FALL 2017
SPECIAL FOCUS: GUITAR EDUCATION EDUCATION | SEAN SHIBE | GUITAR IN MONTREAL MONTREAL
CLASSICAL GUITAR
BERTA
ROJAS AND THE MUSIC OF BRAZIL
INSIDE THE SEGOVIA ARCHIVE ROLAND DYENS ‘TANGO’ LESSON RAPHAELLA SMITS
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com
The RamiRez ColleCTion hisToRy and RomanCe of The spanish GuiTaR T h Jé Rír, s' gt tb gtr kr, w mr 1882. ovr r t bt crv m Cct trt ctrct b br t tr grt s tr, w wr tr tr wrk. a t wr trt, g vr tw ctr t tr' rt, r bt trt. ptgr t rt tr c t tr c. m trtg ct r t t rjct ctr, g tg w, t rt t wr rttc crt 88 cr g, vb bt rbck rbck t, bt wt rcrg tr trt. A lovely book telling the story of Jose Ramirez – one of the great names in the history of classical guitar.
X yg - Ccrt artt An enlightening book for lovers of the t he guitar and a privilege to t o be able to share the author’s experience with such an interesting array of instruments. Cc Gtr mg
A-LECKIE -LECKIE THE THE TÁR TÁRREG REG A M ANUS ANUSCRI CRIPT PTS S GUITAR M MAESTRO LESSONS LESSONS WITH THE MAESTRO
Th Th acm acm prnt hr or th rt tm, ar o manucrpt whch whch wr a bautuy hanwrttn by francco Tárrga or h tunt tunt an an patron, dr Watr Jam lck. Th gncanc o th cor canno cannott b ovrtat; wth rgar to both tchnca an tytc t ytc mattr t wa wa Tárrga who a th ounaton or a utur compor an an arrangr or th ntrumnt. in thr orgna orgna ormat thy rprnt om x hunr an ty-our pag o th th matro’ work an thr rproucton, payng markng by both bot h Tárrga Tárrga an dr lck, aow a acnatng nght, at ourc, nto th mn o matro an tunt. in partcuar th attnton to ta n ta n th th ngrng qut atonhng. h & Japan: 236 coour pag, arg Txt n engh, span s panh ormat, harback The book is absolutely beautiful. Congratulations on this achievement and for enriching our lives with these documents. p Rr Magnificent facsimile edition. Printed Printed on fine paper with the utmost utmost clarity - a definitive book. Gr W, Cc Gtr mg
vb r: www.ccgtr.c.k
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 3
CONTENTS FALL 2017
24
FORGOTTEN NO MORE Roberto Moronn Pérez and the Segovia Archive BY BLAIR JACKSON
26
GABRIEL AYALA’S MUSICAL MEDICINE Eclectic Native American guitarist inspires BY KAREN PETERSON
30
RAPHAELLA SMITS On her guitar education, mastering period instruments, and more BY THÉRÈSE WASSILY SABA
N 43 ANTHONY GLISE S O An interview about pedagogy and U I his valuable new guitar history textbook T BY BLAIR JACKSON C A O C F U 46 LIFELONG LEARNERS The West Dean Guitar Festival D L and adult guitar programs E A BY DAVID LUSTERMAN I R
O N T H E C O V E R B E R T A R O J A S P H O T O G R A P H E R R O D R I G O D A S I L V A ( A U R A A U D I O V I S U A L ) C L A S S I C A L G U I T A R F A L L 2 0 1 7 I S S U E 3 8 7 V O L . 3 5 , N O . 1
A C T 50 BUILDING SIGHT E I
READING CONFIDENCE
P U A guide to building this valuable skill G BY ALAN RINEHART S
4 Fall 2017
NATALIA FERREIRA BARBOSA PHOTO
CONTENTS FALL 2017
NEWS
PLAY
10 CG 10 CG NEWS Guitar competition winners; New Elizabethan Award
54 METHOD 54 METHOD Roland Dyens’ immortal ‘Tango’
12 VIEW 12 VIEW FROM THE FRONT ROW Sean Shibe is comfortable in the Renaissance and on the cutting edge
58 MUSIC TO PLAY Blue Yates’ Prelude No. 4
BY OLLIE MCGHIE
14 KEEPERS 14 KEEPERS OF THE FLAMENCO Flamenco’s mystical Muslim roots BY JASON WEBSTER
10
16 LETTER 16 LETTER FROM MONTREAL Diversity reigns in Canadian guitar hub BY ANTOINE BERTHIAUME
BY RHAYN JOOSTE
REVIEWS 61 ALBUMS 61 ALBUMS Beethoven Beethoven for for Two Two Guitars, Meng Su, Canadian Guitar Quartet, Christoph Denoth, Torroba guitar concertos, and more 66 PRINT Quartets by João Luiz, a Sonatina from Stephen Goss, pieces by Antoine de Lhoyer, Manuel Saumell, G.F. Handel, and more
72 STAGE Sharon Isbin and students open NY festival 74 TOOLS OF THE TRADE Stephen Marchione’s superlative classical BY ADAM PERLMUTTER
76 TOOLS OF THE TRADE The Ramirez del Tiempo honors family tradition BY ADAM PERLMUTTER
MISCELLANY 8 From the Editor 78 Competition and Festival Listings 81 Ad Index
22 MOMENTITO 22 The value of music in dark times BY GRAHAM WADE
82 THE BACK PAGE New book honors 19th century women composers BY BLAIR JACKSON
6 Fa Fall 2017
DOWNLOAD THIS MAGAZINE—FOR FREE! store.ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com agazine.com/digital-edition /digital-edition, Visit store.ClassicalGuitarM select this issue, then enter the code FL387FR when you check out to get the PDF PDF version version for free! free!
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
CLASSICAL GUITAR GUITAR
IS IT STILL A MAN’S WORLD? In his excellent new book Women Compos- Yang, Antigoni Goni, Ana Vidovic, Irina Kulikova, Lily Afshar, to name just a few— ers of the 19th Century Arranged for Guitar dozens more who will eventually ascend to Quartet (see page 82), author/arranger those heights, and thousands behind them Ryan Marquardt notes of composer Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel that her famous who are skilled artists with an abiding passion for the instrument. brother Felix “published some of Hensel’s work under his name, showing a respect Still, away from that rosy assessment, I was struck by the fact that at this year’s for her compositions while also subscribing to that societal notion that a woman of Guitar Foundation of America convention in Fullerton, California, her social standing could not be a professional, nor none of the 12 semiperform in public. The �nalists in the prestiidea of Hensel publishing gious International Concert Artist Competition or performing publicly was opposed by her father and were women. I was, frankly, disappointed, brother. As a result, she often fell into periods of and further investigation showed me that out of self-depreciation and felt physically and artistically 46 players listed for the ICAC, only four were con�ned.” Of course, such has women! The percentages were a bit better in the been the lot of women in Boston GuitarFest winner so many walks of life, basiJunior and Senior Youth Francesca Boerio competitions (four girls cally forever . We like to think that we have evolved out of 16 in each, and quite a few in the various ensemble comthrough the centuries and that women by and large have the same opportunities as petitions), so that was heartening. This is not to in any way denigrate either the men today, but the mass of empirical (and testimonial) evidence suggests otherwise. judges at GFA (and the many competitions around the world where the results skew Evidently, it isn’t easy to overcome centuries—millennia—of cultural tradition and similarly), or the male players, who are, indoctrination. I’m sure, all superb musicians deserving In the world of classical guitar, I don’t their placements. sense any sort of structural impasse that is But it shows that no matter how far we keeping girls/women from pursuing the art seem to have come since Mendelssohnform; i.e. schools and conservatories are as Hensel’s time, there is still a long way to apt to accept female students as male ones. go before women guitarists—and composAnd I don’t think there’s any question that ers—will be on equal footing, numerically there are more women studying and playspeaking, with their male counterparts. ing classical guitar than at any time in the We’re going to get into this topic in greater instrument’s history. Two of the very best depth in a future issue (family vs. profesare pro�led in this issue: Berta Rojas and sion, ongoing cultural bias, etc.), but for Raphaella Smits. And there are so many now I’d love to hear your thoughts on the other women who are at the apex of clasmatter. sical guitar artistry—Sharon Isbin, Xuefei — Blair Jackson, Jackson,
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8 Fall 2017
CONTENT DEVELOPMENT Blair Jackson Editor Blair Managing Editor Greg Olwell Hugh O’Connor Production Manager Hugh Contributing Editors Guy Traviss, Thérèse Wassily Saba, Maurice Summer�eld, Graham Wade, Chris Dumigan, Steve Marsh, Derek Hasted, Paul Fowles, Giacomo Fiore Creative Director Joey Lusterman SALES & MARKETING Lyzy Lusterman Chief Revenue Officer Lyzy Cindi Olwell Sales Director Cindi Associate Sales Director Greg Sutton Sales Managers Amy-lynn Managers Amy-lynn Fischer, Ref Sanchez Tanya Gonzalez Marketing Services Manager Tanya Marketing Designer Tricia Baxter Product Marketing Manager Kelsey Manager Kelsey Holt Magazine Marketing Coordinator Lauren Boyd Single Copy Sales Consultant Tom Consultant Tom Ferruggia
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NEWS
NEW ELIZABETHAN AWARD ANNOUNCED
GFA winner Tengyue Zhang
A SALUTE TO SOME OF 2017’S GUITAR COMPETITION WINNERS! Let’s all take a moment to offer our hearty congratulations to the winners and runners-up in some of the major adult classical guitar competitions that have happened so far in 2017 (in chronological order): Northwest Guitar Festival Festival (Portland, OR, Sampson, 2. Simon Farintosh, USA): 1. Kyle Sampson, 3. Mikhail Smirnov, 4. Lucas Victor. Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society (USA): Society (USA): 1. Oscar Somersalo, Somersalo, 2. Carlos Bedoya, 3. Stephen Brew, 4. Leonard Ranallo. Ivor Mairants Guitar Award Award (London): 1. Giacomo Susani, Susani, 2. Ross Wilson, 3. Jonathan Parkin. Nordhorn Guitar Festival (Germany): Festival (Germany): 1. Peter Graneis, Graneis, 2. Takuya Okamoto, 3. Mateusz Kowalski. Guitare Montréal Montréal (Canada): 1. Jesus Serrano, Serrano, 2. Austin Wahl, 3. Laura Hubands. Koblenz International Guitar Festival Festival (Germany): 1. Campbell Diamond, Diamond, 2. Elena Fomenko, 3. Jesse Flowers. Classical Minds Guitar Festival and Competition Competition (Bellaire, TX, USA): 1. Jesus Serrano, Serrano, 2. Matthew Gillen, 3. Anthony Mariano
10 Fall 2017
Guitar Foundation of America (Fullerton, (Fullerton, Zhang, 2. Andrea De CA, USA): 1. Tengyue Zhang, Vitis, 3. Alec Holcomb, 4. Andrey Lebedev. Boston GuitarFest (USA): GuitarFest (USA): (Academy ComBoerio, 2. Dani petition) 1. Francesca Boerio, Zanuttini-Frank, 3. Benjamin Lauring, 4. Leonela Alejandro; Composition CompetiContreras. Le Domaine Forget tion: Javier Contreras. Guitar Academy Academy (Saint-Irénée, Canada): 1. Jesus Misael Barraza Diaz, Diaz , 2. Bruno Gauthier-Bellerose, 3. Michael Vascones. Hamilton International Guitar Festival & Competition (Canada): Competition (Canada): 1. Steve Cowan, 2. Tim Beattie, 3. Austin Wahl, 4. Nathan Bredeson. Changsha Guitar Festival (China): No �rst or second place; 3. Julio Quimbayo, 4. Alexandra Valesco; Composition Competition: Ladouce Franck. Franck.
Here’s some exciting news that comes our way from the Musicians Company of the City of London, who have given out the Ivor Mairants Guitar Award (see left) for nearly two decades now: In July 2018 they will be selecting the winner of the group’s inaugural New Elizabethan Award, bestowed on the best player in a competition for guitarists and lutenists performing solo or ensemble music (with other instruments and/ or voice) from the two Elizabethan ages. Before he passed away in 2016, British composer Peter Maxwell Davies had this to say about the New Elizabethan Award: “This award has a very special signi�cance, in that its focus is on the two great Elizabethan ages, complementing the two main periods of development in Britain of the lute and the classical guitar. This constitutes a most important part of British musical tradition, which still needs to be brought more vividly into the public domain. Britain’s position in this repertoire of lute and guitar music is comparable to that of Spain and Portugal—from John Dowland’s [16th century] works for lute to Benjamin Britten’s [20th century] for guitar. “In addition to the more obvious solo opportunities, this project offers something of great interest to composers today in the use of lute and guitar in chamber music. Particularly, it will offer great encouragement to a younger generation of artists.” A few details: Birth deadline for applicants is after January 1, 1987. Deadline for applications is April 30, 2018. The selection round will be held July 6, 2018 at the Royal Academy of Music. The victor’s concert will be at Wigmore Hall, February 9, 2019. For more info, go to wcom.org.uk/new-elizabethan-award
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VIEW FROM THE FRONT ROW
Young Scottish Young Scottish guitarist is equally comfortable in the Renaissance and on the cutting edge BY OLLIE MCGHIE
icture a historic church set in the Midlothian countryside south of Edinburgh, Scotland, 500 years ago. Its hard stone walls hear the daily rituals of Mass and prayer as well as providing protection from warring Scottish families. The site on which Crichton Collegiate Church now stands has borne witness to the Reformation and to conspiracies against James III of Scotland—but more recently hosted classical guitarist Sean Shibe’s debut album recording. Released on Delphian Records and produced by the label’s founder, Paul Baxter, Shibe’s Dreams Dreams & Fancies: English English Music for was recorded over two sessions Solo Guitar Guitar was during the winter of 2015–16. “It was cold,” the guitarist says, “but not as cold as you’d expect. It was a beautiful church—atmospheric with a resonant acoustic.” I meet Sean Shibe before his Newbury Spring Festival Lunchtime recital, which includes a program of three short works by John Dowland, J. S. Bach’s Lute Suite Suite No.4 No.4 in in
12 Fall 2017
E , and three of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Preludes Preludes. He’s dressed in a dapper dark suit with a red peaked handkerchief just visible in the front lapel pocket. He has a striped tie sporting the full Windsor knot, and bright orange socks. His style is de �nitively smart-casual. He speaks with a soft, considered eloquence that belies his youth. Shibe’s Shibe’s debut album is an intriguing one. It has been compiled by a Scottish artist on a Scottish label (even the album photography is based in Edinburgh), and recorded in the aforementioned Scottish church, but the program features an all-English lineup of composers, as the title of the record con�rms. So many debut classical guitar albums feature Spanish-based Spanish-based repertoire; not this one. “I see so many people who have [so many] Spanish albums thrown at them that they become saturated by them, and eventually become bored of them,” Shibe explains. “I do think English repertoire has much to say and a lot of it is �rst-rate. The all-English CD is a substantial route into
debut classical guitar recordings, albeit something many artists might do for their second or third album. It’s underexplored as an initial album concept.” The album begins with William Walton’s Five Bagatelles Bagatelles. This is a work Shibe has long been acquainted with, since �rst studying it at the age of 14; eventually it became a focus for his studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The Bagatelles Bagatelles come across as well-planned, but with a natural �uid mastery of the whole work, so the listener is as much at ease with the slower second bagatelle as the tempestuous �fth. Next up is Lennox Berkeley’s Sonatina Sonatina for Guitar, Op. 52/1. “To me this piece and Walton’s Bagatelles Bagatelles are some of the most tender writing ever put to page,” Shibe says. The album concludes with Malcolm Arnold’s Fantasy Fantasy for Guitar, Guitar, Op.107 and Benjamin Britten’s Nocturnal Nocturnal after John Dowland, Dowland, Op. Op. 70 . “Britten’s Nocturnal Nocturnal is an incredible piece,” the guitarist comments. “Even
KAUPO KIKKAS PHOTO
though it stands out as being more alien than the others, it’s generally accessible to music lovers, especially those who consider themselves serious listeners.” While this is indeed Shibe’s �rst solo album, he has worked on other recordings. Before Sir Peter Maxwell Davies passed away in March last year, Shibe did some solo recordings of a few of the great British Farewell to composer’s works—including Farewell Stromness Stromness (arranged by Timothy Walker)— on a disc for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra on Linn Records. “I saw Sir Peter just before he died,” Shibe says. “His face seemed more gaunt than normal, and he didn’t seem well. It was a very sad loss for the musical world.” That album eventually climbed to Number 3 on the classical charts. Shibe also contributed to the disc included with BBC Music Magazine’s “Classical Guitar Special” in February of 2016. Born and raised in Scotland, Shibe, whose mother is Japanese and whose father is from England, splits his time between Edinburgh and London. At just 25 years old he’s already accomplished more than many aspiring guitarists even dream of. He was the �rst guitarist to be selected for the BBC3 Radio 3 New Generation Artist Scheme; the only solo guitarist to be awarded the BorlettiBuitoni Trust Fellowship; the recipient of the Royal Over-Seas League �rst prize and gold medal (2011). He’s played at such world-famous venues as Wigmore Hall in London and the Heidelberger-Frühling in southwest Germany. He’s played Rodrigo’s famous Concierto de Aranjuez with with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and along the way picked up endorsements from D’Addario and from Dewar Arts, and gained support from the Hattori Trust. “I’m extremely grateful for the opportunities I’ve had,” Shibe comments. “In
my experience, classical music seems to have become the refuge of the upper-middle class—particularly for those who can afford the incubation period after obtaining their bachelor’s degree, if they want to become a performer. It’s the same for those that do drama. If I wasn’t born in Scotland and had access to the State school structure it gave me and had free education at a specialist music boarding school, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I’ve been very fortunate and had a lot of help.” Shibe’s next project is an unusual show called “softLOUD.” It’s a juxtaposition of neglected Scottish music from the Renaissance (including lute manuscripts brought to light through the scholarship of guitarist-composer Rob MacKillop) played on Shibe’s Bert Kwakkel Merula Special guitar, along with high-volume electric guitar music played on a Mexican Fender Stratocaster. The louder repertoire includes Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Julia Wolfe’s Lad , written for nine bagpipes—a piece Shibe calls “an elegy,” commenting, “There’s an element of celebration about it, but fundamentally it’s mournful.” For Shibe, softLOUD is about creating something that represents the emotions of his generation today—frustration, anger and disenfranchisement. “It’s not without reference to the rise of the new right— Trump and Brexit,” he says. “It’s worth mentioning the show doesn’t have a political opinion. Just as Scotland is a nation that each year questions its identity, I wanted to create something that’s more pressing, more urgent. Something that speaks about now in a more pointed way than, say, a Bach suite does; something universally relevant, diffusing its meaning over time. ‘Soft’ represents the beautiful qualities we’ve forgotten about—being humble, but with a gravity and profundity. I feel this is a show that represents now in a more pin-pointed way.” In another way, the show is also about allowing fans, from those who have an interest in early Renaissance music to those who are interested in the more experimental electric guitar work, to listen to each other. As of this writing, softLOUD is set to premiere at the East Neuk Festival in Scotland at the end of June 2017, with a later broadcast on Radio 3, and then returns to play at the Edinburgh Festival in August. Another intriguing event this summer is Shibe’s collaboration with the Southrepps ensemble for the Southrepps Classical Music Festival in Norfolk, England. Together, they have conceived of a Span-
WHAT WHAT SEAN SHIBE PLAYS PLAYS Shibe plays a 2008 Bert Kwakkel Merula Special, with a Brazilian rosewood back and sides and a spruce top. He uses D’Addario EXP Pro-Arté extra-hard tension strings.
ish Civil War–inspired program, including music by Antonio Jose, Boccherini’s Fan- dango Quintet , and the reworking of a piece by Catalan musician Roberto Gerhard. Originally, solo guitar was intended to be interspersed throughout a reading of Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, but that has now been arranged for guitar and quartet by millennial composer Bruno Dozzer. “It’s a beautiful, well-rounded program,” Shibe says, “but a hard one to play.” Upcoming engagements include premiering a guitar concerto called Pilgrims by Scottish composer Michael Murray, with the Scottish Ensemble at Sir James Macmillan’s Cumnock Tryst Festival at the end of September, and a series of concer ts in Japan in early 2018. “If we don’t commission new works, our instrument will fall behind,” Shibe notes earnestly. earnestly. “So it’s less a matter of commissioning being this thing that is a new way forward; in fact it’s the bare minimum we have to do.” The future of the instrument is in good CG hands.
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 13
KEEPERS OF THE FLAMENCO
The Spanish art form has mystical Muslim roots BY JASON WEBSTER
The Alhambra, Granada. (in Arabic, Qalat Al-Hamra )
n his groundbreaking book The Sufis (1964), Su �sm authority Idries Shah mentions several Western cultural phenomena which were in �uenced or inspired by that mystical current of Islam. They include such diverse things as the Troubadour movement, the �gure of the Jester, the writings of Cervantes and Goethe (among others), and the development of the Tarot. There is also, in Shah’s view, a clear relationship between Su�sm and �amenco. That an Eastern mystical tradition might have any impact at all on the folk music of southern Spain would appear curious if not for the fact that for eight centuries the Iberian peninsula was the western extreme of the Islamic empire. And nowhere more so than the area we now refer to as Andalusia—whose etymology lies in the Arabic Al-Andaluss. Spain name for the peninsula, Al-Andalu was conquered for Islam in 711, at about the same time that Sindh—roughly today’s Pakistan—was also coming under Muslim rule. Communications within the Islamic Empire were relatively quick and easy: In the space Hispania of a few generations, what had been Hispania became an integral part of a cultural environment stretching as far east as the Indies. And the impact of the Islamic world on Spain—and the rest of Europe—was vast. The Alhambra at Granada and the Great Mosque at Cordoba are merely the more vis-
14 Fall 2017
ible and obvious manifestations of this heritage. Everything from food to language, art, literature, religion, science, medicine and philosophy were all in �uenced by centurieslong exposure to Islam. So what does this have to do with �amenco? Spanish folk music as a whole was hugely in�uenced by the sounds brought from across the Strait of Gibraltar. You only have to listen to an Aragonese jota or an albá from the Valencia area and the similarity to a muezzin’s chant is immediate and powerful. And �amenco is no less an example. For instance, common “nonsense” Lelelelele, words used in the cante include Lelelelele or Lailo lailo. These are a garbled form of the Islamic creed La ilaha illa Allah (“No god but Allah”). And anyone familiar with Moroccan and North African music will have heard a common rhythm that is the same as a �amenco tanguillo. In fact, the great �amenco singer El Lebrijano often performed with Moroccan musicians, insisting that �amenco and the music of North Africa were essentially the same. So much for an Islamic in �uence on �amenco, but what about Su �sm speci�cally? Idries Shah was not the only one to spot the connection. In the 1930s, a student from Pakistan named Aziz Balouch travelled to Spain, and as soon as he heard �amenco he recognized it as almost identical to the
Su� music that he played and sang at home. Indeed, the very next night he sang the same songs back to the original performer—none other than Pepe Marchena—only this time in Urdu. Marchena and his guitarist, Ramón Montoya, were gobsmacked by the foreigner who had just arrived in Andalusia, yet could sing perfect cante jondo as though he had been born and raised in a Spanish village. On the spot, Marchena took the young man on as his fellow performer, and Balouch would go on to record under the name Marcheni Marchenita ta (“little Marchena”). Marchena”). In time, Balouch went on to write about �amenco and his experiences in cante jondo—su orígen y evolución, published in Madrid in 1955. In it, he set out his ideas, drawing up a family tree in which he demonstrated the link between Su � music and �amenco. He described vocal exercises and even a way of life that he saw as ideal for producing the �amenco “deep song.” However, his views on sexual abstinence and alcohol did not sit well with the hedonistic �amenco environment of the day, and the book was— perhaps not surprisingly—somewhat short of being a bestseller. There are plenty of reasons, however, for believing that both he and Shah were correct in pointing out the Su�-�amenco connection. When my own book on �amenco ( Duende) Duende) �rst appeared, many readers wrote that they had experienced something very similar to duende when listening to music from the Islamic mystical tradition—an altered state known in Arabic and Persian as hal (literally “state.”) The sense of other-worldliness that the best �amenco can produce hints in itself at origins within some kind of metaphysical framework. The Gypsy connection between the Indian sub-continent and Spain is also reason to give credence to the link that Balouch was proposing. And then there is the word “duende” itself. Spanish etymologists insist it comes from dueño de casa— the “master of the house,” a reference to the invisible spirits who were meant to inhabit a home. But many Spanish intellectuals prefer a Latin-based word origin to an Arabic-based one, and the Arabic word for “spirit”— jinn— is as likely the root. According to the Quran, these beings created of “smokeless �re” not only exist, but can have a powerful in �uence on human lives, appearing without warning and effecting change on our destiny. What better description of duende itself? For more on duende, see my “Keepers of the Flamenco” column at ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com.
VICTORIANO IZQUIERDO PHOTO
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LETTER FROM . . . MONTREAL
DIVERSITY REIGNS
Quebec’s largest city has been a vital classical-guitar center for more than 50 years
BY ANTOINE BERTHIAUME
ontreal is rightly known for its many beautiful historic buildings, authentic French character, ice hockey, indie-rock bands, bagels, and even its smoked meats—but much less so for its classical guitar scene. Yet, through the years this vital Canadian city has developed some amazing local guitar players and composers, attracted devoted teachers and visiting legends, and nurtured a large and enthusiastic audience with a taste for virtuosos, thus inciting more and more youngsters to pick up the instrument. Classical Guitar asked me to pro�le a few of the major �gures in Montreal’s classical guitar community.
PETER MCCUTCHEON Peter McCutcheon and I chat in his of�ce at the University of Montreal, where we talk about his career and the history of guitar in the city. After studying in the city for six years with Florence Brown in the 1960s, he further pursued his learning at the University with Marie and
16 Fall 2017
Martin Prével from ’69 to ’72. “They were among the pioneers of the classical guitar in Montreal,” he comments. However, one of the de �ning moments of his career was his meeting with the great French guitarist and composer Alexandre Lagoya, who was a regular at the Orford Arts Center (OAF), just outside Montreal. “Lagoya was, without a doubt, the most in�uential �gure of the Montreal picture in the ’70s,” says McCutcheon. Lagoya and Ida Presti—the revered married couple— toured the world giving as many as 2,000 concerts through the ’60s, before Presti’s death in 1967. The two were prominent proponents of the right-hand technique called attaque à droite, the 90-degree position used by Andrés Segovia and Francisco Tárrega, among many others. Most players here adopted the technique, and in the process, “Montreal became the bastion of the ‘école française,’” recalls McCutcheon. “Lagoya was a great friend of Gilles Lefebvre—director of the OAF and the Jeunesses Musicales Canada Foundation—who had close ties with the Québec
Minister of Education. They were greatly responsible for creating a momentum in the community of guitarists, thus encouraging institutions to open up positions for guitar teachers in universities and conservatories around the province.” In 1975, McCutcheon, just back from Paris, where he was crowned “ premier prix ” at the Conservatoire national supérieur, �t the pro�le of prospective teachers perfectly and seized the opportunity. He started teaching at McGill University, and eventually accepted a full-time position at the University of Montreal, where he has been teaching students from all around the globe ever since. For McCutcheon, “The second wave that shook the community of players was the coming of Scottish guitarist David Russell and Cuban player Manuel Barrueco, who made yearly visits to the OAF between 1985 and 1995.” Like most players, McCutcheon was fascinated by those guitarists’ technique, and eventually their in �uence caused many local players to abandon the attaque à droite to adopt a more natural handposition. At the Orford Center, “anybody
who was serious about the guitar would attend their concerts and try to get a lesson with one of them.” These days, in addition to teaching at the university, McCutcheon is the president of the Société de Guitare de Montréal, devoted to promoting concerts and master classes in the city. Founded in 1995, the Société, hosted Renaud Côté-Giguère (one of McCutcheon’s many notable protégés) in March, and in April Barrueco returned to Montreal to give a recital and teach a master class.
PATRICK KEARNEY Another one of the city’s great guitar institutions is the Montreal International Classical Guitar Festival and Competition (better known simply as Guitare Montréal), founded by Patrick Kearney, who is a part-time instructor at Montreal’s Concordia University, which is where I catch up with him. The prestigious competition, won by Korean sensation Bokyung Byun last year, has been a great hub for local guitarists such as Steve Cowan, Rémi Barette, and Jérôme Ducharme, who are among the last decade’s winners. “This year, marks Montreal’s 375th anniversary, but it is also Guitare Montréal’s Mont réal’s 15th edition, and the 350th anniversary of the founding of Lachine [the borough of Montreal where the festival was formerly located; today it is at Concordia University],” he says. The 2017 festival, which took place in May, featured winners Byun and Ducharrme, as well as Quebecois guitarist Thierry Bégin-Lamontagne, and international players such as Matthew McAllister of Scotland and Italy’s Marko Feri. According to Kearney, the festival’s greatest ongoing challenge is dealing with a relatively small demographic. Montreal is Canada’s second largest city (with a greater metropolitan area of about four million) after Toronto (six million), but the following one is Vancouver, with only two million and �ve hours away, by plane. For less money and the same time invested, musicians can go to Paris, where roughly 12 million eager French-speaking listeners await. So building up an audience in Montreal is pivotal. Kearney, alongside McCutcheon, has been trying to do just that.
JÉRÔME DUCHARME PHOTO BY MARIE VALLIÈRES
A former student of Rafael Andi and Alberto Ponce at the École normale supérieure de Paris, Kearney had a breakthrough in 1996 after �nishing third at the National Guitar Summer Workshop in New Milford, Connecticut. He went on to grab third place as well in the 1998 edition of the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA), just ahead of Iona Gandrabur. He spent last summer playing for European audiences in Holland, France, Scotland, and the Czech Republic. “In Scotland I had the honor of being one of the guest artists and teaching faculty at [Matthew McAllister’s] Isle of Cumbrae Classical Guitar Retreat,” he notes. “And in the Czech Republic I had the privilege of being included among such artists as the L.A. Guitar Quartet at the 25th Anniversary of the Brno Classical Guitar Festival, directed by the internationally renowned virtuoso Vladislav Blaha.” Back home, Kearney can only say great things about Montreal: “Great food, multiculturalism, bilingualism, openness.” Asked if some of his students complain about the notorious winters, he joked about one of his pupils coming to class in slippers even during the coldest weather. (Actually, Montreal has a very well-organized subway system—once on a train, you can access Concordia without ever stepping outside.) Reputed for his interpretation of Carlo Domeniconi’s Koyunbaba Koyunbaba, Kearney will soon be releasing a new album titled Novae, featuring Canadian composers such as Harry Stafylakis and Denis Gougeon.
JÉRÔME JÉRÔME DUCH DUCHARME ARME Ducharme was waiting for me in his classroom at McGill University. “Montreal can arguably compete with any Canadian city and with many international cities for the quality of teaching,” he says. Compared to the 1970s, when most serious guitarists still felt they had to expatriate in order to become accomplished players, the city now offers many different options to students eager to master the instrument. Ducharme spent eight years at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, but he argues that “traveling and getting challenged by different teachers is a must. Mon-
treal has a lot of great teachers, yet going abroad when you are young is really the thing to do. I tell my students not to stay too long in the same place. The �rst years are the ones where the learning curve is the steepest, and the richest. Afterwards, it becomes more of a routine.” In 2003, Ducharme started looking at learning opportunities in Europe. After seeing Stephan Schmidt at the Festival de Lanaudière in Joliette, Quebec, where Ducharme is from, he moved to Switzerland because Schmidt was working there. He had been stirred by Schmidt’s interpretation of Bach’s lute works played on a ten-string guitar, but it turned out that Schmidt was also busy running the Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel, so Ducharme ended up splitting his sessions with Oscar Ghiglia, one of Segovia’s most prestigious alumni. Back in Montreal, he pursued a doctorate with McCutcheon. After scoring third place in the 2004 edition of the GFA, he �nished �rst in 2005, becoming the �rst Canadian to do so. “I won a set of tuning pegs,” he says with a laugh, “but mainly the chance to tour North America and record a recital with Naxos featuring works by Hétu, de Falla, and Ginastera, among others.” He performed on a guitar made by René Wilhelmy, one of the most praised luthiers in the area, whom I only recently realized lives a block away from my house in the Villeray quarter of Montreal. You can also hear and see Ducharme on a 2005 Mel Bay DVD, which features a pair of works of Montreal composer Maxime McKinley, among other works. At McGill these days, Ducharme has a dozen students from Canada, South Korea, France, and the U.S.
STEVE COWAN Steve Cowan, one of Ducharme’s students, is de�nitely a musician to watch. I Skyped him while he was on tour in Aberdeen, Scotland, and I realized we had actually played together on a piece by Tim Brady for 20 electric guitars last year at the Sound Symposium in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where Cowan is originally from. (My guess is I was too busy following the conductor to notice him.) Impressively, Cowan had managed to book
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 17
LETTER FROM . . . MONTREAL
a solo guitar tour that also took him to Munich, Paris, Copenhagen, and a few cities in Norway and the Netherlands—quite a feat for a musician working on his own and communicating mostly through email. Back home, he recently put out his debut album, Pour Guitare, featuring music for solo guitar, guitar duo, and electronics, exclusively by Canadian composers, including works by Cowan, Claude Vivier, Jacques Hétu, and Jason Noble, among others. (The disc was favorably reviewed in the Spring 2017 issue of Classical Guitar .) .) Cowan completed a master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music with David Leisner, and it was there that he heard about Michael Laucke, known for commissioning pieces from many composers from Quebec in the 1970s, the 1970s, and premiering more than 25 original works from Canadian composers, including Vivier’s Pour guitare, the title track on Cowan’s album. After completing his studies in studies in the U.S., Cowan wanted to move back to Canada, and at the Domaine Forget (pronounced for-jay ) music festival in Charlevoix, Quebec, he was introduced to McCutcheon and to many other Montreal musicians who praised the guitar community there. Excited to hear that Alvaro Pierri was in town, and drawn by the contemporary music scene, Cowan decided to pursue his doctoral studies with Ducharme at McGill, where he’s now is in his third year. “I like the French aspect, the quasi-European vibe [of Montreal],” he says. “There are so many students here speci �cally in classical guitar, and I have been able to get a lot of performance and teaching work, even as an Anglophone. Montreal also keeps a low cost of living, which is great for the musician life.” life .” Nearby cities like Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, and New York York have presented further fur ther opportunities for gigs. “It’s a fantastic place to live as an artist. I don’t see myself leaving the city—it has everything I need.”
18 Fall 2017
SEBASTIEN DUFOUR For this interview, Sebastien Dufour and I stop in a café on Montreal’s picturesque MontRoyal street. Dufour is part of the Montreal Guitar Trio (MG3)—alongside Marc Morin and Glenn Lévesque (both former pupils of McCutcheon)—one of the most active local ensembles focused on classical guitar. “Montreal is one of the most hybrid cities, providing a mix of all genres and in�uences, and no barriers,” he comments. “And we can thank the Festival international de jazz de Montréal [FIJM] for this openness.” Even though many local jazz musicians complain that the “jazzfest” isn’t jazzy enough— with the likes of Prince, the B-52s, Bob Dylan, and Snoop Dogg, among the featured artists in past years—hosting years—hosting one of the biggest jazz festivals in the world has de�nitely opened the Montreal audience to a palette of many different colors. “The way musicians here perceive and see music,” Dufour says, “has been greatly affected by this one eclectic festival, responsible for introducing Montreal to such musicians as Michel Camilo, Paco de Lucía, Miles Davis, Bela Fleck, and so many more. In a way, too, the festival paved the way for MG3.” Inspired by composers such as Egberto Gismonti, Ennio Morricone, Astor Piazzolla—who were in �uenced by classical music but also vernacular music, as well—the group started exploring ways of bringing the instrument to uncharted territories and new audiences. “We also regularly tour with the California Guitar Trio [a steel-string acoustic ensemble] as a as a doublefeature,” Dufour says. “It’s a mutually bene�cial association that has allowed us to build an audience by putting on concerts centered on the guitar.”
After so many years of exploring so many different musical avenues (including playing with the California Guitar Trio as a sextet), MG3 is back to basics this year with Danzas Danzas, an album released on Analekta Records devoted to the music of Manuel de Falla, Paco de Lucía Lucía and Agustín Barrios Mangoré (see review, p. 64). “In a way it’s a full circle,” Dufour says. “We did all this work, all these collaborations to now now get back to the roots. I feel like I’m in university again, studying the classics.” MG3 was set to tour this spring, giving a dozen concerts across the UK.
ALVARO ALVARO PIERRI PIERRI Having been exposed very young to Alvaro Pierri’s 1995 recording of Villa-Lobos choros, etudes, and preludes— which I still consider a reference—I was surprised and �attered to see him so thrilled to come to my house for an interview, which lasted two hours. Originally from Uruguay, where his aunt Olga �rst taught him the guitar, he became a student of the great teacher Abel Carlevaro: “Carlevaro only taught once a week, on Mondays. The lessons were only 30 minutes, but since I was his last student at 7 o’clock, very often I was still there until 10. We improvised together and played all kinds of music.” Pierri �rst came Montreal in 1981, while recording in New York. “It was in February,” he says, “I wanted to experience the cold!” This initial visit gave visit gave him the chance to meet composer Jacques Hétu (who later wrote a recital for him), and everything sparked from there. “I was invited to perform and teach at the Orford Festival, Festival, and by the same occasion teach at McGill University, the Conservatoire, and the Université du du Québec à Montréal, where I eventually was offered a full-time position. “I stayed for the people,” he continues.
ALVARO PIERRI PHOTO BY PAUL WILKE
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LETTER FROM . . . MONTREAL “Montreal is unique—it’s North American, French, Nordic, and cosmopolitan. You can feel that vibe on the music scene. It’s important to respect, cultivate, and celebrate cultures. But it’s also important to mix them. In Brazil, for example, the tradition is very alive, but it’s a blend of Portuguese, Italian, and African—a perfect illustration of a culture that is proud but open.” Pierri lives in in Montreal, but he spends much of his time traveling the globe, teaching in Vienna, L.A., and Hong Kong, and also performing all over. One of his favorite recordings was published in 1991 on the
Amplitude label: it includes the Suite Suite pour Gui- SIMON DUCHESNE tare by Hétu (the same one Cowan recorded) AND HUGO HUGO LARENA LARENAS S and Agua e vinho vinho by Egberto Gismonti. He I continued my caffeine has four recordings in the making this year, intake on Mont-Royal including collaborations with the Logos Avenue with Duchesne Quartet and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italand Larenas, two young iana. You can also revisit his work by watchplayers driving many difing him perform with Astor Piazzolla on a ferent projects, including DVD released by Deutsche Grammophon their own duet, Con Fuoco, on a selfin 2007. This year he has performed at the titled album. GFA in L.A., in Milwaukee at the Guitar Series “It’s amazing to see the reaction to the presented by University of Wisconsin, and is music,” says Duchesne. “Very often people scheduled to play in December in San Franhave never seen a more modern approach cisco at the Omniconcerts Series. to the guitar” (i.e., various percussive techniques). Duchesne grew up playing rock and heavy metal, and is also part of Tim Brady’s electric guitar quartet. They played a very fuzzy version of the Art of the the Fugue Fugue by Bach last year at the Montreal Baroque Music Festival and are touring Canada this year with a set of Canadian compositions. Forestare, led by Alexandre Éthier, also occupies part of Duchesne’s time. As a group for 12 guitars (often playing extended guitar quartets), the band has now been active for 15 years. “You have to be creative to bring the classical guitar on stage and draw people in to venues,” he says. “There’s an ‘awe’ effect having all those instruments on stage.” Their last recording, titled Baroque Baroque, explores music from Bach, Vivaldi, and Lully. Like most of their colleagues, they both split their efforts between teaching and performing in all kinds of projects. “There are not enough job opportunities to only play solo or duo, so we have to be really creative creative and open,” notes Larenas. Classical guitar is not embedded in Quebec’s culture as it is elsewhere. “Lagoya, McCutcheon, Pierri, and such did a great job propelling the instrument. Unfortunately, it didn’t have a lasting effect with the audience. Here, the guitar is seldom perceived as a soloist instrument.” Larenas tours Canada, Europe, and South America with Intakto, run by Chilean singer Alejandro Venegas; with Color Violeta, based around arrangements of compositions by the Chilean folk musician Violeta Parra; and with Willy Rios, a charango player from Bolivia. “It’s absolutely not a compromise,” he says. “I make a living playing what I like— the nylon-string. It’s a mix of everything I love—South American music, �amenco, and classical. I use my own voice and express my musicality in varied contexts. Montreal allows this kind of meeting. Musicians come here from abroad to launch their career, and then get the support to expand their notoriety around the world.” CG (713) 522-7221
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MOMENTITO
n May 25, 2017, I attended a remarkable guitar concert at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, England, featuring John Williams in partnership with John Etheridge and Gary Ryan. Just 72 hours earlier, earlier, half a mile away in the same city, a terrorist had detonated a suicide bomb outside a concert by American pop star Ariana Grande, killing 22 people, many of them children, and injuring dozens of others. At the time, the government estimated the security risk level at “critical,” the highest possible, indicating a further terrorist attack was possibly “imminent.” The police patrolled the streets in groups of �ve and six, carrying huge automatic weapons— a rare sight in Britain. In various parts of the country, combat troops were deployed alongside the police. The UK had been in the throes of a general election, but after the bomb went off, political campaigning was postponed for a week to allow a period of national mourning. The Williams concert, entitled “Six Hands,” was another potent reminder of the creative power of music. John Williams gently thanked the audience at the outset of the concert for just being there. At the end, John Etheridge called for a moment of re�ection before the trio performed a very moving second encore. I was reminded of our feelings immediately after the catastrophe of the 9/11 attack in New York, when many were so
22 Fall 2017
devastated by the horror that it seemed futile to practice a musical instrument either on that day or some days following. What is the relationship between making music on the plucked string and total nihil-
In dark times, the guitar can add a little light BY GRAHAM WADE
istic bloodshed? For those who mourn the loss of sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, relatives and friends destroyed in meaningless acts of evil, the grief must be practically
inconsolable. Listening to guitar music by Brouwer or Britten, Barrios or Walton, Tárrega or Rodrigo cannot by itself assuage the anguish of bereavement. But take a step back to consider other elements within the framework of tragedy. In the fanatical Islamic State (which immediately, to their everlasting shame, claimed responsibility for the Manchester bombing), music of all kinds is banned, and if played, brutally punished. Communist and fascist dictatorships hate various forms of music, such as the avant-garde and jazz, preferring compositions that re-create a glorious imaginary golden age of the past, or the bland sound of military bands. Concerts in many Middle Eastern countries have to be vetted and licensed by government departments. When I performed a guitar recital in Kuwait (a reasonably liberal Muslim country compared to Saudi Arabia or Iran), the organizers needed a permit from the government before it could take place. It was no coincidence that the Manchester bomber made his attack at a pop concert, nor that terrorists in Paris assaulted the Bataclan nightclub during a show by a rock group. To fanatics of their ilk, all music is regarded as a kind of depravity. depravity. As guitarists, we know that simply taking a guitar out of its case can be spiritually enriching. In other words, we feel better for playing. The more we play, the better it feels.
Sometimes the process of studying and improving may seem a struggle. But either way we love it. Both the physical aspects of playing and the expressiveness of music reach down into our hearts and minds and refresh and restore our inner selves. Similarly, to listen to a concert by a great player such as John Williams is an experience of great intensity and enjoyment, and it also imparts to us a sense of revelation at what is possible in artistic terms on the guitar. We are taken out of our routine responses into a sphere of expressiveness, wonder, and ful�lment.
AS MUSICIANS, WE EXIST IN A POSITIVE, CREATIVE WORLD, PERPETUALLY DISCOVERING NEW AESTHETIC TRUTHS AND EMOTIONAL DEPTHS THAT THE EARNEST STUDY OF A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT ENGENDERS. Such heightening of our faculties is part of the therapeutic, life-enhancing aspect of playing the guitar. Whenever I see a guitarist walking down the street with their guitar case, I always feel, “There goes an optimist!” Go to any guitar festival and you will �nd a vibrant community, content with a beautiful purpose in life. As musicians, we exist in a positive, creative world, perpetually discovering new aesthetic truths and emotional depths that the earnest study of a musical instrument engenders. It is very natural for terrorists to hate any sense of ful �lment through art. Anything gloriously human is to be destroyed. For that reason, the beautiful ancient city of Palmyra, in Syria, was razed to the ground—an irreparable loss—as were the ancient Buddhist statues of Afghanistan and countless other archaeological marvels. To return to my opening thought about the performance at the Bridgewater Hall: The memory of that very special concert will remain with me. The occasion of three
eminent musicians presenting their art with such perfection was a true beacon of light in an uncertain world. Tragically, less than a fortnight after that evening recital, terrorists struck again (this time in London), killing more than 20 again, and injuring dozens of innocent people. Shortly before that, horrendous suicide bombings had been perpetrated in Kabul, Afghanistan. In the face of all this evil, we can but
Y C N IBE I R S L BE O R U T E A M B V F R O O E S N O C
try to adhere to our values. The sonorities of plucked strings are easily suffocated by the cries of the victims and the blast of war. But ultimately, our dedication to life in all its richness and to art in its many forms is what we live for. We have to continue to believe in the positive goodness of what we are trying to achieve. It is a moral and philosophical question. To be defeated in this leads only to cynicism CG and despair.
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ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 23
SPANISH GUITARIST ROBERTO MORONN PÉREZ BRINGS THE ANDRÉS SEGOVIA ARCHIVE TO LIFE BY BLAIR JACKSON
T
he winter of 2017 saw the arrival of o f a wonderful new album called ¡Viva Segovia! Segovia! , which is the third volume in Spanish guitarist Roberto Moronn Pérez’s striking and signi�cant “Andres Segovia Archive” compilations on San Francisco–based Reference Recordings. Recordings. It joins his previous Segovia Archive releases devoted to Spanish Composers Composers (2013) and French Composers (2014); the latest includes works by two Englishmen, an Italian, and three Swiss composers. It is well known, of course, that from nearly the beginning of his storied career, Maestro Segovia actively encouraged composers to write new pieces for the guitar (at the same time he was arranging many existing compositions, old and recent, for the instrument). Segovia’s clarion call yielded an incredible �ood of new pieces that came to him beginning around 1920 and never completely subsided until his death in the 1986. Segovia debuted a staggering number of works by a wide range of composers from around the world, includ-
24 Fall 2017
ing now-famous pieces by Federico Moreno Torroba, Manuel Ponce, Alexandre Tansman, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Federico Mompou, Joaquín Rodrigo, and others. Yet Segovia was also the recipient of numerous compositions that for a variety of reasons he elected not to play or record. The story of how these “rejected” music manuscripts—many of them uncopied, irreplaceable originals sent by eager authors— survived through the decades of Segovia’s peripatetic life, is a topic worthy of a book in itself. But the point is, most of them did survive, and as we’ve learned since Segovia’s passing, many of the pieces are very high-quality works. Thanks to the efforts of Italian guitarist/composer/musicologist Angelo Gilardino, who became the artistic director of the Andrés Segovia Foundation in 1997 (and remained in that post through 2005), many of those forgotten works were published for the �rst time in a collection called The Andrés Segovia Archive by Edizioni Musicali Berben, of Ancona, Italy. Subsequently, some of the pieces have been recorded here and there, but the Pérez series represents the most concentrated and far-reaching attempt to capture the scope of the Archive. Masterfully recorded by the great engineer John Taylor at Holy Trinity Church in Weston, Hertfordshire, England, in 2010, 2013, and 2015, the three albums are replete with beautiful and memorable pieces by composers likely unfamiliar to most fans of guitar music, along with a few by names many will recognize, such as Mompou, Lennox Berkeley, Henri Martelli, and Ida Presti. All three CDs are widely available and can also be heard on various streaming services. I strongly recommend you track them down. Pérez has turned out to be a masterful guardian and interpreter of these works. Since studying guitar in Spain, Italy, and the UK, he has gone on to play all over the world, win a number of competitions, and debut several pieces by prominent composers himself. We caught up with Pérez for this email interview about his work with the Segovia Archive.
CLASSICAL GUITAR: How and when did you �rst become aware of the great Segovia Archive? ROBERTO MORRON PÉREZ: My introduction to the Segovia Archive took place when I was studying for a master’s degree in Italy with Angelo Gilardino, who was the general editor of the full collection. He �rst showed me the manuscripts and then the publications. In fact, I collaborated on the work of some of the Spanish composers. CG: When you were developing your skills as a guitarist, did you ever study and/ or try to imitate Segovia’s style? PÉREZ: No, I’ve never tried to imitate Segovia’s style. Obviousl y, when I was a student, and over the years, I listened to his recordings and watched his videos, and I also had teachers who were former students of Segovia, or who continued his line, but I was always looking for my own way. All of my performances come from my own personality. Each musician must follow his own way and that is really what is interesting
prises and you can �nd something charming in each of them. I couldn’t select only one. CG: You said in the notes to one of the discs that you did not want to speculate why Segovia chose not to play or perform a particular piece. However, in the course of working with all these pieces and getting inside of them, so to speak, and knowing what you must know about Segovia’s likes and dislikes, you must have formed opinions of why he chose what he chose and ignored what he ignored.
CG: Was there a particular piece, or pieces, in the Archive that you heard or studied that really attracted you and made you want to take on this enormous project seriously?
PÉREZ: Why Segovia did not include these pieces in his repertoire is something we cannot know. For sure, there must be a variety of reasons. As a performer, I don’t think I need to speculate about what these reasons might be, and honestly, I don’t consider it important. I can only thank Andrés Segovia for his legacy: the legacy he left during his lifetime with his performances, recordings, and inspiration, and for the legacy he treasured in the shadow, and which we can now appreciate. My only responsibility is to live up to what it represents and to try my best in my performance to play with the conviction that this music requires.
PÉREZ: Not really. I think all of them are very interesting. Having so many composers with their own different musical languages allows you to always �nd something captivating and fascinating in each piece.
CG: Related to that last question: Do you have a sense of how the repertoire Segovia played shaped or affected his style, or whether he chose pieces that �t into his already developed style?
CG: How many of the pieces were completely new to you?
CG: What piece was the most pleasant surprise to you?
PÉREZ: I think that Segovia chose the repertoire that best �t into his style and that he felt the most af �nity with. For this reason, we talk about the “Segovian repertoire.” But it is the same case with other musicians, whatever instrument they play. We talk about Julian Bream and his repertoire, very close to his musical skills. And the same, for example, with the piano: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli with Debussy or Ravel, or Sviatoslav Richter with Proko�ev. It would be a long list.
PÉREZ: It is very dif�cult to choose only one. As I said before, these pieces are full of sur-
CG: In your head, have you tried to picture Segovia playing all these pieces?
and beautiful in music. For these CDs, my only guide was always the musical text.
PÉREZ: All of the pieces I have recorded in my three CDs have been new discoveries for me. My incentive has been to bring into the guitar repertoire music of high quality that is little known, and in some cases, almost totally neglected; pieces that deserve to be played and heard.
PÉREZ: I can imagine how Segovia might have played some of the pieces, especially some phrasings and rubatos, in his very distinctive style, but I have not really tried to visualize it. CG: If you had to pick, say, two less-known composers on each of the three discs that surprised you with the high quality of their compositions, who would you choose? PÉREZ: On the Spanish CD, I’d pick Jaume Pahissa, with his very elegant style, and Vincente Arregui, who continues in the Romantic line. On the French CD, I would name Pierre de Breville, whose Fantaisie is a major piece—a completely idiomatic work—and Raymond Moulaert, with his monumental Suite. Finally, on Viva, I’d choose Cyril Scott, whose Sonatina requires of the performer a spiritual engagement in order to fully bring out all its fragrances, and Ettore Desderi with his Sonata in mi , a real masterwork. CG: How many of these pieces do you play when you perform concerts these days? PÉREZ: Most of them are now in my repertoire. I always try to include some of the pieces, if not a full program. And I must say, say, they are always very well-received by the audience. These pieces �t very well into my style, and, as important, I like them a lot. CG: Did working on Viva feel any different because the composers came from so many different countries? PÉREZ: Actually, no—in the sense that each composer has his individual musical language, as was the case with the French composers. Maybe the Spanish composers have more in common with each other. CG: What do you think the Maestro would think of your project? PÉREZ: I hope he would like it. He left this legacy for future generations, so what I am doing is what I feel he would have wanted: to play this music, and to play it with all my CG heart and soul.
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GABRIE L AYALA’S AYALA’S
MUSICAL MEDICINE BY KAREN PETERSON
26 Fall 2017
ECLECTIC NATIVE AMERICA AMERICANN GUITARIST FIGHTS FIGH TS AGAINST AGAI NST STEREOTYPES STERE OTYPES AND INSPIRES
“I
t’s important to have something positive in your life,” says classical guitarist Gabriel Ayala, who has spent the better part of his 44 years seeking and expressing brightness through a “positive, beautiful addiction” to music and the guitar. An international performer, composer, and educator, Ayala is happy to report that the last 15 years, in particular, have been good ones. Reaching what artists aspire to, he says, “I have been creatively engaged and I have been able to be sustainable as a musician.” On this sunny winter day in his hometown of Tucson, Arizona, Ayala was looking forward to what underscores his musical life: rarely sitting still. He talks enthusiastically of the album he is working on now, an all-classical album titled An Offering for for the Love of God , which pays homage to Agustín Barrios’ Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios. “Barrios believed that God himself was knocking on the door,” says Ayala. Barrios and Bach will be featured on the CD, along with Chopin. “You always have to have Chopin,” laughs Ayala. He also talks of the album he will be
JOEY LUSTERMAN PHOTO
working on with Marty Friedman, former lead guitarist with Megadeth—yes, the thrash-metal rock band. He met Friedman in 2016 when the two were among the performers aboard the rock ’n’ roll cruise called Axes and Anchors. “We had a beautiful conversation,” says Ayala, with the upshot, he adds, that Friedman commissioned him to write songs for his new CD. “So, hopefully, in the spring I’ll be going to Japan [where Friedman lives] and hang out with Marty. “I am internally a classical guitarist who is just branching out to feed my soul,” explains Ayala of the juxtaposition of having both heavy metal and classical recordings in the works. That branch also has spread to embrace jazz, as well as his own variation, a hybrid he calls “JazzMenko.” As the name implies, �amenco is a component. “I wanted to create this fusion, this musical conversation. I know people have been experimenting [on such combinations] for years, but I’m naming it. It’s a blast to create something that doesn’t exist—no one can tell me it’s wrong!” Ayala performs his JazzMenko with a quintet (guitar, two percussionists, upright bass, and keyboard). Their 2014 live performance to bene�t 250-year-old San Xavier del Bac Mission outside Tucson is the basis for
the Encore! CD. (Following a dispute with his record company, in 2012 Ayala started his own label and recording operation, DeezMas Records. He also bought back the rights to his compositions—“I made the money back within a year [by reaching out] to my fan base,” he says.) But on this day, while Ayala considers the future and his multi-layered role in it, he is also very much in the present. He had recently returned from his third visit to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, where he joined the water protectors protesting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which is planned to be built across Native American tribal lands. Both a protector and a performer on his weeklong visits in the fall of 2016, Ayala says of the latter role, “There is no greater joy than to look o ut at an audience and see them looking at you and smiling because they need the healing.” Of his experience as a protector, he reports, “I have been chased by helicopters and have worn goggles to protect my face from Mace. I pushed my celebrity aside to stand on the front lines. I believe in what indigenous people are �ghting for.” So, when Ayala uses the word “addiction” to describe his passion for the guitar
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 27
GABRIEL AYALA’S MUSICAL MEDICINE and the music it produces—and he does frequently in his conversation with Classical Guitar —it —it is said circumspectly. A member of the Pascua Yaqui tribe in Tucson, a small community with deep cultural roots in southern Arizona and northern Mexico, he knows �rsthand that the word has negative connotations. As a Native, Ayala recalls the times when he would show up for a concert and someone would ask, “Where’s your �ute?” “It was assumed that since I was dark-skinned with long dark hair, I must play a �ute,” he says. “Instead, I’d go on stage with my guitar and play Bach, or Scarlatti, or Giuliani. We are often depicted as being alcoholics, or being lazy. I hated that so much. I wanted to break those stereotypes.” His story and his music addiction also infuse his work as a mentor to young musicians, Native and otherwise. “The most important word in perseverance nce,” any language is persevera he tells them, and also “never give up, believe in yourself.” “Music is medicine, and it is my way of paying it forward to help young students �nd a positive addiction.” Ayala has been lauded by indigenous groups and is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Native American Music Awards’ “Best Instrumental CD” (2009), “Best World Music” (2010), and “Artist of the Year” (2011) and, from the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, “Best International Album” (2010, for Remembrance Remembrance, and 2011, for Passion, Fire Fire & Grace Grace ). Ayala had his epiphany at 14. “I saw my destiny laid out before me, like a shooting star—I was going to become a famous guitarist and travel the world. It was a spiritual thing, a Native thing, of just knowing what I was going to do in life and [then] to go out and attain it.” Self-taught, what he also brought to his golden-tinged future was diligence. “I
28 Fall 2017
practiced 12 hours a day; I couldn’t stop,” a to-the-grindstone attitude that remains today. This discipline—and his devotion to technique—helped him scale the �rst major wall he hit while an aspiring music student. Enrolling at Texas A&M, he was told that
“you’re pretty good, but not great,” words that stung. “It crushed me,” Ayala says of the verdict and his placement in the education, not solo performance, program. “I thought I was pretty good; I do have an ego. Then I heard the other [students]. They were so good! “So I upped my practice. I would just play
WHAT HE PLAYS Gabriel Ayala’s go-to guitar is a Mérida Extrema from Connecticut-based Mérida Guitars. “It’s a beautiful guitar, with rosewood back and sides and a cedar top,” he says. Among the few individualized alterations: electronics for playing JazzMenko. He also owns a 1993 Christopher Savino guitar and endorses Hannabach Strings’ 888 Green Line, “with extra-high tension.”
scales,” he recalls. And then he became obsessed with Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Douze Etudes Etudes, calling the etudes “the pinnacle of what technique is for me . . . to get your hands to where your foundation is almost bulletproof. If you can complete them and successfully perform them, then you have a foundation that can travel anywhere.” And he did perform them—�rst, before the same group of educators who had been less than enthusiastic about his playing skills. “Five months later, I met with the same jury. They told me, ‘You have progressed at an incredible rate.’ And they suggested I move to a performance major.” He also performed the 12 etudes for his senior recital. “I played them back to back. For me, it was a test.” Ayala says he knew he was “going to make it” after a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., 20 years ago, an evening he describes as an “in-body” experience. “How did I get here? I grew up humble, so how did this kid who grew up running around barefoot end up on this stage?” The answer, as played out over the next 20 years: “No matter how many doors CG closed, I’d try the next one.”
ON HER GUITAR EDUCATION, MASTERING PERIOD INSTRUMENTS, AND MORE BY THÉRÈSE WASSILY SABA 30Fall Summer 30 2017 2017
T
his year, the Belgian classical guitarist Rapha- ella Smits is celebrating her 60th birthday. Her extensive extensive discography discography not only reveals her broad tastes in repertoire, but even more reflects her deep love for performing on historic instruments—on which she is deeply musically expressive, matching musical content with timbres and tone colors. I spoke to the great maestra about her early years of study in Belgium, summers in Spain with José Tomás, Tomás, her contact with Andrés Segovia, Segovia, her favorite instruments, instruments, and her 60th birthday recording release. CLASSICAL GUITAR: Raphaella,
when you play, your phrasing feels very natural. I know you sang a lot when you were young. Do you think this is part of the secret of your expressiveness—because you started in music in the right way: with musical expression rather than with the instrument? Oh, yes, it’s true. I still think that the voice is the most important instrument in any music—that if you can sing it, you can play it; also to be able to use us e words, to use the musical line that on its own makes phrasing already, without even the knowledge of how the music should be interpreted. I was almost 13 years old when I got my �rst guitar, but I was already singing well before that. In primary school, I went to a Rudolf Steiner school, which was founded in Belgium by my mother, Caroline Van Giel. In that education system, even in primary school, you get a lot of art, voice, choir, all kinds of �utes, theater. Of course, it is not aimed at a professional level, but it is just included in the education. Therefore, I knew music and I knew about singing. I do have a kind of good voice, so then a few years later, I went to the children’s choir of the Flemish opera in Antwerp where I was living; that was also my �rst stage experience. My very �rst teacher, Ward de Beer, was not a guitar teacher. He gave me a book to learn from with songs written in two clefs: bass and treble; a German guitar method but with piano scoring. So I was playing very simple chords but like a piano player on the guitar, and of course I had to sing the melodies. When I am playing, still now, I hear all the different voices, where they are coming from and where they are going to, and often, it is like an instrumental choir. That is also how I am teaching. RAPHAELLA SMITS:
CG: Do
you think that that is quite unusual for a guitarist? When students come to you, do you notice that they don’t have that facility as a natural quality?
my students, are so focused on the instrument that it becomes an issue rather than a tool. CG: Can you change people?
Yes. Sometimes, when the score is complicated for them, I play with them, so that they are playing one voice and I play the other voice, or I let them sing. Some of them don’t dare to sing, but I say, “You “You have to sing, because then t hen you will feel how the phrasing is going.” Also i t is the physical feeling of even very simple things, when the music is going higher or lower, you feel it physically easier when you sing it, rather playing it on the guitar. So I think I can change them. Also what is very important for me, which is how I was educated and what I try to pass on to my students, is the rhetoric in the music—telling the story with all the emotional possibilities; I think it is very important to be able to put this into your �ngertips. But most of the time, I just really think about the music, about the phrasing, about where the voice is going. SMITS:
CG: I
noticed, for example, that when you play the Bach Chaconne, you have the full drama all perfectly planned. It always feels as though it is moving forward and just about to arrive at a climax, but it doesn’t climax, and yet you don’t drop the energy. Playing large-scale pieces is hard but you do it very naturally. SMITS: I think that’s true, and thank you for saying
that. But this is really because when I am playing I am always thinking about the future, and I feel in the present, and my memory is on the past—so I am really in the middle of that past–future and I am in the present. I think this is what you feel when I play those large pieces. CG: Did you go to the Conservatorium after high school?
I went �rst to the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, and studied with Victor van Puyenbroeck, and later, just for my concert diploma, I went to Brussels to study with Albert Sundermann and Jef Goor. Beginning when I was I was 16, I went every summer for a couple of months to José Tomás [in Alicante, Spain], from July to September more or less. I started with José Tomás in 1974, I think.
SMITS:
CG: When
you won the Tárrega competition [in Benicàssim] in 1986, was that your �rst big competition win? It depends what you call a big win. I think it was in 1981 when I went to Granada for t he competition on the interpretation of Spanish music.
SMITS:
Yes, absolutely, but some of them do have it and I love them! Most of the young players, or
SMITS:
MARLEEN PEETERS PHOTO
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 31
Andrés Segovia was the president of the jury. I didn’t get the �rst prize there, but I got a very nice third prize from the University of Granada. I was still very young of course; I was still a student in my early twenties. CG: Did you play on a six-stringed guitar for the competition?
No, I was already playing on the eight-string guitar. I was playing the guitar that I played on for my most recent recording—the John Gilbert guitar from 1980. SMITS:
prize. So that was really a big success because all the newspapers and the television—everyone vision—everyone was speaking about it. It was only in 1986, when I had already been giving a lot of concerts that one of my colleagues, Hubert Käppel, and I were teaching master classes in Netherlands, and he said, “You just have to go back to compete in Benicàssim!” I was reticent, but I began practicing the obligatory pieces eight hours a day and put my program together. And I enrolled, I went, and I won.
Coste you need the lower basses, so you could play things no one else could? Yes, exactly. There are a couple of recordings on my six-string Ramírez, but that was in 1977; I was just 20. My �rst recording was of old Flemish songs with the tenor Guy de Mey; he is still one of the big stars, with a beautiful tenor voice. My six-string guitar was a very, very beautiful Ramírez, but after that I got an eight-string Ramírez, which José Tomás bought for me, that was really too big for me and too dif �cult for me to play. SMITS:
CG: After Benicàssim, did you start to tour a CG: When you were in Granada with Segovia,
did you have masterclasses with him as well? I met him a couple of times and we had some conversations and he expressed his admiration: He really liked my playing a lot. So it was a very moving encounter, but I never took classes with Segovia; he was never my teacher. There were some rumors saying, “When you go to the competition, do not play on an eight-string because he doesn’t like it!” But there was no sign of this problem with my instrument when I played for him—absolutely not! At that time in the Granada competition—and it was the same in Benicàssim— there were so many participants. Things have changed now, but at that time, there were very few competitions, so we were over 100 competitors. It took three or four days just for the elimination round, then two days for the semi �nal, and then one day for the �nal. It was a very long process for everyone—for the jury, of course, and for us who had to wait for so many days in the Spanish heat in beautiful Granada. Anyway, Segovia said to me: “You gave me the best moment of the whole week, listening to your performance of those Tárrega pieces.” So I only have good memories of that Maestro. Later in that same summer, I went to Palma de Mallorca, where I was awarded the second prize. Then one year later, in 1982, I went for the �rst time to Benicàssim and I won the second prize; it seemed as if everyone thought I deserved the �rst SMITS:
32 Fall 2017
lot? Is that when your international touring career began? SMITS: It
had started before that, in the very early 1980s when I played my debut in New York York at the Lincoln Li ncoln Center. From there, I had a huge tour including San Francisco, Los Angeles; all the big cities. At that time, time, I was already playing in the Netherlands, in Germany, of course in Belgium, and sometimes in England—I was playing with David Russell in England at that time. We made two recordings actually—one with the music of Castelnuovo-Tedesco Castelnuovo-Tedesco and the other with the music of Sor. After winning the Benicàssim competition—I must say it was most important for my own country; that was really big news—then everyone started to pay attention to me, and also I could start working with Accent Recordings with whom I made so many records. CG: What was your them?
�rst
recording with
SMITS: Romantic
Guitar—Music by Giuliani and Mertz . But I was playing on my Gilbert guitar in about 1986 or 1987. By coincidence, my very �rst solo guitar recording was recorded by the same sound engineer, Andreas Glatt, who had recorded my very �rst solo album, which was entirely dedicated to music by Coste. It was very special because at that moment, Coste, just like Mertz, was absolutely unknown. CG: For
those you played on your eightstring Gilbert guitar, and of course, with
CG: When
did you start playing on historic
guitars? When I was in high school, I heard that there was an auction in London, of all places. There was a collection coming in, so I went to see the collection and I just chose one small guitar, which is a Lacôtetype guitar. They said to me, “But there are others which are beautifully ornamented.” I said, “I’m not interested in that; I am just interested in the sound.” There is no Lacôte label inside, but it is very much like a Lacôte guitar and it sounds very, very beautiful. That was my �rst Romantic guitar. It had to be cleaned up a little, but it was in very good condition. I really love music because of the sound . That is why I think a certain sound can be perfect for one kind of music, and other sounds could be better for different kinds of music. That is why the instrument has to �t with the music. And that makes you look for different instruments. SMITS:
CG: Most
people would like to have a different instrument for a different period of music, but for example, on your all-Mertz Le Romantique Romantique recording, you play a Roudhloff, your seven-string Mirecourt, and your eight-string Gilbert guitars, so even for Mertz, you needed three different guitars to express what you feel in his music. Actually, it was Accent in Germany who decided to put together my very �rst Mertz recording on my Gilbert guitar together with the later Mertz recording on
SMITS:
MARLEEN PEETERS PHOTO
HOW I WAS EDUCATED, AND WHAT I TRY TO PASS ON TO MY STUDENTS, IS THE RHETORIC IN THE MUSIC—TELLING THE STORY WITH ALL THE EMOTIONAL POSSIBILITIES. I THINK IT IS VERY IMPORTANT IMPORT ANT TO BE ABLE TO PUT THIS INTO YOUR FINGERTIPS.
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 33
period instruments. So at that moment in 1986, I didn’t play the Romantic 19thcentury guitar yet. So now, if you had to record those Mertz pieces again, which instruments would you choose?
CG:
You have released a recording in celebration of your 60th year [Guitar Recital ; Soundset Recordings]. Would you have released it anyway?
made some fantastic recordings with the singer Liliana Rodríguez, and with Jorge Cardoso as well. Is this all part of your strong connection with Latin American music?
SMITS: Well, I thought it was a good occasion
Yes, absolutely I do have a strong connection with Latin American music and for different reasons: for the music and also because I really love the countries and the people and how they are surrounded with music; how the guitar is part of their lives. With the Barrios, again the pieces which I choose are not the most popular. The Ley- enda Guaraní is rarely played because it is almost unplayable, so I rearranged it. It is really an arrangement for my eight-string guitar. I don’t know if you know the story of that Barrios piece, but some parts of the piece were lost, so I took the score as I found it and reworked it as I thought in the style of Barrios. It is a different Barrios than the popular Barrios; it is kind of classical, but you can feel the in �uences—that he went to Buenos Aires, and you even feel the mixture of Europe and Argentina and Paraguay and Uruguay. You feel wherever he has been in Leyenda is such a deep piece. You that piece. Leyenda even feel some Liszt, like the ending—it is unbelievable unbelievable that it was written by Barrios.
CG:
I would choose my eight-string Mirecourt. If I have to choose one guitar for the 19th-century repertoire, it would be that. It’s a very particular instrument; it’s very French. The Lacôte-style guitar, the very �rst one I bought, is also a French instrument, typical for Sor. With that difference, some of these beautiful Romantic guitars are excellent in a room and could be fantastic for a recording, but wouldn’t be so great in a big concert hall. My Mirecourt guitar, built around 1827, is fabulous in a concert hall, as well. The two low basses were added later by the German builder Bernard Kresse. SMITS:
CG: Is
that the reason you play Bach on it as well, because if you are travelling, you can’t take too many guitars? Yes, I have stopped taking two guitars when I tour. I did it many times with two guitars, but I don’t do i t anymore. And I have to say that the Bach sounds really so beautiful on the Mirecourt; it’s stable and reliable and the type of sound �ts very well with old music. Of course, from a musicological point of view it’s not correct, but at least it is more than one hundred years closer to the original.
SMITS:
CG: What type of strings do you use on that guitar?
It’s always low-tension strings; the lowest tension that I can �nd is the best. I use six-string guitar strings on the seventh and eighth strings. Even on my John Gilbert guitar, the sixth, seventh, and eighth are all sixth strings. I think that is why they sound so transparent and they stay so well in tune. I’m not so keen on the strings that are thicker because they lose some of their brilliance. I am very fanatical about strings, so it depends on the material that the string is made from. If there is more silver, they can have more tension there, more like a normal tension string. I would never put high-tension strings on.
SMITS:
34 Fall 2017
to do something special. I really wanted to record these pieces that I never had before. That is the approach that I always take with my recordings—I always ask myself, “If this would be my last recording, what would I regret not having realized?” CG: I
Compostelana assume that the Suite Compostelana by Mompou is something you studied with José Tomás and therefore, it is extra special repertoire for you? SMITS: Yes, let’s say that the whole recording is �lled with music that I have always wanted to play but never did. I had forgotten that I had played a couple of movements of the Suite Compostelana by Mompou a long time ago, but I never had played the whole suite. I also have a kind of feeling that sometimes when something is too indoctrinated, I have an aversion to it and I don’t want to do it. There were a couple of things that I didn’t like so much in the edition by Segovia, but I didn’t know why until later when I got the manuscript.
Was the Suite in A minor by Ponce something you studied with José Tomás?
SMITS:
CG: You
always have a very busy schedule: traveling, visa organization, and teaching.
CG:
No, I never did. I understand why you are asking, because it was a standard work when I was studying in Alicante. But there again, I really like to play things that not everyone is playing. Also, I am very happy that I didn’t play it then, because then I would be playing it like someone else. At that time, I was at the age where you are very in�uenced by what is around you, and you also like to embrace the knowledge of someone else; that is why you are going to study with someone. For many years now, and even as a student, I really liked to have this blank page and then make my own story with whatever I could �nd within the piece of music. So I never played what everyone was playing. Of course, the score of Ponce I have was t he working score that Tomás was using at that time, and I am very happy about that. SMITS:
CG:
And then the Barrios. I know you have
Yes, I have been traveling so much and it has been beautiful. I had a Japanese tour which was heart-warming, heart-warming, and I am ver y happy that my new recording will be sold in Japan. Then there were quite a few concerts in Belgium, which is also really nice, as we have a small country. I can leave home at 5 p.m. and be home by 11 p.m., and it’s nice to play for your own public. Then I had a big tour to the United States for three weeks and performing or giving master classes almost every day. It was a really nice trip.
SMITS:
CG: How
do you keep going and keep your stamina up? You look bright and you certainly don’t look exhausted, but you have such a heavy schedule and even just the traveling is exhausting. It’s not easy, is it? No, it is not easy. I think the secret is to do with [putting] all your energy [into] whatever you have to do at that moment, and try not to worry too much about the next things that are waiting to be done. CG
SMITS:
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THE ORIGINAL
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8 t 4 o c C S I C
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36 Fall 2017
RODRIGO DA SILVA (AURA AUDIOVISUAL) PHOTO
FINDING FELICIDADE IN THE MUSIC OF BRAZIL
BY BLAIR JACKSON
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 37
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has been quite a ride for Paraguayan guitarist Berta Rojas since she last appeared on the cover of this magazine in the fall of 2014. There have been professional triumphs—such as well-received albums pairing Rojas, �rst, with Buenos Aires’ Camerata Bariloche chamber orchestra for an exceptional 2015 disc of Argentinian music called Historia Historia del Tango Tango; and her exciting spring 2017 Brazilian-music venture, Felicidade Felicidade, on which Rojas was joined by an even larger orchestra—the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Paraguay—and, on several more intimate tracks, by some of Brazil’s best-known singer/musicians: Gilberto Gil, Toquinho, and Ivan Lins. But on the personal side, part of those last three years was consumed by something outside of her thriving music career—a shocking breast cancer diagnosis which effectively took her out of circulation for nearly a year, as she devoted most of her time to �ghting the disease. The greatest news of all is that she appears to be on the other side of that battle, fully energized and committed to continuing her always-intriguing musical explorations of Latin America (and beyond). “I had to cancel all my concerts in the year 2015,” she says by phone from her home in Asunción, the capital city of Paraguay, where she grew up. “It was a dif �cult year due to surgery and chemotherapy, but I am now, two years after, completely recovered and healthy. Through cancer I learned that you need to live a balanced life, with time to work, to rest, to enjoy life, to exercise. You need all colors in your life. “I also learned that you cannot take playing the guitar for granted. You may one day lose your ability, so we have to appreciate it when we can play.” That spirit of renewal clearly helped make the recording sessions for Felicidade Felicidade among the most enjoyable and satisfying of Rojas’ long career. She made a point of savoring every moment, and her collaborations with the orchestra, with her guest duet partners, and with producer/arranger/conductor Popi Spatocco, inspired her to new creative heights. “Felicidade” translates as “happiness” from the Portuguese, and that pretty much sums up her feeling about
38 Fall 2017
THROUGH CANCER I LEARNED THAT YOU CANNOT TAKE PLAYING THE GUITAR FOR GRANTED. YOU MAY ONE DAY LOSE YOUR ABILITY, SO WE HAVE TO APPRECIATE IT WHEN WE CAN PLAY.
the project. You can hear it throughout the album, even as the music navigates a tonally complex landscape of emotions: breezy takes on Antônio Carlos Jobim classics, such as the title track (in the widely admired arrangement by the late Roland Dyens), and the oft-covered Desafinado Desafinado (Rojas’ own arrangement); an homenaje to Brazilian jazz composer Baden Powell (a medley arranged by Sebastian Henriquez), and Powell’s own Berimbau Berimbau (written with Vinicius de Moraes); moving and heartfelt duos with Lins, Gil, and Toquinho (who is splendid on Ernesto Nazareth’s lovely Odeon, as well as in two pieces on which Rojas and the orchestra also appear); a beautifully rendered guitar-and-orchestra version of Egberto Gismonti’s suddenly popular Água e vinho; a nod to the father of modern Brazilian classical guitar, Heitor Villa-Lobos ( Choro Choro Tipico ); and even Paulo Bellinati’s popular romp, Jongo. Some of the more extravagant orchestrations sound like they would be perfect accompanying some ’60s or ’70s James Bond or Jean-Paul Belmondo action movie set on Rio’s Copacabana Beach and Sugarloaf Mountain, but many of the other songs feel like deep dives into the very soul of Brazil. It’s a wonderful, varied journey that will likely broaden Rojas’ audience, as Historia del Tango did. For those who might not be up to speed on the trajectory of Berta Rojas’ story, a quick review is in order. Her guitar education was spread over many years in Paraguay, Uruguay, and the United States, and with an assortment of excellent teachers, each of whom imparted something different to her. As she noted in an interview with Dr. Annett Richter of the Minnesota Guitar Society, “My �rst teachers in Paraguay instilled in me, above all, the love for music, which was the main driving force for everything that came afterward, and they introduced me to the person who would embody perseverance and the continuous pursuit of excellence: [Paraguayan composer/guitarist] Agustín Pío Barrios. Little by little,
with the guidance of my teachers in Uruguay, I kept advancing, strengthening my Latin American roots, and transitioning until my own voice could be heard through the guitar.” Among her teachers in Uruguay were Abel Carlevaro, Eduardo Fernandez, and Mario Paysée, and in America—at the Peabody Institute, where she earned her advanced degrees—Manuel Barrueco, Ray Chester, and Julian Gray. Since the beginning of her professional career she has been closely associated with the music of Barrios, recording what some consider the best all-Barrios album ever made— Intimate Intimate Barrios (1998)—and promoting his works far and wide. Indeed, since 2009 she has made countless appearances in Paraguayan schools, introducing nearly 45,000 young people to the country’s greatest composer, and has also undertaken several long tours dubbed “In the Footsteps of Mangoré [Barrios]” to 20 countries in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. She told Richter, “I felt, given my background and sense of belonging to Paraguay, perhaps I could musically portray the various scenarios that Barrios described with his music, and in that way, make a contribution. The public received it with amazing warmth, and the truth is, at present, I could hardly play a concert without including Barrios—the audience would request it if I didn’t!” But as she has shown repeatedly through the years, there is much more to her than Barrios—or even what many would strictly categorize as “classical guitar.” On her albums and at her live programs, she has championed numerous contemporary composers, such as Vincent Lindsey-Clark, Alberto Rojo, Juan Manuel Acevedo, Walter Heinze, Ismael Ledesma, and so many others. And she has also made stunning duet albums and toured
JEISSON RODRIGUEZ PHOTO
with Cuban saxophonist Pacquito Día y medio medio; “A day D’Rivera ( and a half”) and Brazilian guitarist and arranger Carlos Barbosa-Lima Alma y Corazon Corazon ). ( The move toward Rojas’ fuller, more orchestral sound actually began on the �rst track of the otherwise-solo 2013 album Salsa Roja: a piece called Tambito Josefino, by Costa Rican composer Edin Solis. But it would truly blosTango, for which som on Historia del Tango Latin Grammy winner Carlos Franzetti wrote lively arrangements for the 17-piece Camerata Bariloche, directed by Freddy Varela Montero and conducted by another Latin Grammy winner, Popi Spatocco. Their collaboration on Astor Piazzolla’s famous title suite and
other pieces by Argentinian composers ranging from Carlos Gardel to Mariano Mores to Aníbal Troilo to Julián Plaza felt completely new and different; clearly the chemistry was there at every stage of the production. The album earned Rojas a much-deserved Latin Grammy nomination, her third (the �rst two were for the D’RiRoja ). vera album and Salsa Roja Historia del del Even before she made Historia Tango, Rojas had her eye on someday making an album devoted to Brazilian composers, and the fact is she had been recording Brazil-
WHAT BERTA ROJAS PLAYS “I play a beautiful cedar-top guitar by the Irish luthier Michael O’Leary. We have been together for a number of years now. This one I play was made in 2008. I use Savarez strings, live and also on recordings.”
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 39
ian pieces throughout her career, including ones by a handful of the composers repre Felicidade: Gismonti, Jobim, Vilsented on Felicidade la-Lobos, and Nazareth. The close bond she formed with Popi Spatocco on the Tango album continued after those sessions and after her recovery, so when she decided to proceed with a Brazilian album, he was the natural choice to produce again. “I had never worked with a music director before and I really liked it,” she says. “He always was so full of ideas, and it was nice having someone I could rely on to work with the musicians and take care of the project when I was tired.” What made her think Spatocco would be the right person to also handle the orchestrations this time? “I had heard his arrangements for the great Argentinean singer Mercedes Sosa on the two Cantora CDs and loved them, so I thought it would be nice to hear Popi’s arrangements for guitar and orchestra. Then, when Toquinho and I played in Paraguay with the National Symphonic Orchestra [in late 2016], I had asked Popi to make the arrangements and he proved to be an amazing arranger. arranger. I had the time of my life working with Popi—he’s such a great musician and a great human Felici- being. His arrangement of [the song] Felici- dade made Roland’s arrangement feel like it always had to be played with an orchestra.” I asked her if she ever felt overwhelmed by playing guitar in such a large pop orchestral context, which is considerably different than, say, playing a classical guitar concerto. “Well, it was not too hard, but that’s because on this recording my biggest allies were the contrabass and the percussion—I really listened to them, and if I was together with them, it was alright. So we became very good friends,” she says with a laugh. “The whole thing was really a beautiful experience. All the musicians were excited, and Popi was wonderful, and it was also so special to record the orchestra here in Paraguay.” aguay.” Some additional recording also took place at studios in Brazil and Argentina. Each of those countries has its own unique folk and popular music which has been adapted to varying degrees by “classical” composers in South America (just as European composers of every era borrowed from folk sources). Rojas observes, “There are some similarities between Brazilian, Argentine, and Paraguayan music, but one thing that’s different in Brazilian music
40 Fall 2017
is the presence of so much of an Afro in�uence, which you hear in some of the rhythms.” She says she doesn’t think much about categories of music—folk, pop, classical, jazz—so making an album that draws freely from all four of those genres felt completely natural to her. “It was Carlos Barbosa-Lima who told me: ‘There is only a border between good and bad music,’” she says. “He is able to arrange popular music that is so full of nuances. And of course he really knows how to orchestrate the music for two guitars. I learned a lot from him. “In the end I just record the music that touches my In the spring, Bill Kanengiser spent a few heart, and I don’t worry about days in Paraguay working with Rojas’ whether it’s this type of music PuRory ensemble, in whiach she works with or that type of music—I just some of the most talented young guitarists want to play that piece, so I do in the country, as selected by a national that.” YouTub You Tubee co mp et it io n. “T he st ud en ts ar e But, I ask, do you see a natamazing. We pay all their expenses for ural connection between, on them to come to the capital city.” one side, the Villa-Lobos choro, and on the other, Bellinati’s more “pop” Jongo? “Yes. For one thing, both as accompaniment, counterpoint, and puncwere inspired by popular idioms. The choro tuation to Spatocco’s arrangements; as a is everywhere in Brazil. I remember years re�ective and sympathetic complement on ago being in a choro club in Rio de Janeiro; I the pieces with Toquinho, Lins, and Gil; and believe it was the Casa do Choro. And people beautiful in its purity on the two solo guiseated at different tables started to play and tar showcases, Jongo and, especially, Hom- sing from their tables—table one proposed enaje a Baden Powell . That last is also one a piece, table four responded singing, table of Rojas’ favorites—“We picked �ve pieces three with guitars, table two with percusby Baden Powell and asked [Argentinean sion. Soon the whole place was united singarranger] Sebastián Henriquez to develop a ing and playing! I found the choro to be very piece around them; so there are a few differmuch alive in Brazil. ent styles in there—you can even hear some “Part of what I wanted to do on this Baroque in there. I love that people can be so album is combine different rhythms and creative: Baden Powell and also Sebastián.” textures, different feelings and sounds, and Rojas says she’d love to perform the have the guitar sound good in each case. Felicidade in concerts. but pieces from Felicidade Like, there’s there’s quite a difference between when we spoke in mid-June, nothing had Agua et Vinho and Odeon, no? Part of the been planned. On the more immediate horichallenge of making this was to decide: zon: starting in September, she will be a new Can the guitar part really be heard? And is associate professor at Berklee College of it appropriate? I like that there are so many Music in Boston. kinds of music on here.” And then? “Well, I haven’t really decided Once the initial surprise of hearing the yet, but I do want to explore the music of orchestra so prominent on seven of the Central America more . . .” 13 tracks wears off, attentive fans of Berta Whatever her next move is, it is cerRojas’ exquisite and evocative playing will tain to be interesting, full of passion, and �nd much to enjoy throughout this album— CG also fun.
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$164.95 including USPS media shipping in the US. At many instrument sources or visit our website to order: www.SunnyKnollPublishing. To order by phone, call 323-243-3788
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An interview about pedagogy and his valuable new textbook on guitar history and performance practice
BY BLAIR JACKSON
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here are many guitarists more famous than Anthony Glise, but relatively few can claim the impact he he has had over the course of a rich, varied, and award-winning career as a performer, composer, and educator. Beyond the many albums and dozens of compositions and music publications he’s created, Glise has also had an enormous effect on countless students of classical guitar—ones he taught directly, others who have attended his classes and lectures at universities in Italy, Germany, Austria, and the USA, and still thousands more who have bene �tted from the wisdom in his book Classical Guitar Ped- agogy—A Handbook for Teachers, published in 2000 by Mel Bay and still in use at many schools throughout the world. The St. Joseph, Missouri, native traces his own music education to programs such as the Konservatoriun der Stadt in Vienna, the New England Conservatory in Boston, and the Université Catholique de Lille in France (among others), and he has been “formally based in Europe since 1983,” he says—for the last 18 years in southern Germany and northern France. He still spends part of each year in Missouri, but just as likely you’ll �nd him in France, perhaps helming the “Red Socks and the Guitar” music festival/program, which he directs in
Chartres every summer. in Relation to the Guitar from 325 AD to Today,” an intriguing “Brief History of HisGlise’s latest opus is an important new book called The Guitar—In History and Per- torical Ornaments,” and much more. Also newly available from Glise is a formance Practice (From 1400 to the 21st separate 60-page small-format book called Century), put out by his own Aevia Publi Research and Writing: A Handbook for for Aspir- cations, and designed to be (as it says on Research ing Authors and Musicologists, which is the cover) “a university textbook for the exactly what it purports to be. In both cases historical study of the classical guitar.” In a way, it could be considered a companion his writing is lively and informative, the �ne detail of his research balanced by a convervolume to Classical Guitar Pedagogy , though it easily stands on its own. The book’s 300 sational tone and even dashes of humor. He’s the kind of engaging guy I would have pages contain a bounty of color and blackand-white photos and illustrations—some loved to have had as a professor in college. depicting historical vihuelas, lutes, and Baroque guitars from the celebrated modCLASSICAL GUITAR: I’ve never really gotern builders Steven Barber and Sandi Harris ten a sense of whether there’s any kind of of London—and many musical examples, as “accepted” route to learning guitar—whether it traces the history of the guitar, describes you start with the Sor or Carcassi “methods,” “methods,” how it was taught through the centuries, disor if there are certain logical building blocks; cusses compositional and technique innocertain pieces or composers you study �rst. vations over time, and spotlights signi �cant You’ve done a guitar pedagogy book, but this players and composers. Glise says his book one takes a more historical approach, talking is aimed at “three speci �c target audiences: about what was added to guitar knowledge general education students, undergraduate and technique during each era up to the guitar majors, and graduate guitar majors. present. Can you talk a bit about this way of It’s designed so it can be used in all three of attacking the subject? those categories.” In fact, it does have sugANTHONY GLISE: Well, pedagogy is gested weekly writing and playing assignments for those three levels, as well as obviously based on technical and musical quizzes, vocabulary lists, suggested reading development, so there are different steps and listening, a helpful “Historical Timeline that go down in training the hands, as
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 43
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opposed to discussing the history. So the most logical approach with the history book was to simply take it chronologically. Pedagogy is a different beast in that it is a little more of an open book, because what we’re after there is actual motor skill development. That is not necessarily linked to historical development in our compositions. The other problem is that guitar, as opposed to almost every other instrument on earth, nearly died out twice; we completely lost our traditions. It essentially disappeared after the Baroque and then again near the end of the 19th century, roughly after 1856 when Mertz died in Vienna. With piano, violin, and the more standardized classical instruments, you can go back and follow the entire path of how they were taught and what pieces they used. But we don’t have this same tradition of pedagogical progress with the guitar. Back in the 19th century, when we really get our i nstrument—the six-string guitar tuned the way it is now—most of the methods that came out were by composers and performers and they naturally predominantly included their own compositions, so it’s a bit of a messy deal to use any of the older manuals, because their methods are only going to expose the student to a very miniscule sliver of our repertoire. Now we’ve gotten to a place where the pedagogical development has to be mixed historically, so it’s either up to the teacher to create a list of pieces that build one on the next to develop the student, or there are a few established things out there you can turn to: Like, the Royal College of Music of Canada has a graded series of repertoire that’s mixed-historical. There’s also a great book called Dix ans avec le guitar —“ten —“ten years with the guitar”—and it’s the essential manual that’s used in France in all the conservatories and music schools. I believe that goes through six levels, and within each level there are �ve or six separate levels; all very rational progressions of music for solo, chamber music, concerti; there’s even some jazz and chord work in these. So there are systems out there, but they aren’t really plugged directly into repertoire development speci�cally. CG:
Why do you think the USA did not embrace the “grade” system prevalent in Europe and other places?
GLISE: Europe and the USA
have an inherent disconnect in how we think about learning instruments. For example, your bachelor’s
44 Fall 2017
degree in America is traditionally four years. In Italy it’s nine. France is darn near the same, depending on how far you go. France is also a totally different beast because under the formal conservatory system you have to have studied solfège [the application of the sol-fa musical scale] for at least one year before they even allow you to pick an instrument. In the USA we’re into more immediate grati�cation. In Italy, the repertoire that they use in all the primary conservatories is identical. It was set up under the arts council division under Mussolini, so basically in every single school you do exactly the same pieces depending on what level you’re at. Some might call that overly structured. I don’t know. That’s not really for me to judge. Guitar as a formal degree in the United States got shoved in late. Music in general, frankly. And the colleges in this country had already been widely established as four-year programs. So we’re a little trapped in that regard. CG: When you work with your students, how
do you see or determine what the holes are in their learning, if there isn’t a coherent system in place that determines “levels”? Is it based on pieces? On whether they can handle certain articulations? GLISE:
Actually, no. It’s quite a bit more structured than that for me. The �rst book I wrote that really took off was called Classical Guitar Pedagogy , which is very pragmatic. It ’s about 15 years old now, but it’s still used in almost every university that has guitar. How I approached that was to break it into three sections: physiology—how the hands work; then actual pedagogy; and the third section is just pure musicianship. As for �nding holes, there are speci�c things I, and I think most teachers, look at. Number one, you’re concerned with anything that might be happening that can cause physical damage, which involves everything from sitting position to how we move the �ngers. Problems there can cause some pretty severe physical ailments—tendonitis, focal dystonia, carpal tunnel. Then you start looking at any technical issues that may come up: Is a �nger not returning as soon as it should? Is the nail shape causing the �nger to snag when it releases the string? That sort of thing. Then you shift to the third stage, which
is musicological, and see if there’s anything going on technically that’s negatively affecting the interpretation. A subsection of that third category is looking for anything that is simply not coming across—and that’s the coaching stage. Ultimately, you’re going through three stages with a piece: You’re You’re learning it, you’re memorizing it, and then you’re polishing it. I try to keep a student with at least one, usually two pieces in each of those categories— learning, memorizing, or polishing. That also makes it a lot more interesting for the student, because they’re not sitting around for months doing technical exercises, and they’re not just sitting back, as in the third stage of playing through stuff, trying to get it stage-ready. CG: Do
you �nd that students have an easier time memorizing or working with something that is consistently rhythmic—a Sor piece that has a certain “classical” logic you can follow—versus tackling something by say, Bogdanovic, which might be more unconventional or irregular? GLISE: A little more “out” [as in
the jazz term “outside”]. That’s an interesting question, because in my opinion, in the same way we try and have a rational development for technical issues, we also really do try to have a rational development of the repertoire, and a gradual opening up of the student’s ears. You can’t take a young kid and throw him into a piece by Stockhausen or, as you say, Bogdanovic, or even Roland Dyens. We have to gradually ease into that, expose them to these things, because it’s truly a foreign language to so many young guitarists. I’m not being critical of that music at all. I love it! I’m a composer and I do some relatively avant-garde stuff— though still pretty audience-friendly. But coming from a more traditional foundation of western music, most students are more comfortable with music they can understand better, and that makes them enjoy learning more. CG:
You have quite a substantial chapter in your book about improvisation, which is slightly unusual still, even though there are obviously many great improvisers in the �eld today.
GLISE: Improvisation
in classical music has
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existed since the Middle Ages. And even through the turn of the 20th century, a group like the Brahms Quartet out of Germany would, in the middle of a Brahms string quartet, improvise. Improvisation used to be considered the ultimate test of a musician’s skill. We have to remember that when Beethoven shows up in Vienna, the �rst couple of years he’s making his living from teaching and also from winning improvisation contests that people used to have in their homes. I imagine it could be terrifying to be in one of those contests and Beethoven walks in the door! But improvisation has always been a part of who we are. People like Bogdanovic, who is a very good improviser, and Roland Dyens, too, improvise within their own style and their own compositions. To improvise today is totally authentic. It’s also a little bit touchy, because the old composers have become these iconic �gures, so it’s like, “You don’t mess with Bee thoven.” And improvisation was totally about messing with that. CG: You talked about the guitar disappear-
ing, and the prominence of repertoire for piano and violin. In the short time I’ve been
interviewing guitarists, I feel as though I’ve noticed a slight inferiority complex about the guitar versus those instruments. GLISE: Well, we don’t have Mozart and Bee-
thoven and Brahms and the big 19th-century guys that most other instruments can �aunt. But inferiority? . . . Hmmm . . . CG: Maybe that’s the
wrong word.
GLISE:
It’s a good concept. I get where you’re coming from. But I really believe that much of the repertoire we have [for guitar] is on a par with some of the best repertoire that’s out there for any instrument. We just don’t have very much of it yet. It’s a more limited repertoire. Part of that “inferiority” has to do with the recognition of the instrument. The guitar has certainly been more accepted in Europe as an instrument to formally study than it has been in the States. CG: How
have students changed or progressed in the years you’ve been teaching? I feel like a lot of the younger players, besides being so skilled, are also ver y open and adventurous.
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GLISE: I agree. I think part of the advantage
we have with guitar is we are allotted the courage to be a little bit more adventuresome in what we do because we have been considered a fringe instrument. There is a plus to this. Like I said, you don’t go in and start improvising on Beethoven; it’s too sacred. But you sure can get away with it in Diabelli and Giuliani and Sor, Sor, because they don’t have that level of . . . halo over them that would make some say, “I wouldn’t dare mess with this composition.” One of the cool things about guitar in general is that so many of us didn’t start with classical; there’s rock, blues, jazz, world music . . . even Julian Bream is a serious jazz player. And because of that, I think there’s a little more openness in the guitar community to introducing elements of other music forms into the repertoire and adapting that, and being a little more on the cutting edge of what we call “popular” styles. The expansion of classical music that guitar offers is much more adventuresome than most traditional classical instruments dare. And that’s part of what makes it so exciting to know how guitarists played through history and try to guess what’s coming next. CG
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LIFELONG LEARNERS The West Dean Guitar Festival is one of a growing number of short summer guitar programs for adults (and young people)
BY DAVID LUSTERMAN Festival director Andrew Gough conducts the West Dean Festival Orchestra
46 Fall 2017
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eachers frequently tell young students that learning to make music prepares them for a lifetime of pleasure and exploration. All too often, though, the complexities and pressures of early adulthood intervene, music-making takes a back seat, and when the old guitar is �nally retrieved and restrung decades later, the question of how best to proceed can prove perplexing. Even after �nding a competent and encouraging local teacher and resuming practice, adult learners often �nd themselves on a solitary quest that can be dif�cult to sustain. Summer camps and courses are a staple in the development of musicians as young as seven or eight, providing not merely technical training but also a sense of community and fellowship with other players and teachers. And while adult amateurs of orchestral instruments can �nd hundreds of such opportunities each year, there is a surprising dearth of summer courses where adult classical guitarists are welcome. The West Dean International Classical Guitar Festival has earned an enviable reputation as both a pioneer and a leader in this small and slowly growing �eld. Since 1991, classical guitar a�cionados have gathered each August in the pastoral setting of West Dean College in the south of England for a stellar concert series in Saint Andrew Church and the Sussex Barn Auditorium, hearing such artists as Benjamin Verdery, Berta Rojas, Irina Kulikova, Sean Shibe, and the Aquarelle Quartet. But the deeper attraction attracti on of West Dean is its service to lifelong classical guitar learners. For many, the journey to this eccentric �int-stone manor, with its extensive gardens and forested walks, built to house an Anglicized American merchant prince of the Victorian Era, is something of a pilgrimage. Every August, anywhere from 40 to 60 devotees of the guitar, from teens to septuagenarians, immerse themselves in a fouror �ve-day course of lessons, classes, and master classes, as well as daily ensemble rehearsals culminating in �nal-day performances. Most, if not all, return home inspired, af�rmed, and a step or two closer to that elusive goal of musical mastery. Diana Zaat-Belfor, an acupuncturist from Leiderdorp in the Netherlands, began playing the guitar at age seven and has at tended
Alex Roche in a master class with Irina Kulikova
the West Dean course 15 summers. She credits a conversation there with teacher John Mills for helping her overcome her performance anxiety. “I had become more and more nervous about playing in front of people, even in my private lesson,” she says. “John Mills said I should play for other people. I said, ‘That’s easy for you, because you are a performer.’ And he said, ‘If you don’t have it, you must create it.’ So that’s what I did. I created a guitar circle and we play concerts for family and friends. It’s now about 12 or 15 people, all classical players. We’re all nervous and we all have the same problems. But the main thing in my guitar circle is sharing—tell something about the music and we’ll give you feedback. We have to learn from each other. So if you make mistakes, it’s no problem. Then you see people grow. It helped me a lot for playing for people. And we do that every six or eight weeks. So then I have a goal to
practice in a certain way. You practice differently when you know you have to play in front of a group of people, especially when they are guitarists.” For Alex Roche, who switched from bass and drums to the classical guitar at 17 and is completing a degree at the Birmingham Conservatoire in the English Midlands, West Dean holds a different attraction. “Being new to the guitar, I haven’t been going to festivals for ages, so I don’t know what they’re like. But this is such a great place. You’re all together; it’s such a cool vibe. You get to wake up and get together with a great teacher, have a master class, sign up for a rep class. There is always something. It’s so nice after l eaving the Conservatoire, where as a whole it’s always a bit too competitive, and then going home to Newquay, in Cornwall, where no one plays classical guitar, to come here where everyone just loves it and is having
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 47
SUMMER CAMPS AND COURSES ARE A STAPLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSICIANS, PROVIDING NOT MERELY MERELY TECHNICAL TRAINING BUT ALSO A SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND FELLOWSHIP WITH OTHER PLAYERS AND TEACHERS.
fun. I don’t feel I need to prove anything.” The West Dean Festival is unique in other ways as well. Unlike most festivals where world-class performers can be heard in concert, there is no parallel guitar competition to distract from the focus on community, sharing, and mutual support. West Dean is also self-contained, with nearly all of the participants living in the college residences, sharing meals, and imbibing post-concert drinks in the college bar. And its opening-day exhibition brings many �ne guitar-makers and specialists to display their wares and engage with students and the artist faculty. Kianush Robeson, who recently earned a degree in classical guit ar at the Royal Welsh Academy of Music and Drama under the direction of John Mills, found this self-contained community very much to his liking: “I came here for the �rst time. In many respects it’s even more intense than I expected. It’s very focused and driven, and the tuition is quite serious. I’d pictured a guitar festival in the countryside, something very relaxing and holiday-esque. Nevertheless, I came prepared to do my best and I found it’s a very intense, full-on experience. It’s a good environment to consider aspects of my performing which I sometimes overlook—the way I convey
pieces, the way I act on stage. The artist-teachers are so �nely tuned, and they can pick up such minute details.” West Dean also welcomes guitarists whose devotion to the instrument, while perhaps less intense, is no less heartfelt. Wayne Lines, a retired project manager who took up the guitar in his mid-30s and lives not far from the college, has attended the West Dean course 18 times. “When I was still working, life was stressful. And then I’d drive 30 miles along the coast and come through the driveway [at West Dean] and think, ‘I’ve just entered another world.’ “On my �rst course, I was attending just during the day and going home every night. I’d come to the concert and stay for just one drink and then drive home buzzing. My wife had just gone to bed, and I’d wake her up and say, ‘I’ve just got to tell you about this!’ And we’d stay up until one in the morning. Then, I’d have to get up early and shower and dress and drive back over here. So she said, ‘If you’re going to do this again, why don’t you stay there?’ “For older people, West Dean is a learning experience, an inspirational experience, and it also is a bit of social activity that you look forward to every year that’s different from anyCG thing else you might do.”
WHERE ARTISTRY + INNOVATION SHARE CENTER STAGE Deadline: December December 1 music.cmu.edu | Application Deadline:
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GUITAR EDUCATION
WANT TO TRY A SUMMER COURSE?
Here are a few established programs that welcome adult learners. Prices, dates, and faculty are for 2017 only. These listings will give you an idea of what the programs offer and for how much, so you can begin planning for 2018.
WEST DEAN INTERNATIONAL CLASSICAL GUITAR FESTIVAL
EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY SUMMER GUITAR WORKSHOP
LOCATION: West Dean College, Sussex, Chichester, England; director: Andrew Gough; year founded: 1991; WestDean.org.uk/study/shortcourses 2017 DATES: August 19–24; tuition: £525; faculty: Amanda Cook, Trond Davidsen, Andrew Gough, Liz Larner, Vincent Lindsey-Clark, Craig Ogden, Pavel Steidl.
LOCATION: East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina; director: Elliot Frank; year founded: 1995; ecu.edu/cs-cfac/music/guitar/ workshop.cfm 2017 DATES: July 15–18; tuition: $400; faculty: Mary Akerman, Cindy Spell, Francois Fowler, Elliot Frank, Joseph Ikner, Rene Izquierdo Adam Kossler, John Kossler, Patrick Lui, Stephen Mattingly, Matteo Mela, Lorenzo Micheli, William Hart Wells, Andrew Zohn
CLASSICAL GUITAR RETREAT The Grounds at West Dean
LOCATION: Cathedral of the Isles, Isle of Cumbrae, Scotland; director: Matthew McAllister; year founded: 2008; CGRetreat.com 2017 DATES: July 5–10; tuition: £420; faculty: Aisling Agnew, Uros Baric, Sharron Grif�ths, Dale Kavanagh, Thomas Kirchhoff, Lukasz Kuropaczewski, Jamie MacDougall, Matthew McAllister, Allan Neave, Raphaella Smits, Peter Stewart
BEN VERDERY’S MAUI MASTER CLASS
The Church at Ben Verdery’s Maui Master Class
The Lake at Brevard Music Center
LOCATION: Keawala‘i Church, Makena, Maui, Hawaii; director: Ben Verdery; year founded: 1998; BenVerderyMauiClass.com 2017 DATES: July 3–12; tuition: $500; faculty: Martha Masters, Ian O’Sullivan, Ben Verdery
CINCINNATI CLASSICAL GUITAR WORKSHOP LOCATION: College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio; director: Clare Callahan; year founded: 1983; ccm. uc.edu/summer/ This workshop was not offered Summer 2017 due to CCM performance performance space availability during campus renovations, but stay in touch with the website for future plans.
ADULT GUITAR WORKSHOP @ BREVARD LOCATION: Brevard Music Institute, Brevard, North Carolina; director: Adam Holzman; year founded: 2017; BrevardMusic.org/institute/ guitarworkshop For guitarists 30 and up! 2017 DATES: June 5–10; price: $1,200 (includes tuition, housing, meals, concert tickets); faculty: Adam Holzman; the Texas Guitar Quartet: Isaac Bustos, Jonathan Dotson, Alejandro Montiel, Joseph Williams II
HARTT SCHOOL GUITAR FESTIVAL LOCATION: Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford, Connecticut; director: Richard Provost; HarttSchoolGuitarFestival.com 2017 DATES: June 26–30; tuition: $550; faculty: Christopher Ladd, Richard Provost, Andrew York
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 49
Learn to sharpen your reading, gauge your progress, and open the door to new music
BUILDING SIGHT-READING SIGHT-READING CONFIDENCE CONFIDENCE Alan Rinehart Rinehart helped develop the guitar performance program at the University University of British British Columbia Columbia in Vancouver Vancouver,, Canada, where he was a faculty member from 1983 to 2003. He is a founding member of the Vancouver Guitar Quartet. His latest record- ing, Verdi’s Guitar, will be released on the Ravello label in September. September. More informa- tion about his musical work can be found at alanrinehart.com. This is an adaptation of an August 2016 2016 lecture given given as part of the Clas- sical GuitarFest West at Mount Royal Univer- sity in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Are you a good reader? By what standard? Ideally, a guitarist should be a con�dent enough reader to play chamber music comfortably, happily explore new repertoire
50 Fall 2017
and—especially for teachers—assess �ngering at sight and be able to make changes to assist your students.
PREFACE One of the most fundamental aspects of life is competition. Whether for food, a mate, or territory (the source of food and mates), competition drives activity. Humans also have the added capacity to compare with other humans and make improvements to better their competitive chances. Tightening the focus to the playing of a musical instrument, particularly the classical guitar, we have objective means for comparison: accuracy of playing of the notes and rhythms, speed of playing the same, academic understanding (historical or com-
positional practice), and subjective means: artistic quality, tone, dynamics, and the subject of this piece—musical literacy. Judging sight-reading ability is problematic. What are the criteria? “Cold-reading” skill (essential for studio work, ensemble playing, or tests in school exams)? Comfortably playing a piece from beginning to end for enjoyment or research, as one would read a book? Improving sight-reading starts with the con�dence developed by seeing clear advancement. Guitarists are generally thought of as poor readers, either by themselves or by other instrumentalists. Reading notation on the guitar is a complex process, with the reader having to think and process music vertically (harmony) and horizontally (mel-
PIETRO ANTONIO NOVELLI, A SEATED MAN PLAYING A GUITAR
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GUITAR EDUCATION ody), as well as dealing with many situations where a note occurs in multiple places on the �ngerboard. The obvious solution to this is reading as much music you can, but that does not necessarily lead to having con�dence in your reading ability. I’ve known many �ne guitarists who read well but don’t consider themselves good sight-readers. This is likely a result of reading practice where there is no gauge of progress. With other aspects of playing, we have measures by which we can clearly see improvement. A metronome will help us maintain tempo, gain rhythmic accuracy, and achieve a goal, such as the required speed of technical tests. Written �ngerings can guide us in following a method/style of playing (guide �ngers, glissandos, arpeggio patterns etc.). Score reading, however, is usually done out of some sort of necessity, such as learning a new piece for your repertoire or at the instruction of a teacher (often undertaken reluctantly), being presented with a part in an ensemble (“I hope I can keep up and not make a fool of myself”), or a sight-reading example in a test. The result of such reading may be successful, but it does not help give the reader a sense of improvement in reading skill. The simple method described below will help you gauge your progress, progress, sharpen your reading at any level, and open the door to the joy of exploring new music and playing with other musicians with greater con �dence.
THE STORY My experience with reading scores was not unusual. I was attracted to the classical guitar by hearing music played by someone—in my case Narciso Yepes playing Fantasia Fantasia 10 by Spanish Renaissance composer Alonso Mudarra. Trying to learn Fantasia Fantasia by ear led to �nding a score and stumbling through the painful process of �nding notes in strange places on the guitar. That led to listening to more music, being attracted to pieces, �nding the score, etc. Curiosity led to acquiring a large stack of various scores that I then chopped and hacked my way through until the reading felt more comfortable. Many lessons, concerts, master classes, and chamber music sessions later, I felt that I had a pretty good handle on reading. Then, after enrolling in an intensive lute study course in London, I was faced with learning to read German lute tablature in a very short time. I had already become
fairly pro�cient with Italian tab, and was also pretty �uent with French/English tab, but I had almost totally avoided German tab, which is as close as we get to musical notation in a completely different system. Without going into detail, the fact that a blind organist developed it may give you an idea of the task. Out of necessity, I used a version of the method described below to gain a basic German tab reading skill—with success! Moving forward �ve years, I faced a similar dilemma. I was hired to help develop a guitar performance program at the University of British Columbia and I was introduced to an incoming student who had a problem: He was a pro �cient guitarist in other styles, had passed his audition playing from memory, and his general reading skills were suf�cient to do the written-theory entrance exams. However, it became quickly apparent that his actual reading skill on the guitar was very elementary—at best! How was he going to cope with the demands of a four-year intensive study program? I adapted my German tab experience and found that the same approach worked beautifully to help my student gain the con�dence and skill to �nish his studies with much less stress.
THE METHOD Though it seems a bit rigid at �rst, this is not a performance! It is not about learning new pieces. This is a focussed, disciplined practice aimed at seeing clear improvement of a speci�c skill. Set a time limit for the exercise: 5/10/15 minutes. Stay aware of time and don’t go over!
1
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Have a collection of 20-plus pieces ready. For example, you could use the Grade 2 Bridges book, which contains 56 pieces.
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Start with the �rst piece in the book. Look it over before starting, then count yourself in and begin. Avoid looking at your hands as you play. If you stall completely, stop, breathe, regroup, and pick up where you left off.
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Do not repeat notes or passages to “get it right.” It is very important to keep your eyes and awareness moving—if you can only play half the notes correctly, you are 50 percent correct! (Be patient!)
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If there is a repeat sign or da capo in the music, feel free to do it; otherwise, when you �nish a piece, go to the next piece.
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Continue until the 5/10/15 minutes are over—remember, don’t exceed your time limit.
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At the next session, start where where you left off, wherever wherever that was. As soon as you see the time is over, stop. That is where you start the next session and continue until you reach the end of the book— you should have done at least 20 pieces; that way, when you return to the �rst piece, it is almost like a completely new piece.
8
Go through the entire book again, noticing anything that seems more familiar or comfortable (you may get 75 percent of the notes instead of 50 percent). You should start to see patterns and positions that you may have missed on the �rst pass through the book.
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After reading through the book twice, go to a new book and repeat the process.
THE GUIDELINES Improving your sight-reading needs a few things to make it work. A maximum of 10–15 minutes of sight-reading practice day. This is essential: True sight-reading—the reading of totally new music for the �rst time—is arguably the most mentally taxing and tiring activity. You need to be totally focussed, present, and alert. As with technical practice, short, attentive, and intense work bears great fruit. If you wish to browse scores later, that’s �ne— this practice is about sharpening your sight-reading skill and developing a way to gauge progress.
•
•
A supply of reading material that is not overly advanced for your current comfortable reading skill, and ideally a mixture of music from different periods in different keys. The Bridges graded repertoire series from the Royal Conservatory of Music is an excellent example. You need enough music that it takes at least several days to read through.
•
A determination to be a better, relaxed music reader!
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IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER
•
Speed is not a factor. Continuity and smoothness are the goals. Keep your eyes moving!
•
Counting rhythm is an important part of this process. Try to keep your rhythm as accurate as possible, especially with slow notes—count and hold them for their full value.
•
Alan Rinehart
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Comfortable score-reading, including performance details, and regular consulting of the score leads to a much more reliable and �exible memorization of a work.
VARIATION VARIATIONS S Here are some variations on the method that can be done anywhere and that become useful practice and teaching tools: Practice PRIMARY Practice
rhythm only; pitch only; harmony only; single voices in a more complex texture SECONDARY
Practice dynamics; articulation (including slurs); �ngering (left alone, right alone, together) PATTERN RECOGNITION
Work on seeing arpeggios, chords, and sequences as “words,” instead of seeing individual notes as “letters”
READING NOTATION NOTATION ON THE GUITAR IS A COMPLEX PROCESS, WITH WIT H THE READER HAVING TO THINK AND PROCESS MUSIC VERTICALLY (HARMONY) AND HORIZONTALLY (MELODY), (MELODY), AS WELL AS DEALING WITH MANY SITUATIONS WHERE A NOTE OCCURS IN MULTIPLE MULTIPLE PLACES ON THE T HE FINGERBOARD.
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GUITAR EDUCATION TABLATURE Some strengths and weakness of tablature By nature, tablature re�ects �ngering for the left hand and can contain righthand �ngering as well.
• • •
Tablature Tablature is not pitch-related. Using tablature makes transposing and learning to read new tunings (i.e. DADGAD, or open chord) unnecessar y. Used traditionally, traditionally, tablature tablature was simpler and cheaper to print (numbers or letters rather than more abstract symbols) and takes up much less space on the page than pitch notation, as there is no need for ledger lines or the rhythmic spacing needed to make pitch notation more readable; a real consideration when paper was expensive. This is the complete opposite of modern books that are printed in pitch notation with tab underneath. These books are very cumbersome, with far
too many page turns for even short pieces, and they discourage use of the pitch notation.
•
Tablature does not re�ect voice leading, an essential element in contrapuntal music—that is left to the understanding of the pl ayer. ayer.
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Other instruments do not use tablature—a player showing up to a chamber rehearsal or studio recording who has to depend on tablature is inviting scorn from the other musicians.
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Tablature Tablature has its place, but is not a a substitute for musical literacy.
AND FINALL FINALLY… Y… Many hours, a large stack of scores, a natural curiosity, and the needs of a roster of students can eventually lead one to have a reasonable musical literacy, but very few people can say they have unlimited time to spend pursuing the development of a skill. Helping a student to use time effectively and economically is a key element of good teaching. It is my sincere wish that this controlled approach to sight reading development will be an ef�cient tool in helping anyone to be a better, more relaxed, and con�dent musician, happily exploring the wonderfully large and varied literature of CG our instrument.
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METHOD
in 1985, Tango en Skaï was one of Dyens’ concert improvisations until it was suggested he actually set it down. The title translates, literally as Tango and PVC (“skaï” (“skaï” is French slang for fake leather or PVC: PVC : polyvinyl chloride). This is Dyens’ very Gallic way of signifying that this piece is a caricature of the tango or perhaps a witty replica of it. This lighthearted tone is further advanced by the notation “Un rien canaille” at the beginning (approximate translation: “a worthless scoundrel”) to instruct the performer to be a little vulgar or coarse with the proceedings. This lesson will explore its required advanced technique, �uidity, tango rhythm, and polyrhythms.
OVERVIEW
DYENS’ IMMORTAL TANGO A study in fluidity and rhythm BY RHAYN JOOSTE
Tango (originally an African Kikongo Kikongo word that translates roughly as “the place/people of the dance”) is one that today instantly conjures up images of sensual dancing, Latin sentiment, and infectious rhythm. Originating from the River Plata region between Argentina and Uruguay (the musical love child of the danzón and the milonga ), its cultural in�uence quickly spread around the world via shipping lines and migrant passengers. Essentially a paired dance, the music contains the scars from the clash of two cultures: European and African, and like many dances before it, such as the contredanse, it began life indecently in the barrios and slums before slowly working its way upwards into society balls and respectability. The tango itself is characterized by staccato rhythms supporting a clear melodic line—and lots of attitude. There is very little classical polish or rubato, apart from a very subtle amount on the very end of phrases. The tempo has to be maintained for it to be authentic. So don’t slow down or pull the notes apart; as Dyens declares for his piece: “…there should be no rhythmic distortion.” Tango en Skaï is arguably the most recognizable of Dyens’ vast output. It is a party piece that revels in its excess, but signi�cantly never strays from the steady heartbeat of the tango rhythm.
TANGO RHYTHM ango en Skaï by Roland Dyens (1955–2016), is a short showpiece that will put your technique to the test. In this lesson, we will cover how
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to approach this challenging work and also how to get more authenticity in your tango performances. Before it was published by Henry Lemoine
The basic tango rhythm is a short syncopated ostinato cell ( Figure derived from Figure 1 ), derived the Tumba francesa cell, which was born out of the mélange of musical traditions created
To watch video demonstrations of each of the micro studies, go to ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com/method /method .
Fig. 1
Spanish Tango Cell (Habanera)
Basic Tango Cell
MicMicro ro StudStudy y 1a
1a
Micro SStudy tudy 1b1b Micro a
a
a
a
a
a
a
m
i
a
m
i
1/2 CI a m i
a m i
a m i
a m i
p
p
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1 2 2
0 1 2
3 1 2 2
by slave communities in the Caribbean. It’s found in two regional �avors—Spanish and Argentinean—and is at the heart of every piece that bears the name tango. Dyens had a lot of fun placing and messing about with the tango/habanera cells in various rhythmic variations throughout his piece, so keep an eye out for them.
RIGHT HAND Tango en Skaï will challenge your right hand pretty much straight out of the gate: bars 1, 2, and 4 require excellent control. The ability to select strings, pluck and damp notes, and control bass strings is essential to making the character of the tango apparent. This carries through the entire piece, but especially where there are chords. Micro Study 1a is purposefully simple to help achieve the tango feel and to practice control. It uses half of bar 1,
0
3
2 0
(Full planting on chords)
1
p
p
2
1
2 0
(Rest stroke the A, plant back after E)
explicitly stating the staccato and tenuto notes. Aim to have the melody sustain over any chords, or dampened notes—use full planting to achieve this; a half-barre is needed to play the F over the A minor chord. Staccato accompaniment and a singing melody are what you are aiming for, so use a little more pressure on your ring ( a ) �nger to achieve this. Micro Study 1b 1b is a stripped form of the remainder of bar 1, and has a 3:2 polyrhythm (see Figure 2, 2, p. 56) and a 16th-note melody over the bass eighths. The bass should remain �rm and in-time as the triplet pulls against it. Practice with a rest stroke in the thumb (p), then planting back on the A string; this will help strengthen the RH bass control mechanism and clarify the voices. Once the triplet is secure, take out the bracketed note to get closer to Dyens’ original idea.
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METHOD
Fig. 2 (swop hands every two repeats)
Left Hand
Right Hand
3:2 If you have never tried to play 3 beats over 2 see the example above for the rhythmic displacement. ( Figure requires some Figure 2 ) This requires independence and practice away from the guitar, so this polyrhythm is an excellent “transport” exercise: Sitting in a traf �c jam or on a bus, put the melody in the right hand and the bass in the left and tap the rhythms out on your knee until they are internalized. Micro Study 2 hones in on the diminished arpeggio in bar 3 and simpli �es the rhythms slightly to make it easier to t o read, as well as placing it in 2/4 to break it up visually (and mentally) across the fretboard. Practice each bar until secure, then put them together. How you instigate this arpeggio is important to achieving �uidity, so take note of the RH �nger suggestions. Due to the symmetrical nature of the dim chord, it is possible to fret this in a variety of ways. Dyens’ �ngering has been mostly retained (with an added slur), however that should not stop you from experimenting with your own. To cement the �ngering, I suggest using broken rhythms to practice this and work up to 16th-notes (see Classical Guitar Summer 2016 for more). Of special note, be aware these two bars require a lot of RH mechanism movement to be accurate, so slide the RH down over the strings in bar 1 where the music moves from string 6 to string 1; after that the RH will hover for bar 2. If you are still struggling to attain speed, separate the hands and play this as an open-string ex. only and concentrate on the string-crossing. Micro Study 3 (a diminished chord from bar 5) is a practice example that utilizes rhythmic intensity to get the bursts of speed up. Use full planting on the slow passes. Note: These are grouped in fours as
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they are not triplets, which are easily played with this �nger combination.
LEFT HAND Tango en Skaï has an A B structure with repeats; the A section is always followed by a two-bar intro, bars 1–2 and then bars 22–23. However, we get a better idea of what Dyens was aiming for in his structure using popular music terms: Intro, (A) verse, (B) chorus, and then bridge. It is typical in tango music that the verse is march-like and staccato, with a chorus that has more rhythmic variation and excitement, which is why Dyens has added arpeggio runs and a lot of pizzazz in the B section.
FLUIDITY Fluidity is the ability to play effortlessly, smoothly, easily, or naturally, and it is the noun that best describes what most guitarists yearn to attain: speed; “ Fluide” is what Fluide” is Dyens has written above bar 14’s 32nd-note sextuplets. For clarity, Micro clarity, Micro Study 4 places 4 places this bar into half-time, and concentrates
on the Cmaj7 chord shape at the seventh fret. Stagger placing the left-hand �ngers down 4, 3, 2 and then 1. Once you have it under your �ngers, place the bass chord notes back in, as per the original. Again, use rhythmic variations to cement this into your hands if needs be. Remember: Speed is a consequence of relaxed, effortless technique, which is achieved through mindful repetition. Do not practice in long sessions where it is possible to daydream.
ENDING Dyens has ended his tango very typically, and in style, with what is colloquially termed ter med “chum chum.” Every tango orchestra has its own variation on how to end these two chords—V–I; a suggestion is to come up with your own.
FINAL REFLECTION Although Tango en Skaï is a challenging piece, it has the ability to advance your technique signi�cantly when worked on in a systematic way. The humorous sentiment Roland Dyens has secreted in this composition is now poignant as we approach the �rst anniversary of his passing, so it is �tting that the last word on this piece should be his: “Try to create for this little work the party atmosphere in which it was born, without being unduly serious or overly compassionate. Keep a smile deep inside you CG and remain detached.”
To watch video demonstrations of each of the micro studies, go to ClassicalGuitarMagazine. ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com/method com/method .
(The RH mechanism needs to be relaxed and fluid in bar 1.)
Micro Study 2
0
1
4
1
4
2
1
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1
i p
m i
i p
m i
i p
m i
a m
m a
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i
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m
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4 4
a
m
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(Try as an open strings only ex., and concentrate on RH string crossing - follow the tab with no LH fingers.)
Micro Study 3
Micro Study 3
a
m
i
p 4 2 3 1
7
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7 6 7 6
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7 6 7 6
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!
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7 6 7 6
7
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Micro Study 4 4
p p
2 1
4
2
i m m a 0 0 0 0
0
0 0
3 2
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0 0
0
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0 0
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0 0
7 10 10
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8
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8 9
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(The triplets can be reversed for ext ra practice - p m i.)
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 57
MUSIC TO PLAY
BLUE YATES’ CHARMING ‘PRELUDE NO. 4’ We asked English guitarist/composer/teacher Blue Yates to tell tell us a bit bit about himself himself and the piece we’ve selected. selected. My interest in classical guitar began when I heard Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez as as a child. The music seemed so evocative and caught my imagination. I started playing guitar when I was 11 years old and completed my Grade 8 exam at age 17 in 1988. I continued to play for fun, but while living in Italy I found myself playing to some guests and their reaction took me by surprise. It seemed to me that at the time, classical-guitar music and musicians were regarded with more interest and respect in Continental Europe than in the UK. Inspired
58 Fall 2017
To watch a video of Yates playing ‘Prelude No. 4’ or to see guidelines for submitting pieces for ‘Music to Play,’ visit classicalguitarmagazine.com/musictoplay.
by this, and having worked in classical-music retail for some years, I decided to start a business as a professional guitar teacher and performer. performer. As the business grew, I invested in recording equipment and a decent microphone, and made numerous trips to visit luthiers in Madrid. I started to write and record music and also to notate some of it, initially to offer some interesting repertoire to my students. This has continued and I established a sheet music imprint, Rekoba Editions, last year. year. My Blue Yates Guitar Tuition business has been successfully operating now for 14 years in the UK Midlands town of Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire, and in that time I have taught more than 150 students. I have always had a fascination with the work of South American composers such as Rodrigo Riera, João Pernambuco,
and Antonio Lauro. While my collection of 12 Studies is designed to develop speci �c technical qualities, the 6 Preludes are a freer form, exhibiting melody and texture inspired, to some extent, by the sound of the guitar in South America, and offering the performer an opportunity to experiment with tonalities and other variations in articulation. This piece is about tonal contrast as much as anything, so when playing the repeats (or repeated sections) try to vary them. This could be different �ngerboard positions, varying tone from ponticello to tasto or dynamically. I have indicated some speci�c positions and kept others more open to interpretation. For more info and to purch purchase ase music, music, go go to blueyat blueyates.c es.com om
ALBUMS John Schneiderman and Hideki Yamaya
GUITAR DUO EXCELS ON RARE RA RE ALL L A L-BBE E T HOV OVEE N P ROGR A M Period instruments and arrangements lend authenticity BY TIM PANTING
hat Beethoven did not write specifically for the guitar has been and will be a subject of discussion and analysis for many years to come. That he was familiar with the guitar and the guitarists of the day is not in doubt; it simply appears that the plucked “box” we so love did not light his compositional �re. The fascinating booklet notes for this CD describe the guitar in Beethoven’s “milieu,” in Vienna’s exceptional music scene at the dawn of the 19th Century, as an instrument that had reached more than respectable heights through such luminaries as Wenzel Matiegka, Vincenz Schuster, Simon Molitor, and Anton Diabelli all championing its cause through arrangements of the great works of the day. Guitarists appear to have always been adventurous fellows, on the lookout for new peaks to ascend, and the guitar, while not perhaps having the dynamic range of the piano, could and can in its own way impersonate a full-blown orchestra if desired; all in the comfort of the salon. That said, there are no attempts at arranging any of Beethoven’s symphonic works here. It’s the piano sonatas and
quartets that have lent movements to this piano works: Sonata works: Sonata Op. 2 , Variations on a Paisiello, WoO 69 , and Andante project, as has the Septet, the Septet, Op. 20 , which pro- Theme of Paisiello, vides the opener of the CD with the Varia- Favori , WoO 57 . At ten-and-a-half minutes, tions, Op. 3 arranged arranged by Vincenz Schuster. the latter is the longest work on the recordThe delicate sound-world is ing, and the valedictory piece made utterly convincing by of the CD. the obvious technical comThe delights that bubble mand of the performers. The and simmer in between those altzes, from Six call-and-answer phrasing of include Four Waltzes, Waltzes Anh. 14 (published 14 (published by the variations is exempli�ed by two musicians in perfect Schott a year after Beethoven’s synchronization with each death, undoubtedly capitalizing other. John Schneiderman on the fame of the composer). (guitar and terz guitar) and Arranged by Alexandre Heeser, this curious mix of waltzes by Hideki Yamaya (7-string guiBeethoven tar and guitar-in-D), provide Schubert and unknown sources for Two Guitars will be of great interest to the us with a sumptuous record Schneiderman-Yamaya Schneiderman-Yamaya ing on their period instrumusical detectives out there. Duo The soft, nail-free (?) sound ments (both originals and Hänssler Classic modern copies). is beguiling and quickly draws you to the intimate world of The arrangements are by leading lights of Beethoven’s era, includ- two early 19th-century guitars. Those ing Ferdinando Carulli, whose Variations expecting Beethoven’s �reworks may have and Rondo Op. 155 is is from Piano from Piano Sonata Op. to accept a more delicate approach to the 26 , and who also contributes the Fantasy maestro’s oeuvre. But this is a �ne addition Op. 157 , which is, as the notes say, a rather to period instrument recordings played by CG freely arranged amalgamation of three exponents of the highest level.
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 61
ALBUMS
Federico Moreno Torroba: Guitar Concertos Vol. 2 Pepe Romero and Vicente Coves (guitars) Naxos Classic guitar concertos in masterful hands Torroba, a non-player, started writing guitar pieces because of Segovia. While past the age of 50, he still wrote nearly 100 works for guitar, including 10 concertos; here Romero plays two and Coves the third. Homenaje a la Seguidilla (1962), featuring Romero, is an homage to a lively Spanish song and dance in triple-meter. It is in three movements, the �rst of which begins with a mysterious and evocative “Andante” turning into an “Allegretto” with plenty of �amenco-inspired scale passages and rasgueado. The dance-like sections are interwoven with freer parts reminiscent of a solo singer. After a second movement �lled with ornate lyricism (“Andante”) comes the �nal movement, a technical tour-de-force full of intermittent hemiola reminiscent of a seguidilla. Tonada Concertante (1975–80) is in four movements, a tonada being a theatrical song from the 18th Century. The opening movement is playful and friendly, with the “Andante” second movement a great contrast; quite introspective. The �rst of the two concluding shorter movements is a “Scherzo,” which acts as a link to the �nal “Allegro,” a happy, rhythmic close. Concierto de Castilla, from 1960 and featuring Cloves, is also in three movements and highlights both Torroba’s imaginative writing for the guitar and also his �ne use of the orchestra. It is a warm involving work. All three are wonderful, as are the playing and the recording too. A lovely CD. —Chris Dumigan
62 Fall 2017
Meng
Recital
Meng Su Tonar Music
Martin Bickerton martinbickerton.co.uk
Awe-inspiring “debut” from young Tansman, Bach, and engaging but seasoned artist originals from English guitarist This is the �rst solo recording of Meng Su, On this crowd-funded two-CD set, English who at age nine became a protégé of profesguitarist/composer Martin Bickerton opens Prelude, Fugue Fugue and sor Chen Zhi in Beijing; then, after numerwith Bach’s evergreen Prelude, ous awards, she took advanced studies Allegro using a 1994 arrangement Allegro BWV 998 using with Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Conby Tilman Hoppstock. A suitably noble atmoservatory of the John Hopkins University, sphere permeates the “Prelude” and “Fugue,” Baltimore. With three acclaimed CDs under although some may consider the rather cauher belt with Manuel Barrueco and Yameng tious “Allegro” a less than satisfying concluWang, her partner in the Beijing Guitar Duo, sion. The deep bass resonance of Bickerton’s you could say she has already reached the seven-string Stephen Hill guitar is everstatus of a seasoned artist. present, bringing to mind those vintage tenThere are many ways to tackle the string Bach recordings by Narciso Yepes. choice of pieces for a “debut” album, but Tansman’s Cavatina is presented the most straightforward is to choose core with style and maturity in its published components of the main repertoire and do four-movement form, minus the “Danza something with them that will set you apart Pomposa” used as a �nale by guitarists from the legions who have tried before from Segovia onward. The unassuming you. Here, Meng Su delivers with incredibly “Barcarole” movement serves as a prelude original interpretations of Castelnuovo-Teto Bickerton’s own 16-minute Homage dé desco’s Sonata “Omaggio a Boccherini” Boccherini” Op. Tansman. Extensive and at times introspective, this challenging yet engaging 77 , J.S. Bach’s Lute Suite BWV 1006a, and Bagatelles. Throw in William Walton’s Five Bagatelles work �rmly establishes Bickerton as more a couple of Tárrega lollipops, Gran Vals and than just another guitarist who writes the Rosita, and you have a recipe for a CD with occasional tune. The score has been pubwide appeal. Making it even more ecleclished alongside the recording, as has that tic are the pieces that sandwich the main of Bickerton’s shorter but equally probing contents: two John Williams (the �lm score Zwillinge, for which he is joined by violin Anver’s Theme composer) compositions: Anver’s ist Tory Clarke. A name-check is also given from the �lm Munich, and Rounds, dedicated to Rory Russell of the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet, whose unspeci�ed contribution to Christopher Parkening. Meng Su possesses a transcendent appears to be in Aragón by Albéniz. technique that is simply awe-inspiring. However, it’s the poignant and surShe brings a special luminescence to these prisingly non-dissonant tri-tonal dialogue stalwarts of the repertoire. The Tedesco of Zwillinge that leaves the most lasting tingles, the Bach glows, and, my f avorite— impression in this enterprising release from the Walton—is Walton—is ecstatic. This year’s year’s �nest a musician still short of his thirtieth year. debut by far. — Paul Fowles —TP
The Soldier’s Return: Guitar Works Inspired by Scotland James Akers Resonus Classics Scottish guitarist honors heritage with period guitars and pieces James Akers is primarily a period guitarist; here he plays a Panormo copy made in 2015, an 1820 original, and a terz guitar copy from 2013. All have a lovely, sweet, and re�ned sound that suits this repertoire perfectly. Beginning with the Variations on by Fernando a Favourite Scottish Air, Op. 40 by Sor, he immediately shows the musicality of his playing and the beauty of the sound he produces. The piece contains the famous Ye Banks and Braes Braes as its main theme, and is a �ne opening. The remaining tracks consist of eight by Mauro Giuliani, two variation sets by Luigi Legnani, and one by J.K. Mertz. Five of the Giuliani are from his Sei Arie Nazionali Scozzesi Scozzesi , a posthumously published work that includes The Bluebells of Scotland , Coming Through the Rye, and the reel Jen- ny’s Bawbee as three standout tracks, with the modal quality of the original melodies cleverly incorporated into the 19th-century harmonic sound. The Mertz is Fingal’s Fingal’s Cave (not the Mendelssohn overture), and is one of the many Bardenkl änge pieces he penned. It is a darkly hued work with a very effective climactic coda. The Legnani variations sets are both themes from Rossini’s opera La Donna del Lago, based on Sir Walter Scott’s poem, and are lively and rewarding works. Many of the pieces here are relatively unknown and are premiere recordings, with Akers playing superbly throughout. This is an excellent album for any lovers of 19th-century guitar. —CD
Mappa Mundi Canadian Guitar Quartet ATMA Classique An exciting blend of traditional and modern approaches The latest from this venerable quartet— Julien Bisaillon, Renaud Côté-Giguère, Bruno Roussel, and Louis Trépanier—is �lled with life and adventure. After starting with a stately, crowd-pleasing historical piece—a two-cello concerto by Vivaldi, arranged for guitar by CGQ member Roussel —the rest of the CD is devoted to four contemporary works that are considerably less conservative and more modern, with patches of dissonance, leaping and abrupt tempo and rhythm shifts, but still on the edges of melodicism most of the time (and in the case of Côté-Giguère’s excellent Fille de cuivre, deftly weaving together a blend of different approaches and moods). Patrick Roux’s two-part, 20-minute Concierto Tradicionuevo offers interesting mutations of some familiar Argentinean musical elements—traditional and Piazzollan tango and more—plus what the liner notes depict as “a wild taxi ride through the streets” of Buenos Aires; fasten your seat belts for that one! Hans Brüderl’s Octopus goes from rhythmically manic to elegiac, and also includes some lovely, lilting passages. Christine Donkin’s invigorating fourmovement title work has a slightly Bernard Hermannesque opening (think Psycho ) and closing—and in between, more sonorous movements that in parts seem to hint at world-music forms (is that a calypso feel in “Turris Babel,” and guitars mimicking Italian mandolins in “Yperbori”?). This suite also features guest �nal Mappa Mundi suite cellist Rachel Mercer, to very nice effect. —Blair Jackson
Key West: Latin American Music for Two Guitars Duo Amaral duoamaral.com Duo excels on Brazilian pieces and new commission Mexican guitarist Jorge Amaral and Israelborn Mia Pomerantz-Amaral formed Duo Amaral in 2008. Here, they immediately grab your attention with “Pinote,” the lightning-fast �rst movement from Sérgio Assad’s Tres Cenas Brasilieras, which they go on to play in its entirety. This is the sort of music most duos would like to play, but often haven’t got the necessary technique. This is not a problem with Duo Amaral! Jose Manuel Lezcano’s Key West follows, follows, written for the Duo, a premiere recording. Also set in three movements, it begins with “Seven Mile Bridge,” a fast-paced opener, followed by the warm and relaxed “Bolero Del Atardecer,” with its meltingly beautiful harmonies, and �nishes with “Duval Street Stomp,” a rhythmic and exciting closer. The musical style is always melodic but also interestingly rhythmic. All’Antica in Guido Santorsola’s Suite All’Antica four movements follows. A lovely, chordal “Preludio” is followed follow ed by a tiptoeing “Tempo Di Minuetto.” “Piccola Arietta” follows and is haunting in its melodic beauty, while the “Finale” is relentlessly fast and full of gorgeous close-harmony work. Radames Gnattali’s famous Suite Suite Re Retrato tratoss is a wonderful piece that is in the repertoire of many of the best duos. It is harmonically rich, with complex voices weaving in and out; fabulous music beautifully performed. The �nal work is Egberto Gismonti’s Aqua e Vinho, an apt ending to a truly great CD of effortlessly beautiful playing and timeless interpretations. —CD
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 63
ALBUMS
Danzas
Nocturnos de Andalucia
Montréal Guitare Trio Analekta
Christoph Denoth (Guitar), London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jesus Lopez Cobos Signum Classics
Fresh arrangements of Falla, Paco, Barrios, and more When you decide to open your recording with Mediterranean Sundance by Al di Meola and Paco de Lucía, the opening track of Friday Night in San Francisco (1981), you are dealing with a tune that has inspired thousands of hopeful virtuosos around the globe. MG3 (Montréal Guitare Trio: Marc Morin, Glenn Lévesque and Sébastien Dufour), have, as they say, the chops to pull off such a tune. While not being a full-blown �amenco outing, Danzas is a vivacious recording for lovers of that �ery brand of guitar playing, with machine-gun Phrygian scalar runs and whiplash rasgueados interspersed with rhythmic golpes augmented by acoustic bass. Cate- A lovely arrangement of Barrios’ La Cate- dral shows shows this fabulous composition in a different light—the walking bass of the middle “Andante religioso” movement is inspired. Paco de Lucía’s inspiration can be felt throughout the recording, especially with the works here by Manuel de Falla, as Paco famously recorded an album of works entirely dedicated to the composer. Yet there are no attempts to slavishly impersonate the �amenco master. MG3 have a sound all their own. The virtuosity is fresh and the arrangements delightfully full of dynamism and surprises. Their take on the Ritual Fire Dance is gorgeous. There are some beautifully sensitive Canciones moments, too. “Nana” from Siete Canciones Populares Españolas is simply fantastic, as is the valedictory Our Spanish Love Song by by Charlie Haden (from Pat Metheny’s Under the Missouri Sky album). —TP album).
64 Fall 2017
Title piece is a bold addition to guitar-concerto canon Of the three works on this CD by Swiss guitarist Christoph Denoth, the most interesting and substantial is the 40-minute, six-movement concerto by Lorenzo Palomo (b. 1938) called Nocturnos de Andalucia. Scored for a large orchestra, this concerto was premiered by Pepe Romero back in 1996, and from all accounts made a considerable impact, though it is not played frequently. So skillful is Palomo’s orchestration that it is never allowed to overpower the guitar. The musical style is rich and colorful, never atonal, and generally typical of the bold and spicy music of Cordoba. The six movements all have appropriately descriptive titles, and as a whole the concerto is probably unlike anything you have heard before, as its size and scope are so unusual for guitarists; it feels more akin to a full-�edged piano concerto, and all in all is a considerable achievement for all concerned. Rodrigo’s crowd-pleasing Concierto De Aranjuez makes a perhaps inevitable appearance and is nicely played but, wonderful though it is, pales in comparison to the dramatic title work,. The �nal work is Denoth’s own orchestration of Joaquín Malats’ Serenata Española, originally part of an orchestral suite, Impresiones De España, but then arranged by Malats for piano solo. Denoth’s Denoth’s version is masterful and captures all the qualities of the original. Don’t miss —CD this wonderful album!
Sonidos de Paisajes: Paisajes: Music of Spain Ozan Saritepe ozansaritepe.com Traditional Spanish fare gets a fresh and spirited makeover The guitar and Spain are inextricably linked, and while some reviewers may approach yet another “music of Spain” recording with an eye-roll, it would be a great mistake in the case of this recording by Turkish-born Ozan Saritepe. Albéniz, Tárrega, Llobet, Falla, Ruiz Pipo, Morreno Torroba, and Mompou—virtually the gamut of the most famous Spanish composers favored by guitarists—are represented here by some of their most distinguished compositions. Asturias opens the show in attention-grabbing style with the addition of that box-like percussion instrument, the cajon. The guitar-playing that continues sans percussion is relaxed yet highly assured, and the recording quality is enjoyably dynamic. Federico Miguel Llobet’s Mazurka por Federico Bufaletti Bufaletti is an interesting gem, as is Emilio Pujol’s Impromptu. Saritepe likes his rasgueados, and his use of the controlled strumming technique so familiar in the music of Spain permeates his technique in a fresh and masterful way; Falla’s La Vida Breve is a great example of Sonata-Fantasia is less this here. Torroba’s Sonata-Fantasia well-known than the ubiquitous Sonatina and I cannot remember when or where I l ast heard it. Saritepe breathes life into the Iberian idioms so imbedded in Torroba’s style. Saritepe has achieved a rare thing by creating a musical concept free from cliché; the music of Spain is as exciting as it ever was and should continue to be so. It is delivered here with unpretentious �air and skill—TP ful artistry.
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Simon Thacker (guitar) and Justyna Jablonska (cello) Slap the Moon Records Intriguing and original modern multicultural fusion Guitar-and-cello duos seem to be popping up all over lately, but this one is de�nitely unique. For many years, Scottish guitarist Simon Thacker has been exploring the nexus between Indian and Western music forms, both as a solo player and in various combinations of musicians, and this album with Polish-born cellist Jablonska, dominated by Thacker’s original compositions, continues his intriguing journey down that road. The six-part title piece alone is more than 30 minutes of fascinating modern music that goes in myriad, occasionally unusual, directions—there are Indian sonorities, blazingly fast guitar bursts juxtaposed with hypnotic legato cello, folkish strains, bits of Balkan in�uence, sharp jabs, and soothing melodic turns. It’s a thoroughly engrossing multitextured work. Also fascinating are a dramatic and moving Polish folk tune; a traditional Roma piece featuring singer/violinist Marta Natanson that sounds like Balkan folk/jazz (Jablonska is great on plucked cello “bass” in parts); a somber but beautiful Gaelic tune; another work featuring bizarre backwards electronic manipulations a la the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix—interesting Hendrix—interesting until it devolves into noise—which then seamlessly moves into a Highland ballad sung beautifully by Karine Polwart; and �nally, a piece that brings in tabla player Sarvar Sabri for a last blast of India. This magical mystery tour is a feast for —BJ the adventurous listener!
CARBONFIBERCASES.COM
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 65
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NEW GUIT GUITAR AR QUARTETS QU ARTETS FROM BRASIL GUITAR DUO’S JOÃO LUIZ Rhythmic and harmonically interesting pieces for advanced players BY DEREK HASTED
Alfaia e Maré; Kirsten João Luiz Doberman-Yppan, 10 pp. and 11 pp. plus parts Four identical books landed on my desk— or rather, four books with identical covers. Space constraints dictate we review two and just mention the others. Alfaia e Maré and Jogo de Roda were both commissioned by the New York Classical Guitar Society Orchestra. Da Bahia Ao Daomé is dedicated to the Toccata Guitar Quartet, and Kirsten written for the Quaternaglia Guitar Quartet. Let us review the hardest and the most straightforward; both are listed as “advanced” by the publisher. publisher. Alfaia e Maré consists consists of 10 pages plus parts. Guitar Four is tuned to 6=C, and opens with a compelling rhythmic bass line. Then things take a sudden turn: The
66 Fall 2017
music moves into 5/8 time and Guitar One is at fret 19 with quick passages across the strings. We return to 4/4 and to energetic rhythm patterns played loudly. Many of the opening passages are repeated, and the writing is rhythmic and harmonically adventurous. The texture evolves with staccato chords and a solo woven from triplets. A center section with harmonics and a recitative quality leads into a pianissimo reprise of the opening bassline before a �ery ending on the last 16th note of the bar. It looks at �rst sight like more is to come, but no, the piece �nishes on a staccato note right at the end of measure. This piece requires a competent ensemble, but there is nothing that looks unfamiliar to a good player. Kirsten comprises 11 pages plus parts. It has three guitars tuned to 6=D and the fourth to 6=C. The st rongly rhythmic open-
ing is almost fugal in its writing, with one short but distinctive rhythm entering after another. There are three-note chords in some lines, and these are not so much dif �cult as they are awkward, as they frequently contain �at notes. With a lyrical feel and the occasional triplet, this music has an improvisatory character. The “moderato” section is more complex, with chords that seem unfamiliar, but the rhythm is not hard and the sound is big and rich. Guitar Two has a solo set over unusual but spacious chords before the ensemble thickens again. I am not sure that a bass note is going to last for 17 beats, but there are tricks an ensemble can use to create the illusion that it does. There is a charming ending with chords in 3+3+2 rhythm, supporting an arpeggio of harmonics. The piece fades away to nothing. CG A most interesting piece!
Passacaglia
Songs for Harry
Fantaisie
Paolo Bozzola Bèrben, 5 pp.
Niels Eikelboom Les Productions D’Oz, 19 pp.
Antoine de Lhoyer Ut Orpheus, 14 pp.
Difficult but rewarding concert piece covers much ground Paolo Bozzola (1977–2011) left this manuscript unedited when he died. Later it was discovered by the eminent guitarist Cristiano Porqueddu, who revised and added �ngerings to the piece. It begins with a seemingly improvisatory lento introduction based on six unusual but tonal chords arpeggiated in either or both directions. After this brief start, a moderato in a mixture of times (5/4, 2/4, 7/4, 3/2 and 3/4) takes over, with a walking bass line underpinning some gently exotic ideas above, often involving atypical chordal statements. There are a number of places where the part-writing and the unusual nature of some of the widely spread chords could cause trouble, and the tessitura is often very wide, with the upper �ngerboard frequently used. A brief return to the opening chordal idea �nally leads into the passacaglia proper; it’s based on a �ve-note ground, begun in the top treble before becoming the usual bass line a few bars in. The melodic material woven around the ground is multirhythmic and gently dissonant, changing key a number of times during its journey. Everything ends as it began, with variations on the opening chords, again spread over various unusual patterns and often including high positions intermixed with open notes to create an unusual effect. This is rather dif �cult to play, owing to the individual nature of Bozzola’s writing, but it is also intriguing, with a certain grandeur to it that makes for a rewarding four minutes or so. —Chris Dumigan
Intermediate set designed for developing players This Dutch guitarist and composer has been concentrating on helping younger players along the path to performance, and this set of 14 little pieces is aimed at less technical players who like their music tuneful and uncomplicated. The pieces often rely on relatively simple bass lines of open strings, as in Younger , which is written in two voices with a pop-style melody with a number of off-beat rhythms. The following Alexander has some strummed chords of �ve or six strings, so it might not be quite as simple to play for some. A little bit of two-handed percussion on the guitar livens this piece up. Irish Flute is a nice, melodic andante with entirely open strings below a pleasing folkish melody. However, some pieces are not as easy, such as Burning Fingers, which begins with a two-bar passage destined to trip up the unwary, followed by a syncopated melody atop mostly simple basses. Martha’s Song is a berceuse that morphs into a saudade half-way in. Another notable piece is Waltz Rode, which is in a strange mixture of 3/4 and (3 + 2)/8. If this set has a weakness, it’s the predominance of open basses in the majority of the pieces. Clearly, the intention was to make the whole set a bit easier, but unfortunately it makes some of the items a bit bland. Nevertheless, this is a good set for developing players players to improve with. — CD
Obscure but solid work from underrated composer Antoine de Lhoyer was a 19th-century French virtuoso guitarist who composed around 50 works for both the �ve-string and six-string guitar. These pieces were chie�y comprised of duos, trios, and chamber music, with just a handful of guitar solo pieces, such as this one. History has seen him overshadowed somewhat by such contemporary luminaries such as Mauro Giuliani and Fernando Sor, Sor, which is a great shame, as his works have charm, elegance, and excitement. His Fantaisie is a relatively lengthy work, consisting of a leisurely introduction in A minor followed by a change to A major for the rest of the piece, which is made up of a theme and six variations. The “theme” is pleasantly melodic and memorable (as a theme should be if followed by variations), with an almost a child-like simplicity. The rest of the composition is formed of the characteristic 19th-century variation style of multitudes of �ighty passages comprised of 16th and 32nd notes, with the original theme never far from the ear. The presentation here is excellent, with very clear printing on high-quality paper, and the �ngering (by Fabio Rizza) is sensible and not too intrusive. Fantaisie is perhaps not in the same league as some of the aforementioned composers’ works, but it is a solid and satisfying composition for the advanced player to consider for the concert platform as a choice for an “unknown” work from this period. —Steve Marsh
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 67
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Las Tres Américas (for guitar orchestra) Claudio Camisassa
Sonata No. 1 Nick Fletcher
Les Productions d’Oz, 14 pp.
Les Productions d’Oz, 22 pp. plus parts A ‘stark and aggressive’ tour of the Americas by guitar Musical directors the world over may weep when an orchestration of 65 players is suggested; even more so when those players have to be comfortable playing in 11/8 time, up to the 19th fret at six notes per second. If only we all had access to that sort of resource! But this piece will work acceptably as a sextet, and if there is no contra guitar for line 6, then a conventional guitar will suf�ce. It would be better with more than one player per line, because the top four parts have divisi writing. writing. Starting in North America, deriving inspiration from minimalist composers and drawing on the fashion for tapping, the music continues to Central America with more syncopated rhythms, and then to the South with tango and milonga in �uences. It’s dif�cult to describe this piece adequately, but Lady Luck is on our side, as there is a YouTube video of the entire work. It won’t be to everyone’s everyone’s taste, as this is quite a stark and aggressive piece of writing, but it’s perhaps the �nest way of hearing the challenges this piece brings to playing tightly in step. The piece is not technically as challenging as many I have reviewed, but it requires players with a solid sense of rhythm and the courage to play strongly, because so many lines provide rhythmic clues to the timing in some of the harder passages that beset each part in turn. — DH
68 Fall 2017
19 Contradanzas Contradanzas (for two guitars) Manuel Saumell, arr. arr. Marc Bataini Bataini
Henry Lemoine, 38 pp. Prolific guitar composer finally writes a sonata Nick Fletcher is a UK-born player/composer who has written many �ne pieces for the guitar published through d’Oz, and here he tries his hand at his �rst full-blown sonata. It’s in three movements—the �rst and third are fast and furious, the second is a very smooth, jazz-like, free-rhythmed piece that sounds almost like it could have come from the 1930s. The �rst movement, “Allegro,” has a ground bass A over which a long-breathed, rhythmed melody of a 16th note and two 32nd notes takes hold. The time signatures change from a steady 4/4 to 2/4, 3/4, and 5/4 at times, as the melody ploughs through relentlessly. A brief, more melodic second theme intervenes before a presto materializes, consisting of an arpeggiated four 32nd-note idea that is harder to execute than it looks. After the repeat, a development section plays with the previous themes, before yielding to a complete repeat of the recapitulation section and a small coda. The slow movement is wonderfully warm and clearly jazz-in �uenced, with melting harmonies and sudden changes of key. The �nal “Presto con Fuoco” is a mix of 6/8 and 3/4, mostly in two voices, leading to a middle section that quotes directly from the �rst movement before returning to the opening idea and a swift and forceful coda. This is a pleasant and rewarding piece that de�nitely deserves to be heard. However, it is advanced in its techniques and really only for the experienced player. —CD
Duo transcriptions of appealing Cuban piano pieces Manuel Saumell Robredo (1818–1870) was a Cuban pianist/composer who is credited as being the �rst musician to promote Cuban musical nationalism. His main style of composition was based on the contra- danza, the Spanish/South American form of the contradanse, a popular type of dance from the 18th century originating from the English country dance. It was the �rst type of Cuban dance music to gain international popularity, and Saumell composed around 50 contradanzas for piano. I admit to never having heard of this composer before playing through this collection, but throughout the research for this review I came across many wonderful piano performances of his music, all of which I found extremely attractive. All of these guitar duet arrangements by Marc Bataini are well–thought-out, with the parts shared equally between the two players, and for the advanced duo, most of this music should fall neatly under the �ngers easily enough. Rhythmically, the music is very appealing, and from a musical viewpoint, two or three pieces stand out easily from the rest in their melodic and harmonic inventiveness. A short “set” for recital use could easily be assembled from these pieces. The book does not have separate parts for each player but is quite readable for two players. The only niggle I have about this is that, compared with the music played in its original format for piano, these twoguitar versions don’t come close to doing the music full justice. —SM
/0123/ 456 7ELEASE
Suite Paranasera Paranasera (for 4 guitars) guitars)
Fretboard PhD
Raul Maldonado Les Productions d’Oz, 28 pp. plus parts
Ashkan Mashhour Pele-Mele Works, 156 pp.
Substantial advanced piece from Argentinean composer This is a big three-part work, and although not intimidating on the page, it contains one or two traps for the unwary. “Fin Del Rio” opens in G Minor, and though it is set in 6/8 time, Guitar Four is playing in 3/4 time underneath. From there we move to G Major and the roles are passed from player to player, so this requires four of equal ability. The piece then moves to D major. With no performance markings and very few dynamics, it calls for some experimentation to really capture the feel. “Me Dijo El Manguruyú” is a very effective piece of writing, pitching 4/4 time against the characteristic 3+3+2 Tresillo pattern, giving a real feeling of energy. The key of E makes for a rich sound and not too much high-position work. This is a lengthy movement, but the writing takes us through a variety of keys. “Del Buen Amigo” is perhaps the hardest movement, again putting 6/8 over a 3/4 bass, but then moving onto quadruplets, playing four eighth notes in the time of three without being put off by the 3/4 bass! The edition has no �ngering and requires some expertise and patience before the parts lock together and the music starts to emerge from behind the notes. However, when it does, the movements are substantial and not overly repetitive. I just wonder if the effort needed to make this suite go well might put some —DH people off.
A guitar course is at your fingertips Ah, the humble fretboard. Such a vital part of making the guitar sing, yet also easily overlooked. Fretboard PhD: Master the Guitar Fretboard Through Intervals aims to change that in a book that delivers precisely what it promises: an in-depth study of the fretboard, with an emphasis on intervals. The “PhD” part of the title may sound daunting, and basic knowledge of music theory is a prerequisite to understanding this instructional book, but the hundreds of visual examples and diagrams included help to offset some of the more dense written material (such as linearity of inversion math formulae!). Topics covered in this course include an introduction to the fretboard, tunings, interval additions, fretboard geometry, harmonics, the CAGED system, anchoring, mirroring, transposition, and more. The book has its roots in lessons that Mashhour took with guitarist Davis H. Murdy, who also co-authored his �rst book, Intervallic Fretboard . Though it’s not for beginners, by the end of Fretboard PhD Fretboard PhD, most guitarists will have a comprehensive view of all things fretboard, from its physical layout to its properties, to ways to visualize and organize it in connection with overarching musical concepts. Now, Mashour has published another valuable resource: The Little Big Guitar Scale Handbook (116 pp.), containing a “Scale Tutorial” (scale construction, harmonizing in thirds, overlapping patterns, etc.), plus page after page of intricately diagrammed scales (Dorian, Lydian augmented, minor pentatonic, major blues, etc.). — Anna Pulley Pulley (for Acoustic Guitar )
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!"#$%&'#() +&,-%'',&'.#/ -,& 0.123%& 45'#6 75#(1& The University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Institute for String Instruments, is oering ! #$%&'&$( )$%' *&+,*- .,/&((&(/ 0&'1 '1, !2!3,)&2 -,!4 567897: ;$4 ! <(&=,4%&'- >4$;,%%$4%1&# ;$4 ?1!).,4 @A%&2 BA&'!4 .!%,3 $( C :8 $; '1, <(&=,4%&'&,% D2' !(3 C 5E $; '1, 2$**,2'&=, !/4,,),(' ;$4 A(&=,4%&'- ,)#*$-,,%F &( '1, ;$4) $; ! #!4''&), 2$('4!2'A!* #$%&'&$( 0&'1 !( ,G',(' of employment of 50% of a fulltime contractual position for an indenite period. It is possible to !/4,, '$ !( $=,4#!-),(' $; '1, )&(&)A) )$('1*- %!*!4-F 01&21 1!% .,,( 3,',4)&(,3 .- '1, collective agreement and which at present is 2.445,55 € brutto (14 payments annually). H!%+% !(3 !2'&=&'&,% 4,*!',3 '$ '1, #$%&'&$( !4, ',!21&(/ &( '1, )!&( !4'&%'&2 %A.I,2' %A.I,2' &( '1, %'A3- !4,! $; J(%'4A),('K ?1!).,4 ?1!).,4 @A%&2 BA&'!4 0&**&(/(,%% '$ #!4'&2&#!', !2'&=,*!2'&=,*- &( '1, ;A4'1,4 3,=,*$#),(' $; '1, A(&=,4%&'-L% ',!21&(/ ',!21&(/ !(3 learning culture, and its artistic and scientic public presence 0&**&(/(,%% '$ 2$('4&.A', !2'&=,*- '$ !2!3,)&2 !2!3,)&2 $4/!(&M!'&$(F !3)&(&%'4!'&$( !(3 ,=!*A!'&$( ,=!*A!'&$( 3A'&,% l l
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>*,!%, ($', '1!' A(3,4 BN O:97P '1, E6Q #$%&'&$( $; ! A(&=,4%&'- #4$;,%%$4 ;$4 /A&'!4 1!% .,,( achieved to run at the same time with the above university professorship. Qualied persons with the appropriate professional competence are also invited to apply for this second position. J( '1, 2!%, $; ! %A22,%%;A* !##$&('),('F &' &% #$%%&.*, '$ %&/( ! ;A**'&), 2$('4!2'A!* ,)#*$-),(' relationship combining both positions. In this case, the collective contractual monthly salary will be a minimum of 4,891.10 € brutto (14x annually) and this sum can also be increased by agreement. Interested candidates with the appropriate qualications are invited to submit their written !##*&2!'&$( .,;$4, '1, 8%/(%23%& 9:(.; <=9> in <=9> in a PDF-le by e-mail to: 3%?%&35"@A!+&,-B C5@D16D1( using C5@D16D1( using the identication number 7E F=G9>D J; F=G9>D J; (,2,%%!4-F %$A(3 4,2$43&(/% $4 RSR% can be sent by regular post. TA4'1,4 &(;$4)!'&$( 2!( ., ;$A(3 $(K $ (K www.csc-kug.at/jobinfo/kug.html
On behalf of the rectorate Elisabeth Freismuth
!"#$%&'#() +&,-%'',&'.#/ -,& 01#(2& The University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Institute for String Instruments, is oering a !"#$%$"& ("#% )$*+), -+.$&&$&. /$%0 %0+ 1213+($2 ,+14 567897: ;"4 1 <&$=+4#$%, >4";+##"4#0$! ;"4 ?@$%14 -1#+3 "& A :8 "; %0+ <&$=+4#$%$+# B2% 1&3 A 5C "; %0+ 2"))+2%$=+ 1.4++(+&% ;"4 @&$=+4#$%, +(!)",++#D $& %0+ ;"4( "; 1 !14%%$(+ 2"&%412%@1) !"#$%$"& /$%0 1& +E%+&% "; +(!)",(+&% "; 50% of a fulltime contractual position for an indenite period. It is possible to agree to an "=+4!1,(+&% "; %0+ ($&$(@( ("&%0), #1)14,D /0$20 01# -++& 3+%+4($&+3 -, %0+ 2"))+2%$=+ agreement and which at present is 2.445,55 € brutto (14 payments annually). F1#*# 1&3 12%$=$%$+# 4+)1%+3 %" %0+ !"#$%$"& 14+ %+120$&. $& %0+ (1$& 14%$#%$2 #@-G+2% $& %0+ #%@3, 14+1 "; H&#%4@(+&%I ?@$%14 1# /+)) 1# H&#%4@(+&%1)>+31."., /$))$&.&+## %" !14%$2$!1%+ 12%$=+), 12%$=+), $& %0+ ;@4%0+4 3+=+)"!(+&% "; %0+ @&$=+4#$%,J# %+120$&. %+120$&. 1&3 learning culture, and its artistic and scientic public presence /$))$&.&+## %" 2"&%4$-@%+ 12%$=+), %" 1213+($2 1213+($2 "4.1&$K1%$"&D 13($&$#%41%$"& 1&3 +=1)@1%$"& +=1)@1%$"& 3@%$+# Specic Employment Requirements $&%+4&1%$"&1) 2"&2+4% 2"&2+4% 12%$=$%, 1# 1 #")"$#% #")"$#% $&%+4&1%$"&1) &+%/"4*$&. &+%/"4*$&. /$%0 "%0+4 2"))+1.@+# 1# /+)) 1# /$%0 /$%0 "%0+4 @&$=+4#$%$+# "@%#%1&3$&. !+31.".$21) !+31.".$21) 1&3 3$312%$2 2"(!+%+&2+ 2"(!+%+&2+ +E!+4$+&2+ /$%0 2"&%+(!"414, 2"&%+(!"414, (@#$2 1&3 $& %0+ 14+1 "; 201(-+4 201(-+4 (@#$2 .+&3+4 2"(!+%+&2+ Please note that under G 40/1 the 50% position of a university professor for chamber music guitar has been achieved to run at the same time with the above university professorship. Qualied persons with the appropriate professional competence are also invited to apply for this second position. In the case of a successful appointment, it is possible to sign a fulltime contractual employment relationship combining both positions. In this case, the collective contractual monthly salary will be a minimum of 4,891.10 € brutto (14x annually) and this sum can also be increased by agreement. Interested candidates with the appropriate qualications are invited to submit their written 1!!)$21%$"& -+;"4+ %0+ 3%/(%45%& 67(.8 9:6; in 9:6; in a PDF-le by e-mail to: 5%<%&51"=>!+&,-? @1=A2BA2( using @1=A2BA2( using the identication number 0C 0C DEF6;A H; DEF6;A H; &+2+##14,D #"@&3 4+2"43$&.# "4 LML# can be sent by regular post. N@4%0+4 $&;"4(1%$"& 21& -+ ;"@&3 "&I " &I www.csc-kug.at/jobinfo/kug.html On behalf of the rectorate Elisabeth Freismuth l
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70 Fall 2017
Sonatina After a Concerto Concerto Stephen Goss
Doberman-Yppan, 24 pp. Challenging set looks back at earlier Concerto Stephen Goss’ music has been performed by a multitude of players, and his is a success story that many composers wish they could emulate. This Sonatina, which is actually a reworking of his Concerto for Guitar , is in three movements (written as separate commissions), each named after a place in London: “The Circle Line,” “Marylebone,” and “Canary Wharf.” “Circle Line” mixes and matches three contrasting musical ideas presented cyclically—“Bold and Bright,” full of brash strums with campanella passages in between (a feature of this whole work), “Lyrical and Tender,” the briefest of the three, and �nally “Sparkling,” which races around in 16th notes leading to a cadenza before a strummed section heads back into the opening for a fortissimo close. “Marylebone Elegy” is an homage to Edward Elgar in memory of guitarist Richard Hand, and is partly on two staves, to bring the melody into high relief, accompanied by gentle melancholy chords and secondary melodies. “Canary Wharf” is brash, and again begins with multiple strummed passages that recall the traditional canarios in a 20th-century musical style. A slower section, marked “Gently Flowing” provides a momentary break from the mayhem before the opening ideas return and the whole piece �nishes with a fortissimo strummed section, a huge tremolando glissando, and a sforzando chord to close. This piece is very dif�cult to play, but very successful in what it tries to achieve, and many people will love this work. work. —CD
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Isbin with Colin Davin
SHARON ISBIN & STUDENTS OPEN NY FESTIVAL Colin Davin, Tengyue Zhang, and Alberta Khoury show their brilliance, too BY JULIA CROWE
72 Fall 2017
rammy award–winning classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, founder of the guitar department at Juilliard, opened this year’s New York Guitar Festival at WNYC 93.9 FM Radio’s Greene Space this past May with a twohour evening concert of solo and duo pieces performed with three of her graduate students, Colin Davin, Tengyue Zhang, and Alberta Khoury. The Sounds proevent was broadcast live on the New the New Sounds program with host John Schaefer, who conducted onstage interviews with each of the performers before a live audience packed inside the high-tech glass �sh-bowl studio, visible to all passersby on Charlton Street in the Tribeca area of Manhattan. Isbin tuned her guitar and launched straightaway, away, without preamble, into a languid rendition of Miguel Llobet’s transcription of Enrique Granados’ Spanish Dance #5 (Andaluza). (Andaluza). She She imbued another Iberian-�avored audience favorite, Francisco árabe, with Tárrega’s elegantly Moorish Capricho árabe, her distinctively sweet tonal palette. Her solo por-
tion of the program closed with the exuberantly tricky, tricky, swirling dance rhythms of Waltz Opus 8, #4 by Agustín Barrios Mangoré, which culminated in a dramatic full-stop �nish. When Schaefer asked Isbin how she had come to study the guitar, guitar, she explained to the audience that when she was nine years old, her father’s work relocated their family to Varese, Italy, and there she took up the guitar lessons that her brother had abandoned. She did so out of duty, initially, because her parents had gone to the trouble to invest in a custom-built guitar. “Someone had to play that guitar,” she said. The rest is history. She also told the story of encountering the Pulitzer Prize–winning composer John Corigliano standing in line at the local post of �ce and how she �nally persuaded him, after many years, to write her a set of pieces. All she had to do was ful�ll his rather Rumpelstiltskin-like request of procuring a theme that did not fall into what he
JULIA CROWE PHOTO
felt was the guitar’s dreaded trope of Spanish music. Isbin succeeded by proposing that he write music for her based on the compositions of the medieval French troubadours, and this became the title of both the piece published by G. Schirmer, Trou- badours ( Variations Variations for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra ), and her 2014 biographical �lm documentary, Troubadour . Isbin and her student Colin Davin performed Gentil Montaña’s traditional Colombian dance from his Suite Colombiana No. 2 , “Porro,” a lively, airy, swinging piece. Davin’s playing complemented Isbin’s with considerable ease and expressiveness. Davin, who teaches at the Cleveland Institute and the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory in Ohio, appeared three years ago on The Late Show with David Letterman as a musical guest along with soprano Jessye Norman. Next, the duo played the thematic music that �lm composer Howard Shore had written for Isbin to record in the soundtrack for Scorsese’s �lm The Departed , titled Three Pieces Pieces for Two Guitars: “Madolyn,” “Beacon Hill,” and “The Departed Tango.” It was a treat to hear this beautiful music performed in this setting because in the �lm it is presented very subtly and takes a back seat to the action. The duo closed their portion of the program with Aranjuez, Aranjuez, ma pensée pensée, the lovely adagio theme from Rodrigo’s famous Concierto de Aranjuez . Davin performed a solo piece, “Airs,” written by the admittedly “guitar-averse” American composer Mohammed Fairouz. It �t the lexicon of most contemporary, contemporary, intellectual music written for the instrument, full of fast and slow angular passages, with a randomly plonking bass line and requisite spanking of the soundboard. To his credit, however, Davin has the distinct ability to wring the depths of expressiveness from all that he plays. Jonathan Schaefer introduced Chinese-born guitarist Tengyue Zhang by his nickname of “TY,” and he took to the stage to play a solo set that included the second movement from Leo Brouwer’s Afro-Cuban Rito de los los Orishas, Orishas, the “Danza de las diosas negras” (“Dance of the black goddesses”), �lled with dark, resonant rhythms. Zhang followed this piece with the busily beautiful third movement from Sérgio Assad’s Aquarelle, entitled “Preludio e Toccatina.” As the �rst few of Zhang’s plucked notes unfurled, it was clear that he is a powerhouse of a guitarist who projects a range
of sonorous dynamics, effortless technical skill, and considerable artistry. [Editor’s note: Zhang was the �rst-prize winner of the 2017 Guitar Foundation of America’s International Concert Artist Competition in Fullerton, California. See page 10.] Alberta Khoury of Sydney, Australia, the last soloist of the evening, performed two movements from Leo Brouwer’s El Decameron Negro: “L’arpa del Guerrero” and “La Huida de los Amantes por el Valle de los Ecos.” The piece, originally originally written for Sharon Isbin, swells in dramatic, pro-
pulsive arcs, which Khoury played with expressive ease and sensitivity. sensitivity. To close the program, Khoury and Zhang brought the house down with their show-stopping performance of Cuban composer Ariannys Mariño’s “Parantesis” from 5 duos for 2 guitars , and the dizzyingly exuberant “Chiquinhua Gonzaga” from Radamés Gnattali’s Suite Retratos. Demonstrating a breathtaking adroitness and joyful musicality, the guitarists made it abundantly clear that they should conCG tinue to perform together as a duo.
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TOOLS OF THE TRADE
MARCHIONE CLASSICAL Guitar making at the highest level BY ADAM PERLMUTTER
hen I crack open a shipping carton and pull out a lightweight Bam hardshell case to reveal a freshly completed Marchione classical guitar, I’m struck right away by how re �ned and luxurious the instrument is. Its perfectly applied French polish feels exquisitely smooth and ampli�es the color and texture of the woods in an exciting way. A few scalar runs and arpeggios reveal that the instrument’s voice is equally dazzling. It’s rich and warm, con�dent and projective—exactly how a serious concert guitar should sound. Stephen Marchione, the expert luthier behind the instrument, has been building for three decades. In his Houston, Texas, workshop he makes not just classical guitars, but steel-strings, archtops, and electrics, and, having studied with violin maker Guy Rabut, the occasional violin. Marchione’s mastery of all of these instruments—with their different means of sound production—is impressive.
FINELY CRAFTED Marchione makes a classical guitar that’s �rmly rooted in the Spanish tradition—built in the solera, face down and with integral neck support— and it has the customary 650-millimeter scale length fretboard. The luthier used a time-honored tonewood combination—a Swiss spruce soundboard, with Madagascar rosewood back and sides, and a Spanish cedar neck—and clearly procured a top-shelf set in terms of sonic and visual beauty. beauty. The woods are complemented by Marchione’s restrained decorative �ourishes. The elegant rosette, of his own design, is inspired by artwork decorating the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. (The same artwork informs the shape of the headstock.) A bloodwood motif on the rosette is artfully echoed in the pur�ing, a layer of the headstock veneer, veneer, and even in t he coloring of the top three strings of the D’Addario composite set that Marchione prefers on his classical guitars. Superlative is an accurate word to describe the build-quality of the guitar,
74 Fall 2017
which Marchione assembled with hide glue throughout. It’s evident that the luthier sweated every detail. He was exacting with the fretwork and the shaping and slotting of the nut and saddle; he was just as fastidious with the inlay work as he was with the bracing assembly and other interior aspects.
A BRILLIANT AND BROAD VOICE While cutting his teeth as a luthier in New York City in the late 1980s and early ’90s, Marchione got to know hundreds of �ne classical and �amenco guitars. Those he found most satisfying to play had streamlined necks, so he keeps this in mind when carving the pro �le on a new blank. The review model has a sleek neck and plays like a dream. The neck’s shape seems to reduce stress on the fretting-hand thumb, making it comfortable to work barre chords for extended stretches. A perfect low action also contributed to the playability, and the guitar actually felt performance enhancing: I could play more �uidly, and at greater velocity, than usual. What jumped out to me about the guitar’s sound is its remarkable consistency. There are no dull spots on the neck; the notes were uniformly clear and loud from string to string, and from the �rst fret to the 19th. The natural harmonics at frets 5, 7, 12, and even 4 and 9, sparkled brilliantly, and the intonation was perfectly true. Given its sonic evenness, its resonance, and dynamic range, the guitar could cover a wide range of stylistic territory. It’s just as satisfying to run through a J.S. Bach prelude as it is a portion of Luciano Berio’s Sequenza Sequenza XI . The former piece bene �ts from the Marchione’s clarity, while the latter makes good use of its impressive headroom. Idioms outside of the classical tradition also work nicely on the guitar. It’s a great tool for gentle bossa-nova accompaniment and relaxed country-and-western soloing, in the manner of Willie Nelson. (Judging by the wear that Nelson has placed on his famous Martin nylon-string, it’s horrifying to think about a Marchione being subjected to similar treatment.) There are plenty of great instrument options, both new and vintage, for the serious concert guitarist. Commissioning a new Marchione is expensive, but if our review model is any indication, the luthier is building beautiful guitars from beautiful CG woods—at the highest level.
MARCHIONE CLASSICAL (AS REVIEWED) BODY Swiss spruce soundboard;
Madagascar rosewood back and sides; French polish finish NECK Spanish cedar neck; ebony fretboard; 650 mm scale length; 53 mm nut; Sloan tuners Addario EJ45C Pro-Arté Composite, EXTRAS D’Addario Normal Tension; Tension; Bam Hightech Classical hardshell case PRICE $15,000 (as tested) Made in the USA. marchione.com
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 75
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
RAMÍREZ GUITARRA DEL TIEMPO A top-quality option for the price BY ADAM PERLMUTTER
amírez—whose instruments have been played by everyone from Andrés Segovia to Chet Atkins—is one of the most celebrated names in lutherie. This Spanish guitar dynasty began in 1882, when the freshly apprenticed guitar maker José Ramírez I opened a workshop at Concepción Jerónima No. 2, in Madrid. Five generations and more than 135 years later, Amalia Ramírez, daughter of José Ramírez III, presides over the company while instructing her apprentice niece and nephew, Cristina and José Enrique. For many players, owning an instrument made in Ramírez’s workshop—costing in the �ve-�gure range— is well out of reach. Luckily for cost-sensitive players, Ramírez also offers its Studio line, a series of relatively affordable guitars that the company has been outsourcing to other Spanish shops. The latest addition to the Studio lineup is the Guitarra del Tiempo, which is a terri�c instrument in all aspects, with a modest price tag.
76 Fall 2017
RICHLY VOICED The Guitarra del Tiempo—the name translates as “guitar of the time,” a reference to Ramírez’s long history—is the successor to the popular 130 Años anniversary model. It is a traditional offering, with a cedar soundboard (spruce is optional) and Indian rosewood back and sides—all solid—and a 650-millimeter scale length fretboard. The �rst thing I notice about the Guitarra del Tiempo, aside from its intoxicating smell, is its impressive sustain. Whether I play open strings, fretted notes, or natural harmonics, the notes hang in the air for a long time. The guitar feels quite powerful and projective, perhaps because of its newly enhanced top bracing, and it has an obviously wide dynamic range. Overall, the Guitarra del Tiempo’s voice is warm and lush, with a beautiful roundness to notes in all registers. The trebles are clear and singing, and the bass is richly present but not overpowering. Whether I run through Damien Aribert’s “Nin-Nin,” a bossa nova–inspired piece presented in the Summer 2017 issue, or an arrangement of a John Dowland lute piece, the guitar
feels inspiring to play. play. With its shallow rounded neck and comfortable action, it’s also a breeze to play—all regions of the neck and barre chords included.
BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED AND BUILT BUILT The Guitarra del Tiempo has not just a handsome voice, but an attractive appearance as well. The review model had a lovely set of woods: tightly grained cedar, with no visual defects, and quartersawn rosewood with the deepest chocolate coloration. The �oral motif used on the rosette and echoed on the bridge’s tie block is a nice �ourish, as are the �ne red and green de �nition lines on the pur�ing. My only complaint has nothing to do with the craftsmanship of the guitar and isn’t a deal-breaker, deal-breaker, but the Ping tuners did not have smooth tuning action, and this was especially noticeable when I tuned the sixth-string down to D. Elsewhere, the guitar is very well built. Its gloss �nish is buffed perfectly and feels unobtrusive. The bone nut and saddle are perfectly notched, and the frets bear no
The Musicians’ Company
roughness at their edges. Inside, the bracing and lining were attended to with similar care and attention. The Guitarra del Tiempo was clearly designed as a top-quality option for the intermediate or advanced student, and it excels in this capacity. But with its sonorous voice and easy playability, this �ne Spanish-made guitar would not be out of place in the concert hall or recording CG studio.
RAMÍREZ GUITARRA DEL TIEMPO BODY Cedar soundboard (as reviewed);
Indian rosewood back and sides; gloss polyurethane finish NECK Cedar neck; ebony fretboard; 650 mm scale length; 52 mm nut; gold opengear Ping tuners with ivoroid buttons EXTRAS Augustine Regal strings; TKL hardshell case PRICE $2,284 (street) Made in Spain goldtonemusicgroup.com/joseramirez
"# %&'() %& '()*" *"+, +,) ) .#) .# ) /0 A maj or bi ennia l awa rd for clas sica l uitarists and lutenists for the performance of solo and/or ensemble music by composers from the two Elizabethan ages.
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Eligibility : participants in the inaugural 1 award must have been born on or after 1st January 1987 Deadline for receipt of applications th April 1 election Round: Round: th July 1 at the oyal Academy o Music, Music, London Showcase Concert: Concert: 9th February 2019 at Wigmore Hall Valu e of th e awa rd: rd: 15, 15, , includ including ing concer concerts ts at prestigious venues in the UK and other career-enhancing opportunities
!!"!#$%"$&'"()*+,!-,./012,341+-1!1&5 ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 77
FESTIVALS & COMPETITION COMPETITIONS S
AUGUST 19–24
26th West Dean International Classical Guitar and Summer School West Dean, West Sussex, England At West Dean College: concerts, technique classes, lectures, master classes, workshops, and lessons. Tutors include Amanda Cook, Trond Davidsen, festival director Andrew Gough, Liz Larner, Vincent Lindsey-Clark, Craig Ogden, and Pavel Steidl. Performances by Steidl, LindseyClark, Gaëlle Solal, and t he Katona Twins. westdean.org.uk/study/short-courses/ courses/cg7172-west-dean-internationalclassical-guitar-festival-2017 AUGUST 21–27
Denis Azabagic
27th International Vienna Guitar Forum Vienna, Austria Courses, concerts, lectures, competitions, luthier exhibitions. Concerts at historic Grosser Ehrbar Saal. Teachers and performers include Gerard Abiton, Denis Azabagic, Marcin Dylla, Hans-Werner Huppertz, Thomas Offermann, Jorgos Panetsos, Alvaro Pierri, Andreas de Vitis, and more. forum-gitarre.at
Sauble Beach Guitar AUGUST 22–25
Sauble Beach Guitar Festival Sauble Beach, Ontario, Canada In a beautiful setting on picturesque Lake Huron: classes, lessons, seminars, and concerts featuring the Azuline Duo, Jeffrey McFadden, Thomas Viloteau, and Miodrag Zerdoner. saubleguitarfest.com
Large seLection of the finest concert & student guitars Baarslag, Bernabe, Castelluccia, Daily, Delarue, Espinosa, Esteve, Hanika, Hill, Merrin, Pace, Picado, Quinson, Raya Pardo, Ray, & many more.
READ UP ANY TIM E, ANYWHERE. ANYWHE RE.
adelphia, PA 19103 l.m
78 Fall 2017
SIGN U P FOR FREE AT CLASSICALGUITARMAGAZINE.COM/NEWSLETTER
SEPTEMBER 14–17
SEPTEMBER 25–30
OCTOBER 6–8
University of Louisville Guitar Festival and Competition Louisville, Kentucky Solo Artist and Youth competitions, workshops, master classes, concert series. Artists/clinicians include Ricardo Cobo, 2016 GFA winner Xavier Jara, 2016 U of L Fest solo winner Ilie Dragos, San Francisco Guitar Quartet, Stephen Mattingly (Fest director). louisville.edu/music/guitarfest
International Guitar Competition Michele Pittaluga Alessandria, Italy This important competition (now in its 50th edition!) in northwest Italy always draws top talent. Birthdate limit is January 1, 1984. This year’s artistic director is Marco Tamayo. Entries must be in by August 31. 31. Pittaluga.org
Florida Guitar Festival & Competition Tallahassee, Florida On the campus of Florida State University, open and youth competitions, plus concerts, lectures. Artists include Adam Holzman, Andrew Zohn, Bruce Holzman, Stephen Robinson, Akerman-Teixeira Akerman-Teixeira Duo. floridaguitarfestival.wordpress.com
SEPTEMBER 22–24
La Guitarra California San Luis Obispo, California Wonderful biennial fest features nine concerts, �ve masterclasses, vendor fair, fair, guitar auction, and guitar art show. Opening night tribute to Christopher Parkening. Other musicians include Rovshan Mamedkuliev, baritone Jubilant Sykes (with Parkening), Meng Su, Johannes Möller, Laura Fraticelli, Marc Teicholz, Celil Re�k Kaya, Jérémy Jouve. Master classes with Parkening, Möller, Teicholz, Vieaux, and Martha Masters. laguitarracalifornia.com
!"#$ &'()'( *+,-./ 0-+),' ,1 .( '.1,1 ,( &'()'( 2'/ .33 4+,-./,1-1 .() 2'/ 5$ 6$/1'(.3378 !"#$ &'()'(. *+,-./ .( '.1,1 ,(1&'()'( ,-91 .3:.71 63$.1+/$ 63$.1 0-+),' +/$ -',1;,1,<+.(91 <+.(9 1#'6=> 2'/ .33 4+,-./,1-1 .() 2'/ 5$ 6$/1'(.3378 ?@.;,) A+11$33 ,-91 .3:.71 . 63$.1+/$ -' ;,1,- <+.(91 1#'6=> 1#'6=> ?@.;,) A+11$33
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ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 79
FESTIVALS & COMPETITION COMPETITIONS S
Iliana Matos
OCTOBER 14–21
NOVEMBER 3–5
Festival del la Guitarra de Sevilla Seville, Spain Three competitions: International solo, �amenco, and composition for solo guitar. guitar. Lectures, master classes, concerts. Artists include Kiyoshi Shomura, Shinichi Fukuda, Zoran Dukic, Francisco Bernier, Bernier, Martha Masters, Judicael Perroy, Perroy, Marko Topchii, and more. guitartfestivalsevilla.com
Big Guitar Weekend Weekend Glasgow, Scotland A celebration of guitar at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Concert series features Otto Tolonen, Ian Watt, José Antonio Escobar, and students from all the UK’s conservatories. Those guitarists and RCS faculty offer a course, and there’s a school ensemble competition. facebook.com/bigguitarweekend
OCTOBER 28–29
NOVEMBER 6–11
Indiana International Guitar Festival and Competition Bloomington, Indiana The 8th annual competition at the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at the University of Indiana. Two full days of competition in Open, Senior Youth, and Junior Youth divisions, plus master classes and guest recitals with Iliana Matos (Cuba) and Fabio Zanon (Brazil). More than $9,000 in prize money dispersed among Open and Senior Youth competitors. Competition rules and registration: blogs.music.indiana.edu/ guitarfestival/
Budapest International Guitar Competition Budapest, Hungary €5000 top prize in this relatively recent competition ( �rst held in 2014), which has been drawing strong players to the beautiful and historic Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. Players must have been born after Jan. 1, 1985 to compete. budapestguitar.com
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ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 81
THE BACK PAGE
19TH CENTURY WOMEN COMPOSERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
T
CLOCKWISE: CLOCKWISE: Agathe Backer-Grøndahl, Luise Adolpha LeBeau, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Clara Wieck-Schumann Wieck-Schumann
here are relatively few women composers who have made a mark on classical music of any kind through the ages; in guitar they are practically nonexistent until the 20th century, and it is still a rarity in what has always been a heavily maledominated �eld. Ryan Marquardt, a student of the University of Missouri working toward his bachelor’s degree in guitar performance, tells us, “One day it clicked in my mind: there is virtually no historical music by women for guitar. That seemed like such a shortcoming in our repertory and something that I could actually do something about, albeit indirectly.” What he’s done is self-published a valuable new book called Women Com- posers of the 19th Century Arranged for Guitar Quartet , for which he took four piano works and one string quartet by four women composers from the Romantic era, and devised guitar settings for them. Two of the composers are fairly well-known by virtue of their relationship to famous male composers: Clara Wieck-Schumann (1819–1896) was the wife of Robert Schumann, and Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805– 1847) was the older sister of Felix Mendelssohn-Hensel. Luise Adolpha LeBeau (1850–1927) “achieved relatively strong success for a woman of the time, particularly given the fact that she did not come from a family with a musical background,” Marquardt writes in the short biographical pro �le that precedes his transcription of the second movement of her String Quartet, Op. 34. The fourth is Norwegian composer and pianist Agathe Backer-Grøndahl, represented by �ve short pieces from a multi-part work called Fantasistykker, Op. 39 , which Marquardt says is blend of German Romantic, Norwegian folk, and even some Impressionist elements. Marquardt says that in researching the lives of these composers he was surprised to learn “how well-connected
many on these women were. It is relatively known that Clara Schumann had plenty of contact w ith the day’s leading �gures, along with her husband and their colleague Johannes Brahms. And Agathe Baker Grøndahl was around Edvard Grieg, George Bernard Shaw, Franz Liszt, and many others.” Asked how he managed to track down the pieces in the collection, Marquardt says, “Fortunately, I was able to start with some of the work by Sylvia Glickman and Martha Furman Schleifer in their collection Women Composers: Music Through the Ages; and also [Venezuelan pianist] Rosario Marciano’s recordings [of Grøndahl]. I was able to get access to the music from libraries, and in some cases order the music from German publisher Furore Verlag. Hildegard Publishing company is another good source for people looking for women composers.” Any disappointments along the way? “Not really a disappointment, but more of a roadblock perhaps: I had originally wanted to arrange the whole Sonata in G minor by Clara Schumann, but the many wide-ranging arpeggios made it impractical, so only the second movement, Adagio, made it into the book.” At 156 pages, which includes the full quartet and individual part scores, plus the informative biographies and Marquardt’s performance notes before each piece, this is a substantial volume that is certain to shed new light on an overlooked sector of the music world. “It’s about bringing recognition to these composers and expanding the classical guitar’s repertory,” the author told his hometown newspaper in St. Joseph, Missouri. “Historically, women were not really allowed to compose. It was a men’s profession and it was thought that [only] men had the creative and artistic abilities to create great music.” Books such as this put the lie to that sexist notion. To purchase the book, go to amzn.to/2uehi2M —Blair Jackson
Classical Guitar (ISSN – 0950-429X, USPS# - 17279) is published quarterly by String Letter Publishing, Inc., 501 Canal Blvd., Suite J, Richmond, CA 94804. Periodical postage paid at Richmond, CA 94804 94804 and additional mailing of �ces. Printed in the USA. Postmaster: Please make changes online at ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com or send to Classical Guitar, String Letter Publishing, Inc., PO Box 8502, Big Sandy, Sandy, TX 75755. Canada Post: Publications mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Imex Global Solutions, PO Box 32229, Hartford, CT 06150-2229
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