# Classical guitar



## handlebar

I have been a classical guitarist for awhile now and am curious what everyone's favourite pieces/composers are as well as the guitar played.
I prefer Sor,Rodrigo,Albeniz,Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Villa-Lobos for composers.

I currently own and play a Cordoba Dolce.










I only wish i had more time to play and practice!!! Drats!

Jim


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## purpleovskoff

Sor,Rodrigo,Albeniz,Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Villa-Lobos

I'm not a huge fan of Sor, a bit too Classical classical for my liking, if you understand what I mean, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco I've never heard of (though I am now going to go and find out). The others though I can totally agree with, particularly Villa-Lobos, who's guitar compositions I've just undertaken the task of learning the entirity of.

My other loves include Dowland, my first love, who inspired me to take up the lute, and remains one of the few people who can make me stick to simple tonality and harmony in my own compositions (I do find it hard to write with any particular key in mind, needed though it may sometimes be).

I also enjoy modern composers such as Brouwer, Frank Martin, Britten, Schoenberg and Berio. Unfortunately, some of these seldom write for guitar, and I have recently started learning cello pieces of theirs in order to get my avant-garde fixes!

My guitar is a Rodriguez C Series. Not the best guitar in the world, but good enough for now.


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## kg4fxg

*Similar Tastes*

Actually glad you brought up the topic.

I would not say that I play well, but I enjoy classical guitar. As a side note I played steel string as a teen. As an adult I would lament that I wished I learned a classical instrument and not wasted my time with guitar.

Of course then I looked into current players of classical guitar like Ana Vidovic. Then I thought with books I could use what I had learned and salvage that knowledge in classical guitar.

I play a Guild classical guitar. My steel string is a Guild and not used anymore. I have always liked them. It is fine but not in the same line as many other classical guitars. I paid around $799.00 for it. I consider it an introductory model.


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## Guest

I enjoy any classical played on Guitar, you will no doubt have heard of 'Gabriel Bianco' the winner of the 2008 Guitar foundation of America, I have his CD a recital of Bach,Koshkin and Mertz such great playing. I think he is about a 19-20 year old, fantastic playing for one so young


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## Bgroovy2

I love classical guitar but if I must chose, however blahsay it may be, I vote for Cannon in D!


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## Argus

I wouldn't class myself as a classial guitarist but I do own one (an Alhambra 4p) and have actually been playing classical more than electric or steel string lately to get my sight reading up to scratch.

My favourite composers for guitar would probably be Carcassi, Barrios-Mangore, Giuliani, Legnani and Mertz. I seem to prefer 19th century Romantic-style composers the most and definitely prefer to play pieces with nice, easy open chords as opposed to constant difficult stretches and barres.


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## SalieriIsInnocent

I love Paganini for guitar. Bach has always been great for guitar.
Although I am not very good with classical guitar, I like learning it. Right now I don't have a classical guitar. I just have a regular acoustic.


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## Lukecash12

I'm a big fan of Tarrega, Carcassi, Albeniz, Villa-Lobos, Bach, etc.

How well can you play? Can you play all of Albeniz' Suite Espagnole?


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## World Violist

Since I've determined to be a multi-instrumentalist in some capacity for once (I've only played viola the last several years and dabbled a bit in piano), and since I also have a really nice guitar in the house, I figured I would start into classical guitar. I don't really know guitar very much, so the last few days have just been exploring the instrument, figuring out the intervals between the strings and the frets that span each string, and getting used to overall position (really hard for me to get over) and range.

Now I don't really know how to "officially" start on classical guitar. Ideas?

(Note: I did read the OP in which handlebar outlined the idea of favorite composers/pieces/guitars, but as that has since seemed to go by the wayside I figured that this generic a thread title could serve other uses as well... if handlebar doesn't mind, of course!)


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## Aramis

World Violist said:


> Now I don't really know how to "officially" start on classical guitar. Ideas?


With chords maybe? Learning the most common chord figures are basics and important in breaking your fingers limits. And what about playing pieces that you are currently playing on viola with guitar to faster familiarize with pitch positions? Even if they are not beginner's standards. You can't start with beginner's standards like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star having your hand already trained on other instrument. I may be wrong because I was in opposite situation to yours (started playing violin after learning guitar).


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## World Violist

Aramis said:


> With chords maybe? Learning the most common chord figures are basics and important in breaking your fingers limits. And what about playing pieces that you are currently playing on viola with guitar to faster familiarize with pitch positions? Even if they are not beginner's standards. You can't start with beginner's standards like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star having your hand already trained on other instrument. I may be wrong because I was in opposite situation to yours (started playing violin after learning guitar).


That sounds like a good idea. No, I'm definitely not going to start with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. That much I had already figured out on my own. 

Thanks for the suggestions!


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## BeethovenListener

These guys are pretty good:


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## jurianbai

BeethovenListener said:


> These guys are pretty good:


that video reminds me on how great and social a guitar can do. I am actually wonder why less famous classical composers did for guitar repertoire. It's seem like to be able to compose a nice work for guitar you need to be a guitarist. Mozart and Beethoven can't, as they are not expert in guitar, but I am sure they know how to play, as guitar is easiest instrument to learn, but hard to mastered.

more guitarist i like :
Pepe Romero - 




Tommy Emanuel - 



fantastic playing.

John Williams - 




I also like Matteo Carcassi, but look like his compositions only for educational purposes.


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## Dont

handlebar said:


> I have been a classical guitarist for awhile now and am curious what everyone's favourite pieces/composers are as well as the guitar played.
> I prefer Sor,Rodrigo,Albeniz,Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Villa-Lobos for composers.


Its nice to see people who actually like Sor. There are so many unheard and interesting pieces of him.
Personally I like Ponce very much. I can recommend you many pieces -probably you never heard before- if you'd like.



World Violist said:


> Now I don't really know how to "officially" start on classical guitar. Ideas?


I think you should start with a good book, and stick with it. It'll help you see how you are progessing. There are many great books out there. I recommend Frederick Noad's Solo Guitar Playing Book 1 & 2.

I hope this helps.


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## Charon

Noad's method is a good one. That's that one that I used to get into Classical Guitar. I don't play as much as I used to, because I've been focusing more on violin in the past while.

Of the music I was playing, I enjoyed Sor a lot. For something more modern, check out Carl Domeniconi. Kinda neat stuff.


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## Comus

The Assad brothers got me into some cool composers:

Brouwer - 



 - Brouwer himself plays this

- 5 Micropiezas - I couldn't find a suitable recording online, but the Assads play it awesomely

Piazzolla - 




And for fun:


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## norman bates

This rendition of the Danza del fuego of Manuel De Falla is amazing





i'd like to discover some more of modern guitar. I don't like too much Britten's notturnal or Ginastera's sonata, but i do like Takemitsu (all in twilight, equinox), Brouwer (Hika is a great piece), Richard Rodney Bennett and also the experiments with rhythm of Dusan Bogdanovic.





bogdanovic





richard rodney bennett





brouwer





takemitsu





Ohana - Tiento

and i do like also the infamous koyunbaba too 
any suggestion for other modern composers?

oh, i really like also the very melodic and nostalgic Cavatina by Myers


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## Dont

norman bates said:


> i'd like to discover some more of modern guitar. I don't like too much Britten's notturnal or Ginastera's sonata, but i do like Takemitsu (all in twilight, equinox), Brouwer (Hika is a great piece), Richard Rodney Bennett and also the experiments with rhythm of Dusan Bogdanovic.


For modern guitar I would say *Tansman*. His *Cavatina* and especially *Variations on a Theme by Scriabin* are my favorites.

Also Stephen Dodgson is a great composer but its hard to find good recordings of him. Hope these help.


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## norman bates

Dont said:


> For modern guitar I would say *Tansman*. His *Cavatina* and especially *Variations on a Theme by Scriabin* are my favorites.
> 
> Also Stephen Dodgson is a great composer but its hard to find good recordings of him. Hope these help.


yeah thank you, i didn't know stephen dodgson


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## Andrew B.

Dont said:


> Its nice to see people who actually like Sor. There are so many unheard and interesting pieces of him.


I only recently started listening to Sor. What I find amazing is the amount of emotive quality he can express in his simplest of compositions.


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## Dont

norman bates said:


> yeah thank you, i didn't know stephen dodgson


Sorry it took me so long but, you are welcome 



Andrew B. said:


> I only recently started listening to Sor. What I find amazing is the amount of emotive quality he can express in his simplest of compositions.


I agree. I think something would be missing in my life if he never existed.


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## norman bates

Dont said:


> I agree. I think something would be missing in my life if he never existed.


uhm, what are his favorite pieces that you like the most? I have to say that i hate his 20 studies  (but i have to say that i don't know much more else of his music)


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## Dont

norman bates said:


> uhm, what are his favorite pieces that you like the most? I have to say that i hate his 20 studies  (but i have to say that i don't know much more else of his music)


I think by 20 studies you mean 20 studies that Andres Segovia collected. I think it is not the best compilation.

*Fantasie No. 6, Les adieux*
and *Fantasie Elegique* are my favorites. Listen them from *Margarita Escarpa* and *Nicholas Goluses* respectively. Don't listen them in youtube because they are really bad. I can send you these recordings if you want. *Fantasie Elegique* is his last composition and I think it is very beautiful.

Also I don't see why you won't like *Grand Solo*. I just learned that its originally for guitar and orchestra but only guitar score survived which is amazing.


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## tdc

Ive been playing classical guitar for around 4 years, but Ive played other styles for much longer. The list of full songs I currently know will give you an idea of my fav. composers to play.

Brouwer - simple studies 1-7
J.S. Bach- Allegro from Bwv 1003, Bourree in e minor, prelude from 1st cello suite
Dyens- Tango en Skai
Rodrigo-3 Spanish pieces, En Los trigales, Adela
Sor-Mis Decuidados Ojos
D. Scarlatti- Sonata k380
Sanz- Danza de las hachas, Rujero de las paradetas, zarabanda al ayre espanol, passacalle
Anon-Greensleeves

I'm currently working on learning many new songs including Rodrigo's Junto al Generalife, Takemitsu's arrangement of Over the Rainbow, Tarrega's Capricho Arabe, and Albeniz' Rumores de la Caleta. Here is a youtube video of vocalist Jenn Durrant and I performing Adela by Rodrigo last year. I plan to add more youtube vids in the future.


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## LordBlackudder

I have just started to play the guitar.

I use tutorials from youtube and google. You you check out lonlonjp:

http://www.youtube.com/user/lonlonjp


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## tdc

LordBlackudder said:


> I have just started to play the guitar.
> 
> I use tutorials from youtube and google. You you check out lonlonjp:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/user/lonlonjp


very nice stuff. :tiphat:


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## RBrittain

I love this:


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## RBrittain

And, of course, Asturias.


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## tdc

I would agree Albeniz pieces are some of the finest sounding guitar pieces (thank you Tarrega).

I also like this:






I participated in a master class with the above gentleman last October.


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## the_emptier

I have been playing guitar for over 6 years, most of it was electric and some steel string, and mainly rock/metal genres. But about a year ago I switched to jazz because I had to start preparing for college auditions (of which i am in the midst) and now I pretty much only play jazz, brazilian and classical music. my guitar teacher is a huge brazilian lover and he turned me onto marco pereira. an AMAZING guitarist, i have learned a lot of his pieces and used them for auditions. for only playing 1 year i think i've done very well, i have not been taught any technique and my economy, speed and overall accuracy are decent i'd say. but i just picked up noads 1st solo guitar playing book to really hone in on the specifics and building blocks, i don't want to get tripped up later because i ahve bad technique. my favorite guitar composers/players right now are...

marco pereira
raphael rabello
garoto
villa-lobos
tarrega
segovia

i really enjoy classical guitar now, i plan on picking up some guiliani,sor,carcassi studies and i have all of the brouwer ones as well.


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## Guest

I've played for about 30 years. My favorite pieces are Bach transcriptions, especially the Violin Sonatas and various keyboard pieces (Partita BWV 830 and Toccata BWV 914--both are crushingly difficult!). Overall, most of the 19th century and Spanish repertoire does not appeal to me. I'm currently working on Carlo Domeniconi's Chaconne. He has basically taken Bach's famous piece and replaced the notes (for the most part, he retains the note values)! The 32nd note scales are considerably easier to play in his version, but a fair amount of it is actually a little harder than Bach's piece. I play a spruce/Brazilian 2010 Randy Angella guitar.


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## Sid James

I thought I'd bump up this thread instead of making a new one. I've been listening to some guitar music recently, as well as harp, mandolin, lute, etc. I'm aiming to add to this thread as I listen to more and more discs of guitar music. Yesterday I listened to the disc below for the first time. Some of these composers' music is available on youtube for people who are interested. My review below copied from the "current listening" thread -

*Album: Russian Guitar Music played by Artyom Dervoed* (Naxos)
*V. Biktashev* - _Orpheus - poem_ (world premiere recording)
*S. Orekhov* - _Troika Variations_
*S. Rudnev* - _The Old Lime Tree_
*N. Koshkin* - _The Prince's Toys - suite_

An interesting collection of newer guitar music from Russia. My favourites were the folk-flavoured works by Orekhov and Rudnev. The classic Russian feel of longing, nostalgia and melancholy were in these strongly. The Biktashev work is quite rhapsodic and free, like a 15 minute stream of consciousness, a tone poem for solo guitar. It's kind of modern but sounds pretty tonal, the main challenge being it's length. The final work on the disc is by Nikita Koshkin, a guy who's pretty recognised by guitar fans, he has been recorded by the likes of John Williams. This half hour long suite is quite avant-garde, fragmented and very experimental in terms of sound. The last movement is the longest at 10 minutes, but there is a bit of whimsy there, I could make out what sounded like a strong echo of the _Habanera_ from Bizet's _Carmen_. All in all a very good album, and one I hope to return to, these works bear repeated listening, they are quite varied...


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## Guest

Dervoed's CD is one of my favorites, especially the Biktashev piece--it sounds horrifically difficult. I also like his performance of Koshkin's Suite. He plays with far more passion and intensity than most young players.


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## Philip

Here's my favourite recording of the Villa-Lobos études i'd like to share, probably the most musically conscious i've heard:

Alvaro Pierri - Villa-Lobos - Chôros No.1, 12 Études, 5 Préludes


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

I don't want this thread to die.


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## Guest

"Changes" is a piece that I respect more than enjoy! I can't imagine how long it would take to learn, and would it be worth it? I prefer a bit more tonal music. Nikita Koshkin has written 24 Preludes and Fugues. Here's one played by his lovely wife:


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## Guest

Thoroughly enjoyed this piece do you think this is atonal?? the sound of acoustic guitar is superb and the artist is very beautiful


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## Guest

The Carter seems atonal, but certainly not the Koshkin, especially since he specifies a key--F# minor! Koshkin's music is often rather chromatic, but he never abandons tonality altogether.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Leo Brouwer - Parabola


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Leo Brouwer - Tarantos


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## Guest

Nicholas Maw's "Music of Memory" is one of my favorite contemporary pieces--parts are atonal, but as a whole it's quite beautiful. Here is Marcin Dylla playing the ferociously difficult fugue and final variations:




It's about a 20 minute piece in total. Dylla has recorded the entire piece (written for Eliot Fisk) on the Naxos label. The main theme comes from the A minor String Quartet by Mendelssohn.


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## Philip

been enjoying this album lately:

festival guitarras del mundo 98 99









great mix, great performances, great audio quality.


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## tdc

Kontrapunctus said:


> Nicholas Maw's "Music of Memory" is one of my favorite contemporary pieces--parts are atonal, but as a whole it's quite beautiful. Here is Marcin Dylla playing the ferociously difficult fugue and final variations
> 
> It's about a 20 minute piece in total. Dylla has recorded the entire piece (written for Eliot Fisk) on the Naxos label. The main theme comes from the A minor String Quartet by Mendelssohn.


A nice sounding excerpt, but that isn't Marcin Dylla. That appears to be a guitarist named Sanel Redzic.


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## Guest

tdc said:


> A nice sounding excerpt, but that isn't Marcin Dylla. That appears to be a guitarist named Sanel Redzic.


Dang...and his name is even in the video title. I must have been asleep at the computer! I also have Dylla's CD and have seen him play it--maybe I have him on the brain. I saw Eliot Fisk play it about 20 years ago...no one could touch that performance for sheer intensity.


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## alvarohenrique

Dear fellow guitarists,

I'm a professional classical guitaris from Brazil. I would like to share with the most viewed video on my youtube chanel. I hope you like them!

Top 10 videos - http://www.youtube.com/alvaroguitar

10 - R I N G (Toru Takemitsu) 





09 - Concerto in D major RV 93, II mov. (Antonio Vivaldi) 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukW5urz8l3A&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

08 - Studies 10, 11 and 12 (Villa-Lobos)





07 - Gran Overture (Mauro Giuliani) 





06 - Concerto RV 93, I mov. (Antonio Vivaldi) 





05 - Le Myrte & le Jasmin, op. 46 (Mauro Giuliani) 





04 - Concerto de Copacabana, I mov. (Radames Gnatalli)





03- Grand Fantasia Triomphale on the Brazilian National Anthem, (Louis Moreau Gottschalk) 





02 - Fandanguillo (Joaquin Turina)





01 - Sonata K11 (Domenico Scarlatti)


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## Guest

*@Alvaro Henrique* Most enjoyable I am half way through the list, I notice in one, there may be others that you have a microphone is that just for the YouTube recording ??? in a chamber recital/concert you would not need one I presume.


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## Chrythes

Hello classical guitar players, 
I am currently working on Bach's BWV 1000, the fugue in A minor, but it's quite a difficult piece and I guess I'll be working on it for at least a month. So meanwhile I decided to learn another fugue, something easier,simpler - have you got any suggestions?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Chrythes said:


> Hello classical guitar players,
> I am currently working on Bach's BWV 1000, the fugue in A minor, but it's quite a difficult piece and I guess I'll be working on it for at least a month. So meanwhile I decided to learn another fugue, something easier,simpler - have you got any suggestions?


This short fugue by Napolen Coste seems to be quite easy:


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## Philip

Chrythes said:


> Hello classical guitar players,
> I am currently working on Bach's BWV 1000, the fugue in A minor, but it's quite a difficult piece and I guess I'll be working on it for at least a month. So meanwhile I decided to learn another fugue, something easier,simpler - have you got any suggestions?


If you're satisfied after working on this for only one month, you're quite the virtuoso. All Bach fugues are difficult. Different arrangements may vary in difficulty, but the piece is very easy to chop up into sections.

If you want something shorter but still groovy, there's the Presto part of the BWV996 Passaggio-Presto. Shorter but not really any easier. The other Bach fugues are very long and complex (BWV997, BWV998).

NB. Fugues by any other composer of the period may be boring. That being said, for something modern, Brouwer's fuga no. 1 is very fun and much more adapted to the instrument.


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## Praeludium

Try this (you'll easily find a modern guitar transcription) :






Or this, just for fun :






(there are many videos of him on YT)

Are you a classical guitarist Phillip ? And ComposerOfAvantGarde ?


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## Philip

Praeludium said:


> Or this, just for fun :
> /video


Wow that's the best performance i've seen in a while... this is truly excellent.



Praeludium said:


> Are you a classical guitarist Phillip ? And ComposerOfAvantGarde ?


I'll answer for the both of us and say yes. Ex-student for myself.


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## Guest

Jorge Caballero is one of my favorite players. This Bach performance blows my mind! (Too bad it's in 3 parts.)
















If that's not enough, here's Pictures at an Exhibition!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Praeludium said:


> Are you a classical guitarist Phillip ? And ComposerOfAvantGarde ?


Yes I am. Such an amazing instrument.


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## Chrythes

Thank you for your suggestions. 
Coste's fugue sounds nice, but I've decided to wait a little bit with Bach. I've also found 3 different arrangements so it's going to consume quite a lot of time.
I've actually decided to finish La Cathedral by Barrios. I've been playing it for quite a while now, but I never learnt the end of the Allegretto movement, so after I'm done with it i'll get around to Bach. 
BTW, do you play BWV 1000? If you do, what arrangement did you use (or a combination of some)? 
So far I've got these - 
http://javanese.imslp.info/files/im...MLP08790-Bach_-_Compositions_for_the_Lute.pdf (one of the last pages). 
http://www.thomaskoenigs.de/bach_bwv1000.pdf

The second one seems to the most friendly. 
And I've found some tabs but they are quite weird.

Thank you for posting about Jorge Caballero, never heard of him, but I clearly see what I've been missing.


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## Guest

I play BWV 1000 using a combination of Eric Dussault, Luigi Schinina, and probably a few other editions! 

I'm glad you liked Caballero. In addition to being an incredible performer, he's one of the nicest, most humble guitarists I've met. He's also a wonderful teacher based on the one masterclass that I attended (as an auditor--I didn't perform.) I've seen him live four times--every concert was full of jaw-dropping moments! One was a private concert two years ago--I sat about 6-8 feet from him. He played among other pieces, Alban Berg's Piano Sonata (Jorge's transcription) and that Bach Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue. I have haven't recovered yet!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

The Frank Koonce edition of the complete solo lute works is the best in my opinion.


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## Praeludium

My teacher told me to avoid the apocryphal (actually it's known it's not by Bach) lute version (ie.BWV1000a). That's all I can say, since I've never worked on it anyway


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Praeludium said:


> My teacher told me to avoid the apocryphal (actually it's known it's not by Bach) lute version (ie.*BWV1000a*). That's all I can say, since I've never worked on it anyway


I think the lute version is BWV1000 and the violin version from the solo sonata BWV1001, no BWV1000a according to my memory.


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## Praeludium

Ah, sorry. I think you're right ; I was thinking of the BWV1006/BWV1006a when I wrote that.

Does anyone here know Philip Hii ? I don't know what to think of him (and of his teaching/essays).
He is a very skilled guitarist, with a very free technique, but there's something missing, I think.





Do you see what I mean ? It's maybe also about his repertoire (here is the warhorse "La Catedral" by Barrios).
At least he has the guts to put a real live home-recorded video on YT 

Anyway, I think his essay "Art of virtuosity" (never read the guitar oriented one) is a must read for anyone who want to developp true guitaristic skills, much more than any book of exercises (Iznaola, Kappel, etc.).

I'm very curious about those "special" guitarist, ie. those who have developed their guitar playing according to what they believe in, according to their personality, and have obtained very peculiar results. The guitar is IMO an instrument which fits very well this personal research (actually I wouldn't be surprised if all the instruments did fit that), and there are some wonderful examples of what the result can be.
For me, Hii is one of these guitarist (albeit not the greatest, when it comes to finally just listening to the muisc).
Here are some others examples :






Paul Galbraith, he has got a very strange posture (but actually way more logical than the normal one) and is mainly playing transcriptions.






Alexander Vynograd. He uses his chin to play ! He seems very concerned about expanding the different techniques that can be used on the guitar. He's also a marvelous musician. A guitar version of Godowsky maybe ? lol






Rob McKillop. He's more a personal favorite - although I'm feeling I've lost many time trying to play modern guitar with flesh as a serious music student. He's more a plucked of all kind than a guitar. Apart from the harps, I think he plays any plucked instrument (including medieval ones, as well as electric guitar).

I'm sure there are many others ! I haven't even quoted Dyens or Caballero for instance.
What are your "sources of inspiration" ? (I hate to say it like that) Maybe you just don't care ?


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## Guest

I think Philip Hii is a great technician, but I agree that there is something missing--needs more expression. Still, it's no mean feat to make that Toccata & Fugue look "easy"! I've been working on it for a while. Parts are quite guitaristic, others are not. It's hard for me to get the sound of the organ out of my head, so I think I'll set it aside for a while.

As mentioned, I'm a huge fan of Caballero, but I also like Eliot Fisk, Kazuhito Yamashita, Paul Galbraith, David Russell, Julian Bream, Remi Boucher--there are dozens, even hundreds of gifted guitarists out there! Since Boucher is not likely a household name, here's a video of him playing his _solo _guitar version of Rodrigo's Aranjuez Concerto!  (The camera work is a bit shaky...)


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## tdc

Praeludium said:


> Ah, sorry. I think you're right ; I was thinking of the BWV1006/BWV1006a when I wrote that.


Are you saying you believe BWV 1006a was not composed by Bach? What evidence do you have for this?


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## Praeludium

Huh, I was thinking of the fugue in A minor, the BWV1000. I just thought that since Bach wrote an other arrangement of a violin suite for luth, entitled 1006a, this one might have been the BWV1000a - I didn't thought further, it was just a stupid little mistake 

I think the 1006a is actually by Bach - I've never heard someone saying that it isn't.

Thanks for the videos Kontrapunktus ! I'd already heard of him but had never seek further.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Praeludium said:


> Huh, I was thinking of the fugue in A minor, the BWV1000. I just thought that since Bach wrote an other arrangement of a violin suite for luth, entitled 1006a, this one might have been the BWV1000a - I didn't thought further, it was just a stupid little mistake
> 
> I think the 1006a is actually by Bach - I've never heard someone saying that it isn't.
> 
> Thanks for the videos Kontrapunktus ! I'd already heard of him but had never seek further.


According to my Frank Koonce edition of the complete solo lute works, Bach probably did arrange the third violin partita for his fourth lute suite, but some of the other suites were more likely to have been transcribed into lute/theorbo tablature by others.


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## Guest

Did Bach make his own arrangement of the BWV 1001 fugue for organ? It's BWV 539 and known as the "Fiddle Fugue"! (He or someone added a prelude.)


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## tdc

Praeludium said:


> Huh, I was thinking of the fugue in A minor, the BWV1000. I just thought that since Bach wrote an other arrangement of a violin suite for luth, entitled 1006a, this one might have been the BWV1000a - I didn't thought further, it was just a stupid little mistake
> 
> I think the 1006a is actually by Bach - I've never heard someone saying that it isn't.
> 
> Thanks for the videos Kontrapunktus ! I'd already heard of him but had never seek further.


I misunderstood sorry about that...great videos btw Praeludium and kontrapunctus.


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## Praeludium

Any opinion about this piece ? I'm curious what you think of it, especially the second piece.


----------



## tdc

Praeludium said:


> Any opinion about this piece ? I'm curious what you think of it, especially the second piece.


I find that recording (and maybe even the playing style) a little abrasive. But the pieces (in particular the second one) do seem rather interesting.


----------



## Guest

I like these pieces very much. I have his recording of the complete Transcendental Etudes (there are 60) on the Brilliant label for a ridiculously low price!:
http://www.amazon.com/Trascendentia...XUBO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331682058&sr=8-1

Yes, his playing is a bit aggressive, but I think it fits the mood of these two pieces. (They are not all as relentlessly virtuosic as the two in the video.)


----------



## tdc

^ Yeah I didn't mean to criticize that playing too much (more the recording), it seemed like maybe the section from 23 to 42 seconds into the video the playing was a little sketchy, but then again that section doesn't look very easy to play.


----------



## Philip

LOVE this piece:

"A L'aube Du Dernier Jour" (F. Kleynjans) - "Attente"





"A L'aube Du Dernier Jour" (F. Kleynjans) - "A L'aube" 





On recording i have "*20th Century Music*" by *Roberto Aussel*


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Does anyone know any good recordings of Legnani's 36 Caprices for solo guitar? I'm leaning no. 5 at the moment, but I want a recording of all 36 so I can listen to all of them.


----------



## Praeludium

I think Pavel Steidl has recorded them. Amazing musician. You can find two caprices on YT.

edit : He has actually done a Naxos CD with all the Caprices and the Fantaisie op19. 

I find Legnani very deceptive q:
There are some great melodic and rhythmic ideas in his works, but all the works I've heard from him are superficial. I remember a Fantaisie so unbearable that I haven't even finished to listen to it. 
It was just dozens of themes following each other, without development, without structure.

edit² :
Are you formally studying guitar ? Where & with who ?


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Praeludium said:


> I think Pavel Steidl has recorded them. Amazing musician. You can find two caprices on YT.
> 
> edit : He has actually done a Naxos CD with all the Caprices and the Fantaisie op19.
> 
> I find Legnani very deceptive q:
> There are some great melodic and rhythmic ideas in his works, but all the works I've heard from him are superficial. I remember a Fantaisie so unbearable that I haven't even finished to listen to it.
> It was just dozens of themes following each other, without development, without structure.
> 
> edit² :
> Are you formally studying guitar ? Where & with who ?


Melbourne, Australia with my terrific guitar teacher.


----------



## Praeludium

Wow he's cool and seems to be a great guitarist ! You're lucky and certainly in good hands.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Praeludium said:


> Wow he's cool and seems to be a great guitarist ! You're lucky and certainly in good hands.


He is definitely a great teacher. I want his recordings!


----------



## Praeludium

Some awesomeness !


----------



## Chrythes

Hey guys, I am looking for new pieces to learn, thought you could recommend me some.

The only two criteria are - it must be "happy", or at least have a sense of joy. Most of the pieces I play are just sad, and I'm tired of it. And the second - it mustn't be too difficult - easier than La Cathedral, or at least of the same level.
Thanks!


----------



## tdc

Chrythes said:


> Hey guys, I am looking for new pieces to learn, thought you could recommend me some.
> 
> The only two criteria are - it must be "happy", or at least have a sense of joy. Most of the pieces I play are just sad, and I'm tired of it. And the second - it mustn't be too difficult - easier than La Cathedral, or at least of the same level.
> Thanks!


When I want to play joyous pieces I usually enjoy Baroque style works for example I'd highly recommend many of Gaspar Sanz pieces, Bach's BWV 1006, and many of Scarlatti's sonatas are wonderful (unfortunately very difficult though).

There is also Fernando Sor, many of his pieces are great and most are joyous. Mertz would be another choice. Most guitar composers from their era seem very joyful to me, but for the most part I prefer the diverse sounds of the Baroque and even Renaissance (John Dowland would be another great choice for composers to look into imo).

edit - for a more modern choice try Rodrigo's _Sonata Giocosa_ I am intending to tackle this at some stage, though I'm not sure how it stacks up in terms of difficulty against La Cathedral.


----------



## Chrythes

Thank you for reminding me about BWV 1006!
The prelude was playing in my head a few days ago and I couldn't figure out which piece was it.


----------



## sah

What about this?


----------



## tdc

sah said:


> What about this?


I have been trying to track down sheet music for this piece for a while - if you know where I could find it, please let me know!


----------



## sah

http://es.scorser.com/S/Partituras/Cancion+Y+Danza+Ruiz+Pipo/-1/1.html

The "canción" (1) is sad, go to the "danza" (2). Enjoy!


----------



## tdc

sah said:


> http://es.scorser.com/S/Partituras/Cancion+Y+Danza+Ruiz+Pipo/-1/1.html
> 
> The "canción" (1) is sad, go to the "danza" (2). Enjoy!


I'm very grateful for this, thank you. :tiphat:

I have enjoyed that piece for years as it was on the first recording that introduced me to Rodrigo, Albeniz, Sanz and Tarrega among others, performed by the great Narciso Yepes.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Praeludium said:


> Some awesomeness !


Elliott Carter is so underrated with classical guitarists. Especially with those extreme conservatives who only play Sor, Barrios and Albeniz. A guitar teacher I know even says that "Changes" sounds like crap.


----------



## Chrythes

Looking yesterday for BWV 1006 notes I stumbled upon this site - http://classicscore.hut2.ru/B.html. 
I think it's quite useful.


----------



## Praeludium

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Elliott Carter is so underrated with classical guitarists. Especially with those extreme conservatives who only play Sor, Barrios and Albeniz. A guitar teacher I know even says that "Changes" sounds like crap.


The whole contemporary music (apart from one piece by Domeniconi, a few by Dyens and some silly candies by I don't know who many guitarists love) is incredibly underrated and underplayed. Many of the great composers of the history of the music have written works for the guitar in the second part of the XXth century, but very few of them are played, and that's a real shame.

Martin and Takemitsu seem to be played a bit more, but apart from those pieces, we guitarists prefer to stick with guitarist-com_poo_sers music.
Arghghgh. 
And that's a vicious circle. Llobet, Sainz de la Maza, De la Torre and Segovia broke it, even though their tastes were quite conservative (hello Segovia with didn't want Stravinsky (and others) to write guitar music) but it seems like most of the guitarists do not really want great music to be written for their instrument, or don't have the guts and the skills to play masterpieces.


----------



## sah

tdc said:


> I'm very grateful for this, thank you. :tiphat:
> 
> I have enjoyed that piece for years as it was on the first recording that introduced me to Rodrigo, Albeniz, Sanz and Tarrega among others, performed by the great Narciso Yepes.


In my case, that piece was in a tape with Spanish music for guitar, played by Yepes, that my parents bought to me when I started to study the guitar. I was not used to listen to classical music, and that piece, being fast and rhythmic, was initially my favorite one. I was so happy when I found out it was one of the pieces I could play at the conservatory.


----------



## Kindablue

Kontrapunctus said:


> Since Boucher is not likely a household name, here's a video of him playing his _solo _guitar version of Rodrigo's Aranjuez Concerto!  (The camera work is a bit shaky...)
> 
> *snip*


Oh, wow.  indeed. Sad to say that I enjoyed that more than when I saw Pepe Romero playing it with the local symphony a half dozen months ago.



Praeludium said:


> Does anyone here know Philip Hii ? I don't know what to think of him (and of his teaching/essays).
> He is a very skilled guitarist, with a very free technique, but there's something missing, I think.
> *snip*
> 
> Do you see what I mean ? It's maybe also about his repertoire (here is the warhorse "La Catedral" by Barrios).
> At least he has the guts to put a real live home-recorded video on YT
> 
> Anyway, I think his essay "Art of virtuosity" (never read the guitar oriented one) is a must read for anyone who want to developp true guitaristic skills, much more than any book of exercises (Iznaola, Kappel, etc.).


I can tell you he's been filming some new pieces recently. I don't know which ones specifically, but he told me he had to spend a lot of time getting his tremolo into shape again to play them. I don't really know what he plans to do with them either, or when he plans on releasing them, but be on the look out.


----------



## Praeludium

Here it is (Hii's tremolo video) :


----------



## Nadia

I own and play a 2008. Franković (you probably haven't heard of him...) It's a really nice spruce with a warmer tone than most spruces I have heard. It lacs the cedar's delicacy when I play sul tasto. My favorite guitar composers are Giuliani, Legnani, Mertz, Tarrega, Llobet, Dyens and definately not Sor. I am currently working on Llobets Variations on a theme by Sor (practically finished), Dyens's Fuoco(just started), Legnani capricces 5,7,9,15(middle fase), Bach's Chaconne(finished).


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Nadia said:


> I own and play a 2008. Franković (you probably haven't heard of him...) It's a really nice spruce with a warmer tone than most spruces I have heard. It lacs the cedar's delicacy when I play sul tasto. My favorite guitar composers are Giuliani, Legnani, Mertz, Tarrega, Llobet, Dyens and definately not Sor. I am currently working on Llobets Variations on a theme by Sor (practically finished), Dyens's Fuoco(just started), Legnani capricces 5,7,9,15(middle fase), Bach's Chaconne(finished).


Giuliani but not Sor? What kind of crazy person are you?! I love Legnani too and I've also played the fifth and seventh caprices.


----------



## Nadia

Giuliani and Sor are very different for me, or you could just say that I have a peculiar taste.


----------



## Philip

Nadia said:


> Giuliani and Sor are very different for me, or you could just say that I have a peculiar taste.


Check out the Hommage à Sor by Ponce, it's excellent.


----------



## Nadia

Do you mean Sonata clasica? It is an hommage of Sor. I have played it a few years ago and it wasn't bad.


----------



## Philip

Yes. .


----------



## Praeludium

Since you were at Ponce :






Great, isn't it ?


----------



## Philip

Praeludium said:


> Since you were at Ponce :


dat tone .


----------



## Chrythes

What are your favorite series of etudes, and the most beneficial in your opinion?


----------



## Praeludium

Not HVL (although I guess they'd be a very good workout for me at the moment if I accepted the fact that I can't master them yet or in the following months). 
Because they're overplayed, and because they're concert études. IMHO if you want to really work deeply on technique, you can't really do it on a virtuoso piece unless you have an already really strong technique (I mean, *really* strong. The kind of technique those young competition winners have).

Sor's études are all great. The op6 and 29 can be quite difficult. The op31 is easier and the op35 is even easier (but not easy).
The Segovia selection of these etudes is used a lot but you can just sight read all of them and decide for yourself.

They're all very well written, and since Sor was a truly a quite unique genius of the guitar, there are often lots of things to work on in those pieces - but those things are not necessarily apparent. They become very interesting to work on when you're very demanding on tone, phrasing, etc. and when you want to play them with 100% accuracy and the greatest ease possible.

My teacher told me I could work on Aguado's études. They're less cute than Sor's - they sound more like études, while Sor have written some little gems. But they'll make you work on a different side of the guitar technique, since Aguado and Sor had a very different approach to the guitar.

I'd tend to say that Aguado seems more useful for the right hand (he had a very modern RH technique while Sor was still mainly using three fingers) and Sor is amazing for the left hand (particularly the etudes op 6 n3, 6 and 9, as well as op29 n13, 17, 22 and 23).

But IMO the most important thing with études, or technique in general, is the approach. Being very demanding on music and not being satisfied until all the difficulties are perfectly mastered is, IMHO, the key to true progress.
That's why I don't understand why one should work one HVL's #1 for arpeggio technique for instance. Most of the concertists can't play it properly (they miss some strings at some point, make little pauses at the beginning of every arpeggios, etc.) at the speed they want...
















There are only amateur or professional-but-with-bad-quality interpretation of the most challenging Sor études on YT, apart from this one :


----------



## Philip

I'll be more brief than my mate Praeludium and say...

_20 Estudios Sencillos_ by Leo Brouwer


----------



## Chrythes

@Philip - 
I stumbled upon them recently and found them to be quite interesting and rather different than the usual etudes. They are more modern, and some don't sound devoid of emotions like most etudes. Anyway, because of his etudes my question was raised.

His _NUEVOS ESTUDIOS SENCILLOS_ are also quite interesting!

@Praeludium - Once I tried studying Sor's op. 60 progressive studies, but they were a bit too easy. 
But indeed, I should try some of his that you mentioned, since I need to work on my LH a lot.
But don't you think that you can improve your technique by working on hard pieces? 
Since you usually encounter the same technique taught in the etudes also in those virtuosi pieces, your way of learning it can be more enjoyable if you actually learn a piece that you want to learn, instead of playing etudes that you don't care much for.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Philip said:


> I'll be more brief than my mate Praeludium and say...
> 
> _20 Estudios Sencillos_ by Leo Brouwer


I agree with this.


----------



## Praeludium

Chrythes said:


> @Praeludium - Once I tried studying Sor's op. 60 progressive studies, but they were a bit too easy.
> But indeed, I should try some of his that you mentioned, since I need to work on my LH a lot.
> But don't you think that you can improve your technique by working on hard pieces?
> Since you usually encounter the same technique taught in the etudes also in those virtuosi pieces, your way of learning it can be more enjoyable if you actually learn a piece that you want to learn, instead of playing etudes that you don't care much for.


It's easier for me to work on technique on a rather small scale piece, often focused on one particular difficulty. But I do both, since of course I also have to work on concert pieces (at the moment it's Asencio's Suite Valenciana) and they often cause me lot of troubles. 
What I meant it's that it's easier to take your time, to work properly and to be relaxed (physically and mentally) while working on a (non-concert) etude. You have more time to think about technique.
But that's maybe also because I don't do exercises, scales and arpeggios at all. I prefer working on music instead. People who practice exercises everyday might think it's not necessary to always work on some études.


----------



## Praeludium

This is so great ! She makes me appreciate Barrios. She's clearly a lutenist playing guitar, but it just sounds amazing. _What a tone !_ Lutenist playing guitar often have incredible results, even though the lute technique doesn't allow them to play brilliant virtuoso pieces.

Just when I was resigned to grow up some nails in order not to be restrained in my studies and repertoire choices ): I don't know what to do. The choice is mainly about following an exotic path which will bring limitations and certainly difficulties or following the normal conservatory path which will allow me to have a broader repertoire and the certitude I won't be rejected because of a strong fundamental choice.


----------



## Ivanovich

As a classical guitarist, I find the repertoire rather unsatisfying. I wish more quality composers had written for the instrument.


----------



## Guest

I'm not much of a Villa Lobos fan, but my friend Alexander Milovanov certainly plays the pants off them! (click on "Show More" to access individual ones.) I imagine some of you will find him too fast and aggressive, but he has some serious chops!


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Anyone know a good recording of Brouwer's Tres Apuntes? I'm learning it at the moment and would like to acquire some Brouwer CDs.


----------



## Philip

The Naxos CD has it, and i think the Brouwer boxset has it as well. But it's not in the Lemaigre, Oraison, Pierri ... recordings that i have.


----------



## Praeludium

Isn't the guitarist Ricardo Cobos ? he's a fine guitarist..

edit : Kontrapunctus -> He definitely has chops ! It's a feat to play the whole set so cleanly and comfortably. He seems to be a quite natural musician, he makes the guitar sing. I wonder why we haven't seen him win the GFA or competitions of this kind yet, he totally has the right profile.

But I'm under the impression the tone gets "hollow" and a bit metallic when he plays fast - first and seven étude... I'm not sure this is even possible to play this fast and to keep a full ample tone anyway.
I'm not really a huge fan of the HVL etudes either. I wonder if he played them because of the bravura or because of the music.


----------



## Guest

Praeludium said:


> Isn't the guitarist Ricardo Cobos ? he's a fine guitarist..
> 
> edit : Kontrapunctus -> He definitely has chops ! It's a feat to play the whole set so cleanly and comfortably. He seems to be a quite natural musician, he makes the guitar sing. I wonder why we haven't seen him win the GFA or competitions of this kind yet, he totally has the right profile.
> 
> But I'm under the impression the tone gets "hollow" and a bit metallic when he plays fast - first and seven étude... I'm not sure this is even possible to play this fast and to keep a full ample tone anyway.
> I'm not really a huge fan of the HVL etudes either. I wonder if he played them because of the bravura or because of the music.


He competed in the 2012 GFA but did not make the finals! Nor did Artyom Dervoed, another incredible player. Something was wrong with the jury!

Part of that hollowness might be due to his lattice-braced Ross Gutmeier guitar. Ross has recently gone back to traditional bracing and he's making a new guitar for Alexander.

I guess he liked them enough to learn them! Overall, he prefers more contemporary pieces. I'll ask him if he more attracted to the music or the bravura.

EDIT: He likes them as music ("not a masterpiece, though") as well as for their significance as a cycle in that sort of genre.


----------



## alvarohenrique

Brouwer's Nuevos Estudios Sencillios are awesome. If you compare technical effort divided by musical result, I guess this is the set of studies you get the higher quota.

I second Praeludium's opinion on Villa-Lobos studies. You must excel the technique demanded to really make it sound musical.

I enjoy this opportunity to share my video playing them. It was the third time I played the whole set live in concert, and it was a morning concert (I was really warmed up only on Study 4), but you may find it interesting


----------



## Praeludium

^ The third time ? I would have thought guitarists would rather avoid playing such an awfully demanding program lol

I've been listening to this many times now. What do you think of it ?
I think I like it a lot, but it's very complex and meaty so I'm not sure I've understood it. (<- this fact alone makes me like it)
Arabesque IV by Nodaira





Contemporary repertoire for guitar, I love you.


----------



## Guest

^ My immediate reaction is I don't find it too appealing. Parts are a bit too seemingly random/pointillistic for my taste, but it has some interesting sonorities. I'd have to listen to it some more to get more out of it.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

I've fallen in love with Babbit's Composition for Guitar.


----------



## Guest

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> I've fallen in love with Babbit's Composition for Guitar.


If nothing else, it certainly has a catchy title!  For a sado-serial piece, I prefer Carter's "Changes."


----------



## Philip

I recommend this album:

Rafael ANDIA, guitar


----------



## Praeludium

Thanks for the recommandation. There's the Drogoz piece (I think, maybe it's an other one) on YouTube. It's for prepared guitar and it's amazing.
Rafael Andia. He teachs at the Ecole Normale Alfred Cortot. If I could afford living in Paris and studying in a private (not that expensive given how famous and of good repute it is) school, I'd definitely try to study with him.


----------



## Guest

When I saw Pablo Marquez at the GFA a few years ago, he opened with Murail's "Tellur"--that was a ballsy choice!


----------



## Praeludium

Pablo Marquez seems to be a great guitarist. Looks like he does a lot of contemporary music, but also south american music (contemporary as well as nationalistic composers such as Gnatalli) with the ensemble of which he's one of the main member, AlmaViva, and renaissance music. He also recorded a CD of spanish music with the famous french cellist Anne Gastinel (as well as Piazzolla's Histoire du Tango with Cécile Daroux). I've heard from my teacher (who have a ex-student who studied with him) that he's one of those musicians who can sight-read awesomely well a lot of music. He's also known as a very serious and interesting teacher.

To put it in a nutshell : great musician and I'm glad those kind of guitarists actually exist (another one could be David Starobin anf of course many others). I hope I'll be able to study with him one day  (Erm, even just thinking it is possible is wishful thinking.)


----------



## Guest

I agree. He's an amazing guitarist and musician. I love his EMI CD of Navarez' music. He played a few at the GFA--probably to soften the hammer blows of the Murail piece and Ginastera's Sonata!


----------



## Praeludium

Here's another very interesting piece for solo guitar by a Japanese composer, Serenade by Toshio Hosokawa :






I'm listening to it for the first time, so I don't really have an opinion yet, but I'm already attracted by it anyway. Some aspects of it remind me Takemitsu's writing for guitar.
There seem to be a lot of great music written for guitar in Japan nowadays (and I guess everywhere else. XIXth century is so cool)


----------



## Guest

I don't know about the piece, but Giacomo's new Greg Byers guitar sounds good! (He's a friend, too.)


----------



## Guest

I really like Magnus Lindberg's "Mano a Mano." It was written for Timo Korhonen. Here's an audio-only video:











Marcin Dylla is playing it on his 2013 tour.


----------



## Praeludium

Kontrapunctus said:


> I don't know about the piece, but Giacomo's new Greg Byers guitar sounds good! (He's a friend, too.)


Do you know the whole San Francisco guitar scene ? 

I've never been able to understand Mano a Mano. I like it, but I'm under the impression that there's a complexe structure involved and that I'm missing it. I wonder how hard it really is. It doesn't seem _that_ hard (ie. not harder than most of the contemporary repertoire for guitar).

Thanks for the video btw. For some reason I was unable to find it on YT - I thought it was deleted.


----------



## Guest

Yes, pretty much! 

It's hard, no doubt about it, but it's basically guitaristic if one fingers it carefully. It's comparable to Maw's Music of Memory in difficulty--maybe a little less. The fugue at the climax of MoM is insanely hard!


----------



## tdc

^ I liked both pieces recently posted. The first (Hosokawa piece) does seem to owe a lot to Takemitsu. Mano a Mano (like seemingly soooo much of contemporary guitar repertoire) seems to owe a LOT to Leo Brouwer.

I liked the string bending in the Hosokawa piece. Aside from Roland Dyens he is the only other classical composer I've come across yet to incorporate the technique.


----------



## Guest

Mano a Mano is vastly more complex than any Brouwer piece that I've heard. It does make full and very creative use of the guitar's resources, so it shares that element with Brouwer. It's amazing that a non-guitarist could come up with such a piece. I feel the same way about Maw's Music of Memory.


----------



## Chrythes

A while ago, I remember finding a website that shows the grade of each piece, but unfortunately I lost its address. Maybe do you know if if it still exist, and if it does - its address?

And BTW, do you know of any good score sites except for delcamp and IMSLP? This one - http://classicscore.hut2.ru/ was great, but it's been down for a while now (no surprise I guess).


----------



## tommaso

20 years ago imho Pepe Romero was the best guitarist on this planet. The crucial test was (and still is in a way) Tarrega´s Recuerdos de la Alhambra, one of the best pieces of music ever written. Romero played it so lightly, so seemingly effortlessly, like nobody else I ever heard before.





 (the young Romero was even better)

Then Jorge Caballero came along and played it with the same style as Romero, as there was no limitation to his technical skills.

And I´ve heard Romero playing BWV 1004 (partita for violin, transcribed for the guitar), another piece, which differentiates between the good and the best, especially the famous Chaconne.
.





Today, Jorge Caballero clearly is the best guitarist out there, just listen to his interpretation of Mussorgky´s Pictures of an Exhibition (there is a youtube-link in this thread). And I reflected the injustice of life for quite some time, when I saw Jorge Caballero standing there in one of the archways of a church in our city (at a break of a performance in this church, we have one the major guitar festivals here), a more or less lonely figure, the one person playing the guitar best out of 8 billion people, shivering in the fresh air, and compared it to the hype, the fastest runner of the world created at the olympics. I´d say, the best guitarist is a hundred times more important than the fastest runner....


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Just discovered Ana Vidovic. Opinions on Ana Vidovoc?


----------



## Philip

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Opinions on Ana Vidovoc?


yes .


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Philip said:


> yes .


What are your opinions?


----------



## tdc

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Just discovered Ana Vidovic. Opinions on Ana Vidovoc?


I find her technically quite great, I'm not sure if I am quite sold on the emotional depth of her interpretations, but I would still rate her highly.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

tdc said:


> I find her technically quite great, I'm not sure if I am quite sold on the emotional depth of her interpretations, but I would still rate her highly.


Like John Williams?


----------



## tdc

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Like John Williams?


Kind of yes, except John Williams technically is probably better, though I would agree his interpretations can suffer the same questionable element at times for sure.


----------



## Praeludium

Don't like her tone. Don't like her technique. Don't like her repertoire. But she's good looking so everybody like her.


----------



## Philip

Praeludium said:


> Don't like her tone. Don't like her technique. Don't like her repertoire. But she's good looking so everybody like her.


jealous .


----------



## tdc

Praeludium said:


> Don't like her tone. Don't like her technique. Don't like her repertoire. But she's good looking so everybody like her.


You aren't into Albeniz, Tarrega or Walton guitar pieces?

But as far as good looking guitarists go my favorite is Kaori Muraji. She is kind of like the inverse Vidovic - her technique might not be perfect (though it is good), but I find a lot of depth in her interpretations.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

I don't like Albeniz on the guitar one little bit. Asturias is a marimba piece, face it.


----------



## Chrythes

Not even Capricho Catalan, Sevilla or Cordoba?


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Maybe Sevilla.....


----------



## tdc

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> I don't like Albeniz on the guitar one little bit. Asturias is a marimba piece, face it.


I think this is probably just a reaction against the fact this is probably the most over-played classical guitar piece of all time, but lets face it Sevilla is a great composition (as is Asturias, though I would suggest over-rated). I love this Albeniz piece arranged by Narciso Yepes for 2 guitars.


----------



## Guest

What about Jorge Caballero playing Evocacion and El Puerto?






or El Albaicin?






By the way, he followed those Albeniz pieces with his transcription of Alban Berg's Piano Sonata and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition!


----------



## Praeludium

Philip said:


> jealous .


No I'm not. What she does simply doesn't touch me at all. I'm not saying she isn't a very competent instrumentalist.



tdc said:


> You aren't into Albeniz, Tarrega or Walton guitar pieces?
> 
> [...]


NO 
At least, for Albeniz, not on guitar, and for Walton, not just those 5 bagatelles.. 
For Tarrega... I have a great admiration for the man, the teacher, the guitarist, but I definitely don't want to hear his music in concert/CD (or not in all the CDs). In my mind he wrote some very cute music who is great for amateurs playing in their living room, or concertists playing in intimate setting once in a while.

I'm under the impression I'm hearing more and more about Jorge Caballero. I think he doesn't teach.. is he one of the few guitarists who can sustain himself just with concerts/masterclass (which is teaching but not like having a regular position in an university) ?

I'm under the impression he's a guitarist for guitarists... yes I know he won a prestigious multi-instruments competition and so on, but I never hear about a project for new repertoire (like James Boyd's), an ambitious CD release, a chamber ensemble or whatever. This isn't a cricticism of course, I know he's an amazing musician (but I have hard times really liking his tone), but I'm under the impression he mainly plays quasi-impossible virtuosic transcriptions. Am I wrong ?

edit : I see he plays with a violinist.. Ok, he at least does chamber music !


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

A little off topic but _this_ is how Asturias must be performed:


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## tdc

Praeludium said:


> NO
> At least, for Albeniz, not on guitar, and for Walton, not just those 5 bagatelles..
> For Tarrega... I have a great admiration for the man, the teacher, the guitarist, but I definitely don't want to hear his music in concert/CD (or not in all the CDs). In my mind he wrote some very cute music who is great for amateurs playing in their living room, or concertists playing in intimate setting once in a while.
> 
> I know he's an amazing musician (but I have hard times really liking his tone), but I'm under the impression he mainly plays quasi-impossible virtuosic transcriptions. Am I wrong ?


I kind of have those 2 qualms about Caballero too...but I think the tone thing may be at least partially attributed to the miking in the videos. The transcription thing you have a point on too, honestly, though much of his playing I do find impressive.

Out of curiosity what players, repertoire do you find best?


----------



## Guest

*I'm under the impression he's a guitarist for guitarists... yes I know he won a prestigious multi-instruments competition and so on, but I never hear about a project for new repertoire (like James Boyd's), an ambitious CD release, a chamber ensemble or whatever. This isn't a cricticism of course, I know he's an amazing musician (but I have hard times really liking his tone), but I'm under the impression he mainly plays quasi-impossible virtuosic transcriptions. Am I wrong ?

edit : I see he plays with a violinist.. Ok, he at least does chamber music !*

1) He teaches at The Kean University Conservatory of Music in New Jersey.
2) His tone is beautiful in person--never judge tone by a YT video!
3) True, he doesn't release a lot of CDs (he's probably too busy transcribing impossible keyboard pieces!), but he plays a lot of contemporary music: Elliot Carter's Changes, Fernyhough's Kurtze Schatten II, Berio's Sequenza XI--I guess he just doesn't have any videos of them.
4) He actually plays a lot of chamber music with the Miro String Quartet, among others.


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## Praeludium

Ok, thanks for your reply !
He's definitely a very interesting guitarist.

About the tone, I agree I shouldn't have judged on YT, but in every videos I've seen of him (in different locations, with different recording methods I guess) there's this tone which doesn't bother me but doesn't please me neither, so I ended up thinking mr.Caballero had made some aesthetical choices I didn't like - nothing wrong with that. I hope I'll be able to see him live some day


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## Guest

Here are a few samples from his two CDs. The Bach is about 16 years old, but it still sounds pretty good! The Dvorak is about 5 years old.

http://www.jcaballeroguitar.com/pages/showaudio.php


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## tdc

Praeludium said:


> NO
> At least, for Albeniz, not on guitar


Hmmm...well you would certainly be in the minority here. Even Albeniz like Albeniz on guitar, in fact so much so that he is quoted as saying his music actually sounds better on the guitar than the instrument it was written for.



Praeludium said:


> and for Walton, not just those 5 bagatelles..


This doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me here - so how much does a composer have to compose, before their pieces are worth performing?



Praeludium said:


> For Tarrega... I have a great admiration for the man, the teacher, the guitarist, but I definitely don't want to hear his music in concert/CD (or not in all the CDs). In my mind he wrote some very cute music who is great for amateurs playing in their living room, or concertists playing in intimate setting once in a while.


Fair enough, but your opinion on this composer would definitely not be shared by most guitarists. Nor would your opinion that Vidovic's tone and technique are at all lacking. To then suggest other people only like listening to her because she is good looking I find fairly ridiculous, if not a little bit insulting. I could easily point out if anything this seems more suggestive of you discriminating against a performer based on how they look.


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## Praeludium

tdc -> I wasn't implying that peoples listen to her because she's good looking. I'm just saying that a big part of her popularity and even of her career is based on this (have you seen all these photos ? do you imagine Starobin wearing a dress and taking a sexy pose with a teddy bear ?).

When I say that I don't like her technique, it's from a guitarist point of view. Her technique seems somewhat barbarian, full of tension and not very subtle. And so is her tone, IMO. Now, that's just my opinion.

About Walton, sorry if I wasn't clear in what I was saying : the five Bagatelles are good pieces, but they're too much played. I'd rather hear Rawsthorne's Elegy or some other British guitar music of the XXth century. Now, that's her choice, she does what she wants.

About Albeniz, I have always been sckeptical about whether or not he said that. I don't really trust quotes, particularly quotes that guitarists use to prove that composers such as pianists Albeniz and Chopin preferred the guitar to the piano...
And I was thinking about Iberia when I said that, actually.

About Tarrega... and in general, I don't really care about what guitarists say/think in general  Particularly since we're the kind of people to think that Tarrega was a great composer...
I prefer to trust my (not so good) ears. And they tell me that Tarrega, the composer, who is born after Fauré, Mussorgsky and so on, and who wrote a few cute salon pieces in a stale conservative language isn't a great composer.

Since we're at it I consider that Sor was the best guitarist composer of the whole XIXth century (Tarrega included), and what wrote Sor is *very far* from equaling what wrote even relatively obscure composers such as Reicha or Clementi.
Our music from 1750 to 1920 is* at best* nice, cute. I know that it's a pretty extreme opinion (for a guitarist) but I think it's the truth. 
Seriously, Clementi's Gradus ad Parnassum alone is worth all the XIXth century repertoire for guitar. And they're piano études.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

My favourite British guitar composer is Reginald Smith-Brindle.


----------



## tdc

@Praeludium, I think you have some interesting points, you have clarified what you mean about Vidovic, and the Walton pieces and I respect your opinion but as far as everything else I think much of what you say is exaggerated. I can't imagine someone listening to Capricho Arabe or Recuerdos de la Alhambra (however painfully overplayed the latter is), and hearing 'cute' anything music. These are fairly dark and intense pieces, and very well written. Your point about Sor is also I feel exaggerated, I don't feel he is below a composer like Clementi at all actually more like an equal. Its not that what you're saying has no validity I just feel its over-stated to get your point across. But I guess we will have to agree to disagree here.


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## Praeludium

I think we will agree to disagree  
That said, I wasn't saying that Clementi's music is much better written than Sor's. It's just that, as an example, Sor only wrote two Grandes Sonates who actually aren't Grandes Sonates but rather bare Sonates in a standard classical mould, when Clementi wrote many cool Sonates. 
If it's about little studies, Sor is great, but unfortunately his concerts works aren't deep or ambitious, despite being very well written. 
This makes Clementi a better composer than Sor for me. More artistic value.


----------



## tdc

Praeludium said:


> I think we will agree to disagree
> That said, I wasn't saying that Clementi's music is much better written than Sor's. It's just that, as an example, Sor only wrote two Grandes Sonates who actually aren't Grandes Sonates but rather bare Sonates in a standard classical mould, when Clementi wrote many cool Sonates.
> If it's about little studies, Sor is great, but unfortunately his concerts works aren't deep or ambitious, despite being very well written.
> This makes Clementi a better composer than Sor for me. More artistic value.


^ I think you are just comparing two different types of composers with different styles. Sor's compositional language just tended to be brighter than Clementi's, maybe not as ambitious, but that is just one aspect of composition. You also seem to be focused strictly on soloist type pieces while over looking Sor's wonderful Seguidillas as well as his Opera Telemaco nell'isola di Calipso of which a performance and recording was released as recently as 2000. This reminds me of the Mozart vs. Beethoven debate, on the surface Beethoven's music may look far more complex and ambitious, but on closer inspection with both Mozart and Sor there is a wealth of masterfully written compositions and a lot more to these composers then what there may appear to be at first glance.

Edit - *re-reading your earlier post I see you were referring to strictly guitar compositions, so ignore the comment about the opera!*

I still feel Sor holds his own against a composer like Clementi.


----------



## Guest

As far as British composers go, I wish someone would record Searle's Five for Guitar. They were deemed almost unplayable at the time (early 70s), but the standard of playing has risen considerably today, so this generation shouldn't have any problems with them. I have a live recording by Bream, and while an incredible player, didn't quite have the sheer chops of some of today's young players, yet he managed to play them, if not effortlessly. Yes, they are thorny, but not completely serial, and they deserved to be played.


----------



## Praeludium

tdc said:


> ^ I think you are just comparing two different types of composers with different styles. Sor's compositional language just tended to be brighter than Clementi's, maybe not as ambitious, but that is just one aspect of composition. You also seem to be focused strictly on soloist type pieces while over looking Sor's wonderful Seguidillas as well as his Opera Telemaco nell'isola di Calipso of which a performance and recording was released as recently as 2000. This reminds me of the Mozart vs. Beethoven debate, on the surface Beethoven's music may look far more complex and ambitious, but on closer inspection with both Mozart and Sor there is a wealth of masterfully written compositions and a lot more to these composers then what there may appear to be at first glance.
> 
> Edit - *re-reading your earlier post I see you were referring to strictly guitar compositions, so ignore the comment about the opera!*
> 
> I still feel Sor holds his own against a composer like Clementi.


Thanks for talking about this opera. Interesting ! I'd love to hear a Sor symphony, or a chamber music work, or the Mass he wrote at the end of his life, for the death of his daughter. In this kind of context, he could very well have written extremely powerful and deep music, given how talented he was. Unfortunately his guitar works are salon music.



Kontrapunctus said:


> As far as British composers go, I wish someone would record Searle's Five for Guitar. They were deemed almost unplayable at the time (early 70s), but the standard of playing has risen considerably today, so this generation shouldn't have any problems with them. I have a live recording by Bream, and while an incredible player, didn't quite have the sheer chops of some of today's young players, yet he managed to play them, if not effortlessly. Yes, they are thorny, but not completely serial, and they deserved to be played.


It sounds interesting ! But I wonder why most of the contemporary music always have to be sooo hard, so much hard it borders to the superhuman achievement. I'd like a contemporary Haydn or even a contemporary Debussy for guitar. Marvellous pieces that intermediate-advanced guitarists could play.


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## tdc

I think as far as guitar works goes many of Sor's etudes were his finest pieces. In a lot of these works I notice a more serious side of Sor's sound, that I personally wouldn't describe as 'salon' sounding (though I'm not sure I really understand the meaning of that word):


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## tdc

This one is my personal favorite:


----------



## Guest

Praeludium said:


> It sounds interesting ! But I wonder why most of the contemporary music always have to be sooo hard, so much hard it borders to the superhuman achievement. I'd like a contemporary Haydn or even a contemporary Debussy for guitar. Marvellous pieces that intermediate-advanced guitarists could play.


A lot of non-guitarists who write for the instrument are not worried about their pieces being particularly idiomatic. Searle's piece has a lot of fast passages about the 12th fret. It's probably no harder if as hard as Maw's Music of Memory or Lindberg's Mano a Mano.


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## tdc

Kontrapunctus said:


> Maw's Music of Memory


From what I've heard of this piece I quite like it. I find it annoying there are no complete videos of it I can find on youtube!


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## Guest

Marcin Dylla has a live DVD of it...I'm surprised that no one has uploaded it yet.

http://www.stringsbymail.com/store/marcin-dylla-dvd-live-wawel-royal-castle-at-dusk-4181.html

Don't get the one from Mel Bay--it omits the Maw!


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## Praeludium

tdc, I also love Sor études. They're amazing miniatures 

I'm rediscovering David Russell :






The repertoire he plays (in this video, at least), is essentially nice and pretty music but the guitarist is great. I know, he's famous, and so on, but I'm just seeing how good he actually is as if I were listening to him for the first time. Very subtle guitarist.


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## Guest

Praeludium said:


> I'm rediscovering David Russell :


Check him out playing some Baroque keyboard transcriptions--the man is a wizard! His new CD "Glory of the Baroque" is stunning.


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## Guest

^ He stumbles a bit here and there, but it's a fiercely difficult piece.


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## DTut

I'm new to this thread but I'll mention that I really like Ponce's guitar compositions, especially when played by Suzanne Mebes.


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## Praeludium

Russell seems to love baroque music. Well, those transcriptions are a great addition to the repertoire  
Funny to see how a intermediate keyboard piece immediatly becomes virtuoso stuff on the guitar.

DTut -> I'm beginning to appreciate Ponce, too ! I'm working on his Sonata classica at the moment. It'll be a lot of work but it's a very rewarding piece to play. I'm sure it'll be a joy to play it when I'll have finished (or come as close as I can to the "finished" state) to work on it. 
I like how, in this Sonata, he seems to have a very simple and clear language when it's actually masterfully written and very rich (you got to go in C major, Ab major and A major in the same piece. This sounds like nothing, but it's great.).

I'm very curious about those guitar pieces contemporaries of Ponce wrote for Sainz de la Maza, Llobet, etc. There are hidden gems in the Segovia repertoire - even nowadays -, so there must be quite a few of cool pieces that are never played in the non-Segovia repertoire written by symphonic composers of the first part of the XXth century... 

One of those cool pieces in the Segovia repertoire that nobody play is Tansman's Hommage à Chopin. I'm also working on it at the moment. It's a kind of relecture of Chopin's style in a modern idiom. There are some quite odd passages, immediatly followed by very romantic stuff. It's very well wirtten (of course, Tansman knew what he was doing...), but not really guitaristic : many difficult LH stretches and positions as well as a lot of notes to mute with the RH.


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## Guest

I like Tansman's Passacaglia:


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## Praeludium

Jens Wagner has the strangest right hand technique I have ever seen :






He studied lute as well as guitar, and it looks like there were some principles in lute technique he liked because what he uses looks pretty much like lute technique to me.

And guess what ? It works amazingly fine. He's a teacher at Bremen conservatory.
There are others videos on his channel.


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## DTut

Hi, 

It's been two years but I thought I'd check to see if this thread is still going. Let me know and I'll be happy to jump in.

Dave


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## DTut

ERROR. I had this group bookmarked and didn't refresh it. Sorry!


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## DTut

Hi,
I think all the Ponce Sonatas are pretty good, especially Mexicana, III, Romantica. Classica is also good and is supposed to be an Hommage to Sor but I think it sounds more Ponce-ish. I'll have to check out the Tansman--especially the Chopin. I have a CD of his complete works for guitar. Are you aware of those pieces Segovia wrote during his stay in Montevideo? Eliot Fisk has a CD of all of them. They are short and poignant. I think they are all published. 
Au Revoir,
Dave


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## Praeludium

DTut said:


> Hi,
> I think all the Ponce Sonatas are pretty good, especially Mexicana, III, Romantica. Classica is also good and is supposed to be an Hommage to Sor but I think it sounds more Ponce-ish. I'll have to check out the Tansman--especially the Chopin. I have a CD of his complete works for guitar. *Are you aware of those pieces Segovia wrote during his stay in Montevideo? Eliot Fisk has a CD of all of them. * They are short and poignant. I think they are all published.
> Au Revoir,
> Dave


Do you have a favorite to share ?

I confess I'm not particularly interested about Segovia as a composer but I'm curious nonetheless.


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## DTut

http://www.amazon.com/Canciones-Pop...F8&qid=1351209740&sr=1-12&keywords=eliot+fisk

Canciones Populares 
Segovia (Artist), Eliot Fisk (Artist)

There's some interesting little pieces here depicting various countries and regions.

Dave


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## DTut

Here is a new all-Ponce CD

http://www.patrickkearney.ca/impressions/index.html

:clap:


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## Guest

It's too bad that Ponce's Sonata "Homage a Bach" did not survive.


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## Guest

Here's an excerpt from Michael Edgerton's "Tempo Mental Rap"--it's about 40 minutes long...any takers?


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## KenOC

A change of pace: Debashish Bhattacharya playing a Hindustani slide guitar of his own design. This is a Hofner acoustic F hole guitar with a total of 22 strings. A piece of wood is added running the length of the neck and mounted with 17 tuning gears. This makes room for twelve sympathetic strings and five supporting strings for more versatility. The guitar is played on the lap with a small steel bar, metal picks, and a celluloid thumb pick.

Excellent stuff. A lot of this is contemplative; the faster and wilder stuff comes near the end, when the tabla enters.


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## jani

Recently i have developed an interest to finger picking, could you recommend me some "easy" &great classical pieces for Acoustic guitar?


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## Chrythes

Classical Gas by Mason Williams, Horizons by Genesis, maybe Mood For A Day by Steve Hackett (Yes).
You could also try Un Dia de Noviembre bye Leo Brouwer, though it's for the classical guitar.


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## jani

Chrythes said:


> Classical Gas by Mason Williams, Horizons by Genesis, maybe Mood For A Day by Steve Hackett (Yes).
> You could also try Un Dia de Noviembre bye Leo Brouwer, though it's for the classical guitar.


well i meant classical guitar, how hard is the first movement of Beethovens moonlight?


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## tdc

^ Beethoven's Fur Elise is not too difficult, (I haven't played Moonlight)...Bach's Bouree in E-minor is short and not overly hard either. Leo Brouwer's _Estudios Sencillos_ are all great (short) pieces of lesser difficulty as well.


----------



## Praeludium

Turina, Sonata :





I actually like it. I'm usually not a sucker for spanish music on guitar - it quickly sounds very cliché. But here we have a deep and impressionistic spanish music...

Jolivet, Deux études de concert :






I wonder why they're never played. This doesn't seem to be a very good interpretation - super clean, but it sounds very shallow musically.

edit : Jolivet wrote two guitar works (Deux études de concert and Le Tombeau de De Visée) and they just do not get performed. Those kind of things are driving me mad. Particuarly since those piece seem very interesting - the versions I hear on YT doesn't sound satisfying, but it maybe the recording. It's full of colors and asks for a lot of timbral shades and rhythmic liberty. But of course Mertz is much better


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## Guest

What an awful sounding guitar!

Anyway, some parts of that Tombeau are not very guitar-friendly, which might account for a lack of performances. Those Etudes are not the usual flashy sort, so that might mitigate against frequent performances, too.


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## Praeludium

Kontrapunctus said:


> What an awful sounding guitar!
> 
> Anyway, some parts of that Tombeau are not very guitar-friendly, which might account for a lack of performances. Those Etudes are not the usual flashy sort, so that might mitigate against frequent performances, too.


At first I didn't think of the guitar as the culprit but rather of the performer - all is very flatly played, as if he manly cared for the notes but not much else. What do you find awful about how the guitar sounds ? It seems a bit liss and lifeless to me but not awful.

If only guitarists were a little bit less caring about this or this piece being guitaristic ! 
The "only guitarists can write for guitar" myth seems to be quite alive - I was talking to a guitar teacher the other day, who told me that he thought non-guitarist composers rarely wrote pieces which sounded good on guitar (and that our instrument wasn't suited to big meaty music). And he's a good teacher. I think we're just being lazy here - a kind of bad habit that we've ever had, from 1500 to today ? 
And this kind of lazyness doesn't help us. 
I watched a documentary/interview where Segovia said that Ms.Debussy reported to him that Llobet had told Debussy he _souldn't_ write for guitar because only guitarists could do it !!
If you think about it, there's no reason solo guitar should have more limitations than solo harp or solo violin... Maybe most of guitarists just don't know how to make non-guitaristic music sound good (including me of course) and keep thinking it's the fault of the piece and not their - even nowadays with all the transcriptions and new repertoire some guitarists play.
Maybe composers are/were just less used to it and its writing than violin's or piano's.

Here's Robert Beaser talking about this issue :


----------



## tdc

^ Well the 'only guitarists can write for guitar' myth has never entered my psyche. The pieces I personally find the greatest on the instrument solo were written by Bach and Joaquin Rodrigo - both non-guitarists. I personally enjoy playing Albeniz on guitar more than Guiliani, or Aguado or Mertz etc. So basically I think that is a load of crap. A good composition is a good composition, the instrumentation really is secondary in my mind. Takemitsu and Walton also wrote in my mind incredible guitar pieces and to my knowledge were not guitarists themselves.

My favorite guitarist composers are Roland Dyens and Leo Brouwer, but when I play their pieces there is nothing about them that makes me think - 'ahh finally here is a piece that is actually composed by a guitarist'. I really don't find anything substantially more well put together, than the works previously mentioned.


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## Guest

Most of the great 20th century pieces were written by non-guitarists: Britten Nocturnal, Tippet The Blue Guitar, Maw Music of memory, Lindberg Mano a Mano, Henze The Royal Winter Music, Carter Changes--all of these pieces are extremely demanding and musically complex. The _music_ came first; the technical solutions were left to the guitarist. Most guitarist composers rely on comfortable patterns/figurations more than substantial musical content.


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## tdc

Kontrapunctus said:


> Most of the great 20th century pieces were written by non-guitarists: Britten Nocturnal, Tippet The Blue Guitar, Maw Music of memory, Lindberg Mano a Mano, Henze The Royal Winter Music, Carter Changes--all of these pieces are extremely demanding and musically complex. The _music_ came first; the technical solutions were left to the guitarist. *Most guitarist composers rely on comfortable patterns/figurations more than substantial musical content*.


You bring up a very good point here...the fact is I believe there are actually many advantages to being a non-guitarist composing for the instrument, and/or simply creating/playing transcriptions, because a lot of fresh ideas will come as a result of this process that a guitarist wouldn't normally think of.

So, basically that leaves most of the classical repertoire for solo instruments available to us guitarists to do with as we choose - there is more great music to play on this instrument than anyone could ever get around to in a lifetime - a vast amount of works at our fingertips composed by the great masters.

As guitarists I don't believe there is any sense in feeling limited in what we have available to us based on what was actually composed specifically for the instrument. To approach things this way would be to lose out on some of the very best compositions available to us. Just as many feel Bach's music sounds better on a modern piano than a harpsichord, in the same way many will actually prefer certain compositions by the greatest composers on guitar. To think that these new versions are automatically illegitimate or inferior simply because they are performed on a different instrument I think is just pure snobbery at its worst.


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## tdc

I really enjoyed this clip in which guitarist Manuel Barrueco shares his feelings on Bach as a composer, as well as his thoughts on playing his compositions on guitar:


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## DTut

That is an excellent DVD. There is also a section of Sharon Isbin playing the 996 Sarabande as well as relating her experiences with Rosalyn Tureck. Alas, it did not make the cut! The film maker says he will do part 2 sometime which has many interesting segments that didn't fit in Bac


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## Guest

I just bought Barrueco's new CD, "Chaconne: A Baroque Recital." It's very good. Contains Bach's Cello Suite No.1, five Scarlatti Sonatas, Weiss' Lute Suite VII, and of course, Bach's Chaconne. He adds some interesting counterpoint here and there to the Chaconne, which might bother purists, but it does compensate for lack of sustain in some of the thin-textured parts.










Here are some samples: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009PJOHG0/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00


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## tdc

^ Barrueco is one of my favorite guitarists for baroque music. I'm not crazy about his Rodrigo interpretations but I love his Bach, Scarlatti, Vivaldi etc. Contemporary composer Roberto Sierra composed a neo-baroque piece for him that I had the pleasure of seeing him perform live, and I thought his playing sounded outstanding on it.


----------



## Cnote11

I picked up a disc called _Cavatina_ by Kaori Muraji. I've only previewed one track so far, but I liked what I heard. I like to enjoy some well-done "crossover" stuff.


----------



## Phidias

Praeludium said:


> I'm very curious about those guitar pieces contemporaries of Ponce wrote for Sainz de la Maza, Llobet, etc. There are hidden gems in the Segovia repertoire - even nowadays -, so there must be quite a few of cool pieces that are never played in the non-Segovia repertoire written by symphonic composers of the first part of the XXth century...


Do you mean the generation of 27?


----------



## Praeludium

Phidias said:


> Do you mean the generation of 27?


Yes, even though I don't know those composers or what they wrote. I read many time about them, and also found this video on YT :






and that was enough to make me interested. 
I should probably pay more attention to this kind of discovery and get the sheet, etc. guilty of being a lazy guitarist (well, I can't work on 4 hours on music, at least no now).

Another interesting forgotten piece/composer/guitarist :






All this repertoire is one of my motivation to study seriously CG and get as good as I can (good enough I hope). I'd love to help a little bit to keep this legacy alive/revive it.
Do you know this generation of 27 properly ? What amount of guitar music was written by those composers ? Do you like it (if you know this obscure repertoire, probably)


----------



## Phidias

I started paying attention to it only last year, it's really obscure. They lived during the civil war which didn't help. Some of them were murdered on their prime, some died in jail, others were forced into exile, a whole nation's intellectual generation almost wiped out entirely, very sad.

I can't judge from the little i've heard. Besides António José's Sonata and Maza's pieces there's little else published.

There's Barcarisse concerto or concertino for guitar and a beautiful romanza with orchestra. Also Gustavo Pittaluga and Rodolfo Halffter spanish popular songs, without guitar.

I believe most material is still unpublished, hidden on someone's house, if not lost. If it weren't for Maza'z student, Iznaola, we wouldn't probably even have heard of António José.


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## Phidias

It's an area which requires serious investigation. Though i would be surprised if all the impetus and intellectual genius went for the other arts instead of music. The same happened in Portugal sadly, during the same period. The greatest innovations all rest on poetry and painting. Music seemed to lag behind for some reason.


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## Phidias

*i mean *wouldn't*.
I still can't edit posts.


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## aleazk

Praeludium said:


> Turina, Sonata :
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I actually like it. I'm usually not a sucker for spanish music on guitar - it quickly sounds very cliché. But here we have a deep and impressionistic spanish music...


Thanks for the video. This reinforces my thinking that Turina is one of the most refined of the spanish composers.


----------



## Phidias

Walton's bagatelles are making me crazy. I don't know why and neither why now.

I even dreamt this whole night with the 4th bagatelle and spent the whole day with that thing in my head.

What the hell?!


----------



## Guest

Here's another video of Jorge Caballero playing his transcription of Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue:






This one has better sound.


----------



## tdc

Recent GFA winner - Vladimir Gorbach is coming to my town next month. I just checked him out on youtube, I very much approve of his D. Scarlatti, great tone. I may have to go and see this player perform.


----------



## Praeludium

Hello,

I'm back for a second.

Could you give me your opinion/advices on this fantasy from Laurencini (Robert Dowland, Varieties of Lute lessons) I've just recorded ? No cheating : one take and no effects added, I wanted to emulate the condition of a concert (or in this case, audition) as close as possible.

View attachment Laurencini_Fantaisie.mp3


Of course it is a work in progress.

This is recorded with a Zoom H2 and my old guitar (which sounds dull and lacks projection according to my teacher), with Hannabach hard tension strings, without nails. I'll re-record it when I have my new guitar ^^


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## aleazk

I really liked, Praeludium. I can't say much about details because I don't know very much about classical guitar interpretation. What I liked more is the peace and tranquility you transmitted with your playing, I think it sounds very appropriate for this lovely piece, very delicate. I think the voices and the counterpoint were pretty clear also.


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## Tero

John Duarte was a music critic, chemist and guitarist. Sharon Isbin made some recordings recently. I'm on phone but look in Amazon under Isbin, Joan Baez is on that CD.


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## Praeludium

@Aleazk :

thanks for the listening and the comment ! I'm glad it pleased you and also relieved that I'm not "just playing notes" without anything more than this.


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## Guest

Excellent playing and a lovely piece--I'm not familiar with it.


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## Guest

tdc said:


> Recent GFA winner - Vladimir Gorbach is coming to my town next month. I just checked him out on youtube, I very much approve of his D. Scarlatti, great tone. I may have to go and see this player perform.


I have tickets to see him next month--I'll try to remember to report back!


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## Praeludium

Thanks for listening Kontrapunctus !

Vladimir Gorbach schedule seems impossible ! I guess the tour that comes after winning the GFA is actually the real test. I like he kind of playing he has in the videos of the GFA : very precise, sober, and musical. Amazing technique but nothing is "too much". And it isn't clinical, asceptised either.
Now I wonder what he'll do with that as an artist (since I guess he's playing the program of his Naxos CD which is the program of the GFA). I hope he won't stick to the "standard classical guitar repertoire".


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## Guest

I saw Paul Galbraith tonight--perfection incarnate! Just watching him is a master class in tone, phrasing, articulation, rhythm...you name it. Here's his program:

*Johann Sebastian Bach: Lute Suite No.3 in G minor (trans. A minor), BWV 995

Anton Webern: Variations, Opus 27

Isaac Albeniz: Espana
Prelude
Tango
Malagueña
Serenata
Capricho Catalan
Zortzico

Intermission

Manuel Ponce: Prelude and 20 Variations with Fugue on "La Folia de España"
*
He revoiced a lot of the Ponce to work on his 8-string guitar--sounded wonderful.

Here's a sample of his artistry:


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## Head_case

tdc said:


> Recent GFA winner - Vladimir Gorbach is coming to my town next month. I just checked him out on youtube, I very much approve of his D. Scarlatti, great tone. I may have to go and see this player perform.


I'm just picking up the classical guitar again to try and play it.

Is this positioning standard?

I tried horizontal holding, however this is impossible to get the top frets without knocking me off balance.

The set up this guy (and in fact, most of the videos I've seen) seem to suggest that this one foot up, diagonal position, is the most stable.

But when I do it, my footstool slides all over the floor, or the guitar slips into an almost flat horizontal position.

So many newbie classical guitar questions....


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## tdc

Head_case said:


> I'm just picking up the classical guitar again to try and play it.
> 
> Is this positioning standard?
> 
> I tried horizontal holding, however this is impossible to get the top frets without knocking me off balance.
> 
> The set up this guy (and in fact, most of the videos I've seen) seem to suggest that this one foot up, diagonal position, is the most stable.
> 
> But when I do it, my footstool slides all over the floor, or the guitar slips into an almost flat horizontal position.
> 
> So many newbie classical guitar questions....


Hehe, yes the footstool is the most common set up, but I don't use it because my back gets very sore when I practice in that position for long periods of time. At the moment I'm using a device called a _Dynarette_, it's essentially just a cushion of sorts that sits on your leg and raises the guitar up in a similar angle, I find it works all right. Eventually I may also try one of those suction cup devices that clamp onto the back of one's guitar, I'm curious about them and some seem to like those as well.


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## tdc

Kontrapunctus said:


> I have tickets to see him next month--I'll try to remember to report back!


Yes please do, I ended up missing his concert due partially to lack of funds but also because of the fact that he didn't post what pieces he would be performing through our local Classical Guitar Society as other performers have done when they come here. I'm not crazy about going to recitals in which I'm unsure of what repertoire will be performed.


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## Head_case

tdc said:


> Hehe, yes the footstool is the most common set up, but I don't use it because my back gets very sore when I practice in that position for long periods of time. At the moment I'm using a device called a _Dynarette_, it's essentially just a cushion of sorts that sits on your leg and raises the guitar up in a similar angle, I find it works all right. Eventually I may also try one of those suction cup devices that clamp onto the back of one's guitar, I'm curious about them and some seem to like those as well.


Thanks...that's one question.answered..! at least I can strive for.this position. Buying a footstand just to have the posture down is a big thing ...I like playing on the sofa 

I can get up to third octave B - is this the correct highest note?

also wonderjng about finger picks. the ones i have are very noisy but i have so little nail that i need picks.

recommend any quiet ones¿

going to look up dynarette.....


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## Head_case

Haha....I found it already!

£26 for a cushion 

There must be a budget way (I'm really not very good yet and don't want to buy lots of bits to find out that I have more gadgets than talent...!)

Could I use a loaf of bread instead of the dynarette and eat it after practice? 

I get very hungry


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## tdc

Head_case said:


> Thanks...that's one question.answered..! at least I can strive for.this position. Buying a footstand just to have the posture down is a big thing ...I like playing on the sofa
> 
> I can get up to third octave B - is this the correct highest note?
> 
> also wonderjng about finger picks. the ones i have are very noisy but i have so little nail that i need picks.
> 
> recommend any quiet ones¿
> 
> going to look up dynarette.....


Yes, that high B is the correct highest note. As far as finger picks they are generally used only with steel string guitars - not the nylon stringed 'classical guitars', I don't think it would sound quite right. As far as nail shape and many other details you may want to check out the DvD _Pumping Nylon _ with Scott Tennant, a lot of great information in it. If nails continue to be problematic for you, you could always try playing with no nails. I believe member *Praeludium* currently plays with no nails, and seems to still manage a good sound. I have found the nails thing is one of the most difficult aspects of playing classical guitar and it takes a while to figure out how to consistently get a good tone with all your different nails. The thing is everyone's nails are different, and aside from some basic pointers (like using a good nail file) it is something a person largely has to figure out on their own through trial and error.


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## Head_case

....this one is much cheaper but I would be embarassed to use it when mates come around for sessions:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GUITAR-SH...t=UK_Soft_Toys_Bears&var=&hash=item4d01ee3d15

I do like this less specific one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Simple-Gu...Garden_Cushions_Throws_LE&hash=item3a782c149c

but why is it not made in the UK?


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## Head_case

tdc said:


> Yes, that high B is the correct highest note. As far as finger picks they are generally used only with steel string guitars - not the nylon stringed 'classical guitars', I don't think it would sound quite right. As far as nail shape and many other details you may want to check out the DvD _Pumping Nylon _ with Scott Tennant, a lot of great information in it. If nails continue to be problematic for you, you could always try playing with no nails. I believe member *Praeludium* currently plays with no nails, and seems to still manage a good sound. I have found the nails thing is one of the most difficult aspects of playing classical guitar and it takes a while to figure out how to consistently get a good tone with all your different nails. The thing is everyone's nails are different, and aside from some basic pointers (like using a good nail file) it is something a person largely has to figure out on their own through trial and error.


Thanks for that guidance. I have no tutor or primer so I will start looking for this.

I thought the plastic pick made a clearer note apart from the clacking in between. I'm using a lute technique to play classical guitar which is the wrong technique but the only I know. I.m going to have to pay more.attention hearing it.live to pick up the difference.

Funny thing is high B sounds really sweet on a guitar. On a flute its quite frightful 

Every body gets drunk at Easter. I.ve got.that far.


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## Praeludium

Hello,

Here are all the pieces I'm going to play at my entrance examination (for a bachelor), and I would be glad to have some opinions and advices about my work.
I think I tend to be at my best when playing "live" and I hope I will be able to clean everything up before the 25th April. Still, what is there is what I'll be playing and roughly how I'll play it... Guitar is difficult, really difficult. I admit I'm a bit tired at the moment, and I feel like my technique isn't strong and stable yet (been playing classical guitar for 4 years). I'd really like to go back to the basics with a teacher who isn't reluctant to extensively work on technique and relearn everything during one or two years.
Major progress are needed in the area of technique.

This only a* work in progess*. Some areas definitely need more care.
_All the pieces were recorded in one take, no cheating (the only editing I did was suppressing the time I took to tune my guitar)._
Recorded with a Zoom H2, my new guitar (after Ramirez I), worn out strings I don't know the brand of (Savarez I think), and my brand new nails which are barely at the level of my fingertips and that I'm learning to use since March (they've just gotten long enough so that I can begin to really play. They won't be longer lol).

Henze, Drei Tentos (1950's)
View attachment HenzeDreiTentos.mp3


Bach, Prelude BWV1010 (4th cello suite, transcr. Yates) (first quarter of the 18th century)
View attachment BachPreludeBWV1010.mp3


Mompou, Preludio & Muneira from Suite compostellana (1960's (funnily enough))
View attachment MompouPreludeMuneira.mp3


Takemitsu, Rosedale from In the woods (1990's)
)
View attachment TakemitsuRosedale.mp3


Fantasia, attributed to Laurencini (16th century)
View attachment FantaisieLaurencini.mp3


Again, it's just a work in progess recording, in my room and in one take. I'd just like your advices and opinions.


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## Guest

Tristan Manoukian likes to transcribe keyboard pieces for guitar that one would think wouldn't actually work (I have his score to Bach's BWV 826 Partita), but he can clearly play Mozart's Piano Sonata K.457:


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## tdc

Praeludium said:


> Hello,
> 
> Here are all the pieces I'm going to play at my entrance examination (for a bachelor), and I would be glad to have some opinions and advices about my work.
> I think I tend to be at my best when playing "live" and I hope I will be able to clean everything up before the 25th April. Still, what is there is what I'll be playing and roughly how I'll play it... Guitar is difficult, really difficult. I admit I'm a bit tired at the moment, and I feel like my technique isn't strong and stable yet (been playing classical guitar for 4 years). I'd really like to go back to the basics with a teacher who isn't reluctant to extensively work on technique and relearn everything during one or two years.


I just listened to your Bach Prelude, I think it sounds quite good, especially considering you've only played classical for around 4 years. I'm impressed. My advice would be to just keep going and refining your skills. Nail shape and how you handle faster passages on the lower strings take most players quite some time to master, it seems you are coming along great. Just keep chipping away and do the things that keep you inspired and challenged. Sometimes a little break is ok too. Just my 2 cents though I'm not sure why you think you will get any better advice from us here than from the teacher (s) at your conservatory!


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## Praeludium

Thanks for your reply and advices, tdc 
Well, I'm mainly looking for different opinions and advices than those I've already heard (it's not that they're bad of course !). 

Nail shape is bothersome, yes ! I guess it's a matter of patience...


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## Praeludium

I thought this could be interesting for us guitarist !
One of the major Bach piece for the lute that we play on guitar... here transcribed by Busoni and played by the great Egon Petri at the piano.


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## tdc

I'd be interested in what members of TC think of guitarist Pavel Steidl. I'm surprised he is rarely mentioned, as I'd consider him possibly the best guitarist in the world right now. The thing is, I think he doesn't generally choose the best pieces to play. On youtube I couldn't find anything in good sound quality of his other than this *(imo _slightly_ cheezy) Rhapsody on Beethoven's Fur Elise.






Notice this video actually has more "dislikes" than "likes", the thing is this guy can really play! I have on recordings versions of his Legnani Caprices that are mind-blowing and when I saw him live a couple of years ago he played the best Bach Chaconne I have ever witnessed (on par or better than Segovia's). I know he has performed some great pieces, so I'm surprised at the lack of good quality youtube videos available or general acknowledgment for this phenomenal guitarist.

edit - to be honest I do actually like the piece above I just was kind of disappointed this one seems to be the best sound quality clip I could find of this great guitarist, as its kind of controversial, and not really the best to use as an example of his playing classical guitar.


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## Guest

I like the way he plays/interprets, but I can't stand his antics!


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## Praeludium

Caballero at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, playing a 1940 Hauser. Bach, Allemande from the solo flute partita BWV1013.

Sounds like the dream of many guitarists lol


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## Praeludium

Hello,






I just had to share this.
I think this young Finnish guitarist deserves a lot of recognition : he plays wonderfully and is playing great repertoire that isn't necessarily played often/easy to defend. I like this a lot !

Here he is playing French guitar music, but there are many other pieces on his YT channel.


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## Praeludium

Hello,

I'm currently working on Ponce's Variations and fugue on Les Folias, and the more I work on it the more I get fascinated by it.
Aren't we lucky to have this modern, kind of Brahmsian, dense, extended, and absolutely beautiful work in our repertoire ? 
(;

I hear it's getting played more and more by the young Parisian classical guitar stars (Perroy and Viloteau play it, at least).
Here's Perroy playing it.
He takes a lot of liberty with the score (rhytmical and with the dynamics) but I like his performance overall.

Do you know the piece, CoAG ? What do you think of it as a composer and guitarist ? q:


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## DTut

*Ponce*



Praeludium said:


> Hello,
> 
> I'm currently working on Ponce's Variations and fugue on Les Folias, and the more I work on it the more I get fascinated by it.
> Aren't we lucky to have this modern, kind of Brahmsian, dense, extended, and absolutely beautiful work in our repertoire ?
> (;
> 
> I hear it's getting played more and more by the young Parisian classical guitar stars (Perroy and Viloteau play it, at least).
> Here's Perroy playing it.
> He takes a lot of liberty with the score (rhytmical and with the dynamics) but I like his performance overall.
> 
> Do you know the piece, CoAG ? What do you think of it as a composer and guitarist ? q:


Ponce is wonderful and underrated. Segovia said the Var. and Fugue on La Folia was one of the monumental pieces for Classical Guitar. We had Judicael Perroy for a concert when he was the winner of the GFA competition back in the late 1990's. He is absolutely brilliant technically. I'm not sure I like all his interpretations though. Does he still play a Smallman guitar? Good luck with your study of this great piece!


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## tdc

Re: The Ponce

The last 3 minutes are incredible. I find myself lukewarm to the rest of the piece. In my opinion the theme isn't really that interesting, and 20 minutes of developing it in different ways seems a bit excessive.

The performance of the piece in that video was exceptional.


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## Praeludium

DTut -> Thanks ! That's the first time I learn such a big piece (25 minutes for one work). I think he's playing a smallman, but I'm not sure. My teacher saw him in concert a few months ago and when I asked him if he played a Smallman I think he said yes.

tdc -> But the Diabelli Variations are based on an even lamer theme ! Not to mention the Brahms and Rachmaninov Paganini Variations ! q:
But I'm probably biased since I've always liked the Folias, I think this theme sounds terrific. Anyway, I'm not under this impression since this set of variations is pretty complex, and if you were to play some variations (for instance, VI or XIV) as stand alone pieces someone who doesn't know the piece probably wouldn't recognize the Folias. Or am I mistaking ?

I agree about the performance. I was very surprised about the tone and the complexity of this interpretation, since he's one of the guitarists who have the reputation of playing everything fast, clean and soulless. However, he doesn't follow quite a lot of dynamics markings and takes a lot of liberty with the rhythm ^^ But it still works very well.


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## tdc

Praeludium said:


> DTut -> Thanks ! That's the first time I learn such a big piece (25 minutes for one work). I think he's playing a smallman, but I'm not sure. My teacher saw him in concert a few months ago and when I asked him if he played a Smallman I think he said yes.
> 
> tdc -> But the Diabelli Variations are based on an even lamer theme ! Not to mention the Brahms and Rachmaninov Paganini Variations ! q:
> But I'm probably biased since I've always liked the Folias, I think this theme sounds terrific. Anyway, I'm not under this impression since this set of variations is pretty complex, and if you were to play some variations (for instance, VI or XIV) as stand alone pieces someone who doesn't know the piece probably wouldn't recognize the Folias. Or am I mistaking ?
> 
> I agree about the performance. I was very surprised about the tone and the complexity of this interpretation, since he's one of the guitarists who have the reputation of playing everything fast, clean and soulless. However, he doesn't follow quite a lot of dynamics markings and takes a lot of liberty with the rhythm ^^ But it still works very well.


Some good points. In a previous post you alluded to a _growing_ fascination with the piece, in the same way perhaps the piece will continue to grow on me. It certainly had some intriguing moments to spark my interest.


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## Praeludium

Those Variations sur Folias de Espana et Fugue by Ponce are damn hard !
I know the whole thing by heart and it's mostly here, but I think I'll need to keep working on it at least 3 hours a day for one month before it's "settled" and clean.
What's so difficult with big pieces like that is that it asks for a lot of organisation and efficient practice in order to practice the whole thing properly everyday.

And I've got a lesson on (among other thigns) this piece on Friday with a rather well known concert guitarist 
For the first time of my life I must be careful not over practicing (no more than 5/6 hours a day) so that I do not hurt myself ! That's a great thing because usually the problem is that I don't practice enough period haha


That's very interesting for me as a guitarist to work on a big long piece like that - that's not something guitarists in general are used to, and it asks for a very different mindset and kind of work than only learning 3 min pieces.


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## ClassicalGuitarist

I to play Classical guitar and it's a fantastic instrument with lots of diferant timbres. It's probably the most versatile instrument to play and would like to see more of it used in Orchestras. I enjoy listening and playing a wide range of pieces from composers like Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Sor, Giuliani, Paganini, Tarrega, Barrios-Mangore, Albeniz, Federico Moreno Tórroba, Joaquin Rodrigo, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Villa-Lobos, and Andrew York. My favorites would have to be Bach, Albeniz, Tarrega, Rodrigo, Tedesco, and Villa-Lobos. My favorite guitarists will always be Christopher Parkening and Manuel Barrueco. I also listen to Eliot Fisk, John Williams, Sharon Isbin and of course Andres Segovia.

I have been fortunate to own a few guitars my favorite was a 1973 Ramirez 2a that I had to sell which I still regret selling. I now have a 1992 Alvarez Yairi CY118 and I enjoy playing it very much. My wishlist guitar would be a Matthias Dammann.


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## tdc

tdc said:


> ^ Barrueco is one of my favorite guitarists for baroque music.* I'm not crazy about his Rodrigo interpretations *but I love his Bach, Scarlatti, Vivaldi etc. Contemporary composer Roberto Sierra composed a neo-baroque piece for him that I had the pleasure of seeing him perform live, and I thought his playing sounded outstanding on it.


I have to modify this statement, I'm not crazy about Barrueco's _3 Spanish Pieces_, but his _Invocation et Danse_ is terrific.


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## alvarohenrique

Hello fellow list members. I'm releasing a new CD with works for guitar by Brazilian composers written after Brasilia, Brazil's capital, released by Centaur Records (USA). The CD intends to show characteristcs and the history of Brasilia with the music. You can hear some excerpts at 



 and buy the CD Suite Candanga at http://centaurrecords.com/store/crc-3321-suite-candanga.html

Warm regards,
Alvaro Henrique
----
http://www.pricerubin.com/classical/dossiers/HenriqueDossier.pdf
www.facebook.com/alvarohenriquefanpage


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## Guest

After taking some time off from the guitar, and taking a stab at piano, I'm back on guitar and have resumed work on Philip Hii's transcription of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.


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## tdc

This thread needs even more Jorge Caballero. I've been really enjoying some of the Albeniz pieces he interprets lately - just outstanding music and performances!


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## Viktorplayguitar

*Transcription of J. S. Bach - Toccata and Fugue BWV 565 in d minor*






Hello

Thought that is the best way to introduce myself to this forum.
My name is Viktor Ilic and my opus includes more than 50 transcriptions for solo guitar with primary focus on baroque and classical period. Feel free to comment and leave your opinion.

Cheers


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## seven four

I play classical without the trained technique, I still use a pick and my fingernails. (shame)

Enough about me. A friend turned me on to this one recently:






Alberto Ginastera - Sonata for Guitar, Op. 47 (1976)


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## seven four

Béla Bartók: Sonata for Guitar, transcription by Christophe Dejour


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## Pugg

Miloš: The Guitar

*Miloš Karadaglić (guitar)*

English Chamber Orchestra, Paul Watk[/CENTER]


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## zhopin

Francisco Tárrega definitely ranks as one of my favorite composers for classical guitar. He was Spanish.


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## tdc

Very nice performance.

Louis Couperin - Passacaglia (arr. Segovia)


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## acitak 7

*acitak7*

not classical guitar in the true sense, but I can thoroughly recommend 331EROCK playing the William tell overture, very fast very loud very very good


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## Pigeye

I love playing the Bach Cello Suites.


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## malc

i like to play both steel and nylon , and think for sustain on the trebles , steel can be gorgeous especially in ensemble [though other players find this idea horrendous]


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## tdc

malc said:


> i like to play both steel and nylon , and think for sustain on the trebles , steel can be gorgeous especially in ensemble [though other players find this idea horrendous]


One thing I will say about steel string guitars is they are much more forgiving in terms of the sound they produce regardless of nail shape. I've largely given up playing my nylon string guitar because of all the time I spend trying to get my nails right, and there are always problems getting the tone I want. I prefer playing classical music on piano now, no more of that frustrating nail nonsense. Now when I do play classical pieces on guitar more often than not I just practice the pieces on a steel string (electric - unplugged or through a clean channel) so I don't have to fuss about my nails.

I think a person pretty much has to be born with a certain kind of nail shape to master classical guitar.


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## malc

i played with a guy who just didn't like the feel of nylon! maybe he should have tried catgut?


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