15 Results for : luthier

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    Maybe Elsewhere
    About forty years ago I was in Invercargill in New Zealand with a trio I was a member of to play a concert. Opening for us was a group called 'The Hobbit'. At the 'after match function' one of them approached me and told me he was thinking of moving up to Dunedin in search of bigger and better things. A week or so later there was a knock on my door, " I've come to accept your offer of a place to stay". Simon has been a very good friend and part of the sound track of my life ever since. Over the years Simon has written some very funny parodies of popular songs. Here at last that talent has taken a more serious turn. Of the dozen songs here Simon has written or co-written eight. I'm not going to give a running commentary on them, like all good songs they speak for themselves. If it is allowable to be proud of another persons work, I feel rather proud of my good friend. Peter Madill. Musician and Luthier P.S. Play this to your friends, but don't let them copy it, tell them to buy it for themselves or better still buy one for them!
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    Trio Nahual
    The program presented on this CD is made up, for the most part, of works seldom played in the world of chamber music for classical guitar, and dedicated to the even rarer formation of the trio. Nevertheless, the aim is to present a repertoire chosen from pieces having in common, beauty and depth of feeling. In order to compose a typical recital program ranging from the Baroque period to the present day, different sources have been used, such as, for example, the transcription technique, ever attentive to the real essence of the work. We have also explored the 'historical' repertoire for three guitars, and, lastly, we have introduced new pieces, which enrich the contemporary repertoire for this formation. Furthermore, we consider that the use of three identical guitars made by the same luthier helps to create the sense of listening to one single instrument, in complete accordance with our philosophy of 'making music together'. Our program begins with the only work not originally intended for guitar trio: an unusual transcription of the G major Concerto for two mandolins, strings and basso continuo (RV 532) by Antonio Vivaldi (Venice, 1678 - Vienna, 1741). Phenomenal violinist and prolific composer of concertos, the Red Priest wrote this piece for the 'figlie di choro', a large instrumental and choral ensemble entirely composed of young girls taken in and educated by the Pio Ospedale della Pietà, a prestigious Venetian orphanage noted for the high quality of the musical education imparted there. Since the Concerto for two mandolins is composed in effect of three real parts, with the violins doubling the solo instruments during the Tutti, the arrangement foresees two guitars for the melodic parts (mandolins and first and second violins), whilst a third instrument is assigned to playing the basso continuo (originally played by a cello and a polyphonic instrument). The concerto bases the structure of it's three movements on the principle of a continual search for a strong contrast of sound and is composed in Vivaldi's most typical creative and stylistic vein, defined by Joachim Quantz as 'a new genre of musical pieces with magnificent ritornellos'. Such a contrast of sound, both harmonic and melodic, is realized magnificently through the continuous dialogue between the two mandolins, moving freely from the brilliant, virtuoso character of the two fast movements to the splendid cantabile of the central Adagio. Leaving behind the Italian Baroque period, we now move towards the elegant classicism that permeates the Trio Concertant pour trois guitares Op. 29 in D Major by the French composer Antoine L'hoyer (Clermont - Ferrand, 1768 - Paris, 1852). Despite the fact that the figure of L'hoyer received little attention during his lifetime, to be then completely forgotten for over a hundred years, the great artistic value of his recently rediscovered compositions assures his right today to be considered one of the most interesting composers for the guitar of the nineteenth century. The piece is divided into four movements following the archetype of the classical sonata. It opens with a substantial Allegro moderato in sonata form, which rebels against the usual patterns of musical writing for the guitar by searching out, during the development, the most daring harmonies that one could wish. The second movement, on the other hand, is a short Menuetto in E minor with a Da Capo finale, and a poco vivace tempo but with a playful contrasting central Trio in the major key. The third movement is an Adagio molto cantabile, characterised by melodies that are simple and flowing but not lacking in great lyricism. A brilliant Andante with variations closes the whole cycle underlining throughout the six variations all the typical possibilities of the guitar writing of the period. Although the Trio Concertant would seem to be less striking when compared to the virtuoso duets for guitar, they share an excellent instrumental effect, underlining all the qualities of the unusual group of instruments to which it is dedicated. It could be said that here, too, L'hoyer's refined writing arises as a veiled tribute to the great piano composers - Haydn and Mozart - to whom he surely owes his inspiration. The exquisite composition that Jean-Michel Damase (Bordeaux, 1928) dedicated in 2004 to the guitar trio, takes us to modern-day France, in spite of being devoted to evoking a nostalgic retro mood. Quatre pour trois, in fact, does nothing to hide the deep admiration that Damase professes for the Parisian music of the Belle Époque period and, of course, for it's distinguished founders, Debussy, Fauré and Ravel. The charm and elegance of his works remain true to the stylistic tradition learnt at the Paris Conservatoire where his composition studies earned him, at only nineteen years of age, the Prix de Composition and subsequently the prestigious Prix de Rome. The four extremely short bagatelles that make up the work, entitled simply I, II, III, IV, remind us of the tiny musical pieces placed within the eccentric French piano suites. The real difficulty of these short pieces, however, proves to be not so much a technical one as a creative quest among different shades and colours in order to highlight the dialogue between the guitars. Functioning as a kind of stylistic watershed, the following piece, takes us towards the Central European cultural scene, which developed right at the very beginning of the Twentieth Century. In spite of it's small size, the Rondo fur Drei Gitaren by the German composer Paul Hindemith (Hanau, 1895-Frankfurt en Main, 1963) can without doubt be considered one of the masterpieces of the chamber music repertoire for the classical guitar. Conceived as a musical intermezzo, the Rondo was composed in 1925 within the new musical language that Hindemith developed from the 1920's onwards, characterized by a complex contrapuntal style already distant from the Expressionism and late German Romanticism that imbued the works of his youth. This new style found extensive space for research in the music for instrumental groups to which Hindemith dedicated a series of works written between 1922 and 1927, called simply Kammermusik. The mechanicalness of the Rondo, with the aggressive rhythm of it's counterpoint and it's anti-Romantic 'assembly-line' tempo correspond to the ideal of music that found broad confirmation in the Italian artistic movement known as Futurism. It was not by chance that Marinetti, the author of the Manifesto that exalted technology, progress and the dynamism of industry, defined Hindemith, perhaps after having listened to Chamber music, 'the leading figure of futurist mechanism'. We end the musical journey undertaken in this CD by returning once more to Italy, where we began. Two pieces are now presented written expressly for the Trio Nahual by the young guitarist, composer and painter Marco De Biasi (Vittorio Veneto, 1977). The first piece, Eires (The title is derived from the word 'serie' read backwards) is a theme with variations in six sections. The theme, conceived in the vein of a freely treated serialism, is characterised by a captivating melodic line spread between the three guitars. The various thematic units are later taken up and developed in different ways so as to create the five variations that, alternating opposing characters and sound settings between them, range from the South American sounding waltz, to the languid central recitative, to the wild counterpoint of the final variation. The careful reader will have understood at this point that Eud Eires, as suggested by the title, is in a certain sense, the continuation of the previous piece, therefore 'serie due' (second series). The complex formulations that are at the basis of this Fantasia for three guitars, can be found in the studies that the composer carried out on the theories expounded by Kandinsky in his book 'The spiritual in Art'. In Eud Eires, created at the same time as the pa
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    Songs Without Words
    Songs Without Words is a compilation of classical, contemporary classical, and Latin pieces, many of which he has played live at various events in the United States and Germany. The album is titled after Mendelssohn's famous piano compositions, two of which are here arranged for guitar. '[Words] seem to me so ambiguous, so vague, so easily misunderstood in comparison to genuine music, which fills the soul with a thousand things better than words.' - Felix Mendelssohn Torsten selected music from around the world - from the Near East, Africa, Australia, Europe and the Americas - because of the enjoyment he gets from playing these pieces, and for the stories they tell. Called 'programmatic music', these compositions tell a tale - such as Koyunbaba's description of a shepherd's experience of the landscape of a region in Turkey, or The Magic Box, which relates how a small town in Cameroon was introduced to the gramophone. 'The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety.' - Felix Mendelssohn Programmatic music, pieces that tell a story, always appealed to Torsten. When he performs, he likes to take a moment before each number to share with the audience something about the composer, the arranger, or about the meaning or the mood of the pieces. Influences & Favourites Torsten has been playing David Qualey's arrangement of the Bach piece, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, since 1987. Many of Qualey's distinctive compositions are favourites of Torsten's, often incorporating ragtime and swing beats among the classical pieces. The unique interpretation and expression of Das Frankfurter Gitarrenduo of guitar and lute so impressed Torsten that he included several of their pieces in his repertoire. Torsten's overall favourite classical composer is J. S. Bach. Spaniard Narciso Yepes was one of the few guitarists Torsten is aware of who played Bach with a 10-string guitar, the bigger range of the instrument making it sound closer to the original version. Torsten's Background Growing up in Germany, Torsten picked up the acoustic guitar at 13 years old - all his friends were learning electric guitar, but he couldn't afford one. As he began teaching himself from books and an extensive collection of sheet music from the Münster City Library, he found that classical music suited him. He liked folk music too, but he couldn't sing and play at the same time (well, in fact, he says, he can't sing at all). When he encountered a small Andante by Ferdinando Carulli, he was hooked. The piece captured him and it was the first that he memorized. He was fascinated by the polyphonic nature of the guitar, the ability to play two or more voices simultaneously. After moving to San Diego, California, Torsten joined the MiraCosta College Guitar Ensemble in 1996, where he was fortunate to meet a number of talented amateur classical guitarists who would become long-time friends - Gary Peek (a professional bassist who plays several duets with Torsten on Songs without Words), Don Wilson, John McLaren - and where he worked with guitarist Peter Pupping. Torsten's playing benefited from the influence of several professional guitarists in the San Diego area with whom he also became friends, namely Scott Wolf, Randy Pile, Eric Foster, Colin McAllister, and Jimmy Patton. The guitar which Torsten uses for most of the tracks on Songs without Words was built by Pepe Romero, Jr., a luthier of the famous Romero clan here in San Diego. 'There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.' - Albert Schweitzer, 1875-1965.
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    Velena
    The French guitarist Roland Dyens is a uniquely gifted composer and improviser, who was born in Tunisia and strongly influenced by the music of Brazil. Since the Portuguese word saudade translates as a 'longing for one's homeland,' these three works may serve as homages to Dyens's three greatest terrestial influences. The first Saudade is filled with elements of early twentieth-century French music: richly voiced major-ninth chords, punctuated bass lines, and it maintains a graceful balance between twentieth-century tonalities and more traditional phrasing and expressive gestures. The second Saudade is unabashedly Brazilian, and is expertly constructed on the framework of a standard Brazilian choro, or chorinho. The final Saudade is intriguingly dark and fiery, with a flavor that evokes the music of North Africa, and instruments such as the ud and the rebab. It's introduction, labeled 'Rituel,' is an abstract expression of the sonorities that are to emerge and meld into the charming dance rhythm that serves as the primary motif of the piece. The energy builds and intensifies in the section titled 'Fête et Final,' before returning to a beautiful resetting of the main theme at a slower, reflective pace. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: A highly skilled guitarist, singer, and luthier, Luigi legnani who wrote many works for guitar. His Opus 1 is a theme and variations, with a slow introduction, and ends with a pensive larghetto, a capricious moderato, and a climactic finale. Although this work has not been frequently performed or recorded, it features all of the character and cohesion of Legnani's later works. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Felix Mendelssohn composed no music for the guitar, but his Songs Without Words fit the personality of the instrument extremely well, matching the expressive tones of the guitar. The third movement of Mendelssohn's String Quartet Number 1, Opus 12, titled 'Canzonetta,' provides material for a challenging arrangement that captures the excitement and clean lines of Mendelssohn's style. It was originally arranged by Francisco Tárrega, then altered by Andrés Segovia, and the arrangement recorded here borrows from both, while also reflecting the sleek character of the scalar violin passages. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Leo Brouwer is a prolific composer and guitarist, and his works are frequently performed and recorded. In his Sonata for solo guitar, Brouwer presents a masterfully constructed dialog featuring musical elements that shaped and influenced his own musical style. The first movement, 'Fandangos y Boleros,' provides the setting for this complex discussion, and utilizes a variety of input-from rhythmic dance motives to an interaction between Antonio Soler and Ludwig van Beethoven. It is in this first movement that Brouwer most fully illuminates these elements that influenced his compositional style, and it is his unique style that allows these elements to meld into a sum that is strengthened and transformed by it's parts. The second movement is a straightforward homage to Alexander Scriabin, and the final movement, 'La Toccata de Pasquini,' is where Brouwer allows his voice to speak above all others, unleashing a flurry of arpeggios in a climactic completion of the Sonata. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Agustin Castillavila is an accomplished composer and guitarist from the Jerez region of Spain, and his compositions encompass a wide variety of characteristics and settings. His Suite Veleña is dedicated to Jeff Copeland, and this is the world premiere recording of the suite. The first movement begins under the tempo descriptor "Misterioso," and introduces focused vibrations of simple opposites: the deep growl of the guitar's lowest string along with the crystalline chime of high-pitched harmonics. Thicker textures emerge, as well as short breaths of scalar passages, dancing on a variety of rhythms. The second movement compresses this energy as taught thirds and speedy triplets fly forward, almost out of control, towards an aggressive flurry of rasgueados that briefly interrupt their path. Once their wits are about them, the third movement takes over, and immediately wrestles to take them away once more. A humorous scherzo, this section of the suite continues to juxtapose thick textures against thin lines, and contains a beautiful interlude, reminiscent of a gondolier's barcarolla, resting in the middle of the chaos. As the suite continually expands and condenses thematic material, the final result is the 'Danza,' where all of the suite's elements are free to celebrate the harmony and order of their union. The motion is swift and relentless, free of hesitation and untethered by restraints. Motives morph, and tensions are released as the entire suite swells to it's final and unwavering climax.
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    Eine Schubertiade mit der Arpeggione
    The arpeggione, invented in 1823 by the Viennese luthier Johann Georg Stauffer, had a curious destiny. As its alternative names 'guitar violoncello' and 'guitare d'amour' suggest, it is in fact a guitar fitted with a bridge, held between the knees like a cello and played with a bow. The instrument enjoyed some success for around a decade, but, oddly enough, almost nothing has survived from its specific repertory except one supreme masterpiece: the sonata Franz Schubert wrote for it in 1824.
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