# electric guitar



## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

I am interested in concertos for electric guitar and orchestra. I think there are some interesting possibilities/opportunities

Some examples.











Judging from the few examples I can find, I think this kind of thing is in its infancy, and relies too much on rock and roll tropes. But the idea has some merit. I think electric guitar has the raw power to partner with the orchestra without asking for orchestral compromise. (I am talking more about emotional power more than volume.)

Like Saint-Saens organ symphony is a kind marriage of equals, where the orchestra is the king and the organ is the queen, or something like that.

(I would like to hear more organ symphonies too BTW.)

There is a wonderful work, the St. Brendan Voyage, composed by Shaun Davey for orchestra and uilleann pipes, that I saw in Edinburgh once, (with (the amazing) Liam O'Flynn on the pipes.) So there is no lack of precedent for these odd pairings.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

you should try to search on the forum, there are many topics about this.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

You may care to check this out:










http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical...id=86586&bcorder=15&name_id=49904&name_role=2


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## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

Several of Steven Mackey's works feature himself on electric guitar, in ways that are not indebted to heavy metal tropes. More like prog rock, if anything. Here's an example, though it's not an orchestral work:


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

norman bates said:


> you should try to search on the forum, there are many topics about this.


Ooops. I did not find anything.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

JeffD said:


> Ooops. I did not find anything.


I don't know how well the "search" works. I often use the "site:" function on google.

https://www.google.it/search?as_q=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.talkclassical. com+%22electric+guitar%22&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

(in any case I knew because I've read and written in many of those topics, since I'm very interested in this). 
By the way: I'm not a great fan of that kind of guitar hero approach of those videos (especially Malmsteen, I seriously don't like that, while For the love of god is one of the best Vai pieces), but there's a spanish band called Sinfonity that has done interesting transcriptions of baroque music for the electric guitar:


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

The only one that immediately comes to mind is 'Star's End' by David Bedford.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

norman bates said:


> there's a spanish band called Sinfonity that has done interesting transcriptions of baroque music for the electric guitar:


Wow. That was really great. Really interesting. I have played it three times now. I like their transcriptions of Bach organ work. Very nice.

Do they have any recordings available? I checked Amazon, and Amazon Spain, no luck. I tried their website, but the English translation would not work.


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## Sina (Aug 3, 2012)

This is a list of recorded works featuring electric guitar, and has a section for concertos.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Terje Rypdal wrote a concerto for two electric guitars and orchestra (available on ECM).


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## David Phillips (Jun 26, 2017)

The electric guitar does not make a very good concerto instrument. It's too easy to wind the volume up to eleven and completely drown out the orchestra.


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

David Phillips said:


> The electric guitar does not make a very good concerto instrument. It's too easy to wind the volume up to eleven and completely drown out the orchestra.


That is an inaccurate and blanket statement. It is a matter of balance and discipline - the orchestra could easily drown out a soloist on Violin, Cello or even unbalance the Piano if it were so inclined. Balance between the two can be reached with ease. The variability of the Electric Guitar offers greater flexibility and control helping both Orchestra and Soloist in potential loud or soft passages for greater harmony or contrast. A guitarist is equally capable of working collaboratively - as any other musician.

What we need are more Composers to create original works. Transcriptions are welcome and excellent (I love Stokowski's orchestral transcriptions immensely) but for the form to grow and develop, it needs the support of Composers to compose original new works. There is a wealth of potential waiting to be explored.


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## T Son of Ander (Aug 25, 2015)

Not just guitar, but Deep Purple did the concerto for group & orchestra, written by Jon Lord, the keyboard player. It features a lot of guitar work. In the first movement, there is about a 4 minute guitar solo, which IMO is typical Ritchie Blackmore, ie, awesome.


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