless planning and promotion. Russ said that the mission of La Guitarra California is to expand the understanding and appreciation of all aspects of classical guitar. Their mission was accomplished, indeed. This was my fourth La Guitarra California Festival and they just keep getting better. The next La Guitarra California Festival will be at Cal Poly in September, 2013, and I won’t miss it! Visit www.laguitarracalifornia.com for details. —David Bernard
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RecordingS RECEIvED COMPILED BY Albert Kunze Solo Guitar and Related Instruments Aron, Stephen. My Favorite Chopin Mazurkas. Works by Chopin. Clear Note Publications, no number, 2006. Bolshoy, Daniel. Soñando caminos. Works by Eduardo Saínz de la Maza. ATMA Classique ACD2 2635, 2011. Clef, Tony R. Tuesday Afternoon. Works by Purcell, Newley, Rodgers, Villa-Lobos, et al. Big Round Records BR9816, ca. 2011. Gandrabur, Ioana. From Bach to Barrios. Works by Bach, Regondi, Antonio José, Walton, and Barrios. No label or number, 2010. www.ioannagandrabur.com. Kulikova, Irina. Recital. Works by Bach, Sor, CastelnuovoTedesco, Gallardo del Rey, and Tárrega. Naxos 8.572717, 2011. (Laureate Series). Leisner, David. Favorites. Works by Bach, Paganini, Britten, and Ivanov-Kramskoi. Azica Records ACD-71268, 2011. Montesinos, Anabel. Recital. Works by Granados, Falla, Llobet, Rodrigo, López-Quiroga, Sor, and Pujol. Naxos 8.572843, 2011 (Laureate Series). Wohlwend, Karl. Out of Italy. Works by Molino, Legnani, Regondi, and Zani de Ferranti. No label or number, 2011. www.columbusclassicalguitar.com. Guitar and Lute in Ensemble Catalá, Rafael (with Roger Blávia, percussion and Albert Kreuzer, double bass). Tales of the Minotaur. Works by the artist. ElDuende Productions ElD 2011-1, 2011. (Includes CD and DVD)
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DuoAmaral (Mia Pomerantz-Amaral and Jorge Amaral, guitars). Súplica. Works by D. Scarlatti, Sor, Ramírez, Ginastera, and Rodrigo. No label or number, ca. 2011. www. duoamaral.com. Duo Chauvet/Altmayer (Florian Chauvet and Régis Altmayer-Henzien, eight-string guitars). Recital. Works by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert. No label or number, ca. 2011. www.duo-chauvet-altmayer.com. D’Amore Duo (William Feasley, guitar with Vladimir Lande, oboe). Simplicity. Works by Moriarty, Ibert, Pilss, Coste, Cimarosa, and Couperin. Sonora Productions SO22573CD, 1995. _____. (Feasley with Fatma Dagmar, oboe). Recital. Works by Coste, Rust, Isbaak, Rebay, and Lezcano. No label or number, 2009. _____. (Feasley, guitar and Yeon Jee Sohn, oboe) Under a Southern Sky. Works by Ferraris, Azevedo, Bruzzese, Coste, Eastwood, et al. No label or number, 2011. Ferguson, Grant (electric guitar; with assisting artists). Decay & Devotion. Works by the artist. Melodik Records 201102, 2011. Gripper, Derek (voice and guitar). The Sound of Water. Works by Gismonti, Villa-Lobos, and the artist. New Cape Records NC10 2011, 2011. Reid, James (with Diana Schaible, guitar, and Ferenc Cseszkó, violin). Guitarra americana. Works by Carlevaro, M. D. Pujol, Walker, and the artist. Lost Trail Music Company CD 1009, 2011. DVD Catalá, Rafael, see CD listings. Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
WORKS IN PROGRESS/Completed COMPILED BY THOMAS HECK
G
uitarists, students, and others seriously engaged in guitar-related research or seeking elusive music or books are welcome to insert an announcement of their activity, whether under way or recently completed, in this column. Please send all such communications to Thomas Heck, preferably by e-mail, to
[email protected]. Some repetitions may occur in these listings in order to keep new readers informed of ongoing projects. Reinsertions and updates are identified with a parenthetical reference to an earlier Soundboard entry (vol./no.).
In Progress Mauro Giuliani – Another Revision Thomas Heck , editor of this column, kindly invites readers with new information on the life and works of Mauro Giuliani to contact him, since he is currently preparing an update of his book, Mauro Giuliani: Virtuoso Guitarist and Composer (Editions Orphée, 1995/ rev. 1997). This new book is planned as an e-publication. It will include or reference the new factual material published in Italian (in 2011, see below) by Marco Riboni. It will also make public and discuss some newly discovered letters and documents, notably the four “lost” Giuliani letters now in the Bavarian State Library. Thanks in advance must go to Marco Riboni, Andreas Stevens, and Gerhard Penn for their enthusiastic and generous support of this update and revision. Watch for spinoff articles relating to these new findings in the coming months in the usual serious guitar journals. Boris Perott - Biographical Research Jan de Kloe, <
[email protected]>, writes to invite readers with any particular knowledge of sources relating to Boris Perott to kindly contact him: Most guitarists have heard of Boris Perott if only because he taught the young Julian Bream for a while. There have been only a few short articles about him in the specialized guitar literature—Guitar Review, Classical Guitar, L’Arte chitarristica. However, little is known about this person. Perott was born in Russia in 1882. He completed his education as a medical doctor at the military academy of Saint Petersburg while he studied the guitar in his spare time. He refers to Lebedev and Decker-Schenk as his teachers. His medical profession took him to Siberia, where he stayed for
Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1
six months in Irkutsk (1909), and he did another tour of duty a little later to another Siberian city, Krasnoyarsk. At the time, Finland was under Russian rule and Perott worked there at a sanatorium specializing in tuberculosis. He left his country after the Revolution and settled in London in 1920 at the age of 38, and his family—wife, son and mother— came with him to England. First, he worked at obtaining his license with the British medical authorities, and then he established himself as a physician. In 1929, with a few amateurs, he created the Philharmonic Society of Guitarists. Perott remained president until his death in 1958. He wrote a series of articles about “the famous guitarists” in the British magazine BMG (Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar). Through his society, his work was pivotal for the popularization of the guitar in his new country. Before and after the Second World War, the Society invited international players such as Mario Maccaferri, Ida Presti, Karl Scheit, Nicolas Alfonso, and a few others to perform. Many Russian and British players were taught by Perott. The biography will provide details on his youth, his education, his concerts in Russia, and the Russian publications about tuberculosis and Esperanto. In 1917, when living in the Finnish city of Vyborg, he had two unfortunate encounters with Lenin. Under pressure from the Bolshevik movement, Perott had to relinquish control of what was now his sanatorium, and this was the beginning of the end of a successful career in Russia. From the second half of his life in England we have found correspondence—more than fifty letters in Russian and English—with luminaries in the guitar world. Most of his significant articles will be included in the bibliography, not only about the guitar but also those about the Boy Scouts movement, Esperanto, medical issues, and even about a beauty contest. Plenty of photographs have already been located—portraits, group photos with other guitarists, family pictures, and details of his Paserbsky guitar, which survived and is now a hundred years old.
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Completed Stauffer Guitars (37/4) Austrian guitarist and scholar Dr. Stefan Hackl, , along with his colleagues Erik Pierre Hofmann, , a guitar maker and restorer, and Pascal Mougin, a scholar/photographer, have just announced the publication (in December, 2011) of Stauffer & Co.: The Viennese Guitar of the Nineteenth Century (Les Editions des Robins). Detailed information should appear on its trilingual web site (see www.stauffer-and-co.com) in the opening months of 2012. This book aims to provide the most thorough information yet available on the Stauffer dynasty of guitar makers and their approximately 150 surviving instruments. A New Book on Mauro Giuliani Marco Riboni has published a substantial new book, Mauro Giuliani (Palermo: L’Epos, 2011 [ISBN 978-88-8302-414-6. 530 pp.]), that summarizes in Italian all the available documentation up to 2010 on this noted Italian guitarist and composer. Riboni publishes much new information on Giuliani’s
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lineage: we now know much more about his immediate family and how they relocated to Trieste during much of his sojourn in Vienna. More details about his final years in Italy are also available now for the first time. This monograph contains extensive analyses and musical examples supporting the author’s discussion of the œuvre of Giuliani in all the major compositional forms. This section is arranged under three headings: “The Styles of Mauro Giuliani” (p. 247), “Applied Styles: Didactic works” (p. 357), and “Imitative Styles: the Transcriptions” (p. 391). Among its helpful appendices are: •A chronological list of works, p. 463, •A non-thematic catalogue of the works of Mauro Giuliani, p. 473, •A brief checklist of the known autograph scores and letters of Giuliani, p. 483, •A large bibliography, p. 485, •A discography, p. 511, •A proper name index, p. 517, but no topical or musical genre indexes.
Extensive errata are listed on pp. 529-530, most having to do with mislabeled musical examples. %
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