Before her Wigmore recital on Sunday 3rd November, and imminently before her first shed event, Xuefei Yang will be on BBC radio’s In Tune, which seems to have had a lot of guitarists in recently.
Does this signal a guitaristic renaissance, or is it like the UK economic “recovery”?
Category Archives: Classical Guitar
This is classical guitar – Bradford Werner’s Classical Guitar Lessons
On this remarkable site, the work of guitarist Bradford Werner, there are all sorts of up to date guitar related news, hints, interviews, helpful reviews and videos. Included is a Lesson Archive (link below).
Better have a look if you don’t already know it!
Free Classical Guitar Lessons (videos and articles)
The Vihuela da Mano and Spanish Guitar by Jose Romanillos
Paul Fischer’s Vihuela ca.1977
Paul Fischer made me a vihuela in 1977 and we had to go to great lengths to find a suitable model, as there were not many extant from the period (the 1530s). We ended up using paintings and drawings of the time, and Paul produced an elegant instrument of sycamore, spruce and satinwood. It was much like the viola da mano, which was played by Francesco da Milano and that was actually my preferred repertoire at the time.
If this book had been available then, it would have been a useful guide to the accuracy of our guesses and also some of the personalities who were responsible for this forerunner of the modern guitar. Jose Romanillos, is of course, well known for his collaboration with Julian Bream, but is also a scholar of the history of guitar making and has written a book on Antonio Torres as well as this exhaustively researched volume.
12 SILLY SONGS FOR 12 SILLY STRINGS
Featuring numbers with titles like “A light dry table wine”, “Gooseflesh”, “Bed and Desk”, and together with the overall title of the collection, you would be right in assuming that the pieces are lighthearterd duets, possibly inspired by student days together.
Twelve Silly Songs For Twelve Silly Strings is a collection of up-tempo, light-hearted jazz/swing tunes written by Randall Avers and Rami Vamos.
“lively, infectious… a good-time vibe”
FANFARE: Robert Schulslaper
“fun, clever and novel pieces–we love to play them!”
Laura Oltmann & Michael Newman
“irresistible and delightful duets”
Stephen Aron, Oberlin Conservatory and Akron University
“laugh-out-loud funny…. This collection is a treasure”
Matthew Hinsley, President of Austin Classical Guitar Society
“Silly Songs is guitar music which has the rare quality of sounding wonderfully familiar,whimsical and totally unique simultaneously”
Ben Verdery, Yale School of Music
Here is Bed and Desk
and Cricket from the collection, which shows the essentially off beat humour and lightly worn musicality inherent in these pieces.
Ponce’s Secret Weiss – a list
While looking for information on Manuel Maria Ponce (1882-1948), I came across this illuminating article by Peter Kun Frary, Professor of Music at the University of Hawaii, Leeward. It charts the history of Ponce’s Baroque, Classical and Romantic pastiches written for Andres Segovia when he was in France.
Segovia would refer to these pieces as their little joke, and probably found a willing collaborator in Ponce who helped him fill out his concert programmes in a Kreisleresque manner.
One of the earliest pieces was attributed to Sylvius Leopold Weiss who was not very well known generally at the time, but conveniently shared a birth year with J.S.Bach who was Segovia’s first choice.
Apparently the harpsichordist Wanda Landowska heard the first performance and went backstage to say that Segovia’s attribution of the piece to Bach had been rumbled, at which point Segovia and Ponce admitted that it was by Weiss!
The inside story on this issue is available in print, in the words of Andres Segovia himself. See: Miguel Alcázar, (Ed.) The Segovia-Ponce Letters, translated by Peter Segal.
However, also see this discussion on the subject.
The pieces are certainly charming enough, and those which come clean – the Sonata Clasica and Sonata Romantica are substantial works.
Peter Kun Frary lists the following as Ponce’s “secret” compositions:
Balletto (Weiss)
Prelude (Weiss) (also for guitar and harpsichord)
Suite Antigua (A.Scarlatti)
Suite en La Mineur (Weiss)
This article is certainly worth a read and throws light on the different (some pirated) editions of Ponce’s pastiches as well as dates and circumstances of their composition.
Johannes Moller in Mumbai
The Night Flame by Johannes Möller performed by Johannes Möller, guitar and Arif Khan, tabla. Live from BlueFROG Mumbai 15 September 2013.
Article in Platform
Tetra – imminent date!
Wednesday, 23 October 2013 – 7:30pm / Hall One, Kings Place and it’s
Tetra Guitar Quartet celebrate their 25th anniversary with the launch of their eighth studio album,Nocturne in Blue and Silver (BGS Records). The programme includes world premieres of two pieces commissioned for this anniversary as well as Elgar, Mahler and Beethoven.
Casa Margarita – 18th October 2013, South Hill Park, Recital Room, Bracknell
Doors open 7.30pm, starts 8pm.
A grand show in an intimate space!
Enter the lustrous interior of an ancient Spanish house and meet the characters that live there. Hear this achingly beautiful story of love told in words, stunning music, and improvised percussion. Feel the heat of an Andalucian night!
Come to Casa Margarita!
“Ravishing music and exciting rhythms this is an engaging concert with a great story” Oxford Times
Videos after the break Continue reading
92nd Street Y An American tribute to Andres Segovia
Segovia and his guitars 92Y concerts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
An American tribute to Andres Segovia
Date: Sat, Oct 26, 2013, 8 pm
Location: Lexington Avenue at 92nd St
Venue: Kaufmann Concert Hall
The Contemporary Lute
Here is a curiosity, which is a pity, as players of early music instruments do happen to live in the 21st century and can have some input into the contemporary scene. It is not restricted to Sting playing Dowland, and this marvellous collection by Peter Söderberg and Sven Åberg includes an arrangement of Stockhausen’s Tierkreis (Zodiac) from 1977, Ingvar Karkoff’s 4 duets (originally for 2 lutes), John Cage’s Dream and Steve Reich’s Piano Phase. Interestingly, most of the repertoire dates from the 1960s and 70s – what has happened to music in our century?