Coun eet ane Ma far Intemational ae eee -MARCELO KAYATH Brazilian player PETER Cras music fromthe 16th | - tothe 18th Century ©G Ul TAR BOOKS- MUSIC: RECORDS DEMIS APIVoR An Introduction to S pieces for solo guitar Denis Aplvor ha explored an aspect of contemporary music which nas, ‘extend ter repertory into the modern tec He has melded a group ofS {se ofuntary pinepleofseniem todd untied work Composition For Gut =. with ton 80 ‘The ArtOF Practising e125 guide to developing technical precision by analysing slifeutias, ‘cotcing them to ther simplest fom, and wien selecting patterns af linger movement which in turn can be developed ino exarceas of any ogres af smpiityorcomplesty ‘THE AGUSTINGARRIOS LEGACY Volt e495 Traneerbed and lingered direct trom the orginal recordings of Baris by ‘ckooiedges Robert Tucker shelp onthe sloee of he record of Barion BS 7et62 The volume contains pieces never befor published, and there tie nates, blogaptiea etal and phetogrphs rom Robert Tuckars own tniqve Bare ceten, The pieces: Peredn Pepta, Confeiin, Orci, Career LANCEBOSMAN Normony For Gutar £5.95 2 study of rudmentary standard harmony and its ater development in ‘ices rom te bene to tetnedategutaratsrepeiore. Song given GEORGE CLINTON Sn antrology OF Vinuela Music Anangea For G ‘Dara, Fueelan, Min Mudera, Nawaee, Psador, Valderrbaro 278 The breezes ae dented to gve dependence and fextbiy to the ingore Gf thle hand, stengten the barre penton and ectate sea plying The Andrés Segovia — An Appreciation Bream Wits Artet Rober, Dust, Dat. ane ethers Hstated wih forens of beniul ratoraphs TAN GaMeaie [An Anthology Of Lute MusicFor Guitar £395 {Npieces by Dowland, Da Miano, Judenkunig, Capitola, Ferrabosco and ‘CLASSIC GEORGE GERSHWIN Sronged tor Gssica! Guitar by Jotn W. Ovare Era 2 Foggy cay, Embrecrabie yeu, Fascinating rhythm, How long his ths bean gang on? Love here tay, Love waked in, Nice work if you can ett, Someone tolook over ms, Strike up theband, Summarime, Teer ove, They cart take that aw rom ne. Arranged for Classical Guitar by Jotn W. Duarte f395 The way you lode tonght, Thay én believe me, All she tings ae you, Dearly teloved, Smoke get In Your eves, mold ashore, Long 990 and far ay, Cant help lovin’ dt man, Yesterdays, O” man fer, The folks imho le on teil, won't dance, ANTONIO LAURO Six Venezuelan Pioces For Solo Gut 225 Ana Ct “MARIA LINNEMANN. Solos Eloven moderately easy and deh SUEMcCREADIE Classical Guitar Companion e096 ‘Aninvatuabe A Z eference book for anyone who has ever been at ass {or thhtiforaton othe clas gata iat forging turenco® an Jos wth study notes Series 130 pieces by Mian Carcass, Pence, Tatega, Sot, isan and other £395 2.40 pieces by Duarte, Pujol, Sor Poulenc, Gian, Tirregs and e450 595 ey John Mills plays: rouwer, Ponce, Dodgson, Haug. Taneman Walton, aogathers, 495, ‘The John Mills Classical Guitar Tutor, Recerdingo! the musi ron the tutor RAY MITCHELL Anthology Of Flamenco Falaetas cas Fatsetas ftom players of tre gold age: Nito Riera, Ramon Monto, Melenor de Marchona, Maestro Pato, Javier Mobna, Paco Apu, is Moline, Diogo del Gaston, Miguel Bone Paco e det Lunar With text and aramings by Ray Mitchel ‘OMEGA GUITAR QUARTET 550 Pays, Greg Hoteg Sule, Debussy: Four Protides, thane: Quart: No 2 The Sun Dvorak: Thee Savonic Dances, PACO PENA Toaues Flamencos 95 TO'toing im notation ard tablature with intoducton to Remerco Focording ott above pieces. coRaZONOTERO ‘MareIM, Ponce And The Guitar Trarslatedby J.D Roberts ‘Tis the ony oprety of Mehco's moet inporintcompover rd pemiy the most performed composer forthe gitar) contain many fascrnang ‘hotographe ond other rworbisa. Also. included is the snemate Earespondence wits trend and support Andis Segona cancerang et actual wing of many of his pees which were to be made famocs by Segovia, Ara wonferful tus tae i an append of fue ongeat wok hitherto ungubished, including a facsimile of Poree’s fn compoxtion for RUTH STANLEY Starting Gultar Book 1 as Specticaly for chisren. Taere are no sudden leaps i diticuty. where ‘he pul ose hear and may be tempted to give 9p JOHN TAYLOR, fone Production On The Classical Guitar e439 ins is the secusticexper" approsch hae been woking fora these yews Within ten minutes 0 finshng the book I could produce a tne I news he befor At st iF af 90 sy" Protoss Regina Sh Bonde "| have grea respec for Join Taylor and ound hs marvelous book on tone troduction rentable formyl and formy student” Ales Art ‘GUITAR SoLos Gilbert Biberian: Sonata 3 ‘Stephen Dedgson Legend For Gutar Colin Downs: Mosaic Jona W. Duarte: night Mose Oliver Hunt Garuda, Bala For Guitar ‘ocerding ofthe atove pieces by Forbes Henderson 150 Hardoack £695 ‘SEND FOR OUR NEW COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED GUITAR CATALOGUE Postage & Packing Up t0 £500 add 4dp, Up to £10.00 add 75p, Over £15.00 Pest Foe MUSICAL NEW SERVICES LTD., GUITAR HOUSE, BIMPORT, SHAFTESBURY, DORSET. THE WORLD'S LEADING GUITAR PUBLISHING SPECIALISTS MUSICAL NEW SERVICES LTD'Britain's No. 1 e Classical Guitar Monthly ulfar International Editor: George Clinton Reviews Editor: John Duarte Acoustics: John Taylor Psychoacoustics: Graham Pick History: Matanya Ophee ‘Music: Lance Bosman Ecitorial Assistant: Sally Ansell Photo Printing: Alan Sexton Sales & Advertising: Geoff Clinton Contributors Michael Edmonds Derek Faux-Bowyer Ian Gama (Spain) ‘Anthea Gifford Laurie Randelph Frances Eastaguio, E. Tucker thy Walker (Puerto! Stead Withfelt Edson Costa Brazil) Paul Magnussen (Denmark) Mary Criswick John Mills Wredzimiere (France) Karen Dusgaard Wawrakiewicz Poland) Hugh de Camillis Nielson (Denmark) Lut Zea Venezuela) Norbert Dams Corezén Otere Zaradin (W.Germany) (Meries) Published monthly by Musical New Services Lid., Guitar House, Bimport, Shaftesbury, Dorset, England Telephone: 0747-3427 Printed by Reger Bowskill (Printing) Ltd., 8a St. Davids Hill, Exeter, Devon ‘Typesetting & Design by Crane/Barnden Ltd, Frog Lane, IIminster, Somerset Distribution UK newsagents, newsstands, wholesalers: Spotlight Magazine Distribution Ltd., 1, Benwell Rd, London N7 7AX Tel: 01-607 641 UK & overseas music shops: Musical New Services Ltd., Guitar House, import, Shaftesbury, Dorset, England. Tel: 0747 3427 USA music stores etc: Juan Orozco Corporation, 155 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013. Tel: (212) 691 8620. Overseas newsstands: Europe: Hatchette Gotch Led. Australia, Canada, New Zeilang, South Aftica, USA’ Gordon & Gotch Led. Every care will be taken but the publishers regret that they ‘cannot accept responsibility for any manuscripts submitted tothem. ©1985 by Musical New Services Ld. February Issue Vol. 13. No. 7 4, Guitar Talk 8. Dias 7. Segovia a 92 LL, ‘The Brazilian Castle 14, Ensemble Workshop Part | 16. The Rosewoods (Dalbergics) 19. Competitions 21. Antonio Lauro: His Guitar Works 24. Guitar Music from the 16th to the 18th Century, Ragtime Guitar Learn Guitar with John Mills Eighteenth-Century Dice Music for Guitar 383. Jazzon the Classic Guiter 35. Hungarian Dance — music solo 38. Images of Brazil 41. Opinion 42. Concert Reviews 45. Record Reviews 47. Music Reviews 52. Book Review Cover picture of Segovia taken at Sutton Manor Arts Centre by George Clinton JOSE RAMIREZ **~De Camara’”’ Concert Guitar Christmas Draw 1985 (Complete form at oot ot pae 54 Musical New Services Ltd.. Guitar House, Bimport, Shaftesbury. Dorset, England. Guitar Febru 1985.3it Sutter We have been inundated with requests from readers to wish ‘Segovia all the best on his 92nd birthday, so we straightaway add these to our owa 10 say, on behalf of Guitar and iss readers throughout the world: “VERY MANY HAPPY RETURNS MAESTRO” Letter from Australia Salvatore Strano is a 43 year old Sicilian emigrant, now living in Sydney, Australia. In his letter, which we print for its obvious enthusiasm and buoyant spirit, he tells of the progress of "his and his daughters’ guitar playing. “Tm Salyatore Scrano, 43 years old, and I migrated from Sicily, Italy, to Australia as a chief cook. But unfortunately, Thad a bad accident so that I could no longer go back 10 my previous job, s0, 7 years ago, I decided to learn classic guitar because ve always love Thad Mr. Jose Smizoldo as ry first teacher in 1979. T learnt much from him fore is a very good teacher. But, 8 montis later, he had to go back to Argentina. I went to the conservatory of music in Sydney, and I met Professor Gregory Pikler, who is teaching me and helping me so much with my studies. (We remember Greg Pikler at a very fine player and a member of the Omega Quartet — Ed.) Whenever I practised, my younger daughter, Catherine, ‘who was just 4 years, kept ‘watching me and listening, and she started to love and Catherine end Sileine Strano at 3 ‘and 4 year old ‘understand music. She wanted 0 much t0 learn, 50 I started teaching her solfegio. She, in turn, showed her sister, who had just started kindergarten, They leaned 10 read very quickly and played on uelele size guitars ‘Then I started them on Sagreras’s Ist book, and five ‘months later, I took them to the conservatory to play to my teacher. He was so happy and impressed with them. On their 7th month of studies, the director, Mr. John Painter, and his wife, who is a senior teacher of ‘cello, came to my house to see the children play. They were also very impressed by them and they seid that if they continued like this, they will have a great future in music. My children work very hard with their stadies. They do 1% hours every morning before school, They do the 3 octave scales from the Trinity College of London; all the arpeggio scales, left and right hand by Abel “Catlevaro; "Villa-Lobos studies, the Andrés Segovia scales; extra exercises of my own to make the left hand sirong for the barré, plus more technique from my teacher. In the aftemoon, they do about 2 to 3 hours more after 4) Guitar February 1985 school; studies from Carcassi op. 60, nos. 2,3,4,5,7,10 & 125 pieces from Bach and Giuliani, with a second pert composed by Oscar Rasati, and lots more studies from different composers. They have also joined a quartet for classic Buiter at the conservatory directed by Professor Gregory Pikler. ‘A few months before the competition, I asked my teacher if ‘my children are ready to participate. He gave them 10 pieces to study, saying hhe would choose a piece for the competiton. He comes to my house every fortnight oF sometimes cvery week to supervise them and we both prepared them forthe competition Catherine, who is 6 years old, played the two pieces by Luiz de Narvaez, Differencias Sobre, Guardame Las Vacas and Tres Differencias Per Otra Parte Silvina, who is 7 years old, played four pieces from Leo Brouwer, Simple Studies Nos. 135 & 6 They played without music. The judges were so impressed that they couldn't decide who to give the most promising award to. Anyway, afer a few minutes of consultation, they decided to give an award to both of them. We were all very happy because it was my children’s first public appesrance and already they have won the admiration of so many people.” Growing trends? Enthusiasts of Eric Hill's adventurous programming of classical composers juxtaposed with zzz and popalar items are again in for an interesting treat fon the 8th of February, for Eric will again be including a vocal interlude. Eric first introduced his singing talent to surprised but appreciative audience last year at the Wigmore Hall and was gratified 1 lear that his listeners quite enjoyed it. Although the mixed music (or ‘cross-over’) programme isn’t everyone's cup of te, it has @ very wide and growing appeal, Antonio Burbosa-Lima has had a great deal of success with this type of programme, and it’s enjoyable to speculate on the reception Julian Bream would get if he ever decided to play some of his beautiful arrangements of Django's music, for he’s a great jaz guitarist as he showed the packed audience at the Albert Hall some years ago in a concert celebrating Stephane Grappelli's 75th birthday. Comment by a close friend of Bream: “He just might be persuaded to play a jazz piece for an encore but you'll never get him to sing — I can’t see Julian singing! Spain, Bream, Guitar. At last the much rumoured film on Spain and the Spanish guitar (the Press Release restores the famous adjective for the cccasion) featuring Julian Bream is with us, of nearly so. The eight part series of half hour TV programmes will be shown on Channel Four (England) in the spring. Although the film, shot in Spain, is about the guiter and its music, it will also, judging from the Press Release, serve 45 4 marvellous travelogue, for the guitar and camera have ranged over some of the most stunning landscapes and evoking names: Seville, Toledo, Granade, Cordoba, Ronda, Aranjuez (excitingly, the sefiet culminates with a Bream performance of the concerto at St. John’s Smith Square) and Madrid with its famous luthiers. A feast for Hispanophiles and guitarists alike John Mills emigrates "This month John Mills leaves to live in New Zealand. This is the culmination of plans made over a year ago. John has many fiends in New Zealand and ‘will without doubt enliven the thriving guitar scene there. Although John will take up permanent residence in New Zealand he certainly won't be ‘settling’ there and will continue to tour, indeed be returns to England to play in April. We wish John and his ‘wife, guitarist Cobie Smit all success in their new life. Aussel and Bitetti for Guitar We welcome to our pane! of contributors Roberto Aussel and Ernesto Bieti, two highly respected guitarists ofinternational stature. Bitewi, renowned throughout the world by his concerts and his dozen oF s0 recordings on Vox, will be the subject of an interview shortly to appear in GL. Tt is wellknown that Roberto Aussel and Ernesto Bitetti in addition to being virwoses, have an active concern for the wellbeing of our instrument, thus their interest will be expecially beneficial to our readers. Roberto Aussel Bite Letter from Hamburg, For more than 4 years the “Zevener Gitarrenwoche” was the only activity in northern Germany devoted to the classical guitar. This situation hhas changed now that the Ist Internstional Gitarren-Tage 1984, has taken place in Hamburg. Actually it was not a guitar festival in the normal pattern of concerts and guicar classes ete From 17 — 31 October there was a series of concerts arranged by a small agency Ulleweit & Koch. Several musicians also took part in the Frankfur/Main guitar festival which took place in October too. In Hamburg we had concerts by Angel Romero, Pedro. Soler and Sebastio Tapajos. ‘These were also concerts in which two artiss shared a recital, for example, Roninho Ramos and Badcn Povell, where each artist played for half of the concert By the way... this was the worst concert of the series (in ry opinion); both players used camplificaion! in & hall which fone can fill with a good guitar unamplified, You may consider thie to be a matter of taste... maybe I'd agre if the music had not been so loud that I had to put cotton plugs in my ears, and neither artist played at their best. Alvaro Pierti, who should have shared a concert with Carlo Domeniconi, couldn't play because of problems with his hands. He is to have an ‘operation, 3 let's hope he wi then be OK. Instead, we heard Jorge Cardoso who impressed me with his version of Guardame las vacas which was beautifully orramented. A surprise to see, a8 2 player, wes Carlo Domeniconi, who” was performing his own ‘compositions. Some of them Baden Powll (photo George iinon ‘were very charming, some very intense. He is 1 good player with good ideas but the problem is his stage presence. You can feel that he doesn’t really like the performing side ofthe business. Hubert Kappel played in the final concert of the event, with, Klaus Hempel and Katharine Hilbert — a local duo from Hamburg. Every concert was packed. For the agency it was 2 financial success and I do hope that there will be another festival like this in Hamburg, hopefully to inchde masterclass with at least one of theartists Two other interesting concerts took place in Hamburg during this festival time. On the | November Paco Pea and Eduardo Fali were playing and, later on, a very interesting duo played music for guitar and piano, arranged by a pinoseller. Tilman Purrucker (guitar) and Peter Paulitsch (piano) played original compositions in suck a ‘way that the piano didn’t Kill the sound of the guitar Norbert Dams Hamburg, Germany. Canada ‘Matanya Ophee's article on the 4th International Guitar Festival, Guitar ‘84, touched sensitive nerves, 2 our lerters show; indeed, so sensitive that ‘Deputy Rufus Snopes’ whose USA stamps were cancelled in Houston, felt obliged to ‘take the Sth’. Several guitarists also contacted us congratulating us ‘on publishing the article, at the same time asking not to be quoted. Intriguing. When we received Beroard A. Aaron’s letter with its frank allusions to an alarming, even Sinister situation, we realised that Matanya Ophee’s article, albeit wonderfully entertaining, was also the can ‘opener for other, perhaps more knowing, hands to use. It being, obviously, our duty to all concerned whenever we receive contentious letters, we ‘wrote to Mr. Aaron asking him to qualify some of his statements, to which he responded by coming to see us at Guitar offices. Bernard Aaron impressed us by his extremely gentle demeanour and artistic talent He showed us beautiful sculptures of wild animals and painting of Canadian winters, stressing that his reason for this ‘was simply to show that, 2s far as art was concerned, he knew what he wes talking about. He aso played us his compositions, one of which we reproduce in this issue. This piece, Hungarian Dance, is from the music for a ballet he is being, interestingly enough, the artistic climate in Canada today. The ‘publicly acclaimed author’ he mentions is his wife Florence Novelli, who wat a foremost writer of children’s theatre before the melancholy conditions outlined by her husband epparently made it impossible for her to continue an artistic life in Canada, Happily she and her husband (who, in addition 10 teaching. the guitar, provides the classical guitar music for her work) are now active im England where her work is gaining enormous popularity wherever it appears. According to Bernard Aaron the document by Edward Murphy, to which he refers, ‘was written in 1978 and is part of a larger book about government spending. The list Of grants is intriguing: 150,000 dollars plus to study the French language spoken in ‘Montreal; 13,250 to study “the reactions of infants to strangers and familiar adults: 20,003 t0 study “the effect’ of information on reactions to unpleasant, unavoidable events.” ‘The examples of poetry meriting quite large grants are, in our opinion, ‘worse than Bernard Azron’s Acscription, being somewhat lower than the crudest lavatory door graifiti. We have acopy of the pamphlet and ite foreward is produced here. We have verified its veracity but unfortunately, despite numer- ous transatlantic telephone calls we cannot trace its author, who left CJOR some years ago to set up a bar in Vancouver called Ed Murphy's Friendly Neighborhood Pub, which he sold two years ago prior to his disappearing, Guitar February 1985.5Edward Murphy’s Fore- occurred — either they this resume _clearly this rational tragedy. Read this word: continued to grow until they demonstratesit hes exploded in resume carefully, copy it, and There have been many impoverished the producers in recent years. It is uncontrolled pass it on to your neighbours. instances throughout history the nation state and of course and “uncontrollable. ‘The It could be the beginning of a where there emerged a ruling themselves, or they were implications for the future of new awareness and perhaps lite with enormous control thrownout bythe revolution. this country, and you, ore even a movement to halt the over the material resources and In Canacla there has emerged awesome. insidious disease that infects products of their subjects. One @ monstrous bureaucracy and Ed Murphy should be highly this great nation. of two things normally state spending mechanism. As commended for documenting Lindsay B. Semple. 1.4 (Eon) Thursday 14 Wednesday 20, Sunday 24 Daria Parsons (te) Peul Galbraith Paul Gregory ManctesterGuitr Circle 80pm Fyrsh Trust Reons, Bvanton, Bristol Guitar Society £00pm. Scotland 8 00pm: Wednesday 6 Friday 15 Angel Romero Jatin Byranine Wedncsday20 Rerjamin Verdery Fatih, Coydon, Suey Wigmore Hall 30 pon Ellaghs theneses te) ‘Minoo San ua Bais, Calioria ‘00pm Concert de Aanives Workaty 3. Bach, Winn Frank Nomsueh GutarSecity 8.5m YS Sap Marin, Brouwer, Sith Bred, : erates we Rema ee ‘ike Ford and Friends (lk evening ball, Norkampton 7.30pm ae (een Bri GutarSosey riday 1 esse Norma) ee David Parsons (te) ‘Wignore Han 7.30pm Stoke Guitar Club . “ Te 0782-46385, Friday 22 Sunday 24 Friday ¢ Paul Gulbis Pest Gorath ne og Friday 13 Milgavie, Scotland 7.30pm MeLsian Galles aul Galbraith Glasgow 8:00pm rian Keo Hi Schoo Hal Friday 22 Fess naa Dance Company ‘Reso 75pm “Taro Santos Monday 25 Quces Ehnibah Fall 7-A5pm poe TEER Ham a, Shes Ramis Hele Kalama Anevennofilanenco muse dance Saturday 16 _ oat Wile Loben M.attenz, Queen Elebeth Hal 7.45pm sanding 10 Stinraet Academy, "B’Block Hal) Mitand, Keier, Genz. ee aay Stoner 2.3050 Wedvesday 27 Uni. California at Sana Cruz, Friday 22 hip Witkams encoun sunday 17 i Verdery Hoyyell Misc Room ee as ‘The Conor of Musiche College Forum Aptos, Oxford 8009 ‘Wigmore Hal 70pm Garni, USA. Sosle Sonat st Performance Monday 18 ‘Saturday 23 Sanurday 8 March Mare Tubal Sewers Paul Galas Paul Galbraith PaulO'Dete Wigmore Hall 7.30. Burgh Hal, Lniehgow, Sealand CrsigieCallege of Euston, Ayr, Waconsin Conservatory of Music, 33pm Scotand 1.30pm Usa Info: 7039398 Resin Verdery sea sities Uriv. Calor Paul Gabprath Benpmin Vedery Saturday 8 March 5.40 9m “Aprezrove Primary School, Astemby Fst United Methodst Charch, Paul Gregory Hat, Fores, Seda 1.30pm ‘Wationvite,Caferia, USAB.00pm Leeds nse Gallery Tuesday 12 CooedgeSt Leeds 8 00pm Past Gabraith ‘Tuesday 9 Saturday 23 ani Hale Benjamin Verery Beefera Kowa Croydon, 1.05pm Corn Sate Sicremomo Recital Nalthoue Music Society Hall, USA 8.00pm Info onv8.122518 Contreras Winner! of Contreras’s guitars since he years. “Ihave a guitar madeby Graham has been reading The renown of the great took over the SGC in 1968, Marco Roceia of Clifford Guitar for some years buying it Spanish luthier Manuel and he has alvayshed a steady Essex. I’s been a good regularly from either a Contreras ensured an__ supply of customers for these instrument, always 2 little newsagent or 2 music shop, tunprecidented number of exquisitely mede guitars. quiet though. OF course I've “depending on where T am envelopes containing the ‘The lucky winner is 60 years read all about the innovative each month — I never have precious coupons. They came old Mr. K. Graham, of 14 construction of the Contreras any trouble obtaining a copy In bundles from everywhere — Hoylake Avenue, Fixby Park, guitar, and I know what 2 though.” dozens of registereds from far Huddersfield, Yorkshire. We super’ instrument Contreras Guitar reader, consider, as away places such ss Mexico, relephoned Mr. Graham makes so I expect it will take you red these lines, that with India, Belize —where? All but immediately Alan Gubbay mea timeto get used tit. As the suiteble intervention of a few dozen arriving in good drew the winning coupon. He say, its hard to believe that Lady Luck on your behalf the time forthe Drawon Friday 21 seemed stunned st the news I've won it.” At the time we beautiful Contreras concert December that he was (almost) the owner telephoned Mr. Graham guitar could have been yours. This year the Draw was held of this fabulous guitar, which, couldn't say when he would be Next time may be your tara — at the Spanish Guitar Centre, although its advertised price able co come to London to $0, ensure your regular copy of London. This was appropriate was £1,600, the present price is collect his prize, so we'll be Guitar for the coming year by as Alan Gubbay, the Cencre’s now £1,900! Mr. Grabam told publishing the actual prize- ordering it NOW. Director, has been an admirer us he bas been playing for 25. giving in our next issue. Mr. 6 Guitar February 1985BL TM Story by George Clinton SEGOVIA IN ENGLAND Im an agreeable fantasy — and with a suitable shift of time — he great diarist Samuel Pepys probably entered the folowing sometime during October: To the Barbican to hear Segovia. AS usual the hall was full, demonstrating thst the great Spaniard is as well loved as ever. Now sppreaching his 92nd year he appeared in good heart, tho’ a litle slower perhaps, and, because of the glare negotiating dark steps, needing asistanc in his journey to the centre of the stage, that position fiom which the Master, for over 70 years, has conquered his listeners, now increasingly a place of mutual homage. The pieces, by Milan, Sor, Tansmaa, Tedesco, Albéniz, etc, are knows to all, and his famous sound, though not as powerful as in his greatest years, still sufficiently coaxes our listening, wherever we sit, so that by a miracle of acoustic science, known, apparently, only to his fingers, the entire audience, even fom the farthest corners of the vast hall, is transported, as it were, to position a his very feet! As usual, his adoring listeners refused to let him go, and as usual, be gave us generous encores tho’ it was plain to see he wae tired. Truly Segovia is the spirit of the guitar. I look forward very much to seeing him next October as usual. ‘The important feature of the above ‘entry’ is the phenomenon of the apparent lack of concern with the music Segovia plays nowadays. As Svend Withfelt observed in his review of Segovia in Copenhagen “it did not matter much what he played or how he played it... the most important thing was the experience of being in the company of this great artist, this living legend of the guitar..." How enviabie a position in these hypercrtical times. And how indicative of Segovia's unique greatness; unique because, amongst the many undeniably great guitarists in the world todey, there are none, Pl wager, 10 whom Svend Withfet’s claim could equally opel T coulda’t go to the Barbican last year, however I had unique experience (and T don’t apologise for the repetition of this word) — I had heard Segovia playing at Sutton Manor Arcs Centre in the intimacy of a salon seating no more than a couple of hundred souls. Here the setting was ideal, if somewhat luxurious, the ticket holders being more than thankful for the privilege of paying £45 for this end-ofthe- season concert (including pre-concert sherry and a Champagne supper afterwards, plus a chance to meet the performer). In conversation with some of Segovia’s excited listeners I learnt, ‘aot surprisingly, that as well 2s thoroughly enjoying the recital the overriding pleasure was derived from being in the presence of Segovia himself. Commented one lady of mature years, “It was hard to believe that [ was sitting close and listening to this ‘man who was « legend when I was a little girl, it was the most wonderful musical experience of my life.” The essential sentiments of this opinion, to the accompaniment of continual headnodding by her husband, can fairly be taken as representative of the entire audience. Thad the pleasure of Segovia's company a week later when he kindly invited me to lunch at his hotel. I was glad to find he looked well, if a litele lighter in weight — end in excellent humour, “You know, my dear”, chuckled Segovia in agreement as he tucked into a rump steak with French fries (following a delicious melon topped up with rum — a favourite starter), “that’s my wife's doing. In our home in Madrid she looks after me like a surgeon!” Tcouldn't help but admire, and contrast, the almost wilful joie de vivre in this man of over 90 years of age with the caution of our other companion, an American gentleman who nowadays accompanies Segovia on his concert tours, who explained his choice of ham & eggs 28, being dictated by a ‘slow metabolism’. Segovia is a lively host and takes care too to sprinkle his conversation with items he knows will interest. “In 1939, just before the war, I was in Buenos Aires and at that time I had run out of strings. Well, one day I received from Pirastro in Germany a large box full of strings together with instructions Guitar Febraars 1985 7POL Pim on how to preserve them using pure olive oil, for the strings were, of course, made of gut. And do you know, I gave away ‘most of them to my pupils and friends, for 1 expected the war tobe ashor one. A reference 10 the increasing number of recordings of the Aranjuez concerto prompts me to ask why Segovia hes never played it, “I was away at the time it was written, and when I returned afier 16 years, Rodrigo offered to re-write it, because, you know, some of the parts den’t work for the guitar. But then he composed for me the Fancasia, which is a magnificent work.” In any case, added Segovia, Rodrigo gave his concerto tothe saxophone, the trombone... Aranjuez Mon Amour Segovia doesn’t care for Barries, and he’s frank about it. “He had a good aptitude for composing, but he hadn't studied how can you compose a piece called Cathedral after hearing Debussy’s work of the same name. Barrios's Cathedral is but 2 tiny church compared to Debussy's.” Segovia then related a most bizzare story about Barrios: Forty years after their first meeting Segovia came to El Salvador to play. After the concert, which was attended by Barrios and some of his pupils, Barrios accompanied by his pupils went to see Segovia at his hotel, After some time the pupils left and Segovia invited the Paraguayan guitarist to stay and talk. Barrios apparently became morose saying miserably that he had ne career, no Wi pve Hel 1906 future. Then of a sudden, he blurted out, “Look at my mouth, how can I go around with these lips!” Here Segovia pulled his lower lip over itself to demonstrate the poor man’s misfortune. ‘Then Barrios said that a doctor he knew had offered to operate on his malformed lips; first one lip and then, a month later, the other, T hed often wondered about the reason for Segovia’s transposition of the Cancion from Ponce’s Sonata Three to the Sonctina. Segovia explained that this is no mere whim but because the Cancion is so much out of place in the Sonata, wheress it is perfect in the other work. And did Ponce approve? Apparentiy so, because, as Segovia, Ponce's close friend and promoter says, it is obvious, when you listen to it, notwithstanding how the two works were published. Segovia never tires of speaking about Ponce and he described for our ‘companion the festival in Montevideo devoted to Ponce’s music. This event, suggested and promoted by Segovia, is fully narrated by Corsz6n Otero in her book Manuel Ponce and the Guitar. asked Segovia about his pleasure in seeing the success of his self imposed task confirmed by guitarists all over the world, he replied by way of a gracious compliment: “Really, you have reached far away corners of the world with your magazine. Poor Térrega, 50 delicate and so find an artist, could not imagine the extent of love for the guitar. Concerning his pu — less Llobet, who was the best and the unique — of whom could be applied the phrase of one of the greatest Spanish writers: ‘Accursed all disciples because they may inherit only the faults of the Master’, none of them, I repeat, save Llobet, hove honoured their Master. Ihave been more fortunate, since there are, perhaps, a dozen who will have a brilliant career or, better, are having it already.” Segovia seemed to be unconcerned about the historical importance of his exceeding Rubirstein’s 76 years on the ‘concert platform. “Do you know, next year I've got to catch up ‘on four years of recording for RCA.” By then Segovia will have performed to audiences in Munich, Frankfurt, ond Berlin, going on to spend Christmas with his family at his home in Geneva. 1985? America. . Scandinavia, Europe . .. England — as usual. WIGMORE HALL SECOVIA RECITAL Wednesday, October 7th, at 8.30 PROGRAMME, & Guitar February 1985 SECOND RECITAL WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2x, st 830. PROGRAMME. KET fang Tapa Adan‘Segovia phorographed an the 7 Nevember 1984 bore his last concert in Copentazen in the home of hit long standing friends, the family Clementi. (Phovo: Send Withfet) Andrés Segovia in Copenhagen ‘On Wednesday, 7th November 1984, maestro Segovia gave a concert at the Odd-Fellow Concert Hall in Copenhagen. Ik was quite sensational to see Andrés Segovia on stage at the ‘age of almost 92 years, Elderly people turned up to see the idol of their youth, the musician who, in those days, opened the eyes of the public to the Wigmore Hall 1937 unsuspected possibilities ofthe guitar as a concert instrument. Very young people came 10 experience the almost legendary maestro in person: Segovia played 2 long programme. The Emperor's Song by Narvaez, Theme with Variations in eminor by Sor and three pieces by Haydn made up the first part of the ‘concert. After the intermission ve heard music by Tansman, ‘ocaber ng, 1937, SEGOVIA PROGRAMME rn MameNe 1 HaYON comer MenoeL SOHN coins . os sage = doce Sel Sree Se ant Mate Saar = renee ual (ea oes) “2 CASTILNUOVOTEDESCO IBS & TILLETT, 124, WIGMORE STREET, W.1 Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Villa: Lobos and Moreno-Torraba. A number of things played tricks fon Segovia that evening: first there was something wrong with the footstool, which had to be replaced and after the encore, the maestro said that his guitar wes capricious and did not play the way he wanted itto, but wien everything went well the music sounded beautiful. In fact it didn't really matter what he played or hhow he played it; that evening, the most important thing was the experience of being in the company of this great artist, this living legend of the guitar After the concert I had the great pleasure of meeting maestro Segovia. For this ‘occasion I had produced some xerox-copies of reviews and an advertisement from his first concerts. in Copenhagen, given on 3rd and 4th May, 1927. Segovia was very surprised to learn that his first visit to Denmark had taken place as early as 1927. The day before his last concert in Copenhagen he had told the ‘world press that he thought i ‘was in 1946, I gave him one of the xerox-copies and he was very pleased, because it was the first time that anybody had given him material dating from the beginning of his career. Svend Withfelt, Copenhagen ‘Sogevia and the Danich profesor and composer, Vagn Holmbse. (phos: ‘Soend Wie).SUL Ria Segovia Speaks of the Guitar He said, “There is a small and gentle voice that mingles with the noise ofthis world’s din — the soft guitar, that makes the ear rejoice, Our human fingers, tipped with fragile skin, caress it into warm and vibrant sounds; no obstacle between the heart snd strings except the fragile flesh, soit expounds in varied harmonies, and sweetly sings, The world has grown impersonal, so far from gentle manners ofa former day thatthe intensely pervonal guitar restores a balance when we hear it play A small and gentle voice is in each string, and that is why the world is listening.” Gloria A. Maxson California, U.S.A. ‘Two reviews of Segovia’s early concerts ‘We thank the wife of our Danish correspondent Svend Withfeld for these translations of reviews from two Danish newspapers, Andrés Segovia At his second and last concert the Spanish prince of the suitar recched only a small audience. But, being < masks to got format rhs ld Later a music stand will be placed in front of them, but the main advartage of doing without now is that the pupils can see you, you can see them aa, more important stil) thcy can see Sach other Remember that everything is new to them today — the chair, the room, you, the rest af the class — not to mention what you are about to do te them! So start off by giving everyone some common ground, by naming the parts of the iasirumert. One golden rule to be observed when teaching groups is to assume no previous knowledge. Explain every smallest decal ofeach new teaching point, Those who do already know something will feel good when you confirm and consolidate that knowledge, Those who don't will be eternally grateful to you for not making them feel ashamed of their lack of knowledge. And you will feel confident because you will know that nothing bas been Ieft out or overlooked, Remember too that people are not pusk-button computers, aatomaticaly string information as soon as you feed it to them, and having that information ead for immediate recall whenever itis needed again, Wouldn't teaching be cay if this were vo! No, they are all very diferent, nd have very different learning capabilities and needs, Once you have made a new point, use games, ‘quizzes, tess, randon spot checks’ — in fact, angthing in your power to get the information across and thea to kesp it there Repetiion is essential to the learning process. Variety makes this repetition acceptable to all. For example, you could present some new point in this way 1)"Tell them 14 Guitar February 1985 2) Tell them again. 3) Tell them another way, 4) Ger them to tell you 5) Get them to tell each other. Here are some games to play to help with learning the names of parts of the guitar. I have not talked about playing postion yet. They must fel fice to examine the instrument from all angles, s0, forthe moment, anything goes! 1) Simon Says. The leader (you at first, one of the class later) gives instructions. If the instruction is preceded ty ‘Simon says” (e.g, “Simon says ‘Touch the bridge.’ ") then the class has to doas he says. Ino (.g, “Touch the bridge!”) then they must not move. Eliminate those wiho move, oF who touch the ‘wrong part ofthe guitar. Here are some possible instructions: 1) Stroke a string! 2) Fondle the fingerboard! 5) Ticktea tuning peg! 4) Knock on the nut! 5) Slide around the soundboard! 6) Sing down the sound hole! 2) Dem Bones One group taps the following rhythm on a part of their soundbocrd, or on their chair: piadefiasay ‘Tell them to keep a steady BEAT, or PULSE, and to have a little REST in between each tap. Don’t explain these words their meaning should be evident from your demonstration. Use words to help the rhythm to stick, e.g. 4h of the class decide together which bits of the going to connect. Start with three or four named parts, and gradually build up the number. It might go something like this: “The FRET is connecied to the FINGERBOARD. ‘The FINGERBOARD'S connected to the SOUNDBOARD. ‘The SOUNDBOARD’ connected to the BRIDG) ‘The BRIDGE is connected to the SIX STRING: Say the words to the rhythm of ‘Dem Bones’ and point to each part as it is named. The ‘rhythm section’ keep an eye on ‘things, and they must spot mistakes. Later make it more fun by first establishing the pulse with a small group (remember to choose a different group each time) then go round the class with each child making his own connection, [t may sound like this: oy wo oeg Pata [ye ae [aa ye wen ERR Pe Joa jpripry dfs Lt yt Bea ee | es Later still you can add a chordal accompaniment while they sng the words. The first two starting notes forthe singers will be open string @) followed by open sting (1) (B,E.) Start oa chord E major, and move the chord up a semitone every two ‘bars until you reach chord C at the eighth fret. Then start to come down again, naming the parts in reverse order at you descend! Fhe etie come me BoA kY’ feywbond the foprtonnlscanectliohe min Hed Teneorg peg ‘There are a few points worth remembering when naming parts of the guitar — things which it is eary 10 take for granted, bat which, if not explained, can completely confuse and bbewilder newcomers to the instrument. 1) There are six strings and six tuning pegs. Make sure that each guitar is correctly strung and that cach pupil knows which string is connected to which peg. ‘Dem Bones’ is most useful here. You point toa peg and say, in rhythm: ‘TEACHER; This peg’s connected to the. . PUPIL: Firs string. (OR “E string”) TEACHER: This peg's connected to the... PUPIL: Second string. (OR “B string”) and $0 0n. Start quite slowly, but with a very steady beat. Don’t let them keep you waiting! Gradually build up the speed. 2) In numbering frets, point out that the ones neerest to the player are no¢ the first to be counted. Fret 1 is furthest away from him. Use the phrase ‘Furchest firs’. 3) In numbering strings the same is true, The one nearest to the player is string @), ‘Furthest frst! Positions, Plate! Now is the time to assume the correct playing position, since all pupils will now know what you are taking about when you mention parts of the guitar and relate them to parts of their ‘own bodies. They can see you and they can see each other. If anyone spots their partner doing anything wrong, they must tell you. Nothing makes people learn to get something right ‘more quickly than the feeling that somebody's going to be watching and noticing and possibly humuliating them if they get it wrong. It keeps you on your toes as well — they'll soon spot any laziness on your part should you let something sip! Pitching In Refore attempting to tune the guitars, try to ensure that everyone has some idea of what you mean by ‘high notes’ and Slow notes? and ‘sharp! and ‘flat’. Most small children have no concept of pitch in the way ia which we name it. After all, ‘what do we actually mean by ‘high’ and ‘low notes? If they play the piano, they don’t move their hands up for higher notes = they move them sideways, to the right! And moving to the lef makes lower notes. On the guitar the lei hand makes notes ‘higher in pitch by actually moving dow, towards the Noor, and of course the reverse is true. How often I've said in the past: “No, go one fret higher.” And they have, producing a note a semitone lover! String @) , the highest pitched string, is also nearest to the floor. The ‘highest’ string is the lowest in pitch! Confusing, isn’t it? But the following three rules should help to straighten things out in everyone's mind and ears. 1) Ask the children to look at their guitar and notice which strings are thicker and which are thinner. Then play across your six strings in order and ask them wnat they notice about the sounds. They will soon get the ides that the thicker the string is, the lower the note i produces. 2) Play a gliszando on aay string — put the left hand first finger at fiet one, pluck the string once with the right, and slide the left hand finger up to fret 12. (Repeat, sliding from fret 12 back to fiet 1). Play the litle bits of string up on the machine hhcad (in between the nut and the tuning peg). Ask them what they notice. They will soon discover that @ second rule is true = the shorter the string, the higher the note. 3) The third rule is easy to demonstrate but you must emphasize that itis not yet to be tried at home, but only when you are there with them. Afterall, strings are expensive. Ask them to find the tuning peg for the first string. Turn the peg very gently one way, then the other (not more than halfa tum). ‘They should be able to feel the string either tightening or slackening. Now, plucking the string with the right hand lots and lois of times, they should tum the tuning peg gently, each way in turn, They will now probably understand the third rule — the tighter the string, the higher the note. Get them to listen to you plucking a string 2s you turn 2 peg. As quickly as possible, they must say “Up!” or “Down!” according to which way they think the sounds are going. When they are getting it ight every time, even with very small tums of the peg, introduce the word “sharp” instead of “up” and “flat” instead of down” ‘The actual tuning of the instruments is best done by you, ‘and you alone, for the firs: few lessons. Go round the class from one to the other. It is much safer for you to move around than for @ dozen or so inexperienced guitar handlers to be tilling around you. Insist on silence from everyone while you are tuning, Then both they and you can be listening to what is happening. By now they have some understanding of pitch and they are watching and hearing you put some of the theory into practice. First, tune string). Then play ©), followed by © . the class should recognize the beginning of “Away in a “Manger” or “On likley Moor babt ‘at”, because they both start with a perfect 4th— the interval between @)and 6). 1fG) is out of tune, correct it, discussing with the owner of the guitar what ig wrong and what you are doing aboat it. Use fret 5.on string 6)as a cross check if you need it, Ask the child if it is right or wrong. This is the first chance to get some reaction from each individual class member, and you can get to know a Jot about them this way. Use the same method to tune strings @and G). The interval between @)and Qs of course a major 3rd. Use the first two notes of “While Shepherds Watched” for this one, cross checking with fret 4 on string @) if necessary, and then use “Away in a Manger" agaia to check the interval between @ and ()). When one guitar is in tune, tue their string @) to wear you taning the second guitar, and the third, and the fourth, and so on, Always go back to the first guitar to check, Otherwise the tuning session turns into a sort of ‘Chinese Whispers’, and you fend up with a totally alien E and a room full of maladjusted guitars, Here are some useful tuning checks:- 1) Tunes beginning with a perfect dh (©2@ ,O7®, O70, @9O) a) Away in amanger. 'b) On Tikley Moor )Hark the herald angels sing. 4) Londoa’s burning 2) Tunes beginning witha major Grd a) While shepherds watched b) Kum ta ya 3) A tune to sing and play when all guitars are in rune ‘Six Strings Stramming (To de sung to the tune of “Ten Green Bottles’) ‘Chord symbols are added in brackets for anyone wishing to make a performance out of this! (Gtarting note for singers — string 2)fret 3 — note D) Oo a © Six strings strumming, waiting tobe tuned. ®2O® ®) ay) D) Six strings strumming, waiting tobe tuned. @a@ © ©) a And ifone poor string should be too tightly wound, @O 0 OO ree entiaug vatgw eed ®©OOOD ©) Five strings strumming, etc. (down to ‘One string strumming’) @@ Guitar February 198518THE ROSEWOODS (DALBERGIAS) José Ramirez III Once again I find myself writing on the subject of woods, driven by my desire to share, with professionals and aficionados of the guitar, all the knowledge and experience thet, T have accumulated in’ relation to the different species of rosewood, whose scientific name is Dalbergia and around which there is much confusion, Frankly speaking, this task pleases me (although writing is not precisely “my cup of tea”) because, throughout the years, I have observed that there is a growing concern regarding the virtues and defects thet a specific type of wood may have in relation to its behaviour in a guitar, insofer as its sonority and resistance features are concerned. Preaccupation has always been 2 symptom of interest and enthusiasm, and I must admit that this specific subject enthuses me no end, I like exigencies, but only if and. when they are accompanied by documents and knowledge. Not many years ago, guiter builders were required 10 make rosewood guitars (mostly classical) and no one wns interested, im the origin of the wood employed because everyone trusted the good sense of the artisan in his selection of the adequate wood, for the simple reason that his professional integrity and. prestige depended on this. Nowadays people demand that this, or that type of wood be used, most of the time not being aware that what they are demanding is not precisely the best. [am convinced that the influence the woods that make up a aquiter body (sides and back) have on the sonority of same, is, practically nil: In order to affiem this (in the event that my authority were not sufficient), Ihave to refer tothe experiment carried out by the legendary Antonio Torres 10 demonstrate that the sound of a guitar was almost totally based on the soundbosré and its structure. To prove this he built a guitar with a spruce top and cardboard sides and back which sounded 16 Guitar February 1085 magnificently well. (There are a few references with regard 10 this guitar, but it would be irrelevant to bring them up here.) ‘Throughout the centuries, many types of wood have been used in building guitar bodies (sides and back), such as black walnut (perhaps the oldest), cypress for flamenco guitar, maple for both flamenco and classical, and mahogany, hard rosewood and other precious woods. However, because of their extraordinary beauty, there is no doubt that the Dalbergies hhave risen to supremacy and are considered as the ideal wood for the classical guitar of today, although they have been used only relatively recently, being unknown in Europe. As far as T know, the oldest guitar made of Brazilian rosewood was built bby Juan Pajes in 1787. (This guitar being in my collection.) Tn all my years as a professional guitar builder, I have handled almost all the Dalbergias and believe that T am {qualified to givea rather accurate opinion of each of them. One of the most beautiful woods that I have ever used is the Dalbergia Malenoxylon (commonly known as Senegal ‘granadillo). Te grows in South Africa and has 2 very dark brown colour. Once varnished, it has a lovely marbled undertone, is, remarkably resistant to cracks and I can affirm that of all the Daltergias it is the most resistant to these hateful, and much dreaded, hazards. The only drawback is its specific weight, over 0,87. In other words, it is very dense and heavy, and for this reason the thicknesses have to be very carefully evaluated in order to use this wood for instrument building with maximum effectiveness. Another beautiful Dalbergia comes from Nicaragua and is commonly called Cocoboly Rosewood (Dalbergia hipoleuca), although there are several variants such as the Nicaraguan Granadillo (Dalbergia retura) and other cocoboles which are ‘grouped in the botanical denomination of Dalbergia calycina This wood is the lightest in colour of all the Dalbergias. It is somewhat darker than mahogany and yet has the same hue, and is embellished with capriciously patterned darker grain. Is specific weight is the same as that of the lighter Dalbergias, that is, 0.82. The only inconvenience is that it is somewhat light in colour although highly resistant ro cracks. Ihave built many guitars with this wood and these have always been well received, with the exception of these whe have a preference for darker colours (this is merely a question of personal taste, since in the long run it is the sound that really counts). ‘The turn has now arrived for the beauty among all beauties, commonly denominated Brazilian Jacaranda, Rio Rosewood or Bahia Jacaranda, and whose boranical name is Dalbergia nigra. Its birihploce is located alongside the Atlantic coast of Brazil, between Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, in a vast zone reaching towards the interior of the country. Its reddish-brown colour, with a similarly capriciously designed darker grain, is a feast for one’s eyes. Its specific weight is 0.82. ‘This precious wood was mercilessly maltreated as a species for many, many years with no control whatsoever over its felling until not too long ago, when the Brazilian Government decided to prohibit its exportation in lumber form and limited its use to manufactured products. This, of course, made things very difficult for guitar builders to obtain this wood in ‘optimum conditions for our work, since the scarce amount that can now be obtained, apart from its prohibitive cost, is generally not adequately sawn to meet our requirements. This precios wood is presently being used in Brazil as veneer board covers, and anything thar is let over, or not considered useful for such purpose, finds its way to us with difficulty in irregular amounts. Not quite twenty years ago, I personally sawed the last logs ofthis wood that Ihad been able to procure. I had to tackle this feat with the mentality of a diamond cutter. It took me several days, after much study and calculation, to start sawing off the first board in order to achieve the greatest beauty, the best ‘conditions for sound and resistance, and the highest dezree of usability, Ir hurts me to think of the horrible crimes that can becommitted with this beauty by someone with an industrial mentality Tn my opinion, I do not think that this wood is doomed to extinction in spite of the terrible abuses committed. What apparently occurs is that all the trees located along the roads, have already been felled, and that it is very difficult to cut down those that are far from the very few access roads existing in this vast territory. To give the readers an idea of how this, precious wood has becn abused and even underestimated, I will relate two cases: One day, conversing with a Brazilien umber dealer, I learned that many lumberjacks who did not wish to take the trouble of using a saw or an are to fell a rosewood tree, followed the simple procedure of making a hole atthe base ofthe trunk and placing an explosive charge inside, thus resolving the matter swifily and comfortably. Naturally, the explosion produced unnecessary tears and. cracks throughout the entire trunk which lessened its usability, but that did not matter at allsthere were trees galore. ‘My father old me that on one of his trips in 1925, he visited Rio de Janciro and, as he was strolling through the city, he stopped to watch some workers who were asphalting a stzet. Suddenly he saw something which, at first, he thought was an optical illusion, although sedly enough he soon found out that his eyes were not playing tricks on him and that what he was witnessing was an incredible reality: the fire that was heating, the boilers to melt the asphalt was being fed with chunks of the most splendid Dalbergia nigra (popularly known 8 Brazition Jacaranda), cut in fantastic boards! My father lost no time in approaching the contractor and almost immediately “hit it of with him with the help ofa few drinks and offered to buy those magnificent boards. The contractor, who by then was a bit high and had probably got to that certain euphoric stage where “a friend is always a friend no matter what”, promised my father that he would not only send him those boards to Spain which, after all, were useless to him, but that he would also send him many more as a token of his newly found friendship. My father, in view of the uncertainty of the situation, insisted con paying in order to commit the contractor to a serious ‘agreement, but the man was highly offended that my father should doubt his “sincere” and friendly offerings my father, God test his soul, is still waiting for those boards. However, not’ all will be praises for this wood: it is undoubiedly a dazzling beauty, but it is also unfaithful, treacherous and perfidious. OF all the Dalbergia itis the most crystalline and fragile; it cracks very easily even when the guitar is being built, something that very rarely happens with Oe MSI Cod MUNRO RUIN Classical Guitar Strings Peace, fe Meme ES Sea See ie eae a Suecnhe RSME na fin Eta” die RANE nn es see ren “ie sia Talemrosrenen com RRR” EE SAE eae = eames RAE cee erect =u emer. | t Rienowar eee | EE Er. POST FREE * (Cheques PO's should be crossed and made payable to: Musical New Services Lid, Guitar Ho (Overseas readers please add 50p per set) her sisters. One can be sure that, regardless of how perfectly sawn and aged it might be, in the long run it ends up cracking save for very rare occasions. It is also prone to undulations, especially due to climavological changes. I trust this beauty as 1 ‘would trust someone like Messalins. It has given me many hheartaches and still does. To all this, we have to add the fact that only a very small percentage of wat can be obtained in the difficult purchase of this wood, is the besuty that can compensate for its inconveniences, ovting to the manner in ‘which i is presently marketed, as described above. Twill now rest « while to write about the Dalbergia latifolia (indian rosezood), whose unquestionabie beauty, ike the rest of the Daltergias, is more serene and demure than her ‘explosive Brazilian sister, and offers « much greater reliability. ‘The commercialization of this wood is perfectly organized and parily directed specifically co the guitar construction trade. It is impeccably cut and classified by carefully studied categories and qualities. ts specific weight is also 0.82 but its grain is straight and with almost no patter, especially if of a higher grade. Although I consider that the woods thet malee up the body (ides and beck) of a guitar have very little influence on its sound since this depends more on the appropriate thicknesses selected and on the internal stcucture. I have always hed a preference for grains with a rectlinesr form, such 2s the grain fof the guitar tops. Such formations favour the longitudinal vibrations which are, and sltays will be, the most important and spontaneous in’a wood instrument, regardless of how many advantages are accomplished in the transversal vibrations. ‘This wood, which in certain way is my favourite, is also quite fickle and unpredictable as far as cracks are concemed, although these are produced much less frequently than on the Dalbergia nigra (the Lord have mercy on i!) Lasily, avery brief mention of the Daltergia baron (Medegoscar roxewoed) with which 1 am hardly familiar. It is more than possible that I have handled this wood in the days ‘when I was experimenting on different types of wood, but have not had the opportunity to make a serious study of its characteristics mainly for lack of accurate information, but also because I did not insist on taking the necessary time todo it. ‘As an example of the deceptions end ambiguities to which the vulgar denominations of different types of wood can give rise, I would like to meation here that the West Indian Jacaranda or West Indian Rosewood, is not a Dalbergia at alls its ‘botanical designation is Macher firmun Shaftesbury, Dorset Guitar February 1985 17PACO DE LUCIA] TW al Wigmore Hall ‘Arcane Ce ee nme es Pores SLE] Duende Ramenco de Pacode Lucia Persea cosching m et Pretiee 4am y Caudal Paco music ad se 5: Alsons Begianers welcomed Care Mae GUITAR & LUTE SERIES ‘nyt oda FORDETALS chit at ante NaF Tickets forall concerts: £4.50, £3.50, £2.80, £2.00, reduced to £3.60, £2.80, £2.00, £1.60 for 4 concerts or ‘more, out of a choice of 18. Phone 01-835 2141 for free ‘brochure, oF write to Wigmore Hall. + ineates frst London performance THE FALLA TRIO ays Fridey 1 Fobruary at 7.30 pm Sergio and Odair Assad guitar duo BACH, MOZART, VIVALDI, FALLA, ALMEIDA Dowland: Sir John Langton's Pevin; Castelnuovo- Send £8.09 for this aac rod Tedesco: Prelude no. 7, Fuguene. 17; Sor. Fantalsi op. Muscat New Services Lid, Guar House, Bimport, ‘54; Rameau: Allemande, Rigaudon, Musetie, Le Rappet Shaftesbury, Dorset. des Diseeux, Les Cyciopes; natal: Valsa, Corta Jaca; Rodrigo: Tonadila; Piazolla: Tango Suite Veal Sn STEPANRAK Scere: Nee ae ae commana SOT inportaat works THELAST DISCO torso Friday 18 February at 7.20 9m Julian Byzantine guitar a 3.8. Back: Lute Suite ro. | in Erinor BWVE6, Fugue and ‘Aogra in D; Weles: Tomboou sur a Mort do MM. Comte de OMA GE TO TARREGH Logy: Frank Matin: 4 Pidces brBves; Leo Brouwer: Elogio $4 page album mctuding Rak’s dela Danco, Smith Brindle; £1 Polferno de Oro; Pence: Toles onintexpretation Sonatina Meri £6.95 -Avanane rom you loca masse mo. Fiidey 22 February at 7.30 pm Inemvofaieuy ace an tenons Moar Turibio Santos guitar wane ‘New Services Ltd \VileLobos: Study no. 5, Prelude no, 1; M, Albéniz: Gaitar House, Bimport, Shaffesbury, Dorset Sonate; Mendelssohn: Canzoneita; J.S. Bach: Chaconne; Gnattall: Samba, Valsa, Choro; Miranda: Appassionata*; Kreiger: Prelude"; Ritmata; Gonzaga: 3 Saar backs AClassic Combination ‘Sunday 3 March at 7.30pm David Russell guitar DAVID LEISNER& DADDARIO David Leisnor is a major young American guitarist. Hie per. GUITAR & LUTE SERIES irotjauehed calor Cemposeet ancine geveraipaete Ritterd Part Two: February to June Dye of the Beston Globe compared Ns paying to that ef he 1% discount if 4 cori (teat Amarican pianis,, Leon Fleisher. and a New York Times 2006 diecount if you book far 4 eoncerts cr tiie wrote, "David Leisner isa trisle-hveat performer more, out of a choice of 18. Titanic Recorcs released his debut sclo album, The Viennese Phone 01-935 2141 for free brochure, or fil in the bavi Leaner on in ely fe Now Erland Censor: coupon below. vatory, and also on the dstinguished roster of Aillate Artists ‘He won second prize nthe 1875 Toronto International Guar Artists appearing include: ‘Competition, and he was the Silver ‘Anderson McLellan Duo John Mills & Raymond Medalist in he 1981 Geneva interna Burley tional Guitar Competiton, the Test Sergio & Odeir Assad Nigel North ‘a American finalist in its history Julian Byzantine Pan Duo lan Davies David Russell KantorowiGitford Duo Turibio Santos ‘Simon James ‘Mania isabel Siewers ‘Seppo Kallio Benjamin Verdory 10re Hall, 36 Wigmore Street, London W1H SDF Please send me your Guitar & Lute Series Brochure Name = Address a 18. Guitar February 1985COMPETITIONS Guitar competitions are held all over the world and their number increases yearly. Most are reported in the press, if ‘only in the specialised magazines of the instrument's world, yet very little has been written about them in a general way. At an amateur level a competition is merely a healthy vehicle for the exercise of our natural desire to be competitive, hopefully proving that we are a cut above the rest; if we set out to do something, there's nothing wrong with wanting to do it better than anyone else — though our besic motivation should be simply to do it as well as we are able. This is what keeps local ‘music festivals and competitions in business, coupled with the ambition of parents to succeed vicariously through their children, At a professional level matters are different. The world is overflowing with guitarists who would dearly love to ‘make outstanding careers, teeming fish in an ocean — as are, too, other instrumentalists (especially pianisis) in their own waters. Of course, in the end, success depends on what one has 1 offer — as it does in all things, and that is the bottom tine. ‘There are various ‘badges’ one con acquire en route, which can bbe helpf! in raising ones profile: a formal musical education ending with 2 formal qualification, a eulogistic statement from a Famous Person, or a comperitive success, All these may help progress to some extent but in the long run itis Quality (or the Jack of it) that determines the outcome. Competitions may be the mest telling of these aids since they are based directly on public performance rather than pieces of paper — and that is ‘what itis all about in the end. This is why they exert such @ ‘magnetic pull on incipient (even established) professionals ‘The winning of a competition is no guarantee of international success, as a glance through the firstprize ‘winners of pest competitions readily reveals. Even allowing for the fact that between winning even a major competition and emerging as an international name there is a time-lag of a few years, itis clear that whilst the names of some first-prize ‘winners have become famous, others have sunk into obscurity — or a reasonable simulation thereof. Equally, it is obvious that many very famous guitarists (begin with Segovia, Williams, Bream and Diaz) never even entered competition! ‘Though itis not provable, it is very likely that the winners of competitions who subsequently became famous would have done so anyway; the success simply helped the process along, A catalyst can work only if all the reactants are present in the basic mix, Still, no-one can be blamed for trying; a professional career in music needs all the help it can get. At the same time, a little commonsense is helpful in the process. The more important the competition (and even at a professional level all competitions are not equally important) the more important is, the exercise of that commonsense. Publicity may work both ways! ‘To winthe competition is obviously the aim of every entrant and then, hopefully, to make optimal use of the fact in ones publicity, If the competition is a major event, carrying ‘maximum status, the winner should think twice before entering another one. I's fine if you win rwe, even headier if you win thre but there can be many reasons for failure — not all of them within the control of the performer: a broken nail, getting out of bed on the wrong side, below-par health (quite possible in someone eise’s country), the appearance of better players (always a hazard aow that standards are rising all the time), an ‘eccentric’ decision by the jury (rot common, but not to be discounted) — and so on. No matter how good you may John Duarte be, you cannot be sure of winning. If, having won one major competition, you don’t win the next, you automatically tarnish your first success: ‘Maybe he'she isa’t all tha: good after all — hhe/she just won in a year when the competition wasn’t so strong’. Whether or not the later thought is true (which might be so), it will naturally arise. For the rest, a good reason for losing (one that was in a sense a misfortune) may appear only as an excuse, and may not become generally known either. So if, having won once, you enter again, good luck — but remember, you're tossing a coin, and that has two sides. ‘What of the other places? From a place at the top, you can oly either confirm itor go downwards; in a lower one you still have room to rise. Though it is hardly good for ones morale there is no reason why one should not go on trying (it becomes, bad only after the second or third failure to reach the top) and there are many people who do just that. Here, the factor of publicity comes into play. Ifthe winners of small, local or low- profile competitions receive concomitantly less kudos then the lower-placed finalists rapidly fade from the public’s memory — if indeed they ever enter it. Some major competitions, however, record the names of past prize-winners in their printed programme; the French Radio Competition, for instance, names the first and second. Repeated near-misses are thus preserved in the ongoing archives for everyone to see. ‘Strangely enough, in this connection, it is better to come in third or fourth — it will soon be forgotten and the public will not be continually reminded of it! How many past 1 fourth-prize winners can you remember? ‘The underlying objective of the whole exercise is to be able to make use of one’s success in promotional material, an automatic advantage to firstpprize winners. To the others it presents « problem, to decide the best way to use their smaller success to advantage. Experienced readers of ‘publicity-speaR’ know that ‘Prize-winner” means ‘A prize, but not the fist’ and that ‘Finalist’ means ‘Reached the final but didn’t win a prize’. Both meen, of course, that one achieved a certain messute of distinction in getting that far, which is fair enough though it isn’t what one would have chosen. Better, perhaps to state honestly ‘Second-prize winner’ or the like than to appear to ‘wish to convey a grander, though misleading, impression, though it docs remind me of the pre-war, humourous author who used to place after his name on the fiyleaf ‘Failed B.A. Oxon’. Worse still is to come second when no first is given! Euphemisms such as ‘Ceme in first’ or ‘Took top prize’ are casily decoded by the knowledgeable as meaning ‘I didn’t get the first prize’ — not because 1 was beaten by another, dramatically better, player, but because no-one was adjudged good enough to merit a first prize in a competition that cared for its high standards. A competitor in a recent French Radio Competition, finding himself in this position, was unwise ‘enough to return to his own country and, if he did not actually propagate it, did nothing to contradict the misleading impression given by such a euphemism (400k top prize’) only to have the situation cleared up embarrassingly in a magazine, “To make matters even worse, he had shared second place with someone else; his later plea that his had been a ‘first second” and the other a ‘second second!’ did nothing to improve matters Guinar Fobrusry 1985 39— had the difference been really significant the ‘second second! would have been rated a third. Al! publicity is open to misuse, a thing that will be avoided by the wise. Reporting a twoman race between an American and a Russian, in which the former won, the American press stated that their man had won; the Russian press credited their man with second place, the American having come in next to last Apocryphal, of course. ‘The ‘competition game’ is thus one to be played with a sense of strategy, weighing the pluses and minuses ofones own situation. Beyond all this there is the matter of temperament. In a sense, a competition is like an examination, and there are people who just don't have the right temperament for Subscribe to Guitar The Economic Guitar from Spain These outstanding instruments are already proving to be of great help to teachers who wisely want to initiate their students on a solid top guitar. The range has now been increased to six full size models and prices starting as low as £44 make them an ideal solution for teachers who have students with small budgets. Every guitar is test played and adjusted before leaving the warehouse. GOYA has proved to be not only agood choice but the ONLY choice for the discerning buyer. Trade enquiries to: Juan Teijeixo Music Co. Ltd., Alhambra House, 5 The Campsbourne, London N87PN. Tel: 01-348-9191 20. Guitar February 1985, ‘examinations. Any employer will confirm that there are many who don’t bave a good examination record but whe, even s0, turn out to be top-class workers; likewise, that there are plenty of useless people who lack initiative and drive — but do not lack certificates. Competitions and concerts are both ‘pressure situations’ but a concert is only one of a long chain of such events, in which one's only competitor is oneself. So if you seem to be one of those whose strength dees not lay in competitions, don't worry too much — it isn’t the end of the road. The career itself is she competition to win. There are those who have won the "battle" of the competition but lest the ‘war’ ofthe career, and conversely THE MUSIC OF DOMINIC MILLER and DAVID HEATH (guitar and flute) Purcell Room, Tuesday 18th March at 7.30 pm Dorrinic Miler (24) and Oavid Heath (28) are composers {and soloists. David Hoath’s music is classical; Dominic Miller's ic Latin/Jazz. Together, their music is provocative and exciting. They wil be supported by Dylan Lower (guitar, John Lenehan (piano) and Spencer cousns (synthesisen Alll seats £2.50 from Box Office, Royal Festival Hall, London SE18XX THREE OF THE BEST (From John Duarte) mame Aimy Dur Emmneeeow Gowen Gicecnetar” S@ 1 ep eT F a ‘Can't Tate That away From Me, (CLASSIC JEROME KERN ‘The Way You Look Tonight, They Dida't Believe Me, AI'The Things Are You,Deary Beloved, Smoke Ges In You Eres, 'm Old Fashioned, Long ‘Ago And Far Avay, Cant Heip Lovin’ Dat Man, Yererdys,O! Man River, ‘The Folks Who Lire On Te Hil, Won't Dare JAZZ. & POPULAR SONGS Spanish Harem, Aint Misbehavin, The Get Nex Door, Taking A Chance Oo Love, ulaby OF Birdland, Elemor Rigby, Basin Set Blues, On The Sanay Side OF The Sect, Far Away acc, What A Wonderful Worl, (Tey Long To Be) Cloe To You, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, ‘When Sunny Gets Bis, Stardus, Fy ‘Me‘To The Moon, I Fall Ia Love Too Easy, Days OF Wine Aad Rose, Sophisucates Lady, Stormy Weather, The Girt From ipenens £3.95 EACH Available from Musical New Services Lid. Guitar House, ‘import, Saaftesbury, Dorset.ANTONIO LAURO HIS GUITAR WORKS . By LUIS ZEA Part Four Printing errors: a checklist (continued) As T pointed out in my lest article, bear in mind that my numbering of pages starts with the ute page of che composition and continues regardless of the printed numbering. These may or may not coincide. This moath I refer to four of Lauro’s larger works: Triptico, Suize Homenaje @ Join Duarte, Suite Venezolana, and his Sonara. When 2 ‘movement, other than the firs, is being discussed please notice that the numbering then starts on the page where that ‘movement begins, and not on the title page of the composition. Abreviations of publishers are included in brackets (See Part Two). Triptico. (UE) Ist. Movement (Armida) 2) First page, first system, bar 3, the bass note on the second beat should bean open A and not D: ) Second page, last system, bar 1, the two quavers on the second beat should be B and G, not C and B: . ——<—$ = | 1 F 2 Suite Homenaje a John Duarte (8) 2nd. Movement (Pavana) a) First page, third system, bar 1, the top D on the third beat is not sharp but natural: cw, —o—— ») Similarly, on the second page, fourth system, bar 4, the top Dor the third beat should also be natural: 3rd. Movement (Giga) a) First page, second system, last bar, a B has been omitted on the second beat: b) First page, last system, bar 4, the bass note on the second beat should be a D, instead ofthe printed c1iz— , Suite Vexezolana (BVP) 2nd. Movement (Danza Negra) 1) First page, third system, bar 3, the bass C on the first beat should be dotted: vu, 3ed, Movement (Cancién) a) First page, second system, last bar, a leger line is mis ‘undemeath the lest note which should be a C: villi b) First page, seventh system, bar 4, the F should be sharp: — Gaitar February 1985 24«) Second page, third system, bar 4, both B’s are flat: VIL | a ® 1) Second page, sinth system, bar 3, the A in the bass should be natural bel? 4th Movement (Vals). 2) First page, second system, bar 1, the first note of the bar is a ‘quaver and not a crochet: @ 4) First page, second system, last bar, the bass note isa B lat, not natural: viI——___—__, F VL oy, ¢) First page, fourth system, bar 2, the top B is sharp: Iv. —————— > ) First page, same system, bar 5, the B should be flaty note that the fingering bas to be changed too: 1) First page, sixth system, bars 1 & 2, the penultimate quavers ‘ofeach bar should be B sharp and A sharp respectively: 22 Guitar February 1985 88) Lauro wants the last chord of the Vais to be shorter Crochet instead of a dotted minim ‘Sonata. (Z) Ist. Movernent ) At the opening of the Sonata there should be ‘sfi? signs on the downbeats of bars 1 & 2. The same applies later in the movement (page seven, fifth system, bars 2 & 3) when the ‘opening theme is re-introduced; this time the A and F in the downbeat chord of bar 2 have been omitted: +b) First page, fifth system, last bar, the top D on the third beat should be natural; the last D of the bar is also natural. The ‘same applies on page six, seventh system, bar 3: ye bd ii] F "Pacen.t ¢) Third page, first system, bar 1, the quaver F on the second beat should be dotted: ML i a 2 Ee iz 5 z 4) Page seven, last system, bar 1, the first harmonic of the triplet on the last best should be F sharp, which is produced on the second string, seventh fret: Arms.———_ 1212 12 "teed <== == cee, ‘nd Movement (Carsién) 4) Second page, fourth system, bar 2, a quaver rest is on the first beat, and the last note of the bar is an A natu! ssingT ea +) Third page, fourth system, bar 3, the inner parts — first 1wo crotchets — should be E flat/G and not F/A: © Fourth page, first system, bar 1, the B on the second beat should be flat; and the top note of the chord on the third best should be aG: - 5TH GB INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL Hourne Farm, Sensex ‘This years school tinge togetr "the opis of sighteading and snemorsatian coveret in previous years under the genta tie "Paes and thet rgnieance othe musican", Work wil be done onthe imgiag silty he ta at vil extend to mie andthe rapa, 3 vel parerlasies ndensembleplayng Dally Kedaly aig, Akxande less and Touch for heath wil foman her iberian, Gerald Garcia, ‘Judit Paszior, Peri Ason Conc The Secretary, 7 Alberon Gardens, Lindon NWITOAG. ins Hei ase baa ot mmm cence ite or Ne mame Stentor 3rd. Movement (Bolera) ) Left hand slurs on the two semiquavers of the pervading mative; 5 J have been omitted in many places. The slurs should be done every time the motive appears (except, of course, when the two semiquavers repeat the same aote, eg. pate five, third system, bar, ete) ») Last page of the Sonata, fourth system, last bar, the bass note on the downbeat should be a G and not an E: 4 of PPPS EERE TET E TERY PFET EE EET TE ETS r i : t Hdward B. Jones 3 t é Ew Constructor of Guitar & Lute e F t r i E 4 range Park Rou, Steeple Aton, Oxford, OXS3R 4 t England z EAASAMAAAAAAAAMAARLADAAAADRRAAAS WE ARE SPECIALISTS IN GUITAR PECORDS. CLASSICAL - JAZZ - FLAMENCO - FOLK LATIN AMERICAN « BLUES - RAGTINE Dave Barcock, 9 The Drive, Kingsley. Northampton “relephone: toe0a) 715414 Guitar Bebruary 1889. 23Guitar Music from the 16th to the 18th Century Tan GaMMiE ‘As we have seen, the transition from chord or ‘alfabeto tablatures to a system more akin to lute tablature was largely the work of two men — Foscarini and Corbetta. Giovanni Paolo Foscarini is generally considered to be the first composer to make intelligible use of puatcado notes in guitar music, where melody and counterpoint is accurstely notated on individual strings and hence plucked by the fingers more in the style of the lute or the four-course guitar. Strummed chords still form an important ingredient of this music but their spacing on the fingerboard is increasingly dictated by the requirements of the melody, and sometimes the alfabeto letters were to be replaced with a straight tablature notation of a chord fingering. ‘We do not know many details of Foscarin’s life not even the dates of birth and desth, but from letters written at the time and from details in the prefaces to the guitar books, we know that he worked as a lutenist in the employ of one of the Hapsburgs, Archduke Albertus of Austria who governed what was left of the old Spanish Netherlands from Brussels. In one preface Foscarini states that he was known as a lutenist, not a guitarist, having worked in that capacity for various princes both inside and outside Italy, especially in Flanders with the Archduke Albertus. Albertus died in 1621, s0 Foscarini must have been exablished as.a player of imternational repute before that date. The original edition of Foscarini’s first guitar book has not survived, but the second book Intevolatura di chitarra spagnuola was published in Italy in 1629, and during the 1630s {two compendium volumes ofthe first, second, third and fourth ‘books were published. A fifth book was added to this collection in 1640 and reissued in 1649; no further works were published, so it is assumed that he died in the mid 17th century. Gaspar Sanz mentions him in a list of guitar ‘composers in 1674 so his name must have lived on, Foscarini titled himself L'Academico Caliginoso detto il Parioso, Academia had been popalar in Italy from the end of the sixteenth century; they were not schools, but rather like learned societies run on the lines of masonic lodges, enabling artists, philosophers, architects, musicians and others to mect and discuss aesthetic and scientific ideas. The Academia del Caliginosi was founded in Ancona in 1624, and members gave themselves fanciful nicknames a= was the practice in other such societies. Hence Foscarini became known as 1! Fariose, pethaps an indication of his wild of passionate termperament. ‘The adjective caliginoso means mysterious of shrouded in mist. From the compendium collections of his guitar music we can see thatthe frst wo books were still in the alfabeto tradition of Millioni, Sanseverino, Colonna and others, but thereafter the influence of the lutenist is apparent: the tthe of Z Quatro Libri says that it contains “some sonatas to be plucked inthe style of c together with the rules for learning to play with great and again in the preface he says (almost apologetically) that he does not want to say much about the pissicare guitar 24 Guitar February 1985 E‘Academico Caliginosa dewo it Purioso (G.P. Foscarini) pieces since he knows that that style is more suited to the lute, ‘The music example which follows is typical of Foscarini’s work. It was becoming an increasingly popular habit to give dances a fanciful title such as this one La Grariosa, and another feature that occurs frequently in Foscarini’s guitar books is the dedication of a piece to 2 noble personage; the musicologist Richard Hudson has counted no less than 51 dedicatees, virtually all members of the Italian aristocracy. A freelance Correra deta le Greif Ye A BpeS dang uoptd Ut ob td 4 Foscarini: !Qvatro Libr della Chitarra analmusician like Foscarini would have needed such patrons order to make a living both as tutor to noble families and as performer at important occasions — public concerts. for Financial gain were still unknown at this time, and performances would either have been in the privacy of an aristocrat’s apartments or some lavish public spectacle paid for by a prince, poteniate or local dignitary. Thus it did a performer no harm to mention his recent benefactors in his latest book, orto attract the attention of potential employers by dedicating a piece to them. The corrente illustrates a wide range of problems that face @ transcriber. The direction of the strumming for chords has been shown in this transcription by the direction of the note tails: if the til points down, running from treble to bass, then the chord is strummed from treble to bass if the tail points up, from bass to treble, then the chord is strummed from bass to treble. The notation shows pitch as sounding on a modern classical guitar; no attempt has been made to show extra ‘octaves from the fourth and fifth courses, whatever Foscarini may have had. As you can ser from the facsimile, there are several slurred groups of quavers going across the strings. Foscarini has not made it easy for us to decipher; there are no being held against the sound of another; players can decide for themselves which onesto slur with let hand ligado, The object of the exercise is partly to show thet far from being a primitive form of notation, Foscarini’s tablature is better suited to this type of music than modern notation. The direction of the strumming strokes is neater in tablature and the eye is not assaulted with swathes of notes from repeated chords which have to bs laboriously and repetitively copied ‘out in modern terms. That said, it must be pointed out that Foscarini has not made it easy for us to decipher; ther are no bar lines, there are undoubtedly mistakes in the rhythm signs and at least one in chord notation; and itis not clear whether the single notes which follow the chords are to be played as single notes or added into a strumming of the same chord. For example does: #2 ge Finally the thythm of the corrente was always a mixture of ¢ and 3, so it is somewhat arbitrary to put ary time signature other than 3. In many cases it is debatable where the bar lines ought to be and I freely confess to having fudged a few rhythms to make it all fit; several interpretations are possible In the facsimile the three slurzed notes at the beginning of line 3 must surely be quavers, not crotchets, and the chord ending the first half should be ¥ not X. Theeagle-eved will beable 0 Toot out the other adjustments I have made — send in your suggestions for improvernents. Corrente called ‘La Gratiosa’, dedicated to the illustrious Martino Segala ro ® Juitar Bobruary 1883. 23RAGTIME GUITAR Scott Joplin and Tom Turpin head the first generation of classic ragtime composers. The next generation consists of those born in the 1880's, and it is at one of these second generation men that I would like to draw your attention to this month. However, it is worth mentioning that there were, of course, many first rate players and composers who, due to the lack of historical data, have disappeared with the passing of time. It is easy to forget that the opportunities for a white composer were indeed far greater than for his black counterpart, however it is doubtful that any circumstances could have prevented the genius of Scott Joplin from attaining recognition and the premier position that he deserved. Joplin, is number one, now I want totell you about number two. James Scott was born in the tiny town of Neosho, Missouri in 1886, His parents, James and Mollie Scott had come from North Carolina and their humble household stood, unfortunately, way down the social ladder. There was no ‘mention of the bisth in any newspapers or town records, little did they know that that day would always commemorate the birth of ragtime’s second greatest composer. When James was thirteen years old and already an accomplished pimist, his family moved to Ottawa, Kansas. In the new town he would be near his cousin who owned a cabinet organ upon which the young James could practise. Up until now it had been a case of Il adversity, for the family did not have a It is indeed quite incredible chat into this poor family wes born a child with the gift of perfect pitch and a wonderful pianistic ability ... even Mozart had a piano! His only chance had been to play at his piano teacher's place, who was an old negro called John Coleman and about whom we know very little. Eventually, when the family moved again, this time t0 Carthage, which is situated in the South West of Missouri, his father bought his talented son a piano. However, to pay for it the whole family had ro go out and work, Such was the dire economic situation of the Scott household that even little James, all five foot four of him, had to take up the appointment of window washer at the local music emporium, This was after an almost obligatory spell as a shoe-shine boy in a barber shop. So there he was a pianistic genius, sixteen years old cleaning windows. Now, we ate fortunate in having first-hand information about James Scott, thanks to the survival and co- ‘operation of his brothers and sisters and their willingness to talk (@ musicologists over the years. However poetic licence must I feel be granted when considering rememberances like the following. One day, in Dumas’s Music Store, our hero who, was being taught the art of picture framing ... a side line of the store... and in a moment of despair, did sneak out the back. The owner suddenly heard beautiful music pouring out of the stock room. He peeped in expecting to see a prospective customer only to be greeted with the sight of his young employee at the keys. “Can you read music?”, the young Scott was asked. (es sir .. .read and play”, ine declared, proudly Well, from that day on he washed no more windows, well, 0 26 Guitar February 1085 JOHN JAMES they say, and became the firm's top piano demonstrator, playing the shop's stock of sheet music. Eventually in March 1903, when James was seventeen Dumas published his composition ‘A Summer Breeze’ — March and Two-Step and followed this the next year with ‘On the Pike March’ a tune in celebration ofthe St. Louis Exposition, During this period James Scott travelled to St. Louis and of course, met his ragiime peer Sco Joplin. He also met publisher John Stark who was very impressed with the young man’s compositions, the inevitable outcome of this meeting was for James Scott to leave all his friends and relatives in Carthage and move to St. Louis. He was now twenty eight years old, Success came through the Stack publishing house in the form of Climax Rag in 1914. In the meantime don't forget ‘Scott had written such classics as The Fascinator (1903) Frog's Legs (1906) Grace and Beauty (1910) Hilarity Reg (1910) and the exquisite Ragiime Oriole (1911). The secular, iniquitous night life that was readily available toa piano player in St. Louis at this time, obviously did not appeal to Scott, for pretty soon he let for Kansas City where hhe married, setited down and began teaching music He attained the position of organist and musical arranger at the Panama Theatre and remained there for fifteen years Daring this time he formed aa cight piese band that stayed together well into the Thirties playing at dances and other social functions. Despite being off the ragtime scene proper, Scott continued to compose classic rags which rated second only t0 Joplin, but many of these masterpieces were never published or recorded and are presumed lost forever. Nora, his wife, died childless, therefore leaving the ragtime ‘master with his beloved grand piano and pet dog only to keep him company. His health wis poor and. apparently” in condition of chronic dropsy. Ruth Callahan, his cousin, with whom Scott was now living, recalls; “James kept on ccompesing and playing although his fingers were swollen and very painful” August 20 1938, James Syivestr Scott, aged fly two, died at Douglas Hospital. Two days later his body was laid beside that of his wife. fit sounds to you that he died a broken man, well so be it, but Iam going to leave you with «recollection of, 4 ragtime master in his prime from his cousin Patsy « . « ‘Jimmy never talked about his music, just wrote, wrote, weote and played it for anyone who would listen, He wrote music #8 Muently as writing a letter humming and writing all at the same time. He liked playing as many notes as possible under fone beat with the right hand. I remember his hands so well; short fingers squace atthe ends, very thin fingernails, cut very short — fingers that fairly danced as they covered the fingerboard. He sat at the piano with the left leg wrapped around the stool and his body kept very stil, no bouncing with the thythm as one sees today. His music thrilled me. Often, today, when I hear his pieces on the radio if [ close my eyes, I can still see his fingers lying over the Keys” Ah, yes cousin Patsy .. .socan |CALLIOPE RAG on 6th to D JAMES SCOTT John James _—~, mF Guitar February 1985 29LEARN GUITAR with JOHN MILLS Lesson 9 Last time, we ended the lesson by looking at the chords of C and G7. 1 hope you have been able to practise these, and can find both easily, even without perhaps having to look at what the left hand is doing! The great 19h Century guitarist and composer Mauro Giuliani published as his Opus la a large collection of studies based upon these chords, in fact well over a hundred different right-hand patterns. Below, you will see several T have chosen from the easier examples, and some time spent on these will not only improve your left-hand control of these chords, but also provide first- Class material for smoothing out your right-hand technique whilst playing in what are called arpeggios, where the chords are not played as a block of notes, but the individual notes struck separately in some sort of set pattern The notes, or to be more exact, the note-values, may look. slightly strange at first. In all these little studies the time- signature is Common Time, that is basically four beats in each i mat ae + 2 3 t Count In Giuliani's studies, he uses eighth notes, but what are called sripler eighth notes, that is three of these have to be fitted into the value of one quarter note, Composers usually help u to recognize these triplets by placing the following sign abo e the group of noes concerned; Foo 3 although where this pattern is continued for any length of time, itis assumed the player sees this, and the sign is often done away with aflera few bars. The term sim. is sometimes used to indicate the note values continue in a similar way. Giuliani wants us to repeat each study before playing the final chord, and he indicates this by the use of repeat-signs. This mean that the passage enclosed by the signs is to be played twice. At the beginaing of a piece, composers sometimes often do without the first of these signs, and so the passage of the piece in question is repeated from the beginning. BLACKBURN GUITAR STUDIO Classicals from £45, Ramirez, EB. Jones, RE. Spain, Controras, Dieter Hopf, Sanchia, Cusnea, Goya, Granade, Blectrics & Acoustics, Fender, Gibson, Westone, Tbanee etc. Arps, Pedals, Music. Cases, Accessories, Personal Service Visit THESPECIALISTS, 41 Preston New Road, BLACKBURN, LANCS. (above Post Office) Tel (0254) 655905. 28 Guitar Febrvary 1985 y bar. However, if you now count the number of notes in each bar in number 2, (tudy No. lis straightforward,) the problem ‘would seem to be how to cram reelve notes into the space of four beats. Also, we have not as ye: dealt with those notes Which have not only stems, but also lines joining those stems. Now, to make things casier for the moment, let's leave Giuliani and simply concentrate on the little study T have written here. The new notes are called eighth notes, and are written singly as J or in groups of two or more asf gq. ‘Theeighth note rest is written as follows; y An eighth note is half the value of a quarter noie, se two eighth notes are needed 10 make up the value of the quarter notes. P| Now before launching into the i studies, first play through @ few times my simple chord study to familiarize yourselves with the basic eighth-note value, 7 BTR TT * | 4 (silently counting the quarter note beats will help you.) Lastly, a word about the chords Giuliani uses. Although they are still basic chords of C and G7, he does add one or two notes, so please don’t be caught out! In the chord of C he adds an E on string four (fret two), and in the G7 chord a D is included on the second string. The reason for these additions is to do with the harmony. In a chord of C major, in the Context of studies such as these the chord would sound a little bare without the third note above the key-note, in this case the note E. Also, to be able to continue whatever right-hand pattern he is using, Giulisni has to add an extra note, eg. 2nd bass note in No. 2. However, in the case of the G7 chord, to ‘add another third (the note B), although essential in some places, itcan make the harmony weak if two B’s are included at any one place, eg. This is also true with the C major chord, (that is to have two F's in any one chord,) but it is perhaps slightly less of a negative effect than with the GT chord, SEND FOR OUR FREE 1984/5 GUITAR CATALOGUE Over 1,500 titlos. Solos, duos, trios, guitar Caco Se ee te ey easExercises for the Right Hand M.Guiliani Lesson 10 ‘This lesson is devoted entirely co learning two well-known, French folk melodies; Sur fa Font d’Avignon, and Au Clair de ta Luna, Both are famous tunes, and the fact that the student can recognize the melody is often «help in the speeding up of the ‘mechanical learning process, (which fingers go where!) In the first onc, Sur la Pont, please observe the duration of notes carefully in the bass line, for example the C at the beginninig and the E which follows, these being quarter notes. Don't therefore leave the left-hand fingers down to0 long on. these notes. In bar 2, notice how the D’s ae fingered with the Ath finger, this is to help get onto the bass C smoothly in the following bar, (dhe same in fact epplies to the D in bar 4.) In the final bar, the bass line moves in eighth notes. This is good Practice for the thumb, as itis used for all three bess notes, but remember to lft the third finger from the F when you come to play the bass G (2nd eighth note.) THE GUITAR STUDIO Heanor, Derbyshire Guitar’s by Ramirez, Controras, Hopf, Cuenca, Sanchis, Granados, Goya, Fiesta, prices from £50. Alco SIM Michaol Goe guitar £375. Classical guitar tution, music, stings, accessories. Telephone 0773-76881 Guitar February 1985.29Sur La Pont d°Avignon Allegretto r Whereas Sur la Pont used only the top five strings, Au Clair de la Luna brings in the 6th string as well. The G on this 6th string is sometimes fingered with the 2nd finger because the third finger is already pressing down another note, e.g. bar 2. In the first bar, a slight problem may be experienced with the 4th finger being held too far above the strings before it aT deprestes the D. Here, try to prepare for this note by bringing. the little finger close to the string in question before actually depressing the note. Again, as with our last piece, give the notes their correct duration, being particularly careful in bars 4,8, 12 and 16. Au ClairdetaLuna Andantino SPANISH GUITAR CENTRE 36 Cranbourn Street, London WC2H 7AD 01.240-0754 ‘Business hours Ipm—Gpm, Sat 10am—Spm Established for 32 years now, we offer an exonsive ange of instruments from £35 upwards insluding both the famous and the less well-known macers, new and secondhand, classical ‘and famenco. Interesting rew instruments include the JOSE RAMIREZ CAMARA guta’ and the LEONA range of bautful and unique nstruments.Allprices are very competitive and we rarely alow ourselves to be urdercut by "specish otters avaisble-elsenhere. There are quitrs for hire, music end secescoros are stocked, and tinge can be ordored by uations ard repairs are undertaken, Professional ‘wition is avaiable at £4 por lesson. Send 2p for preelistand brochure, GUITAR T-SHIRT IMAGE IN RED ON ROYAL BLUE BACKGROUND Only £4.50 Inc. P/P. Please state size, small, medium, large | Sex. lrge Available trom: Musical New Services Ltd, Guitar House, Sheftesbury, Dorset. 30 Guitar February 1985EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY DICE MUSIC FOR GUITAR B. KENYON DE PASCUAL One curious phenomenon of European musical life in the second half of the eighteenth century and the first decade of the nineteenth was the publication of works that enabled amateurs to produce new pieces of music — generally minuets, walizes and other popular forms — on a do-it-yourself basis with the aid ofa pair of dice, About two dozen such works are known to have existed, although not all have survived to the present day.' ‘The first two to appear seem to have been J.P. Kimberger’s “Der allezeit fertige Polonoisen und Menueitencomponist” (Che ever-ready polonaise and minuet composer) and C.P.E. Bach's “Einfall, einen doppelten Contrapunct in der Octave on sechs Tacten zu machen, ohne die Regela davon zu wissen’ (An idea for composing 6 bars of double counterpont at the octave without knowing the rules), both of which were published in Berlin in 1757.° Kirnberger presented his work primarily as a form of entertainment for amateur musicians With no knowledge of composition although, he pointed out, it could be useful for professional musicians who played for dances and whe ran shor of new tunes, “The most famous compesers to whom works of this nature have been attributed are Haydn and Mozart. Kéichel classified the Mozart compositions as spurious works but modern editions continue to use Mozart's name and he is known to have been interested in composition with dice, since a page containing bars of this type of music in the composer's own hand is to be found in Paris. The authenticity of Haydn's Gieco Fitharmonico o sia manera facile per comporre un infinite numero. di minuetti € trio anche senza sapere il contrapunto , .. (The Philharmonic Game, or an eesy way of compesing an infinite number of minuets and trios! even without « knowledge of counterpoint), published in Naples ca. 1790, is also dubious, since it is practically identical with M. Stadler’s “Table pour composer des Menuets et des Trios 2 infinie; avec deux dez a jouer” (Fable for composing minuets and trios in infinite quantities with two dice) for which Gerber ives a date of 1780 in his Lexikon, ie. 10 years before the appearance of the Gioco Filharmonico. “The Naples edition of Haydn’s work suggested performance (on two violins (or flutes) and bass. This was one of the more usual forms of instrumentation for dice music, the other being @ solo keyboard instrument, When, however, the Gioco Filharmonico was advertised in the Madrid newspapers in 1790 & wider choice of instrumentation was sometimes specified. ‘The first ofthese advertisements, which appeared in the Gazeta de Madrid on 22nd June, reads as follows: dos juegos filarmonicos, el uno para componer ;nuetos con trios para clave 6 forte-piano; y el otro para el mismo intento 4 1° y 2° violin y baxo, Mlautas 6 guitarra obra particular del celebre profesor Haydn. Tiene su explicacion para gobierno y conocimiento de sus tables, con las quales puede componer qualquer aficionado . ..”" (Two philharmonic games, one for composing minuets and trios for harpsichord or forte-piano, and the other for the same purpose for first and second violins and bass, flutes or guitar, ‘an unusual work by the famous composer Haydn. It contait an explanation of how to use and understand the table which enable any amateur to compose). Obviously this edition was specially produced for Spanish consumption. Here would seem to be an appropriate point at which 0 explain how dice music was actually composed, taking Haydn's Gioco Filharmonico as an example. In the case of the je, Haydn supplied 176 individual bars of music (oumbered from 1 10 176) and two tables, each with 8 columns of 11 fingers (the horizontal rows being numbered from 210 12) The amateur “composer” threw a pair of dice and then looked at the first table for the row of figures designated by the number corresponding to the total of the spots shown by the two dice. He then took from that row the figure appearing in the first column and copied out the bar of music which bore the same number. This represented the first bar of the minuet ‘The dice were thrown again and the corresponding figure was taken from the second column of the table to yield the second bar of music, and so on, until the two eight-bar sections of the tminuet had been obtained. This was the system proposed by Kimnberger and the one most commonly used ‘The number of different minuets that can be composed with the original 176 bars is 11", or approximately 46,000,000,000,000,000, white if a sixteen-bar trio is added, the total of distinct pieces rises t0 11° (roughly) 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). In view of these figures, the reference to “an infinite number” of minuets is understandable. The relative enthusiasm for this type of music based on permutations and combinations in the second half of the eighteenth century can be related 10 the general interest showa in the science of mathematics during the Age of lightenment. Another factor that contributed to the production of works of this kind was the symmetrical form and simple harmonic patterns of contemporary dance music. The creation of a work of this type did nat require 2= much elfort fon the part of the original composer as might at first be expected. The trick was to compose, say, a minuet and ten variations, numbering the bars from | to 176, preferably not in consecutive order. If the first bar of one variation were combined with the second of another and the third of vet another, etc., the general harmonic structure would not change, only the melody would vary. Haydn’s Gioco Fitharmonico seems 10 have been well received in Spain, It was advertised again in 1792 and appears to have stimulated Spanish composers to write dice music. The following advertisement appeared in the Diario de Madrid of 19th May 1795: “Laberinto de 192 compases diferentes, repartido en 3 tablas ‘en quadro, para guitarra de 6 orden, con el que faclmente y sin auxilio de maestro, puede qualquiera componer contradanzas en musica de wes partes para dicho instrumento, cuya explicacion se manifesta en los cexemplares que se venden en casa de su autor D. Joseph Avellans, calle de Silva n.19 4 20 15, cada exemplar, y si se fencargaten en cifra se pondré al mismo precio." (Labyrinth of 192 different bars, distributed in 3 tables, for six-course guitar, by means of which snyone can easily compose country dances, in three parts in staif notation for that instrument, without the assistance of a teacher. ‘The explanation is given in the copies which are sold at the house ‘ofthe composer, don Joseph Avellana, at 19, Silva Street, at 20 reales per copy. They can be ordered in tablature forthe same price.) ‘There is no specific reference to dice, but the method of “composition” would appesr to be ofa similar nature. Joseph Avellana, it may be mentioned in passing, was a composer of music for the guitar whose works were ‘occasionally advertised in the Madrid newspapers. His output included three fandanges, each with 40. variaions, arrangements for guitar of piano music by Haydn and Pleyel, minuets, country dances, etc. In 1788 he collaborated with Antonio Abreu in the production of a new pieve of guitar Guitar February 198534susie every fortnight, These were on sale Avellana’s Home, comer al hey have fo dois to go along to the Music Section which was then in Jacometreze street of the British Library, first having equipped themselves with a Anovher example of Spanish dice music for the guitar was pair of dice. They ean then copy out and arrange minut Antonio Nava's “Juego Filarménico puesto en dos tablas para from the Gioco Filharmonico which may well consist of somponer por medio de dos dados un mimera, infinito de combination of hars that hax nat been produced befor Walses para ta guitarra sin. saber a composicién™ (The Phiharmonic Ga aransed into tables fy mips an Noes infinite number of waltzes tor the guitar with the aid of two 1. Among previnus article in English on dice music mention may be lice and with no knowledge of composition). Six copies of this made of work ate r Benavente’s music library made in 1824. There is no mention of the year of publication. As nothing seems 10 be known of intonio Nava duquess-condess’s library also contained music composed in the eighteenth century, Navas ‘work cannot be dated with any accur “Hisorisch of Bund IL oided in an inventory of the Duguesa-Condesa de svntury Music” by 1. ‘Music: a Tribute to Karl Gein (onion, 1970} and “Dice Music in the S.A. Hedges in "Music snd Letters” (April, 1978). 2. Rach's work appeared in the 1757 volume of FWY. Marpurg's itische Reytriige zur Autnal ‘Ars Combimitoria: Chance and Choice in Tater in “Stale i Higinier conn fom his Seventiath Birthday” dhreerth Century” by. e der Musi (So Unfortunately: no copy of Avellana’s Laberinto or Nava’s Workin thessme volume Juego Filarménico seems to have survived, soit isnot possible 3. In fit, the tris are missing h to siv whether these works had a panicularly Spanish flavour. dhey might be found inthis at Copies of the Naples edition of Haydn's Gioco Filharmonico, Trios” published in "Musical Times (October, 1968). hhowever. are available. If any guitarist wishes to include a 4. Curiously enouy sametabls. possible first performance of a werk by Haydn in their nest Tables used for dice ABCDEFGH on X tes Stick). Marpun also relerred to Kier H_ O'Beiene suggested where ‘940, 340, 969, 152 Dice-Musie ithe Stadler, Haydn and Mozart works al use the music by Stadler, Haydn 2 [4b]22 [iu] 41]ros[ia]u [30 and Mozart ABCDEFGeHW 2 frofrafac] 9 [na] 3 [aa[e fiac| ca [elas nal ot 3 [wr] sahiae|se [reve [eles 4 os [as fsa] 13 [153|55/100] 24) 4 [ee [raales [ina [va| eo |ruelne 5S [mol an [13] es /161] 2 [159] 100) 5 [0 [176 7 | 34/67] 160) 52 [170] 6 |rue! rm [ica] 45 | 90 [97/36 [107 6 [25/3 oolias| refise] 1 [aa] 7 frowlist|a7|ie7| 154] 68 |n8| 90 | 7 [use] a1 |eso| a [roi] rea] as [iss 8 jusz|6s firs] ¢3 [a9 [is3[ay [raz 8 [ue [sss|s7 [rns] 43] 108) 89 [i72] [ins [ee [ul so [o)ee [res] ae. 9 [re #1 [us [aa fant ° a] 42) 156/75 |129] 62 [123 10 [4577/19] 92 [137/38 [isa] 8 ae 87/165) 6t [15] 61/109] 33// te frog! oe | 31 [es] wr 39 173) 78 re [5 |e 10 |103|2e|s7lioe) 5 UD | 35 | ae [seo] 2] 1a ret a |o3H ® ® First eight bars of Haydn’s Gioco Filharmonico (Naples edition) 32. Guitar February 1985 e@Eric Hill Jazz on the Classic Guitar This series is designed for the guitarist who wishes to use a classical technique played on a classic guitar in the expression of the form of music known as jazz. Perhaps you are a guitarist who although able to play besic classical repertoire, e.g. Sor; Villa-Lobos, Tarrega etc, also enjoys listening to jazz guitar playing. Really you would like to play jazz yourself and would like to use your existing classical technique to pursue this aim rather than Jaunch off into the standard plectram-jazz. guitar technique. If this fits how you are, then this new series is for you. ‘This menth’s article continues along the lines established last month; namely exploring solo fingerstyle improvising. Here are four written-out improvisations that are based on the, by now familiar, chord sequence. I've concentrated on the first 19 bars of the sequence as I propose to use the middle 8 bars to subsequently demonstrate some chord substitution possiilities, All the exercises are kept to a simple quaver pattern and exercise 4, having rather limited musical value, is included mainly as a technical exercise I suggest that the initial playing of exercises 1 - 4 should be as written, with the bass notes appearing at two beat thythmic intervals. Played in a swing style, the musiccan sound like jazz However, by altering the placing of these bass notes, the idiom becomes ‘much more authentic. In exercises 5 and 6, I've altered the timing of the bass notes and the preceding improvisation should then be played over these altered basses to give 2 much more rewarding pattern of phrasing Remember that these exercises are intended to get your own improvising ideas moving, fe PoE ‘a 7 tr T 7 SSS Early on in the series I touched on the 12 bar blues and this will form the next chord sequence for improvising over. Ex7 4G maj 7ICTIG maj 7/Dm 7 G7IC maj 7) [mi T/Bmi 7/E7/AT/DG maj 7/D7:/G maj 7/G maj 7 Please learn this sequence in preparation for the next article which will deal with starting to improvise harmonically, ic. oo [p=aa chord substitution. In the meantime, the tonic notes of cach — chord can be played as the bass line for solo improvising. ‘lous. Buy: SALE for Auction ar opie hits 34 Woodhouse Road, Wheatley, Doncastar,S. Vor (0302 48801 Guitar February 1985 23GRANADOS, CUENCA, SANCHIS, ALHAMBRA, GOYA ‘What is it that makes our company indispensable to you if your business is Spanish guitars? Could it be that we stock FORTY EIGHT different ‘models from five top makers ranging from £25 to ‘over £2000? r could it be that nowhere else could you find hand made solid top guitars selling at under £50 to the public? It could well be that picking and choosing the instruments personally enables us to check the quality before importing them. For whetever reason, we have managed to gain the confidence and backing of teachers and Spanish Guitar Centres throughout the land, aimost without ‘exception, As far as accessories are concerned — hardcases, covers, footstools etc — nowhere else will you find better value for your money. Trade onquiri Juan Teljeiro Music Co, Ltd., Alhambra House, ‘5 The Campsbourne, London NB 7PN. Tel: 01-348-9191 IVOR MAIRANTS MUSICENTRE Britai s Leading Guitar Specialists ONE CALL DOES IT ALL! 636 1481 THE ONLY “DIRECT” LINE FOR ALL YOUR ACCESSORY NEEDS: ii you can't callin person then try our BY RETURN WORLD MAIL ORDER SERVICE — Second to none Special orders are our speciality IVOR MAIRANTS MUSICENTRE 86 Rathbone Place, London WIP 1AB Tel 01-636 1481 Men-Fo. $30 - 6.00 San 0305.10 ‘ia SAUL DAY MAIL ORDER SERVICE amex Jaccess Nearest Tube Tottenham Court Road ght 34 Guitar February 1985 ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM and GEORGE GERSHWIN LUIZ BONFA and COLE PORTER ‘THE ENTERTAINER and selected works by SCOTT JOPLIN ‘These excellent records are available at £6.99 each from Masical New Services Lid, Guitar House, Bimport, Shaftesbury, Dorset. A Classic Combination BENJAMIN VERDERY & DADDARIO A recent concert given by guitarlet Benjamin Verdery was teviewed by New York Times ete Raymord Ercison’ Ar Yerdery’ he wrote, has "al te talent and sailtoput min the Ast fark of today's quitaiss.” He has performed to er- Iusiastc ausiencesin Europe. the U.S and Canadaasa solsst 45 wel es pat tthe schrmidiVerdery cua, tye New Music Cor Sen and Musical Elements. A Student of Philipde Femery and Frederic Hand, Wr. Verdeiy has aso partcipaied in master tlaseee given by Loe Brouwer and Alito Diaz. A proponert ot new mucictor the guitar hehasportormed worka wien or Nr by Anthony Newnan andaivin @ranm evade cnficalaeclai. Mt addition. Mr. Verdery has recorded for Opus One Records and Cambridge Records andis on tefaculties ot New York Unversity and Queens College. ‘Most recently no Nas transenbe9 and recorded major works incluangaC.?.€. Bach Concerto, and thas performed a8 featured soll at the 1862 Madeiia Bach Festival S Benjamin Verdory uses DiAdgario Stings exclusively.HUNGARIAN DANCE from Guitar Ballet by Bernard A. Aaron S v fis re show, statelyBe ae saster pace & P EF iad fo 96 Guitar February 1985resgeeede Guitar February 1988.37Images of : * Gimmviovtech wade ameecne, LLAZL superimposed on the rhythm accompaniment that we presented last month. Teardrops By JOHN ZARADIN Bossa Nova C5 3 cs Pat zn ents f 38° Guitar February 1985The next step is often a difficult one for those {instrumentalists Who have been trained to play only by reading score and memorising it Instead of playing the written notes, fo your imagination and feeling, and listen for other ities nd directions suggested by those notes. Think of the process as searching for variations on the original theme, “Tune inro the mood and structure of the original music and then let your own feelings and ideas modify it to produce their own version, I find that this approach is very helpful in endeavouring to understand and learn new music. Bven ifthe aim is an interpretation of the written score, you can really speed up the understanding ofthat score if you see and realise what other possibilities the composer might have used — and did aot In our example tune, “Teardrops”, the chord symbols represent the harmonic structures of the music, and in last month's article we learned which notes were contained in those structures. We shall, cherefore, in the improvisation, use only those notes. We shall, in eflect, modify the melody and its rhythm by playing with the notes of the accompanying chord structures A pianist has a tremendous advantage over the guitarist in this area of playing because he can play and sustain a harmony with one hand and improvise a melody pattern with the other. The guitar player must find the essential notes of the chord and play them with as few fingers as possible in order to give himself some freedom to embellish the chord with the remaining fingers. He must use economic fingerboard shapes. In this particular approach to improvising we need understand ro theory ether than remembering that we are involved only with the notes contained ia the current chord structure, We can, however, change the layout of the chord and/or the octave of any note. Here is an example, with an analysis chord by chord, Play the tune first and then read the notes. Teardrops Bossa Nova Eb? By JOHN ZARADIN; Dm7-5 Gm7 fof FF Em7-5 Av Guitar February 1985. 38Bors 1 & 2 Dm 7. Finger 4 plays C, the 7th of the chord and ‘we omit the 16th notes. Bars 3 & 4 Gm 7, Finger 4 adds on Bb, the 3rd ofthe chord Burs 5 & 6 Dm 7. Using the same idca as in bars 1 & 2 but adding in F, the 3rd ofthe chord. Bar 7 Cm 7, Finger 4 plays Bb, the 7th of the chord and eching the pattern played on Dm 7in bars 1 &2. Bar 8 Eb 7. Stressing Db, the 7th of the chord and emphasizing the key change into Ab. Bar 9 Abmaj 7. Playing the chord as an arpeggio, with G, the “th ofthe chord, placed on top instead of in the midale. Bar 10 Dm 765. Resting on F, the 3ed ofthe chord. Bar 11 Gm 7. Repeating the arpeggio idea from bar 9. Bar 12Gb 7+. Resting on D natural, the “interesting” note of this chord Bar 13 Fm 7. Repeating the pattern from bar 11 and thereby establishing new themstic pattern. Bar 14 E7 +. Repeating the dea from bar 12. New Handsome Binders in stock ny prado cpr ot Garin / 4. giving the magazine full protection {nd oovintgion or eamage, ro Binder pons ha oy page aris tangy made waa caved ope ina eitceded tet Fly ooandin ‘Sin gre praca win te 7— ea Guta gules ve ‘ossed ane made payable 10 ‘Guitar, Guitar House, Bimpor Manuel Contreras Mon-Sat 9.30- 7.00 40 Guitar February 1985 ondien D | SPANISH GUITARS ) Why not join the regulars who always expect to find something special at ‘THE STUDIO? They are never disappointed and neither will you be. 1985 BRINGS EVEN MORE EXCITING INSTRUMENTS Hand made vihuelas by luthier Javier Rojo. Special ebony ‘Double Top’ model from Nuevo en esta plaza — the up and coming young luthier from Madrid, Manuel Caceras, and also Camacho, Dieter Hopf, Vilaplana, Ramirez- ‘Camara’, Marin Montero, Bernabé, Alvarez, Granados, Alhambra, Sanchis, Cuenca, Goya, Carmelo del Valle. SAVE TIME, SAVE MONEY: Visit the shop that really cares and understands the needs of the guitarists! HLP. FACILITIES; ACCESS & VISA CARD ACCEPTED LONDON GUITAR STUDIO 16 JAMES STREET LONDON W1 Bar 15 Em 7b5. Arpeggiating the chord, on an idiomatic rhythm pattern, Bar 16 A7. Stressing the 3d, C., and the root, A, in order to lead back to Dm and the next variation, ‘Now play the piece again using the above embellishment as your basis, Working this way there will be a sense of growth through the music and it will not sound like a set of variations “stuck” together. Iryou have not approached music this way before, do not be discouraged if you do not come up with anything quickly. For you it will be a new technique to learn and you must be ‘content to move step by step. I would suggest, in this case, that you work chord by chord, in sequence. Do not move onto the Second chord until you feel some sense or logic with the first one. Keep listening to the chord and ask yourself what it ‘means to you. Feel what significance that particular group of notes has for you. With a little persistence you will begin to feel well rewarded from your efforts. More nexi month, BRENTWOOD GUITAR STUDIO ‘1 Coptfold Road, Brentwood, Estex (Nr. Multi Storey Car Park) Telephone: 0277-22264 ew nook he ides eect of Soansh Guta Hsee ‘conrsns, RAMInEZ, CUENC eANCING ALAMDRA, 7 ALL LEVELS . “rnty Clee oF Muse, Laedon GRADED ALBUMS 1-4 for GUITAR (DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOME] 1W.Geanon AGSM. Joan EUROPE’S LARGEST STOCK OF 1-493-1157What « stupendous article from your History Editor Matanya Ophee. More strength to his elbow. I praise Guitar’s policy too for not sparing the cloth in providing its readers with not only a good ‘read’ but crediting us with intelligence and maturity. This quality above ‘everything makes Givitar the most important communication, atleast in the English language. Robert Pitcher New Orleans, USA Congratulations on two outstanding features by your two redoubtable correspondents John Duarte and ‘Matanya Ophee. Whilst ‘J.D’s’ article ‘gave everyone foed for thought, I fancy that it will be Matanya Ophee's review that will set the cat among the pigeons over here. Taleng with others hope his ‘comments result in a more equitable, thus worthy event next time around. Pease continue with your policy of revealing yet truthful reporting that has lover the years set Guitar apart from all ‘other magazines. Toronto guitarist (name witheld by request) Guitar ‘84 Regarding thearticle on Toronto by Ophee, all [have to say is that itis strange bow all it takes isa couple of banty roosters pecking each otherto death on a chickenmanure mound to turn Toronto into Alma-Ata and generally lower the level of everything. Next stop: the Fifth ‘Annual Mudge County Grand interplanetary Touch Football, Rutabaga, and Classical Guitar Festival in Powerville, Kansas, way the hell out in the cornrows. (All sorts of uppity furriners and Yankee show-ofls showed up and made lke they was somebody, but the show was stole by Uncle Dud Fenstermaker playing “Eight More Miles to Louisville, the Hometown of My Heart” with his banjo behind his back, All the contestants tied for thitd place and they had to setcle the whole thing with a ‘watermelon eating event, no-hands, arm rasaling, a 3legged race and fast scales contests. G Major, oneoctare; inthe 4th position, with fingering by you-know- who! Gallons of beer was drunk by all, and the high point ofthe final evening ‘was when a bimbo name of Iona Bod got herself arrested when she done the Funky Chicken with very little clothes on while one ofthe city boys played "Recuerdos de 1a Alabama” and she twinled her tassles both ways atthe same time. When the constable's office taken her away she had to sit on Deputy Hunnicut’s lap buck- rnekkind until one of te ladies from the church sociable told him to make her put something on, sohe loaned her his hat All the furriners was disqualified for one damon thing or another, and a good time washed by all and over $300 was raised for the Moose Club's annual charity drive. They sella hell of alot of rutabagas ‘out in Mudge County, sonny, and Don’t you forget it.) Deputy Rufus Snopes County Chicken Inspector Potzerville, Mudge County, Kansas, USA Iisa timely service to music, the guitar in particular, that your exemplary ‘magazine has the courage to publish Matarya Ophee’s review of the recent ‘Toronto festival “Guitar ‘84. As along time resident (17 years) in that city, Tcan ‘nly commend Mr. Ophee for his sstonishing insight into the stete ofthe art when under excessive government control. It is arepor of profound importance to all who cherish such ideals as freedom of expression, and artistic integrity. I would strongly tecommend that any reader who has not yet acquired his or her copy ofthis issue of Guitar (Dee 84) ought to do so. ‘What in fact Mr. Ophee has detected is but the tip of ¢ Canadian iceberg. No nation is poor in artistic potential, but it is unfortunate that in Canada, west of the province of Quebec, there has emerged a nucleus of government backed individuals and “elitist” groups whose search for power and self glorification has, under the guise of “Canadian content” fostered the “official” imposition of mediocrity, gimmickry, and unwanted aristicimposters. With vast sums from unchallenged awards of public funds, these power brokers no longer nced to conceal their contempt for public acclaim, opinion and taste. This 20th century “Canadian Inquisition”, ike organized crime, Nourishes under the potent umbrella of anonymity, and bas every influence to be able to impose the “artistic arrest” of those whose public success they may not wish to acknowledge or tolerate, Itis a phenominon that has already deprived the Canadian publicof many ofits finest ants Iris no consolation that this backward situation is by no means confined to power groups such as the Toronto Guitar Society. One has only to consult Vancouver based CJOR Radio's published documentary by Edward ‘Murphy o realize the enormity of artistic betrayal when Canada Council grants are liberally awarded to “writers” of illiteracy and pornography of the worst imaginable. ‘Asa very necessary mission of rescue, I have myself this very year, had to personally escort out ofthe country Canada’s most publicly acclaimed author of children’s stage musicals. Let us all be thankful 10 Mr, Ophee for reporting the truth, Bernard A. Aaron Cultural Refugee from Canada. Briscol House of Ophee Reviewing the works for the house of Ophecis a tricky business, as Matanya Ophee has an eagle eye for errors, of ‘which he has pointed out two. My review of Padowerz (December ‘84) should not Ihave read that it was composed by ‘Scanetti but that it was dedicated to him, Itappears too, that the uncial alphabet is entirely in place on the cover of the Schulz. I know it dates from the Book of Kells (and probably well before that) but to me it still looks wrong. Mary Criswick Paris. ‘May Ithank all those who are associated with Guitar for producing such ahighly interesting magazine. It is indeed “Britain's No. 1. Classical Guitar monthly”, which I personally will be purchasing throughout 1985 and the years thereafter. Charles Mackie Port Glasgow, land Guitar February 1985 44Curling finger Iwas interested in the leter from ‘Warwick S. Smith of London (Opinion ‘December 1984) because I have « similar problem, except that in my case, the ‘a finger persists in curling up into the palm instead of remaining poised over the first string. ‘This defect developed gradually over, several years (due I think to my being in a job which required me to wield a hammer for long periods) and so I came to rely on the ‘i’ and ‘m' fingers, which were always ready for action. ‘Anyway, about 18 months ago ecided to embark on a rigorous regime of [Practice with the object of getting ‘a’ 10 o its fair share of the work, but progress ‘was painfully slow. However, a few weeks ago I started doing a lot of scales, alternating ‘a’ and ‘m’, always with firm apoyando and giving emphasis tothe offending finger which, ofcourse, (in my ‘case anyway) prevents it from going up into the palm. At about the same time Istarted using a ‘cushion instead ofa footstool, and even in this short time I have nociced a marked improvement, whether due to the cushion ‘or thescales I have no idea, In addition, T have found that a good soaking in hot, soapy water before and after 2 session is, ‘most beneficial. Ido the washing-up at every opportunity. Of course, I'm not back to normal yet, but at least my goal is now in sight. P.F.Bolton Upper Boddington, Northants. Stringing Tan Gammic has missed the main point in the argument about the stringing of the five-course guitar Carré specifies the re-entrant tuning in stafT notation for his solo guitar music on . 27 of Livre de Guitarre(1671). The ote about adding an octave string to the fourth course is at the bottom of the first page of examples illustrating the ‘accompaniment of a figured bass which follows, and quite clearly refers toa low dactave or bowrdon. Because Carre’s instructions are explicit and unequivocal, itis reasonably certain that Corbeita and De Visée meen the same thing when they refer to an octave on the fourth course. Gerard Rebours pointed this eut in his, original letter! Monica Hall London N19 Concert satanic Purcell Room, 6 December 1984. Moreno Torroba: Sonatina in A (Allegro Lindsey-Clark: Seascapes, The Sussex Sonata Claros de Mudarra Koshkin: Suite— The Prince’s Toys na previous occasion, I had one or two slight criticisms to make of features of ‘Mr. L-C’s playing. Iam happy to be able to say that this time, not only were these features absent, but the recital was outstanding. The artist's tone was excellent, varied and beautifully controlled, with intelligencly-applicd dynamics; his technique was impressive, and totaly atthe service of the music; and (part from 2 couple of memory lapses, ‘well covered) his interpretations were ‘exemplary, with one exception. That exception was the first item, the Sonatina — or more properly, the first two ‘movements of it, For some reason he played all the quaver triplesas straight semiquavers, jerking the music completely cut of times this was a pity, ‘because the performance was otherwise fine. The Venezuelan Waltzes (the numbered ‘ones) were beautifully played, clean and rhythmical. It was nice to have al four instead of just the perennial middle two — No. 4 seems hardly ever to be played, perhaps because its trifle strange ‘compared to the others. In No. 2the ‘artist's superior technique allowed him to 42 Guitar February 1985 play the 7th-frt B7 chord in perfect time ‘where many others either low down or leave notes out. Similarly, in No.3 he brought out both she bass and treble parts clearly, where many people have to let, ‘one or the other go hang, (1 know you should be able to take these things for ranted, but the fat is, you can’). ‘And so to the performer's own works. ‘Seascapes isan atmospheric tremolo study (and not just a rip-off of Recuerdos, either) It was beautifully played. The ‘Sussex Sonate (eviewed this month) isa strong work — in fact the fist movement has been set forthe Associated Board’s Grade VIII exam, Tom Hartman's Diferencias juxtapose tonal and twelve-note materials, and are intended as @ hommage ro the radical spirit of Mudarra, The tonal elements are direct quotations, but welve-note methods are used to vary the theme. I thought they worked wel, apart from a direct quotation from Mudarr “Ludovico” Fantasia” which struck me cout of place must admit that when I sew The Prince's Toyson the programme, 1 thought ita very rash inclusion, inviting asit does comparison with the performance of Viadirmie Mikulka, the Aedicatee and one ofthe world’s greatest, virtuosi. These misgivings were not borne out. Ican say without qualification that Mr. L-C’s performance was absolutely magnificent, displaying not only atechnical but an interpretive polish that was quite astonishing. I was especially impressed by the nonchalant expertise with which he pulled offthe ‘many special effets. concur with Ben Verdery (December issue) that what the modern gulia lacks ‘ost is able composer/performers; but Vincent Lindsey-Clark seems fit the bill. In composition his imagination, vocabulary and general musical grasp are well above the average, and he possesses on the evidence of this evening — the technical and interpretive faculties to display the music to full advantage. ‘Moreover, his playing has that elusive ‘quality — punch! congratulate him on this concert, and look forward to the next one. Paul Magnussen Emma Martinez Burgh House (London), 20 December 1984 ‘Narodez: Guirdame las Vacas ‘Tres Diferencias por Otra Parte Mudarra: Fantasia ‘Sor: Folias de Espafia Falla: Homenaje Berkeley: Sonatina Interval Villa-Lotos: Prelude No.2 Etude No. 8 Albéniz: Granada Serilla Ponce: Sonatina Meridional ‘This, the second concert of the London Guitar Studio series, was my first chance tohear Miss Martinez. She displayed several strengths and an evident musicality. The most serious fault was some memory lapses, aggravated by the fact that the artist did not know how to cover them up. (Hardened concert veterans have a host of techniques: e.g. if the lapse is near the beginning of the piece, frown and fiddle with the tuning). Tone, slightly naily ot the outset, improved to very good as the evening progressed. There was a slight tendency to leave over-long pauses berween sections of pieces. ‘The vihuela pieces were played in standard guitar tuning, which in these Particular cases works fairly well. The performer had been adventurous enough to ornament them, as most guitarists do not, Revent scholarly articles by JohnDuarte have caused blame to issue forth ‘on all creatures who (as Miss Martine? did) play from the old (inaccurate) edition of Falla’s Homenaje, or wi follow Gudrdame Las Vacas with the Diferencias without recourse to a capos but in the latter case I must say I fide the shift in tonality, inauthentic though it may be. In any case, Miss Martinez will have earned J.D.'s approval by playing the redoblesin the Fantasia along the strings instead of across them, in proper authentic fashion. The Sonatina was one of the strongest interpretations of the concert, the other being Granada, which was played really beautifully. The other works were also ‘well played except for Sevilia, which was spoilt by a disastrous memory lapse. It ‘was noticeable that the artist's playing dropped several levels with loss of ‘confidence immediately after this, before climbing back ups however, climb back upitdid “The memory lapses mey well be attributable to nervousness, and if so should disappear with increased experience and confidence (plus, of course, a fair amount of hard work). For the rest, consider this concert very ‘promising, Miss Martinez has good tone and clean technique (and a very good tremolo, incidently} but most important, she is clearly a musician. [wish her luck Paul Magnussen Miguel Angel Lejarza Burgh House (London), 16 November 1984 Villa-Lobos: Preludes Popular Brazilian Suite Interval Ponce: Theme, Variations & Finale Garcia de Leone Sonata No. | (frst U.K performance) Rodrigo: 3 Spanish Pieces “This concert wasthe first ofa series presented by the London Guitar Studio. Burgh House isa good venve foran event like this, and hus a pleasant atmosphere. Temust be said atthe outst that this ‘was not an acceptable recital at the professional level, if on no other grounds than the number of memory lapses, ‘which was s0 enormous 2s to be ‘embarrassing. [Pnot due ro under- preparation, this was certainly the worst ‘ase of nerves [have seen, ‘What was the performe’s playing like when memory served? Variable. 1 certainly have no criticism of histone, which was strong. Some of the interpretations were eccentric, but I must say [rather enjoyed the opening Villa- Lobos Prelude No. J, which was played in strict ime a aspeed slightly slower than a Viennese Walta! Nos. 2, 3and 5 followed; then No. 4 was used aca prelude to the Peptdar Brazilian Suite, ‘which tome makes as much senses tuying to strike amatch on a jelly. When he got into the Suite proper, however, ‘Mr. Angel's playing was a its most confident, and much of this was enjoyable; the main failing seemed to be a rather disjointed melody-line, ‘The remainder of the programme followed the variable pattern outlined above, the strongest ofthe remaining, ‘works being (pethaps surprisingly) the Rodrigo pieces. Throughout the programme there was an alarming number of wrong notes (e.. in the Gavote-Choro fiom the Brasilien Suite) apparently caused — since they were repeated — by misreading the score. Mr. Lejarza is certainly not talentless, ‘but he needs to get is act «lot more together than itis now. I look forward to hearing him when he has done so. Paul Magnussen Eliot Fisk ‘Wigmore Hall, 2 December 1984 Frescobaldi: Partte sepra Varia de Balletto Scarlatti: 4 Sonstas Bach: Sonata in C major, BWV1005, (Adagio — Fugue — Largo — Allegro) Interval Henze: Drei Tentos aus *Kammermusik? Villa-Lobos: Cadenea from Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, 12 Etudes Mr. Fisk has the reputation of being one of the world’s greatest technicians, and after this evening itis easy tosee why liked the format of the programme, with its :wo distinet periods rather than the usual ragbag. It was nice too to have something from Frescobaldi other than La Frescobaldi. However, 1 di not find the first half very lovable. The tempi were often too fist, the playing rather ‘mechanical, and the tone hard and forced. Nor am I ecstatic about all the artist's transcriptions. His facility enables him 10 present works others could not attempr. but there isa limit tohow much anyone ‘an cram on to one guitar, and the necessity of compressing the range of the voices can make harpsichord pieces sound, very muddy. For example, K.159 (L104) has been recorded at breakneck speed by the Abreus; Mr. Fisk's offering was very carly as fast (a feat in itself), but one uitar is just not enough, However, discussing the first half at the interval with other journalists and musicians, I found that mest of them liked it better than T had. It was generally agiced that, in spite of the speed ofthe playing, the performer had never lost control, or allowed the momentum to flag. Interestingly, (and perhaps significantly), the guitarists seemed more impressed than the other In part two Mr. Fisk’s tone improved tremendously. He used a wide range intelligently and musically, The Henze pieces were as well played as I haye heard, but the pies de resistance were the Villa-Lobos works. Detaching the cadenza from the Concerta seemed prima faciaa feeble excuse for technical display, but the performer made a convincing case for using it asa prelude tothe Etudes, ond it worked very well. In fact, taking the Cadenza and the Studies as a whole, | have seldom seen such a cour de force in every respect of tone, technique and interpretation — staggering is not too strong 2 word (and acolleague counted only two instances of string-whistle in an oeuvre notorious as Squeak City). At the tend the audience went wild, as well it might. The encores were excellent t90, Granado's Spanish Dance No. 10(played in G, the Llober transcription I think) and Turina’s Fandanguillo showing a firm grasp of idiom. Sagreras’s £i Coltbri (The ‘Hurnming-bird) was played the wey it should be —at the speed of & rocket. ‘The marked improvement in the latter part of the performance leads me 10 wonder if the early deficiencies were due to tension; I should like to hear the artist play these works on another occasion. Teannot imagine more commanding performances than those in the second half. [have not yet joined the Eliot Fisk Fan Club, but you may now number me among the converted — well, pretty: ‘much, anyway. Paul Magnussen I'm sure Paul won't be offended by my commenting that rocket-like behaviour is hardly the inspiration with which to approach this piece inspired asit was by the altemating darting & hovering of this ‘beautiful but gentle bird — Fe. Evangelos and Liza ‘Wigmore Hall, 25 November 1984 Scheidler: Sonate in D maior. Paganini: Sonata Concertante. Handel: Chaconne in G Interval John Duarte: Greek Suite Op. 39. Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Fuga Elegiaca (Co the memory of Ida Presti) Pierre Petit: Tarantella Evafgelos and Liza began their day with, a BBC recording, not exactly a relaxing prelude toa Wigmore Hall recital, and by the time they arrived on stage they seemed tired. This was reflected in their performance in the first half. ‘The Scheidler Sonats, original guitar and violin, is well known uitar-duo form. It is alight but charming work and here received a fluent performance, The Paganini sonata is a ‘more serious work (but only just) than the ‘Scheidler, which only really impressed in the spirited last movement. The Handel Chaconne began in a blaze of ‘ornamentation and double-dotting but from this impressive beginning the variations seemed to wander and at one stage needed a restart. Inthe second half some of the seriousness seemed ro have lifted and Join Duarte’s Greek Suite, written for the Guitar February 1985 43duo in 1968, was given.a fuent and ‘evocative reading, as was the Fuga Eligiaca by Tedesco. The recital ended with Pierre Petit’s Tarantella and although the tempo was pulled and Pushed a litle the virtuosity needed for its performance was not missing. The first movement of the Rodrigo Tonadilla was the encore. One feels that this recital ‘was unrepresentative of what this duo can do. Ifthe music became boring it was as though the performers themselves were bored. Their repertoire is very much influenced by Presti/Lagoye and I would look forward to a recital where we heard their own material Michael Edmonds ‘David Storobin David Starobin (guitar) Patrick Mason (baritone) Wigmore Hall, 4 November Norgard: Returns (1976) Northcott: Fantasia for Guitar (1982) Kolb: Three Lullabies (1980) Carter: Changes (1983) Interval Babiu: Composition for Guitar (1984) Lennon: Another’s Fandango (1981) Sondheim: Sunday Song Set (1984) Looking over the programme notes, it ‘was obvious that this was going to bean eventful recital; with every piece composed within the last decade, it was the kind of concert that some of us frequently dream about. All the works hhad something original to offer; weak spots were minimal and there was n0 padding. In retrospect, it seems hard to believe that five and e half years have lapsed since David Starobin's est Wigmore Hall appearance. Those who ‘were present will remember that his debut programme was entirely 20th century music, with works by William Bland, Barbara Kolb, Tod Machover, ‘Meyer Kupperman, Maxwell Davies, Igor Stravinsky and ‘Toru Takemitsu, 4M Guitar February 1088 Now, after a time delay that has been far too long, he brought us another exciting programme of contemporary music, all played with conviction, strengih and ‘reat virtuosity. Asan eager disciple of 20th century music, he certainly deserves ‘amention in the Guinness book of musical records, I'm sure that few other guitarists can claim to have over 125 new works under their belt. Most of them ce be heard on his 30 or more albums. The concert opened with a work by the Danish composer Per Norgard. After studying with Vagn Holmboe and Nadia Roulanger, he became one of a number of composers who, in the 1970's, came under the spell ofthe American minimalist movement, Norgard includes clements of this influence but with snatches of contrasting melody appearing, ‘more frequently among the shythmic patterns. The layers of sound were also ‘modified by both tempo and dynamics, As yet, Bayan Northcott probably remains better known as the principal music critic of the Sunday Telegraph, His Fantasia for Guitar work is well structured and used a variety of guitar sounds; fast moving, and with many lyrical and dramatic moments. At climatic points widely spaced intervals, ‘moved to denser harmonies. Naturally, the Tiree Lullabies composed by Barbera Kolb asa birthday cribute to her Godson, Robert Joseph Starobin, were of a less intense nature; its lines, within the more active central movement, were effectively worked against an inverted passacaglia, ‘hile the gentler outer movernents provided « nice symmetrical quality to the work, giving it the form of an arc ‘Apart from introducing a novel effect, the final lullaby contained 2 hummed vocal line that also revealed the tone row used in the work. Originally intended for the guitarist, it was added here by the baritone Patrick Mason, Each lullaby took its name from a quotation taken from Wallace Steven's ‘Anecdote of the Prince of the Peacocks.” ‘The works by Elliow Carter and Milton ‘Babbitt were commissioned by David ‘Starobin and are both important additions to the guitar’s repertory. (Parts of Carter's work were created in collaboration with the guitarist. In Babbitt’s piece, no compromises were made, leaving the performer with a number of technical difficulties to conquer.) Career is generally accepted as one of America’s foremost composers; particularly in the sphere of chamber music, where his string quarcets are essential listening. Among the elements incorporated in Changes, some owed their ‘origin to the patterns made by bell ringers. The dramatic chordal opening. ‘guaranteed full attention. Here, the composer, sculptor-like, made his first bold strokes in a monumental work. Some passages of a more lyrical nature came as tension was released in the quieter sections, Babbitt’s work, Conaposition for Guitar, was equally complex, using six part polyphony, Some sounds, using the pointilliste technique, projected right ut, others faded into the distance, 30 that several planes of sound were audible a the same time, establishing the effect ofa vast perspective. Eschewing Iberian clichés, John Anthony Lennon evoked clever images in his vigorous, syncopated Another's Fandango. A parallel could be drawn by the composer transposing his visual ccubist-inspired ideas to create interesting illusions. ‘The recital concluded with agroup of songs from Stephen Sondheim's new musical, Sunday in the Park. Hore was ‘Sondheim looking fora new image. Clever and witty, excellently sung (and enacted) by Patrick Mason, [felt they almost succesded — they probably make ‘more impact in their orchestrated form. ‘Asan encore, Schubert's Wiegenlied provided a sharp contrast — even down to the use ofa small period guitar. With so much unfamiliar music on the programme, one would have expected a small audience toattend, and it was noticeable that many ofthe faces one ‘usually sees were not present. But it was, ‘good to see alarge crowd from other spheres of music. H.deC. Carlos Bone guitar Keele University 19th November. 1984 Four Renaissance Pieces from Spain, by Narvaez, Mudra, and Sanz Villa-Lobos, Preludes Nos. } and 2 Avr. Borell, Two Traditional Pieses from Argentina Ginastera, Sonata Op. 47 Interval Arr, Bonell, Four Spanish Folk Tunes Ponce, Sonatina Meridional bon, Study No. 11 Pujol, Tangos Guajiras Carlos Bonell was heard by a near- capacity audience in this medium-sized auitorium, This was in contrast to the previous guitar concert there, when Viadimir Mikulka with e more interesting programme, wes heard by about tw« thirds ofthe number of people, Notable by ther presence at this concert were the rather conservative subscription ticket holders. It would seem tha the musical world is ready fora programme containing unfomili works 20 long ast has a latin lavour (he concerts title was Conquerorsand Colonists: Guitar Music from Spain and South America), and is played by « wel-known performer. My belief was that most ofthe audience enjoyed the concer, as di I. The impression, gained from gramophone recordings and broadeass, that CarlosBonell’s interpretative skill has improved considerably over the last three or four years, was confirmed (with the exception of the Villa-Lobos Preludes, which sounded as if they were being played on auto pilo’). The main criticism of the concert as a whole was that the tone sounded scratchy throughout, even though Borell’s right hand seemed to be doing all the right things. Whether this resulted from strings, nails, or guitar (or ‘my ears) it was not clear. Another problem came from the guitar's low action, and too much fret buzz was allowed to occur. This ruined the performance of the Scherzo of Ginastera’s ‘Sonata. The Sonaia was the highlight of the concert, but even $0, felt that Carlos Bonell had not achieved his definitive interpretation, and that only the Finale ‘made the composition stand out from much music composed in a similar style but which is rarely performed, Since publishing and recording his. arrangements of the Spanish folk tunes, Carlos Bonell has added additional harmonisation and embellishments, and he demonstrated how rather mundane works can be turned into artistic compositions of performance standard ‘The longand tiring programme was probably responsible for the relatively \Wweak performance of the Pujol compositions. A change of instrument (chatango) for the encore of a Bolivian traditional piece successfully capped the concert, The concert was recorded by BEC3 ‘using a single psir of microphones (AKG C411’s in Blumlein configuration) at a distance of about 5m, This s a rather greater distance than the BBC usually SOR: 12 Seguidillas. Andantino Op. 2/3 MARTIN Y SOLER: Te aria, eight songs. Teresa Berganza (mezzo-soprano), José Migue! Moreno (Romantic guitar) Philips 411 030-1 ‘The Madrid-born mezzo-soprano Teresa Berganza hes earned an international ‘reputation since her debut in 1955; sheis ‘well known for her portrayal of operatic roles and her interpretations of Lieder, as well as for her interest in Spanish folk ‘music. Here she is accompanied by José ‘Miguel Moreno, playing a ‘Romantic’ seem to use for guitar recitals, and “obviated the need for athird audience reaction microphone. I will be interested to hear the results, Graham Pick Maggie Cole (harpsichord and lute: harpsichord) and Nigel North (beroque tute) Wigmore Hall, Sunday 2nd December 1984 This was the first in a series of six concerts to be given at the Wigmore Hell between now and next April, featuring the complete lute music of J.S.Bach, some oft played on the lute and some on the Iute-harpsichord, As the handbills proclaimed ‘first appearance in Britain of an authentic lnte-harpsichord’, one was led to speculate: have we been hearing non-authentic Iute-harpsichords allthis time? or have they been appearing all round the world but never yet inthis sceptered isle? But no, it seems thet no onc has mage one yet because none have survived to be copied. Bach is presumed tohave owned two Lauten-Werk and contemporary descriptions lead one to believe that much ofhis ‘lute? music should be played on this instrument. AA good friend of mine used to say that the lute was fine until it started to grow too many extra strings; then they had to put a keyboard on the end of it and cal it harpsichord, The Laxter-Werk i just such an instrument, a gut strung spinet with a single extra rank of brass strings which can be added es an additional effect, and contemporary listeners claimed that it sounded just like a tute. Sadly the instrument built for this ‘ccasion sounded like a mediocre guitar — which Tassume to be of pre- ‘Torres origin,a conclusion apparently confirmed by the lightness of sound of the ingtrument. ‘The Seguidilla of Sor were rediscovered by Brian Jeflery some ten. ‘years ago. Martin y Soler, composer of the eight Italian-style canzonettas, and not to be confused with Scarlaiti’s disciple Antonio Soler, is less well known his life merits at least brief description. He began his career in ‘Madrid, as @ composer of opera, before ‘travelling to Italy and thence to Vienna, ‘where he enjoyed his greatest successes; his later years were spent as Court ‘composer to Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg. He is best remembered for his opera Una cosa rara, first produced in 1786 in Vienna, irom which the two arias, Consola le pene and Dolce mi parve di are taken. ‘Both artists give stylish and polished performances; Teresa Berganza brings 10 the songs all the subtlety of tone and. variety of colour that the Spanish language possesses. By contrast, the harpsichord with a not very good lute stopseither it was voiced t00 heavily, or needed a radically different acoustic, or needed to go back to the drawing board, “Maggie Cole gave an interesting account of the fe suite E minor —and certainly one must agree with Nigel North’s observation that the first and last movements can be faster and more brilliant on a keyboard than on alute; but having heard it on a harpsichord a while ago (very nice 100) and knowing that Nigel has recorded it recently, I would say le’s not have it on the Lauten- Werk ‘What was immediately apparent when hearing Nigel North play the lute (a noble rendering of Weiss’ Sonata in G,the Fantasia in C minor, and Bach prelude and fugue BWV 999 and 1000) was that a player of his high calibre can callon avast range of tonal subtilty which wil ‘outshine the inflexible tone of the Lauten- Werk any day of the lauren week, To be fair to Maggie Cole she played with verve and feeling on the harpsichord in Bach's ralian Concerto and the bulk of her playing in the next five concerts will be n thet instrument, So do go and hear some more in the series if you can, particularly for what promises tobe some fine lute playing. ‘Onsseting that the final item was a duo by Kropfzans for lute and lue- harpsichord a member ofthe audience remarked ‘oh tha: must be the lollipop at the end’ let the harpsichord and lute be ‘your cordon blew cuisine, let the Lauien- Werk cemain alollipop Ian Gammie IKalian songs, interesting though they are, seem more lyrical and less varied. There is a recording of six ofthe Seguidillas by the Dutch tenor Arjan Blanken, with Pieter van der Staak (First Recordings (6814 267). Apart from the obvious differences, there is no comparison with, the authentic Spanish feel that Berganza is able ro bring to the music. Her rich tone, expressive delivery and good control represent a merging of the drama of the opera and the intimacy of the salon. ‘Moreno’s playing is very sensitive to her interpretation; he follows her well and altogether they set some fast tempos, which, as we are concerned with records (forgive che pun), reduce the length of ‘some of the songs by about one-third as ‘compared with the Dutch recording. ‘Some of the songsare transposed down to suit Berganaa’s rich voice and new literal translations by Lionel Salter are provided, The digital recording is well- balanced, though the dry sound of the guitar stays in the background, shifting the listener's incerest to the singer — ‘which, in this case, is well justified. The Guar Bebrnans 1985 45recording is highly recommended for those who like full-bodied singing, mixed with delicate guitar playing, two opposing, but surprisingly complementary, sounds. ‘Sandra Hambleton PONCE Concirto de Ser CHAVEZ Sorabande for Strings SOLER (arr, Halifter) Three Sonaras Alfonso Moreno (guitar), Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico/Enrique Batiz HM Greensleeve ESD 1651051 “This is quite an enterprising dis, one side devoted to Ponce’s Guitar Concerto the other to lesser rover (a least ro me) works for orchestra. Tae Concierto del Sur as established itself as one of the best of its genre and, I ‘must say, it continues fo grow on me. Alfonso Morena is mere than a match for itechnically, giving ita virtuoso ‘treatment. However, the action on his gitar seems tome to bea hit onthe low side, which result in et atte for muck ofthe time; [found it quit distracting. ‘He is a persuasive player though, and sivess committed performance. The onductor keeps the orchestra very well together and always ateative wo the soloist, The woodwind pars especially stand out Carlos Chaves (1889-1978) was born in [Mexico and is best known to guitarists for his Three Pisces, The Sarabande recorded here is from a ballet entitled “The Daughter of Colchis" ater changed te “Dark Meadow", The music itself ich and noblesounding, ‘exquisitely melodic, unlike other works Thave heard by the composer — very romantic infact. “The three Sonatas by Soler are arrangements by Rodolfo Halffter( 1900) of three keyboard pieces. Again, they oe from a ballet, thistime entitled ""Tonantsintla”, promered ia 1951.1 must say they work very well They have infectious, dance-like quality to them. “The orchestra plays wel throughout and the recording is clear and open. A ‘worthwhile ecord, a good performance of the Ponce plus the bonus of lesser Inown novelties by Chaver and Soler. Phillip M. Thorne BACH: himention No. 8, BWV 779. JOHN JOHNSON: La Vecchia Pavane ‘and Gattiard, CARULLI: Nocturnede ‘Salon Op. 227. FAURE: Romance sans paroles Op. 178, PETIT: Taramtlle. MARIO GANGI: Suite spagnola. DELSSOLIN: Romarica Op. 62/1 CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO: Prefude and Fugue in.E Op. 1994. HANDEL: The arrival of the Queen of Skeba. Robin Hill, Peter Witschincky (guitars) Hyperion A. 65113 Let it be stid immediately that whatever this duo may lack it is mor technique this, 46 Guitar February 1985 they have in abundance. Their tone is on the whole clear and well varied, if sometimes rather harsh oa the first string, Co-ordination is, with few and small «exceptions, admirable. In short, they are well equipped with the tools of their trade and its nice to find an English duo of which this may be said. Their musical face is also well polished, though with some patches in need of attention, Technique is 2 two-edged sword on which one may cut oneself. Thus, though played as cleanly asa whistle, the Bach Jncention gabbles, about 10% above the speed that harpsichordists (and others) find appropriate, and the Quezn of Sheba arrives with undue hast, tripping along about 15% faster than early-music people find appropriately dignified, the speeds ‘owing mare to “because we can’ than to “because we should’, Whether the royal lady's arrival is something that two suitars should be ennouncing is severely ‘open to question; the medium lacks neither original works nor more suitable material for arrangement, Some other items also give a harried impression, seeming to be edged up a notch in pursuit ‘of technical brilliance, the Jobnson and Patt for instance, che latter losing a litte ofits amiability in the process, The Johnson is cleanly articulated and itylistically correct in its avoidance of slurs, but any chance of feeling or conveying the inequality that arises naturally from athumb/finger alternation inthe sight hand disappears in the high- speed chattering. ‘The Mendelssohn and Feuré, both very winsomely played, makea pleasant change from the ritual Spanishry, the arrangements of piano music by Granados and Albéniz in most cases, and indeed there isn'ta Spanish composer within earshot — unusual in a programme cof nine items. We de however have the ‘Spanish pastiche of an Italian guitarist/eomposer, Mario Gangi, ‘transcribed by’ Hill and Wiltschinsky, the sort of thing that livens up concerts in their closing stages; no harm in an Ttalian trying his band at writing ‘Spanish’ msuic — most others have done likewise. In case you may, quite understandably, be ‘wonlering of what “ranscription’ might consist in bringing to 1wo guitars a guicar duet written by a guitarist itis explained in the sleevenote: the score is adjusted to sive the two guitars a mere equal share of the cake, and some passages in single notes are reinforced with octaves. This is ‘of course not ‘transcription’ at all it is revision. The terms ‘arrange ‘transcribed, ‘revised’ and ‘edited! are frequently applied with litte or no understanding of what they imply. ‘Though springing no musical suprise, the Caralli Nocturne de salon (the tite tells its ‘own tale) suggests that duos in vearch of repertoire ofthat period might do well to look in FC's direction asa relief ftom the ‘over-used items of Sor and Giuliani. The Castelnuovo-Tedesco pairing comes off well, though again a little shor: in charm, On the whole it is avery creditable debut recording, with an all-round level ‘of competence that augurs well for the fiature; it isa young men’s record, 2 celebration of technique (sometimes at the expense of the music) and hil spirits. In the natural course of events they should come to accept and welcome 4 more leisurely approach to some things, sgiving time to savour the musics they may too replace many of their heavy accents with agogic ones eg. in the Bach, written for an instrument that was not capable of the kind of accent they use. Its 10 everyone's advantage that their disc was ‘made by a company that knows very well how to record the guitar. John Duarte BOCCHERINI: Guitar Quintets — No. Lin D minor, GA45, No. 2in E, C446. Daniel Benk6 (guitar), Eder Quartet ‘Telefunken LC 0366 Daniel Benké is best known asa lutenist, 1a co-editor ofthe complete works of Balint Bakfark and, to those attending the Lute Society summer schools of more thon a decade ago, an entertaining and extrovert personality whose more ‘popular’ sie is reflected in a varity of | 5s. Here he appears a a classic guitarist, which is ite surprise since he hasalso edited a number of publications in recent years. Bocsherini clearly had « reasonable working, knowledge ofthe guitar but, whatever his opinion of it may have been, he did not seem to hold the abilities of the paying dedicatce of the Quintets, the Marquis de Benavente, in roo high regard — to judge by the content of these two examples. For most ofthe time the guitar is confined to the customary patterns of accompaniment, and when itis entrusted with a melodic line itis frequently doubled by one of the bowed strings; there are a few moments of glory for the guitarist but they arebrief and ‘unspectacular, Being spectacular is of course not essential in chamber music, ‘but sharing the music zrourd little more equitably would have been a reasonable thing to hope for — and one that others, not least Giuliani, would have seen to! No doubr, however, the Marquis was happy to have somte part in the proceedings. What we have are very amiable, gracious little chamber works, originally written with no thought ofthe guitar (hich is grafted into them) and expressive of Boccherini’s modest but ‘worthy status in that field at large. The Quintets are integrally recorded by Pepe Romero with the ASMF Chamber Ensemble (Philips 6768 268 -3 discs) but if you want No. 1 and 2 alone there is no other way of having them. Benk6 does ¢very respectable job, producing a nicely rounded sound and resisting the temptation to overplay his few solo passages. The Quartet maintains a ‘warmth of sound, save in a few odd spots ‘where the first violinis’s E string grates a little and, aided by the recorded acoustic and good balance, retains the intimacy that brings to mind the definition of chamber music as ‘the music of friends’. Asa lover of chamber music you should not be disappointed in this recording; if you come to it as a ‘guitarist’ you may be, but it will bein the work, and not in the performance, which will be the cause. Finally: the numbering (I and 2) of the Quintets corresponds with the order of the Gérard catalogue, not with that of three of the quintets in the dubious edition of Heinrich Albert. Few works in the guitar's repertory have given rise to ‘more confsion than these Quintets. ‘Those interested in the difference between fact and fiction are recommended to read Matanya Ophee’s ‘monograph *Boccherini’s Guicar Quintets ~ New evidence’ (Editions Ozphée, 1981), akind of musicological who-dunit. John Duarte DANCES FOR GUITAR BARRIOS: Waltzes — No. 3, Op. 8/4 ‘Fula Frida’. RODRIGO: Fandango. LAURO: El Marabino. Waltz No. 3. arr LAURO: Sei: por derecho. ALFREDO VIANNA: Cochichando. SAVIO: Batwcada. TURINA: Fandanguillo GRANADOS: Danza espafola No. 5. CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO: Tarantella. Sharoa Isbin Pro Arte digital PAD 191 ‘Album ttles such as‘. for guitar’ or ‘guitar music’ are often misleading, ax here, embracing some music that wasn't ‘written forthe guitar at all. The Grenades, arranged by Llobet, and the anna, arranged by Carlos Barbosa- Lima, are those in question in this recording. Stil, I suppose, it informs the potential customer who reads only the tte thatthe instrument used is a guitar, ‘The trilingual sleevenote, by Ms Isbin herself, omits two interesting pieces of information: Lauro’s Waitz No. 3 (‘Vals Griole’} carries the name of his daughter Natalia, and Seis por derechois not a composition of Lauro’s but an arrangement. Seis por derecho is a popular ground for extemporisation and ad ioc performance, its minor key counterpart being Pajarili. Worth noxing, too, that the Venezuelan ‘vels’has nothing to do with the European waltz! ‘Ms Isbin, clearly one of the best players around today, plays with abounding confidence in her technical freedom, never leaving her intentions in doubt. In her earlier years she had strongly romantic leanings, now considerably abated since her devotion to Bach's causes residual traces remain however. Romantic dwellings on some notes are not entizely oat of order in dance music ‘but when they result inthe interruption of the continuing pulse, athing that happens quite often in several items, they become irritating. When they are imposed on any but the slowest of pieces of Venezuelan dance music they are quite out of place — time-bendings are to be absorbed without breaking the through-going pulses Seis por derecho for instance, is played with great vitality but repeatedly loses momentum and drive in this way. A penchant for spreading out the final chord also reduces the crisp impact ofa few endings, notably that of Rodrigo's Fandango. Energy also reduces the crispness of Savio’s litle Barucada — ‘compare this recording with John Mills’ (Concert) performances of the same piece ifyou doa’t get my point. ‘Most of the music is familiar, indeed there are alternative recordings ofall but the Savio and Vianna, another permutation that is bound to overlap with other discs on many people’s shelves. The programme peg of ‘dance’ is not « new ‘one but it isa good ones it also gives the ‘opportunity to introduce more fresh repertory that has not already been cross- sectioned under some other collective title, onea player of Ms. Isbin’s ability should make easily possible. Despite these reservations it is adise that will sit very happily on many turntables. There is great energy and animation in the playing, but Icould have wished for more lightness — of attack and spirit —in line with the ‘dance’ nature of the music. The recorded sound is clean and vivid but the digital process is not always kinda fairly aggressive sound is occasionally given a hard, unsympathetic edge. John Duarte Music Reviews ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SONGS arr. for guitar by Grant Gustafsones. by Dieter Kreidler Schoet ED 7140. £2.70. Thisis a book of traditional English and American songs, intended as supplementary practice for those following Grant Gustafoon’s elementary learning steps, Two Port Playing ‘There are 19songs, many of them nursery rhymes, old chestnuts like Mary had a Little Lamb, and Old MacDonald. Asits main function isas part of complete learning system, whether this book will prove popular by itself, depends on both teacher and pupil liking ‘the songs. “The notation is clear and well aid out. Keys used for the songs include D, Aand E major, and some Tard IT positions are marked. Chord names are written above the stave, and full exts appear at the beginning ofthe book. ‘This material is obviously aimed at young players — the editor doesn’t ‘specify what age-group. The melody is always at the top, and the writing is confined to two parts. The bass notes are a mixture of fretted and unfieted strings, an the arrangements, although adequate, are uninspired. Inthe key of C we have the unpopular stretch forsmall hands, across the strings for the roct note of the tonic and dominant chord Tcaa’t help feeling that by the time the carly learner has enough facility play these arrangements, he will have ‘outgrown the material, Printed in Germany, and probably aimed atthe home market, Ithink this book's appeal is limited. Too hard for the average early learner, and not sophisticated enough for ‘alder children. Sandra Hambleton RHYTHMEN OP.7 by Gerhard Sched! Doblinger 05929. £3.10 FANTASIE OP.12 by Gerhard Sched! Doblinger 05928. £2.95 Both these works are dedicated to Martin Rennert, who gave the first performances; he has also fingered them and written an informative introduction Rhythmen was composed in 1980 and is intended to correspond with the traditional suite, The usual dances are substituted with a blues, tango and rock, contrasted with shor, linking sections, Pracludium, Blues, Tango, Intermezzo, Intermezzo Il, Rock and Posiludiun. The order of the movements in the score is altered to facilitate page turns. The music itgeif's not as light asthe tte suggests in factitis quite modern in style, being mildly dissonant, Throughout, the ‘musical ideas are clear and often quite ingenious. However, interesting although itis, it will require a fair amount of preparation. Although technically not difficult, I can’t see many British players performing it Fantasie was written in 1976and. requires the sixth string to be retuned to G, the reasons being to alter the sound potential, and as a solution to fingering problems. The work isin five main sections, Quasi Resitarivo, Allegre, Quasi Recitativo, Allegroand Adagio. As with Guitar February 195. 47Principal Michael Watson) NS SPANISH GUITAR CENTRE uitar specialists since 1954, Presont stock includes Alvarez Astutias, Camps, Cuenca. Contreras, Manaing, MeNel, Pardo, Quiles. Ramirez. Roberis. Rodrigues, Sanchis, RE, Spain Tatas, Vilaplana, MAIL ORDER SERVICE FOR MUSIC (inc, ALL ASSOCIATED BOARD EXAM PIECES). STRINGS (ine. Pyramid lute strings and 10 string sets) & ACCESSORIES. Send 20p in stamps for a fully detailed list. Professional clesscal flamenco tition, Spanish Guitar Centre 2 Elton Road. Bristol BS7 8DA (0272-47256) Guitar Trio Series D. Searlatt Sonata KB7 £425 C. Debussy Petite Piece £3.00 G.Faure Fugue in A minor £450 G. Faure Fugue in E minor £4.00 A Soler Sonata no. 7 £5.00 A Vivaldi Concerto Grosso RVS22 «£1250 C Debussy Golliwogs Cakewalk £5.00 P. Philips Chromatic Pavan £025 P.Philips Gallia to Chromatic Pavan £4.00 es ince p56 Embercourt Publications BARCLAYCARD ACCESS “oon tne CLASSICAL GUITAR DUETS JAZZ GUITAR WORKSHOPS For Solo Guitar A collection of workshops by Adrian Ingram [Adrian ingram’s ‘Play Along’ series is one of the most enjoyable aids to sultar playing since the guitar seit! Withthe book and recorcing, you fan not only isien to how the duetsshould be played overall, but ou ‘an choose to play either guitar part along with the recording using a stereo record/casette plier. improve your playing, counting and sight reading, and boost your confidence in duet and ensemble playing. Great tun! Idealfor 1st year Ideal for Ind year Ideal for 3d year tars ar tara, Simple traded pieces * alayed owl. duets Be ducts duct Mapuitar pars) (@gultarpary —” (e2guitar pars) Scarborough Far: Greensleeves; Gymnopedie’: Ish Bobby shatoe:——DrunkenSallor; Washerwomen Siyeboatsong: Golden Slumber; La fosignol; Mult ten, Kine Sonatinas; KotnerSonias AuCuirdels ne; dances Afawunes: Sor Melodies Tati theme, Dplecesby dian” Card) Duetsand fevera pieces by andmanymore.— manymore Adtan ind ry nore Book: £1.65 Book: £385 Book: £3.95 Cassette: £183 Gasette: £353 Record: £353 Book 1 + Roman Numbered System 4 The I-V-! progression $ Improvisation (diatonic) % Modes & Modal Improvsation % Chromatic Seales 4 Modes &theIl-V- progression Book 2 4 BLUES the basics $ Intioduction to voice leading + Useful voice leading progressions + Minor chord voice leading + Pedals, + Arpeggios with extensions + Arpeggios and the COMMON. JAZZBOOKS: £2.35 each TONE Technique JAZZ & ROCK GUITAR PICTURES (12" 16") ‘collection of 12arge,fllcolour pictures of arevinragerocka ats, Framed and covered with fea gas, they willblend beautifully with any decor inthe home, office receplon or workplace. 1960 Les Paul Standard Sunburst 1957 Les Peul Junior 1961 Bemey Keel 1950 tes Peul Special 1961 Gibson £5 350 1958 Gibson E5335 Dot Neck 1960 Gibson LSC Pete site which gut equied £2.73 each (+£1.25 pepper onder) Cheques & P.O made payable to DOMINO, 70 Man End, Kings Norton, Birmingham. (Overseas readers please £1 par item for p&p Ballend and Normal or Hard Tension sttings available individually or in sets RANA [BRIGHTON BNA 1PF 48 Guitar February 1985, CARLOS BONELL ONE DAY CLASSES AND MASTERCLASS FEBRUARY — APRIL 1985 The classes willrun onthe 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the ‘month staring on February 3th The 2nd Saturday will be reserved for players of intermediate standard and the ath Saturday will be a masterclass for advanced players only The development of fuent sight-reading and memonssing willbe aspecial feature of al the classes, Duos, riosard mixed ensemblesare also welcome, The classoe villrun irom 10am to Spm. Each lacs will ce £18 00fer players ancl £7.80 for audltora pricsinelude lunch and refreshments) Special ubsoripiion rates onraquast, Flease apply to: Pinuccia Rossettl, 60 Burghley Road, London NWS, Tel. 257 8988 gir brief details af your siandard of playing end which classes you wishtoatiend Auditors welcome toal ciasses, Please enclose ‘cheque /postal order payable foP. Rossel. The classes vill be held atthe above addressthe other work, itis well written for the guitar and is musically very interesting, employing 2 bass ostinato. Inthe siow ‘music the style is improvisetory in nature ‘whilst, in the faster passages, incessant rhythms and expertly worked-out fugal writing contrast nicely. All the themes clearly evolve throughout the piece. Once again, an interesting piece which will require (and probably reward) a fair amount of work. As with all modern works, each player will have histher own set of criteria, Phillip M. Thorne VENETIAN NAXOS for guitar by Tilo ‘Medek ‘Mosek 5253, £5.10. ‘This work was inspired by the compeser's stay at Castro in Naxos, an island taken by Venice in 1207, establishing a Duchy there. In his foreword the composer outlines some of ‘Naxos’ curious history, the architecture, views over the sea and the general ethos of the place. “The work is well writen for the guitar, the thematic material feeling very natural con the fingerboard. The opening figure is developed and built upon interestingly ‘enough in the opening section. Contrasting episodes intersperse recurrences of the opening thematic material liked this work. It is both original and ‘guitaristic and will repay the effort ceded 10 prepare it. The fingering, by Reinbert Evers, who gave the first performance, is well conceived. One final point, the printing is excellent, as is the quality of the paper. Phillip M. Thorne AUTUMN SEQUENCE OP.52 for guitar and harpsichord by Bernard Stevens Berben, £4.50 New works for guitar and harpsichord are always of interest to me; [find the combination a surprisingly satisfying one in which to take part. Autumn Sequence was written by the Ite Bernard Stevens for Raymond Burley and Stephen Bell, who have done so much to create decent repertoire — and a good job they've made ofit. I is well written for both instruments, the guitar part not overfull with chords, the writing basically singleine, ‘The composer has been very careful not tooverpower the guitar, providing chordal accompaniment to the guitar's long melodic lines, solo cadenzatype passages for guitar, and imitative, answering phrases between the two instruments. ‘Allin all, well-written work, modern but very accessible and a valuable addition to the repertoire. The price Includes a full score and a separate guitar part. The fingering, by Ray Burley, i, as ‘you would expect, sensible and realistic. Phillip M. Thorne HOMMAGE A LECH WALESA by Alexandre Tansman Eschig 8518. n.p. A new work by Tansman is always of interest; the ttle of this one intrigues ‘even more. Hommage a Lech Walesa niceds noillamination and wes written for Corazén Otero, author of the book “Manuel Ponce and the guitar’ (Musical New Services). “The music is written in the form ofa Mazurka and is very melodic throughout. “The harmony is basically tonal, with parallel moving chords producing some quite magical moments, especially towards the end. Annoyingly though, there are some mistakes in the score, some of which have been rectified, by hand, after printing. Also, the fingering is patchy and, in general, not very helpfi ‘Nevertheless, a nice addition to the repertoire. Phillip M. Thorne DREAM MUSICby Thomas Wilson Berben, £5.00 From the outset, I should point out that 1, perhaps, should not be reviewing this ‘music, having a personal interest, Having said that, Ican also give an opinion on the ‘music based on close liaison with the composer, and many performances. ‘Tom Wilson writes very well indeed for the guitar and instinctively asks the instrument to do what it does best. Dream ‘Music was written for me a few years ago. Veiled, hazy music is interrupted by “in- focus” music sharp, fast episodes, as can happen in dreams. Itis intensely lyrical and writen in such a way as to let the guitar sing, The fingering, by Angelo Gilardino, is not as T would play it, butt ‘works, Players, who are ofa high enough ‘standard to play this type of work, will finger ita they want, anyway. In my opinion, Thomas Wilson is one of the best contemporary composers for suitar. His music is, superficially, difficult but, onstudy, is almost classical in its melodicism, Personally recommended, Phillip M. Thorne ‘THE SUSSEX SONATA by Vincent Lindsey-Clark Phillips Guitar Series No. 1.n.p. Vincent Lindsey-Clarkis an English guitarist who won, at the age of 15, the Lanchester International Guitar Competition, In addition to guitar, he studied composition with Alan Ridout. “The Sussex Sonata isa substantial work in three movements. The writing, as one ‘would expect, is very guitaristic. The first subject of the first movement reminds me of the lyricism found in Castelnuovo- Tedesco’s music and is nicely balanced witha powerful pesante con moto. In the central section the themes are very clearly developed. Inevitably some little passopes sound too derivative of Tedesco, e.g. the flamboyant scale passages and some of the passages in consecutive fourths. This is fot realy a criticism, merely an observation. What is, however is the ‘Dal ‘Segno’ repeats, having to Mp back for partial repeats, [know there isa lot of ‘music which does this, ut I personally dlon’t ike it. Fvhappens again inthe last movernent, The second movement has a haunting melody with contrasting middle sections, The finale works very well Marked Allegro moderato, its bold writing calls for a fair bit of technical reserve. Allin all, an interesting new work, guitaristicand approachable. 1 understand its now included in the new AB. Grade Syllabus. Let us hope some ‘budding players will tackle it instead of the normal exam-fodder material. Phillip M. Thorne HOMENAJE, LE TOMBEAU DE CLAUDE DEBUSSY by Monelde Falla rev. and ed. by John Duarte ‘Chester Music. 1.25 Few people would doubt that Manuel d= Fall's sole work for guitar, Homenaje, is a masterpiece. However, mos players end up by making their owa editions based on the Llobet edition and the piano version. What is clear, on comparing the ‘wo, isthat there are obvious discrepancies. It is therefore fantastic to {get a New, accurate version of this work actualy published. Differences include clarification of rests inthe part writing, ‘more accurate indications of dynamics and articulation, the elimination of editorial elissandos (those horrible swoops), and the more precise notation of ‘arpeggios. Above all, the piece is, 102 large extent, e-fingered, making it clearer and very much more logical. For this present edition, Mr. Duarte has used the ‘Rewue Musicale ané piano versions, can’t recommend this nev edition t00 highly even ifyou have the (or should Isay especially if you have i). Must re-learn it myself can think ofa Jot of music that could do with 2 re-vamp. Phillip M. Thorne STUDI DIINTERVALLIby Milan Zelenka and Jana Obrovska Brockmans and Van Poppel 1508 (Kalmus) n.p) ‘The title doesn’t sound too interesting. ‘The set is made up of nine studies based (on unison notes, seconds, thirds etc. up to ‘cctaves and finally a study in tenths. However unappetising the ttle, the musicis surprisingly good. Ureally liked it, No. 1, Prime, is based more of less on repeated notes. Gitar Febauary 1085 49started out to analyse each study but soon realised that each string isa piece of ‘music in its own right. To my mind, the term ‘study’ has more compositional than technical purpose, although it does press home the ‘interval’ idea. The music is distinctly east European in flavour, well fingered and laid out. Good intermediate teaching material Phillip M. Thorne IMPROMPTU ty Jan Stavinoha- Melsek Brockmans and Van Poppel 1443. £2.45, Impromptu was commissioned by Stichting Gitearwerken Zwolle. I liked this piece a lot Itis good-natured music, easy to play, easy to listen to, The music is attractive, inventive and very well written forthe guitar. The harmony is jazzy in aspicy son of way. The use of paralle! chords adds a Slavic fel. The ‘composer's knowledge ofthe guitar is put to effective use in the central Alegro, Andante, and Presto sections the last with anear-tingling movo-perpetwo figure, The ‘work finishes with a waltz marked to be played burlescamenteand, as expected, has a tongue-in-cheek, music-hall style This last section is, to my mind, a bit ofa Jetsdown, but, given the right treatment, ery humourous. This is a goed piece. ‘Technically esy and musically rewarding, recommended for players of around Grade Four plus. Phillip M. Thorne ‘THREE VENEZUELAN PIECES arr. Antonio Lauro Universal 29175, £1.98, ‘TRIPTICO by Antonio Lauro Universal 29172. £1.80. ‘TWO VENEZUELAN WALTZES Antonio Lauro Universal 29173 £1.80 ‘My goodness, John Duarte and Universal have really been busy! Seriously, the new Universal series, edited by Duarte, is coming up with some real goodies. To publish hithervo unpublished works by Lauro is areal scoop, by any standards, ve had hand written copies of all bur the 43 Venezuelan pieces for some years and, to be honest, it's beyond me why they haven't been printed before, ripticois dedicated to Segovia and is in three movements: Avmida, Medrugada and La Negra. Armida, the namie of Lauro’s god-daughter, is based on an upward triplet followed by two quavers. ‘The music is straightforward with that touch of Lauro magic, Madrugada (a term for the carly hours of the morning) follows the now familiar (predictable) ternary form. The upward ligados are an integral part ofthe swooping melody line, enhancing the effect of the lower apogiaturas. La Negra (the black haired one}, is familiar from David Russell's 50 Guitar February 1985 excellent all-Lauro record. tt is my favourite of all Lauro waltzes —Ieally can’t say more than that. ‘The two Venezuelan Waltzrs are not difficule but sill have the much-loved ingredients of Lauro’s music; E! Negrito refers to Lauro’s younger son Luis, La Gatica, literally the fernale cat, and John Williams hes recorded El Negrito on his Portraits album, I haven't seen, or played, the three Venezuelan pieces before; they are arrangements of popular and traditional Venezuelan tunes: Zulay, Adios a Ocumareand Papelén, Arranged in the style of Venezuelan waltzes, Iike them very much indeed and [, for one, will definitely be playing them, as I suspect will many other people. They, too, have that easy charm that Lauro somehow always manages to exude, Allin all, an excellent set of publications which should bein every guitarist’ library. John Duarte's forewords are very informative, his fingcrings logical, clear and in style, (Lauzo’s fingerings in the originals are scant), and his advice on performance very relevant, Presentation and printing are ofthe highest order. No reservations atall, Highly recommended indeed and, at under £2 a copy, abargain. Phillip M. Thorne PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION by ‘Modest P. Mussorgski arr. for two guitars by Heine Wallisch Universal 16675. £4.55. Pictures at an Exhibition arranged for two uitars? Part of me says ‘so what?” — Ravel arranged it for orchestra from the ‘original 2 piano version, The other part ‘of meis, well, dismayed, For the relatively modest (no pun intended) sum of £4.55 you get 37 pages crammed with ‘music, The music is not easy either to read or play, Vast numbers of sharps and flats are required in the key-signtures, various bass tunings to D, Deflat, C, et. 1 am trying not to be biased but I can't for the life of me bear the Great Gave of Kieo tc, on two guitars. The fingering is patchy but Isuppose, if you are able or inclined to play this, you will doubtlessly finger it yourself. have respect for the mammouth task of transcribing which Heinz Wallisch has undertaken. Certainly not a work for me, ‘but we areal individuals and must decide for ourselves. No— as fir as I'm concerned Phillip M. Thorne EXERCITIUM TONALE 24 preludes for guitar by Ferenc Farkas Barben. £5.90. ‘These 24 preludes were composed at the end of 1981, and beginning of 1982, at the request of Angelo Gilardino. It isa set of short pieces, one in each key (major and minor) and very interesting they: to0. The ttle belies the content of the publication. Each piece is alittle ‘miniature; there are some gems here. Some pieces are inthe form of dances, gavotte, gigue, minuet, others homages to Donizetti and Schumann, These studics should be quite invaluable when included ina teaching programme, tied in with other work on the keys, scales, fingerboard patterns etc. Good music in their own right snd good experience in reading in the more cbscure keys, rarely encountered. The idea is, of course, not new but the content is quite refreshing. Phillip M. Thorne PAKERUNTZ (VERS LE CALME) fortwo guitars by Felix Ibarrando Gerard Billaudot, £2.60. ‘This work was written for Jean Horreaux and Jean-Marie Trebard and lasts 714 minutes. Both guitars have altered ‘tuning, which puts me off for a start. Not ‘only do you have one hell ofa job keeping the guitar in tune but, played in concert, you would have to re‘tune afterwards — this is moran end-of-concert piece. It is also difficult to read. ‘The music itselfis pretty modern, with no bar lines for much of the time, Bartok pizzicatos and unconventional notation, ‘Those who have played from modern scores before will have little trouble reading it, as the notation is quite standard. A list of notes on execution is provided. Interesting music, but I can’t see many duos being shis adventurous, Brouwer is 2s faras they stem to go. Phillip M. Thorne SONATA by Dusan Bogdanovic Berben. £4.00, ‘The Sonata was composed in 1978, Itisa substantial work in four movements: Allegro vitmico, Adagio expressico, Moderato un poco cencbresoand Allegro moto. 1 like the style ofthis piece itis bold and inventive. Its thematic material is ‘very well conceived for the guitar, The first movement makes much use of chords and fourths. Bold, dramatic climaxes almost transcend the guitar, toa quasi orchestral level. The second moverment again exploits the guitar in an original ‘way, demanding very dramatic ranges of dynamics from ppp tof. The third movement is marked allegretto quasi scherge and is in extended scherzo-and- trio form, The last movement is a fitting, rondo-type finale to the work. The fast 618 sections are balanced with expressive ‘contrapuntal sections. The composer's ‘concept of the guitar's contrapuntal character is clear. Long passages of imitation which give a layered texture, to ‘my mind, multiinstrumental in nature.A very substantial work in the style of the progressive European composers such as Bartok. A work of symphonic proportions, boldly written for the guitar. Teisnot, by any means, an easy work but, Iwould say, musically very satisfying. Definitely 10 be added to my ‘works tobe played’ pile. Phillip M. Thorne ‘SIX PIECES FOR GUITAR by Anthony Phillips Josef Weinberger. n.p, "These are studies in E,D,E and G, Rhapsody from The Field of Eternity, Nocturne, Old Fasher Time (lullaby, 2 versions), The composer has an easj= flowing melodic styles there are some beautiful melodies ere. The studies are in the Chopin mould, music in their own right. For Noctume the guiter is to be tuned, from the top, DAGDAD, which gives ¢ rather nice sonority; the concluding lullaby is to be played with the same tuning. Two versions are given, the second being fuller in texture. The ‘two can be played together, a link passage being provided. [like the tunefilness of the music. Itis guitaristic and, although rnotall that easy, very accessible. I'm not ‘convinced about the altered tuning though. Phillip M. Thorne FOUR SONATAS: K.89/1.211, K431/L.83, K.290/L.85, K.304/L.88 by Domenico Scarlatti art, by John W. Duarte (Vol. 5) Universal 29171, £2.00, ‘Most players will or should) have copies ‘of Volumes 1 -4 in this series of Scerlatti Sonatas. Duarte’s approach to Scarlatti first class. What | like about his transcriptions is that they are always reliable, authentic, guitaristic and ‘eminently playable, unlike some I can thinkof! K89/L211 isan interesting Sonata. Itis in three sections: Allee, Grave, Allegro and it works really well on the guitar. It feels good. By contrast, K431/1.83 in G sgjor is only 32 bars long with repeats. ‘The editor's solution, to tune the two lowest strings down to D and G, gives ‘opensstring dominant and tonic basses. K200/L.85 (transposed upa tone from G 10 A)is really quite flamboyant and Duarte’s arrangement allows itto be played in that manner, whilst K304/L88 in D is always allowed to sing. Solutions to ornamentation are offered as footnotes, which isthe only sensible thing to do, ‘Again, the printing, fingering and presentation are ofthe highest order and the price is « bargain. At the riskof sounding repetitive — highly recommended, Universal and Duarte certainly seem to be coming up with the goods! What more can you say. Phillip M. Thorne SONATINE for descant recorder and guitar by Johann Daniel Berlin. Verlag Zimmermann ZM2319 MUSIK DES TRECENTO for cescant recorder and guitar, edited by Rainer Luckharde. Ricordi S.y. 2324, 25 pages. SUITE IN E-MINOR, solo for treble recorder by Daniel Demoivre, bassand guitar continuo by Erwin Schaller. Edition Preissler, Miinchen. Reihe A:19 SONATAIN A-MINOR, solo for treble recorder by Georg Philipp Telemann, bass and guiter continuo by Erwin Schaller. Edition Preissler, Miinchen. Reihe A:22. ‘The sonatine by Johann Daniel Berlin is published for the first time, The editor, Amim Schmidt, tells us that J.D. Berlin lived 1714-1787, was bom in East Prussia, educated in Copenhagen and was a town musician in ‘Trondheim. This sonata, in Smovements: Capricetto, Arietta, Gavotta, Menuet and Giga is his only work. The first movernent isn’t very exciting, but the remaining four are delightful. There is no fingering whatsoever in the guitar part but it sits very well on the fingerboard. As there is no information asto whether the guitar partis written forthe guitar or ¢ transcription, one does not know who to ppaise — the composer or the editor. The recorder part has afew embellishments, ‘some of them written out, and is abit tricky for the average player, but worth ‘coming to terms with. The printing is good. ‘Music des Trecento is subsitied Italienische Lieder und Tanze det ‘Mirtelatter, and is acollection of delightful tunes, some of them by unknown composers, al of which are ‘worth playing and, for the good amateurs, the “pick up, play and have fin” type, on ‘high musical level. The first of them Tamento di Tristan and Rota wes published in Guitar Review with a second voice for the guitar added by Suzanne Bloch —more fin and less dliscrect than the present one but not, by the sound of it, less authentic, The editor ‘mentions that the accompanying parts, nos. 1-5, are net original. In the back is an index of sources end the words for the songs. The printing is good and so i the fingering ofthe guitar parts. Embellishments are left tothe discretion of the performer. “The German guitarist Jurgen Libbert has edited the suite by D. Demoivre and the sonata by Telemann. Nothing is knnowa about Demoivee, except that he lived at the beginning of the 18th century. He published three volumes of music for recorder, of which only volumes 2and 3 have survived. The suite has four movements: Allemand, Gavotte, Saraband and Jigg. The basso continuo has been added by Erwin Schaller who, beingan old hand, has done very well. ‘The guitar part moves in two relatively independent voices and the overall impression is that ofthe basso continuo belonging there. This goes for the sonata by Telemann as well. The sonata belongs io a collection of six sonstinen dating from 1730, of ‘which two are written for recorder. The recorder part of the present sonata was discovered in the Royal Library of Copenhagen. The harpsichord part seems to have disappeared forever. The continuo partis needed more in this piece than in the previous one. The fingering is ‘good in both pieces, the printingiis tidy and e double page saves the guitarist a nasty page turn. Why don't we see this more often? Karen Dusgaard Nielsen VARIATIONEN UBER DIE VOLKSLIEDWEISE: Ich bin cin Masikent by Erwin Schaller for two sguiters. Edition Preissler, Manche. Reihe A:18. FROM PRAETORIUS TO. SHOSTAKOVITCH by [b Thorten ‘Jensen, for guitar ensemble. Edition Wilhelm Hansen, Copenhagen FANTASIA SECONDA by Emmanuel Adriaenssen for four Guitars. Egition Breitkopf, 8200. Score and parts. ‘The duet by Schaller shows an {imagination working well, within the limits of the variation form. The piece consists of an intreduction — lento, the theme and four variations seem to near a faint resemblance (0 those of L encouragement by Sor, without actually imitating them. The piece is well structured and fan to play, providing both guitarists with a fair amount of work throughout. There is aslight tendency to give the second guitar the accompanying role, but it cemains 2 tendency, and the second voice is quite amusing, The fingering is clear and logical, the printing is good. The only thing missing isa spare sheet for the second guitar. Inthe preface to From Praetorius 10 ‘Shostakoviich the editor clearly stresses the didactic purpose of the collection. Some musical and guitaristic terms are ‘also explained, and there are some suggestions for the performance of the pieces, of which some can be made with recorders, double bass and kettle drums. ‘The theme for the seventh Symphony by Beethoven sounds a bit thin, as does the theme from the Si. Anchony chorale but used in connection with listening to the real thing on record and reading the proper score, they may be okey. The printing and fingering are good, The Fantasta seconda isa delightful polyphonic piece, well suited for teaching near-beginners to play polyphony, and the art oflistening to ether parts while playing your own. The publishers have provided separate sheets for the three top voices and apparently the fourth voiceis Guitar February 1985.54‘meant to read from the score. The printing is good and so is the fingering. Karen Dusgaard Nielsen ‘TONLEITERSTUDIEN by Karl Scheit Universal Edition, Wien, UE 16705 A whole book of scales! Scales over one octave, two octaves, three octaves, romatic exercises, different kinds of romatic scales, pentatonic scales and scales of thirds ‘A.good point about this collection is the inclusion of harmonic minor scales. I query the use of some of the fingerings. ‘The three-octave scales, starting by curling up around « third, sound like a bute to Tarrega. I have seen some of | the cromatic exercises as well as this curling up thing before, in volume of Escuela Razonada by Emilio Pujol. ‘The Germanic thoroughness with which ree THE ART OF FLAMENCOby D.E. Polen pp 249 Musical New Services £12.00 Somebody once said of Roger Cresnir’s trilogy on fencing, tha it was 6 complete and so good tha there was no point in anyone ever writing anything else on the subject. The Art of Flamenco, already far and away the most influential book ofits genre ever written falls into the same sort of category. First published in 1962, and ‘winner of the Spanish National Flamenco Award in 1970, it comes as near 2s anything can to fulfilling that hoary old cliché “everything you always wanted to know". The book is an introduction to Flamenco and a reference work. I it nota tutor although ithas some material on guitar-playing, (The best tutor Ihave yet seen, incidentally, is that by Juan this project is carried out is to be admired, but to mea book like this feels like swallowing cod-liver cil: sickening, but very healthy and useful. Buy it if you are keeit on scales — you will get your fill Karen Dusgaard Nielsen ‘THREE GYMNOPEDIES by Erik Satie, rans. Michael Laucke ‘Waterloo n.p. Remember the flurry of enthusiasm for Scott Joplin in the early 70°s? We heard. all sorts of versions — big band, little band, guitar of course, and, thenks 10 Joshus Rifkin, the original piano, Then in the second half ofthe decade we were treated to Satic, especially his Gymnopédies for flute, oboe or guitar. ‘The reason for the rise ofthese passing fashions is copyright. In England, at least, once a copyright has been assigned Grecos). Part one consisis of a series of anecdotes, intended to introduce the reader to the flamenco way of life. The author writes wel, in a highly personel style, and obviously knows his subject backwards and forwards (although an American, he has Spaniard for a ‘mother, a flamenco-dencer for a wife, and has been involved in Flamenco for the last twenty-odd years). ‘The remainder of the bookis an encyclopedia of every aspect of Flamenco = guitar, singing, dancing, and jafeo. ‘There are descriptions, with typical verses and translations thereof, ofall the flamenco styles; notes and hints oa teachers, recordings, guitar construction, and a lot more. The author has strong ‘opinions, but there is never any problem distinguishing these from facts. Thave two criticisms of this edition, ‘The first is thar the initial part of the book has not been completely updated, so that (for instance) the author talks about Diego del Gastor and Melchor de ‘Marchena as if they were still alive. The second is that, although this is the fourth revision, there is no index. toapublisher it remains his until 50 years after the composer's death. If we take the ‘case of Britten, his publisher (Faber ‘Music) may put out any version they care to, but no-one else may until the year 2026. After that date we could well see his Nocturnal arranged for xylophone and ophiclede. Satie died in 19255 these arrangements dite ftom 1979, Laucke is to be congratulated on retaining just about all the essential harmony notes and the ‘melody and basslines. Ideally these pieces should be played by an instrument with more sustain than the guitar, and the spacious appearance of the page belies the technique necessary for a successful performance Mary Criswick Be that as it may,an earlier edition has been invaluable, even a constant, ‘companion for many years. The current edition is handsomely produced on good- quality paper and sturdily bound. There are really only two questions to answer: are you even slightly interested in Flamenco? and have you ever been well guided by these reviews? Ifthe answer to both these is Yes, you should buy this book. Paul Magnussen NEW MUSIC FROM VENEZUELA indy ain Duce ANTONIO LAURO: “Amida, Noguged, La Neg, hepa. cet om Ae Ztey Aon» Oourar, Pasion a3 RODRIGO FIERA: Matccla, Mancini, Nena, Vale. ‘Aviat om Muscal New Services. ‘altar Hoven Shahesbuy, Borat Ossian publications Pubiiskors of Jha acter the eatest caren selecting only the best woes for his guitars, vo he chooser the most perfec rings to completehis work — Aranjacs I males sense ES -|) Re 52. Gitar February 1985, NEW GUITAR PUBLICATIONS: GP. Telemann, Tw Fantasias arr for sol altar by Simon Tayler £2.25 Anthony Holborn, Sik Pecos. ar fr sole itr by ha Poel 61.25 .Govolto& Minuto a Silvio, art fr saloguitar by Sen ioe Rasy Poe fr ui Jovepl Greococh, Fight Canons fr Two Gutary 209 vert M. Newell. even Motors o Measure the Work forsco gular ‘Thunlough Carolan Three Sues. are fr ela giter by Andrew Shisls efor Gultar Volt 2.65, leshPieces arranged for Gultar VelI1 3.30 fel sp 9 21 Iona GreenCorklreland Trade: Musi Sales td.TEACHERS’ PANEL ee escheat Soe eer Seer ne enn ssn tn Ova ivoaes ig Hae . Bees mane scnrn inet {ota tr Sct 28 to! Sve. Tt Give Pe ea 2 Fe Cie, Chetun ae on Seen es 0a Me™Roricar St" Sion. Te eee SER cst ronmn tate rer Shea est ES Sehea ee Sem eereraay i srt, Las, e027 orem Sc eaten Re eee Seca amen zeit emou fa Bea sst siete ete cee oe Sisson tra, Siew erate “Thomonen EN, CAD Te tyne, ‘oie Geant ness fou ® fe Cony Aa HeeySooa RE anC EME Be. “ Ee eoeieel ‘Stomeoryon Ye : eT eet range ees, ee Seanfas horn Aly, eM 70) () Te er Spckewall (C) 38 Lorgwoed A En 7 SERS IED Bomar view, 18 Comp Ro ‘Ta Prope (0. 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Mabon Crs. ‘Charon Ban) Aca Ave, Koto, To seria Fielase Rte tenons hey ata agent “roy on Seon ee ete er Be ess ee, SEE aon cum ice tea, Exe rei, Jone Wnenrhit OFC) earn Seeger ars Meret Ne os sgacm a "Siprag EE e w x ee PaaS, Sey hits Te om cece, eran Eire Heer 0 noe Ae ao, [Antony Sronan (Co, tory’ 3 Cutan, ert ‘Eettona ee Byany EeSTei cet cmey Rh tA, Re Paeemeg ALM, LEM, TD (0 Whitey Sa ear See hd ob secon ea fa Bard Shepherd SLM IG) Wawatire Seca AS ree Seeareeaat Eomean monn feiss sir Stourton " PO a oe ose ny Se ts LEM C206 Lt Coe of te caer Sirmsegomre a anaaoeye. RineBn Ma (Fe Aue VT 0 est in ann 927 90 ont Sac (1) 59 fe Abert Jon Gerad "Aes 6, Boca) 80 Rn oe Sedan Geneaon ALCM (c) 3. Santy Wotgarg Bore (©) Aron 6 70, Setemmugen ene ‘re coves eres idee esa An Bact 8 eamag nie toe Ee aici 2 a eee om ree ‘Sirgen eee ere on ‘3 npn. Stanapn 7, 5-988 Bite Runa icf 25 50 sur 16, Reng Month CICLATL A. Ma LCM Seni ce ok ‘Enon cf mic Sta 28 Nein comate icy) cane 3. 1 fh Gan (cP et) Src Wo, Se Seat a sot 28 Be, fronee icauie, Anwian tent st Et a Pov, BL Sera Fie 204 Naso, Te Gaitar February 1985 63wane ‘ondionigh pcs pT 025 S70 Sefer ive Rao vonasance kt Te 0 TUFF Small Ads ‘Rate 20p per word, minimum ‘10. words, Box No. 50p extra Deadline 6 weeks preceeding publication date Sg ‘ov Mena We. 184, Steam nawacdience [sin BeStlcy GE da tue Se NAIL Liquid Nail Food Sacre Canoe Fe ORE tra 350m ag Easier to play guitar Ask in your localguitar sho jend Ef fora oa Se Breton ares ones | menses Gey bor ote, os, gt ah Peoria ees NEXT pe GUITAR DAVID STAROBIN Subscription Form Make sure of your next copy of Guitar by subscribing now Guitar BS ene Plosce send mo the next 12issues beginning with, Name Address ‘Subscription rates United Kingdom: 1400 ‘World ecamai: £15.00 Airmail: USA, Carada, South America, ‘Southattice £27.00 Airmal: Austiala, New Zealand & The Far East £30.00 ‘Airmal: Middle East £2300 Airmail: Europe £21.00 not remitting in Sterling, please add equivalent of £1.80 for bank handling charges. 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Aims Hace Octo Mee Conc dear ed fr uk ao) rene Ne Tre cases reuse ‘SIEGFRIED BEHREND: Mernest Fam Maar “Zong Ps arse MANUEL DE FALLA: ‘Scena Anda She de Pande @ pes) Mca Cascio Sudamencana Nat rouble AndausNe 1 Pre Andaz. 2 ECapantadel cdo Dane Pane rowan Pres Fags Fave Soo Paretca Vinson Sorat" EV JOAQUN-TURINA: Endep ates Sows Hommes Tierea| Gare &See) Postage & Packing. Up to {5.00 add 40p. Up to £10.00 add 75p. Over £15.00 Post Free. MUSICAL NEW SERVICES LTD. COV SCO ME ie tee EES ee eS edLn a sohe a ct string the best i in sele - ZCO (0013 -212 691-8620 ORK 593 JORO York, Telex: gy bl Avenue, Cable Address: JOROZCO. * a fa