FALL 2017 SPECIAL FOCUS: GUITAR EDUCATION | SEAN SHIBE | GUITAR IN MONTREAL

CLASSICAL GUITAR

BERTA ROJAS
AND THE MUSIC OF BRAZIL

INSIDE THE
SEGOVIA ARCHIVE
ROLAND DYENS
‘TANGO’
LESSON
RAPHAELLA
SMITS

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com
 The RamiRez ColleCTion
hisToRy and RomanCe
of The spanish GuiTaR

The house of José Ramírez, spain's longest established guitar

maker, was founded in madrid in 1882. over many years it has
built and conserved a museum Collection of instruments
constructed by members of the family and other great spanish
luthiers, many of whom were trained in their workshops.
all these wonderful instruments, displaying over two centuries
of the luthiers' art, are beautifully illustrated. photographs and
notes relate their place in the history of music. many interesting
anecdotes are told and the project captures, in a highly
illuminating way, the spirit of these wonderful artistic creations
88 colour pages, available in both hardback and paperback
editions, both with audio recording of many featured
instruments.

A lovely book telling the story of Jose Ramirez – one of the great names in the history of classical guitar.
Xuefei yang - Concert artiste
An enlightening book for lovers of the guitar and a privilege to be able to share the author’s experience with such an
interesting array of instruments.
Classical Guitar magazine

THE TÁRREGA-LECKIE
GUITAR MANUSCRIPTS
LESSONS WITH THE MAESTRO

The facsimiles presented here for the first time, are of

manuscripts which were all beautifully handwritten by francisco
Tárrega for his student and patron, dr Walter James leckie. The
significance of these scores cannot be overstated; with regard to
both technical and stylistic matters it was Tárrega who laid the
foundations for all future composers and arrangers for the
instrument.
in their original format they represent some six hundred and
fifty-four pages of the maestro’s work and their reproduction,
displaying markings by both Tárrega and dr leckie, allows a
fascinating insight, at source, into the minds of maestro and
student. in particular the attention to detail in the fingerings is
quite astonishing.
Text in english, spanish & Japanese: 236 colour pages, large
format, hardback

The book is absolutely beautiful. Congratulations on this achievement and for enriching our lives with these documents.
pepe Romero
Magnificent facsimile edition. Printed on fine paper with the utmost clarity - a definitive book.
Graham Wade, Classical Guitar magazine

available from: www.classicalguitar.co.uk

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 3
 CONTENTS FALL 2017

ON THE COVER BERTA ROJAS PHOTOGRAPHER RODRIGO DA SILVA (AURA AUDIOVISUAL) CLASSICAL GUITAR FALL 2017 ISSUE 387 VOL. 35, NO. 1
24 FORGOTTEN NO MORE
Roberto Moronn Pérez
and the Segovia Archive
BY BLAIR JACKSON

26 GABRIEL AYALA’S
MUSICAL MEDICINE
Eclectic Native American
guitarist inspires
BY KAREN PETERSON

30 RAPHAELLA SMITS
On her guitar education, mastering
period instruments, and more
BY THÉRÈSE WASSILY SABA

43 ANTHONY GLISE
SPECIAL FOCUS
GUITAR EDUCATION

An interview about pedagogy and

his valuable new guitar history textbook
BY BLAIR JACKSON

46 LIFELONG LEARNERS
The West Dean Guitar Festival
and adult guitar programs
BY DAVID LUSTERMAN

50 BUILDING SIGHT-
READING CONFIDENCE
A guide to building this valuable skill
BY ALAN RINEHART

4 Fall 2017 NATALIA FERREIRA BARBOSA PHOTO

CLASSICAL LOVE STORY

No. 3 - 1888 Antonio De Torres

Matilde took her usual seat at The Royal Conservatory
of Music in Madrid. She sat front row to make sure
he saw how much she loved his playing, he did not.

“Years later, In Paris, even though I knew Emilio was

there, I had no desire to meet him. One afternoon
however, I met him a at a friendʼs house and ...
nothing, we got married.” - La Voz, 1-17-1929

Matilde Cuervas and Emilio Pujol were married until

her death in 1954. They shared life, art, and this
1888 Torres for 31 years.

Find this and other timeless instruments at

guitarsalon.com
 CONTENTS FALL 2017

NEWS PLAY 72 STAGE

Sharon Isbin and
10 CG NEWS 54 METHOD
Guitar competition Roland Dyens’ students open NY festival
winners; New immortal ‘Tango’
Elizabethan Award BY RHAYN JOOSTE 74 TOOLS
OF THE TRADE
12 VIEW FROM 58 MUSIC TO PLAY Stephen Marchione’s
THE FRONT ROW Blue Yates’ Prelude No. 4 superlative classical
Sean Shibe is BY ADAM PERLMUTTER
comfortable in the REVIEWS 76 TOOLS
Renaissance and 61 ALBUMS
on the cutting edge Beethoven for Two OF THE TRADE
BY OLLIE MCGHIE Guitars, Meng Su, The Ramirez del Tiempo
Canadian Guitar Quartet, honors family tradition
14 KEEPERS Christoph Denoth, BY ADAM PERLMUTTER
OF THE FLAMENCO Torroba guitar concertos,
Flamenco’s mystical and more MISCELLANY
Muslim roots 8 From the Editor
BY JASON WEBSTER 66 PRINT 78 Competition and
10 Quartets by João Luiz, Festival Listings
16 LETTER a Sonatina from Stephen 81 Ad Index
FROM MONTREAL Goss, pieces by Antoine
Diversity reigns in de Lhoyer, Manuel
Canadian guitar hub Saumell, G.F. Handel,
BY ANTOINE BERTHIAUME and more

22 MOMENTITO
The value of music
in dark times
BY GRAHAM WADE

82 THE BACK PAGE

New book honors
19th century women
DOWNLOAD THIS
composers MAGAZINE—FOR FREE!
BY BLAIR JACKSON Visit store.ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com/digital-edition,
select this issue, then enter the code FL387FR
when you check out to get the PDF version for free!

6 Fall 2017
 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

IS IT STILL A MAN’S WORLD? CLASSICAL GUITAR

In his excellent new book Women Compos-
ers of the 19th Century Arranged for Guitar
Quartet (see page 82), author/arranger
Ryan Marquardt notes of composer Fanny
Mendelssohn-Hensel that her famous
brother Felix “published some of Hensel’s
work under his name, showing a respect
for her compositions while also subscrib-
ing to that societal notion that a woman of
her social standing could
not be a professional, nor
perform in public. The
idea of Hensel publishing
or performing publicly was
opposed by her father and
brother. As a result, she
often fell into periods of
self-depreciation and felt
physically and artistically
confined.”
Of course, such has
been the lot of women in
Boston GuitarFest winner
so many walks of life, basi- Francesca Boerio
cally forever. We like to
think that we have evolved
through the centuries and that women by
and large have the same opportunities as
men today, but the mass of empirical (and
testimonial) evidence suggests otherwise.
Evidently, it isn’t easy to overcome centu-
ries—millennia—of cultural tradition and
indoctrination.
In the world of classical guitar, I don’t
sense any sort of structural impasse that is
keeping girls/women from pursuing the art
form; i.e. schools and conservatories are as
apt to accept female students as male ones.
And I don’t think there’s any question that
there are more women studying and play-
ing classical guitar than at any time in the
instrument’s history. Two of the very best
are profiled in this issue: Berta Rojas and
Yang, Antigoni Goni, Ana Vidovic, Irina CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
Editor Blair Jackson
Kulikova, Lily Afshar, to name just a few—
Managing Editor Greg Olwell
dozens more who will eventually ascend to Production Manager Hugh O’Connor
those heights, and thousands behind them Contributing Editors
who are skilled artists with an abiding pas- Guy Traviss, Thérèse Wassily Saba, Maurice
sion for the instrument. Summerfield, Graham Wade, Chris Dumigan, Steve
Marsh, Derek Hasted, Paul Fowles, Giacomo Fiore
Still, away from that rosy assessment,
I was struck by the fact that at this year’s Creative Director Joey Lusterman
Guitar Foundation of America convention
in Fullerton, California, SALES & MARKETING
Chief Revenue Officer Lyzy Lusterman
none of the 12 semi-
Sales Director Cindi Olwell
finalists in the presti- Associate Sales Director Greg Sutton
gious International Con- Sales Managers Amy-lynn Fischer, Ref Sanchez
cert Artist Competition Marketing Services Manager Tanya Gonzalez
were women. I was, Marketing Designer Tricia Baxter
Product Marketing Manager Kelsey Holt
frankly, disappointed,
Magazine Marketing Coordinator Lauren Boyd
and further investigation Single Copy Sales Consultant Tom Ferruggia
showed me that out of
46 players listed for the
ICAC, only four were
women! The percentages
were a bit better in the
Junior and Senior Youth
competitions (four girls
Stringletter.com
out of 16 in each, and
Publisher and Editorial Director
quite a few in the various ensemble com- David A. Lusterman
petitions), so that was heartening. This
is not to in any way denigrate either the FINANCE & OPERATIONS
Chief Operations Officer Anita Evans
judges at GFA (and the many competitions
Bookkeeper Geneva Thompson
around the world where the results skew Accounting Associate Raymund Baldoza
similarly), or the male players, who are, Office Assistant Vanessa Averbeck
I’m sure, all superb musicians deserving
their placements. General Inquiries AdminDept@stringletter.com
Customer Service
But it shows that no matter how far we
Help@ClassicalGuitarService.com
seem to have come since Mendelssohn- Advertising Inquiries
Hensel’s time, there is still a long way to Marketing.Services@Stringletter.com
go before women guitarists—and compos- Send e-mail to individuals in this format:
FirstName.LastName@Stringletter.com
ers—will be on equal footing, numerically
speaking, with their male counterparts. Front Desk (510) 215-0010
We’re going to get into this topic in greater Customer Service (800) 827-6837
depth in a future issue (family vs. profes- General Fax (510) 231-5824
sion, ongoing cultural bias, etc.), but for Secure Fax (510) 231-8964

Raphaella Smits. And there are so many now I’d love to hear your thoughts on the
Mail & Shipping
other women who are at the apex of clas- matter. 501 Canal Blvd., Suite J, Richmond, CA 94804
sical guitar artistry—Sharon Isbin, Xuefei —Blair Jackson, blair@stringletter.com Printed in USA

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David A. Lusterman, Publisher.

8 Fall 2017
 F E A T U R E D A R T I S T S

Amadeus Duo Joaquin Clerch Carlo Marchione David Russell Elena Papandreou Trio Tangere Antigoni Goni

GUITAR FOUNDATION OF AMERICA

INTERNATIONAL
CONVENTION & COMPETITIONS
University of Louisville
LOUISVILLE, KY
JUNE 18–23, 2018
Hosted by Dr. Stephen Mattingly, Associate Professor of Guitar

CONCERTS | INTERNATIONAL CONCERT ARTIST COMPETITION

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH COMPETITION
INTERNATIONAL ENSEMBLE COMPETITION
GUITAR SUMMIT YOUTH CAMP | LECTURES | VENDOR EXPO
PRIVATE LESSONS | MASTERCLASSES
TECHNIQUE WORKSHOPS

GUITARFOUNDATION.ORG
 NEWS
A SALUTE TO SOME OF 2017’S GUITAR COMPETITION WINNERS!
Let’s all take a moment to offer our hearty congratulations to the winners and runners-up
in some of the major adult classical guitar competitions that have happened so far in 2017
(in chronological order):
Northwest Guitar Festival (Portland, OR,
USA): 1. Kyle Sampson, 2. Simon Farintosh,
3. Mikhail Smirnov, 4. Lucas Victor. Philadel-
phia Classical Guitar Society (USA): 1. Oscar
Somersalo, 2. Carlos Bedoya, 3. Stephen
Brew, 4. Leonard Ranallo. Ivor Mairants Gui-
tar Award (London): 1. Giacomo Susani, 2.
Ross Wilson, 3. Jonathan Parkin. Nordhorn
Guitar Festival (Germany): 1. Peter Graneis,
2. Takuya Okamoto, 3. Mateusz Kowalski. Gui-
tare Montréal (Canada): 1. Jesus Serrano,
2. Austin Wahl, 3. Laura Hubands. Koblenz
International Guitar Festival (Germany): 1.
Campbell Diamond, 2. Elena Fomenko, 3.
Jesse Flowers. Classical Minds Guitar Fes-
tival and Competition (Bellaire, TX, USA): 1.
Jesus Serrano, 2. Matthew Gillen, 3. Anthony
Mariano
10 Fall 2017
GFA winner Tengyue Zhang
Guitar Foundation of America (Fullerton,
CA, USA): 1. Tengyue Zhang, 2. Andrea De
Vitis, 3. Alec Holcomb, 4. Andrey Lebedev.
Boston GuitarFest (USA): (Academy Com-
petition) 1. Francesca Boerio, 2. Dani
Zanuttini-Frank, 3. Benjamin Lauring, 4.
Leonela Alejandro; Composition Competi-
tion: Javier Contreras. Le Domaine Forget
Guitar Academy (Saint-Irénée, Canada):
1. Jesus Misael Barraza Diaz, 2. Bruno
Gauthier-Bellerose, 3. Michael Vascones.
Hamilton International Guitar Festival
& Competition (Canada): 1. Steve Cowan,
2. Tim Beattie, 3. Austin Wahl, 4. Nathan
Bredeson. Changsha Guitar Festival
(China): No first or second place; 3. Julio
Quimbayo, 4. Alexandra Valesco; Composi-
tion Competition: Ladouce Franck.
NEW ELIZABETHAN
AWARD ANNOUNCED
Here’s some exciting news that
comes our way from the Musi-
cians Company of the City
of London, who have given
out the Ivor Mairants Guitar
Award (see left) for nearly
two decades now: In July
2018 they will be selecting
the winner of the group’s
inaugural New Elizabe-
than Award, bestowed
on the best player in a
competition for gui-
tarists and lutenists
performing solo
or ensemble
music (with
other instru-
ments and/
or voice)
from the two
Elizabethan
ages. Before
he passed away in
2016, British composer
Peter Maxwell Davies had this to say
about the New Elizabethan Award:
“This award has a very special signifi-
cance, in that its focus is on the two great
Elizabethan ages, complementing the two
main periods of development in Britain
of the lute and the classical guitar. This
constitutes a most important part of Brit-
ish musical tradition, which still needs to
be brought more vividly into the public
domain. Britain’s position in this repertoire
of lute and guitar music is comparable to
that of Spain and Portugal—from John
Dowland’s [16th century] works for lute to
Benjamin Britten’s [20th century] for guitar.
“In addition to the more obvious solo
opportunities, this project offers some-
thing of great interest to composers today
in the use of lute and guitar in chamber
music. Particularly, it will offer great
encouragement to a younger generation of
artists.”
A few details: Birth deadline for appli-
cants is after January 1, 1987. Deadline
for applications is April 30, 2018. The
selection round will be held July 6, 2018
at the Royal Academy of Music. The vic-
tor’s concert will be at Wigmore Hall,
February 9, 2019. For more info, go to
wcom.org.uk/new-elizabethan-award
KENNETH KAM/GFA PHOTO
Classical Guitar Festival
18 – 23 August 2018
Outstanding learning and performing opportunites
in a unique environment with a rich craft heritage
Daily repertoire and technique workshops | Two individual lessons | Ensemble playing
Guitar Open Day | Lectures | Masterclasses | Informal student concerts | Guitar Orchestra
Concert artists and tutors to include: William Kanengiser, Gary Ryan, Andrew Gough,
The Modern Guitar Trio, Helen Sanderson and Vickers Bovey Guitar Duo.

For students of all ages (over 16) and of grade 2 level and above.
Bursaries available for students aged 16-24.

Booking opens January 2018.

+44 (0) 1243 818300 Sponsored by:

bookingsoffice@westdean.org.uk

www.westdean.org.uk
West Dean College, near Chichester, West Sussex PO18 0QZ, UK
 VIEW FROM THE FRONT ROW
icture a historic church set in the
Midlothian countryside south of
Edinburgh, Scotland, 500 years ago.
Its hard stone walls hear the daily rituals of
Mass and prayer as well as providing pro-
tection from warring Scottish families. The
site on which Crichton Collegiate Church
now stands has borne witness to the Refor-
mation and to conspiracies against James
III of Scotland—but more recently hosted
classical guitarist Sean Shibe’s debut album
recording.
Released on Delphian Records and pro-
duced by the label’s founder, Paul Baxter,
Shibe’s Dreams & Fancies: English Music for
Solo Guitar was recorded over two sessions
during the winter of 2015–16. “It was cold,”
the guitarist says, “but not as cold as you’d
expect. It was a beautiful church—atmo-
spheric with a resonant acoustic.”
I meet Sean Shibe before his Newbury
Spring Festival Lunchtime recital, which
includes a program of three short works by
John Dowland, J. S. Bach’s Lute Suite No.4 in
12 Fall 2017
E, and three of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Preludes.
He’s dressed in a dapper dark suit with a red
peaked handkerchief just visible in the front
lapel pocket. He has a striped tie sporting
the full Windsor knot, and bright orange
socks. His style is definitively smart-casual.
He speaks with a soft, considered eloquence
that belies his youth.
Shibe’s debut album is an intriguing one.
It has been compiled by a Scottish artist on a
Scottish label (even the album photography
is based in Edinburgh), and recorded in the
aforementioned Scottish church, but the pro-
gram features an all-English lineup of com-
posers, as the title of the record confirms. So
many debut classical guitar albums feature
Spanish-based repertoire; not this one.
“I see so many people who have [so
many] Spanish albums thrown at them
that they become saturated by them, and
eventually become bored of them,” Shibe
explains. “I do think English repertoire has
much to say and a lot of it is first-rate. The
all-English CD is a substantial route into
Young Scottish
guitarist is equally
comfortable in
the Renaissance and
on the cutting edge
BY OLLIE MCGHIE
debut classical guitar recordings, albeit
something many artists might do for their
second or third album. It’s underexplored
as an initial album concept.”
The album begins with William Walton’s
Five Bagatelles. This is a work Shibe has
long been acquainted with, since first study-
ing it at the age of 14; eventually it became
a focus for his studies at the Royal Conser-
vatoire of Scotland. The Bagatelles come
across as well-planned, but with a natural
fluid mastery of the whole work, so the
listener is as much at ease with the slower
second bagatelle as the tempestuous fifth.
Next up is Lennox Berkeley’s Sonatina
for Guitar, Op. 52/1. “To me this piece and
Walton’s Bagatelles are some of the most
tender writing ever put to page,” Shibe
says. The album concludes with Malcolm
Arnold’s Fantasy for Guitar, Op.107 and
Benjamin Britten’s Nocturnal after John
Dowland, Op. 70.
“Britten’s Nocturnal is an incredible
piece,” the guitarist comments. “Even
KAUPO KIKKAS PHOTO
though it stands out as being more alien
than the others, it’s generally accessible
to music lovers, especially those who con-
sider themselves serious listeners.”
While this is indeed Shibe’s first solo
album, he has worked on other recordings.
Before Sir Peter Maxwell Davies passed
away in March last year, Shibe did some
solo recordings of a few of the great British
composer’s works—including Farewell to
Stromness (arranged by Timothy Walker)—
on a disc for the Scottish Chamber Orches-
tra on Linn Records. “I saw Sir Peter just
before he died,” Shibe says. “His face
seemed more gaunt than normal, and he
didn’t seem well. It was a very sad loss for
the musical world.” That album eventu-
ally climbed to Number 3 on the classical
charts. Shibe also contributed to the disc
included with BBC Music Magazine’s “Clas-
sical Guitar Special” in February of 2016.
Born and raised in Scotland, Shibe,
whose mother is Japanese and whose father
is from England, splits his time between
Edinburgh and London. At just 25 years old
he’s already accomplished more than many
aspiring guitarists even dream of. He was
the first guitarist to be selected for the BBC3
Radio 3 New Generation Artist Scheme; the
only solo guitarist to be awarded the Borletti-
Buitoni Trust Fellowship; the recipient of
the Royal Over-Seas League first prize and
gold medal (2011). He’s played at such
world-famous venues as Wigmore Hall in
London and the Heidelberger-Frühling
in southwest Germany. He’s played Rodri-
go’s famous Concierto de Aranjuez with the
BBC Symphony Orchestra, and along the
way picked up endorsements from D’Add-
ario and from Dewar Arts, and gained sup-
port from the Hattori Trust.
“I’m extremely grateful for the oppor-
tunities I’ve had,” Shibe comments. “In
my experience, classical music seems to
have become the refuge of the upper-mid-
dle class—particularly for those who can
afford the incubation period after obtain-
ing their bachelor’s degree, if they want to
become a performer. It’s the same for those
that do drama. If I wasn’t born in Scotland
and had access to the State school struc-
ture it gave me and had free education at a
specialist music boarding school, I wouldn’t
be where I am today. I’ve been very fortu-
nate and had a lot of help.”
Shibe’s next project is an unusual show
called “softLOUD.” It’s a juxtaposition of
neglected Scottish music from the Renais-
sance (including lute manuscripts brought
to light through the scholarship of guitar-
ist-composer Rob MacKillop) played on
Shibe’s Bert Kwakkel Merula Special gui-
tar, along with high-volume electric guitar
music played on a Mexican Fender Stra-
tocaster. The louder repertoire includes
Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Julia
Wolfe’s Lad, written for nine bagpipes—a
piece Shibe calls “an elegy,” commenting,
“There’s an element of celebration about it,
but fundamentally it’s mournful.”
For Shibe, softLOUD is about creating
WHAT SEAN SHIBE PLAYS
Shibe plays a 2008 Bert Kwakkel Merula
something that represents the emotions of
Special, with a Brazilian rosewood back
his generation today—frustration, anger
and sides and a spruce top. He uses
and disenfranchisement. “It’s not without
D’Addario EXP Pro-Arté extra-hard
reference to the rise of the new right—
tension strings.
Trump and Brexit,” he says. “It’s worth men-
tioning the show doesn’t have a political
opinion. Just as Scotland is a nation that
each year questions its identity, I wanted to ish Civil War–inspired program, including
create something that’s more pressing, more music by Antonio Jose, Boccherini’s Fan-
urgent. Something that speaks about now in dango Quintet, and the reworking of a piece
a more pointed way than, say, a Bach suite by Catalan musician Roberto Gerhard.
does; something universally relevant, diffus- Originally, solo guitar was intended to be
ing its meaning over time. ‘Soft’ represents interspersed throughout a reading of Hem-
the beautiful qualities we’ve forgotten ingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, but that
about—being humble, but with a gravity has now been arranged for guitar and quar-
and profundity. I feel this is a show that rep- tet by millennial composer Bruno Dozzer.
resents now in a more pin-pointed way.” “It’s a beautiful, well-rounded program,”
In another way, the show is also about Shibe says, “but a hard one to play.”
allowing fans, from those who have an inter- Upcoming engagements include pre-
est in early Renaissance music to those who miering a guitar concerto called Pilgrims
are interested in the more experimental by Scottish composer Michael Murray,
electric guitar work, to listen to each other. with the Scottish Ensemble at Sir James
As of this writing, softLOUD is set to pre- Macmillan’s Cumnock Tryst Festival at the
miere at the East Neuk Festival in Scotland end of September, and a series of concerts
at the end of June 2017, with a later broad- in Japan in early 2018. “If we don’t commis-
cast on Radio 3, and then returns to play at sion new works, our instrument will fall
the Edinburgh Festival in August. behind,” Shibe notes earnestly. “So it’s less
Another intriguing event this summer is a matter of commissioning being this thing
Shibe’s collaboration with the Southrepps that is a new way forward; in fact it’s the
ensemble for the Southrepps Classical bare minimum we have to do.”
Music Festival in Norfolk, England. The future of the instrument is in good
Together, they have conceived of a Span- hands. CG
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 13

The Spanish art form
has mystical Muslim roots
BY JASON WEBSTER
n his groundbreaking book The
Sufis (1964), Sufism authority Idries
Shah mentions several Western cul-
tural phenomena which were influenced or
inspired by that mystical current of Islam.
They include such diverse things as the Trou-
badour movement, the figure of the Jester,
the writings of Cervantes and Goethe
(among others), and the development of the
Tarot. There is also, in Shah’s view, a clear
relationship between Sufism and flamenco.
That an Eastern mystical tradition might
have any impact at all on the folk music of
southern Spain would appear curious if
not for the fact that for eight centuries the
Iberian peninsula was the western extreme
of the Islamic empire. And nowhere more
so than the area we now refer to as Anda-
lusia—whose etymology lies in the Arabic
name for the peninsula, Al-Andalus. Spain
was conquered for Islam in 711, at about the
same time that Sindh—roughly today’s Paki-
stan—was also coming under Muslim rule.
Communications within the Islamic Empire
were relatively quick and easy: In the space
of a few generations, what had been Hispania
became an integral part of a cultural environ-
ment stretching as far east as the Indies.
And the impact of the Islamic world on
Spain—and the rest of Europe—was vast.
The Alhambra at Granada and the Great
Mosque at Cordoba are merely the more vis-
14 Fall 2017
The Alhambra, Granada.
(in Arabic, Qalat Al-Hamra)
ible and obvious manifestations of this heri-
tage. Everything from food to language, art,
literature, religion, science, medicine and
philosophy were all influenced by centuries-
long exposure to Islam.
So what does this have to do with fla-
menco? Spanish folk music as a whole was
hugely influenced by the sounds brought
from across the Strait of Gibraltar. You only
have to listen to an Aragonese jota or an
albá from the Valencia area and the sim-
ilarity to a muezzin’s chant is immediate
and powerful. And flamenco is no less an
example. For instance, common “nonsense”
words used in the cante include Lelelelele,
or Lailo lailo. These are a garbled form of
the Islamic creed La ilaha illa Allah (“No
god but Allah”). And anyone familiar with
Moroccan and North African music will have
heard a common rhythm that is the same
as a flamenco tanguillo. In fact, the great fla-
menco singer El Lebrijano often performed
with Moroccan musicians, insisting that fla-
menco and the music of North Africa were
essentially the same.
So much for an Islamic influence on fla-
menco, but what about Sufism specifically?
Idries Shah was not the only one to spot
the connection. In the 1930s, a student from
Pakistan named Aziz Balouch travelled to
Spain, and as soon as he heard flamenco
he recognized it as almost identical to the
KEEPERS OF THE FLAMENCO
Sufi music that he played and sang at home.
Indeed, the very next night he sang the same
songs back to the original performer—none
other than Pepe Marchena—only this time
in Urdu. Marchena and his guitarist, Ramón
Montoya, were gobsmacked by the foreigner
who had just arrived in Andalusia, yet could
sing perfect cante jondo as though he had
been born and raised in a Spanish village. On
the spot, Marchena took the young man on
as his fellow performer, and Balouch would
go on to record under the name Marchenita
(“little Marchena”).
In time, Balouch went on to write about
flamenco and his experiences in cante
jondo—su orígen y evolución, published in
Madrid in 1955. In it, he set out his ideas,
drawing up a family tree in which he demon-
strated the link between Sufi music and
flamenco. He described vocal exercises and
even a way of life that he saw as ideal for pro-
ducing the flamenco “deep song.” However,
his views on sexual abstinence and alcohol
did not sit well with the hedonistic flamenco
environment of the day, and the book was—
perhaps not surprisingly—somewhat short
of being a bestseller.
There are plenty of reasons, however, for
believing that both he and Shah were correct
in pointing out the Sufi-flamenco connection.
When my own book on flamenco (Duende)
first appeared, many readers wrote that they
had experienced something very similar to
duende when listening to music from the
Islamic mystical tradition—an altered state
known in Arabic and Persian as hal (liter-
ally “state.”) The sense of other-worldliness
that the best flamenco can produce hints
in itself at origins within some kind of meta-
physical framework. The Gypsy connection
between the Indian sub-continent and Spain
is also reason to give credence to the link
that Balouch was proposing. And then there
is the word “duende” itself. Spanish etymol-
ogists insist it comes from dueño de casa—
the “master of the house,” a reference to the
invisible spirits who were meant to inhabit a
home. But many Spanish intellectuals prefer
a Latin-based word origin to an Arabic-based
one, and the Arabic word for “spirit”—jinn—
is as likely the root. According to the Quran,
these beings created of “smokeless fire” not
only exist, but can have a powerful influence
on human lives, appearing without warning
and effecting change on our destiny.
What better description of duende itself?
For more on duende, see my “Keepers of the Flamenco”
column at ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com.
VICTORIANO IZQUIERDO PHOTO
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 LETTER FROM . . . MONTREAL
DIVERSITY
REIGNS ontreal is rightly known for its
many beautiful historic buildings,
authentic French character, ice
hockey, indie-rock bands, bagels, and even
its smoked meats—but much less so for its
classical guitar scene. Yet, through the years
this vital Canadian city has developed some
amazing local guitar players and composers,
attracted devoted teachers and visiting leg-
ends, and nurtured a large and enthusiastic
audience with a taste for virtuosos, thus
inciting more and more youngsters to pick
up the instrument. Classical Guitar asked me
to profile a few of the major figures in Mon-
treal’s classical guitar community.
PETER MCCUTCHEON
Peter McCutcheon and
I chat in his office at the
University of Montreal,
where we talk about his
career and the history
of guitar in the city. After
studying in the city for six years with Florence
Brown in the 1960s, he further pursued his
learning at the University with Marie and
16 Fall 2017
Martin Prével from ’69 to ’72. “They were
among the pioneers of the classical guitar in
Montreal,” he comments.
However, one of the defining moments
of his career was his meeting with the great
French guitarist and composer Alexandre
Lagoya, who was a regular at the Orford
Arts Center (OAF), just outside Montreal.
“Lagoya was, without a doubt, the most
influential figure of the Montreal picture in
the ’70s,” says McCutcheon. Lagoya and
Ida Presti—the revered married couple—
toured the world giving as many as 2,000
concerts through the ’60s, before Presti’s
death in 1967. The two were prominent pro-
ponents of the right-hand technique called
attaque à droite, the 90-degree position used
by Andrés Segovia and Francisco Tárrega,
among many others. Most players here
adopted the technique, and in the process,
“Montreal became the bastion of the ‘école
française,’” recalls McCutcheon.
“Lagoya was a great friend of Gilles
Lefebvre—director of the OAF and the
Jeunesses Musicales Canada Founda-
tion—who had close ties with the Québec
Quebec’s
largest city
has been a vital
classical-guitar
center for more
than 50 years
BY ANTOINE BERTHIAUME
Minister of Education. They were greatly
responsible for creating a momentum in the
community of guitarists, thus encouraging
institutions to open up positions for guitar
teachers in universities and conservatories
around the province.” In 1975, McCutcheon,
just back from Paris, where he was crowned
“premier prix” at the Conservatoire national
supérieur, fit the profile of prospective
teachers perfectly and seized the opportu-
nity. He started teaching at McGill Univer-
sity, and eventually accepted a full-time
position at the University of Montreal,
where he has been teaching students from
all around the globe ever since.
For McCutcheon, “The second wave that
shook the community of players was the
coming of Scottish guitarist David Russell
and Cuban player Manuel Barrueco, who
made yearly visits to the OAF between 1985
and 1995.” Like most players, McCutcheon
was fascinated by those guitarists’ tech-
nique, and eventually their influence caused
many local players to abandon the attaque
à droite to adopt a more natural hand-
position. At the Orford Center, “anybody
who was serious about the guitar would
attend their concerts and try to get a lesson
with one of them.”
These days, in addition to teaching at the
university, McCutcheon is the president of
the Société de Guitare de Montréal, devoted
to promoting concerts and master classes in
the city. Founded in 1995, the Société, hosted
Renaud Côté-Giguère (one of McCutcheon’s
many notable protégés) in March, and in
April Barrueco returned to Montreal to give
a recital and teach a master class.
PATRICK KEARNEY
Another one of the city’s
great guitar institutions is
the Montreal International
Classical Guitar Festival
and Competition (better
known simply as Guitare
Montréal), founded by Patrick Kearney, who
is a part-time instructor at Montreal’s Con-
cordia University, which is where I catch up
with him. The prestigious competition, won
by Korean sensation Bokyung Byun last
year, has been a great hub for local guitar-
ists such as Steve Cowan, Rémi Barette, and
Jérôme Ducharme, who are among the last
decade’s winners.
“This year, marks Montreal’s 375th anni-
versary, but it is also Guitare Montréal’s 15th
edition, and the 350th anniversary of the
founding of Lachine [the borough of Mon-
treal where the festival was formerly
located; today it is at Concordia Univer-
sity],” he says. The 2017 festival, which
took place in May, featured winners Byun
and Ducharrme, as well as Quebecois
guitarist Thierry Bégin-Lamontagne, and
international players such as Matthew
McAllister of Scotland and Italy’s Marko
Feri. According to Kearney, the festival’s
greatest ongoing challenge is dealing with
a relatively small demographic. Montreal is
Canada’s second largest city (with a greater
metropolitan area of about four million)
after Toronto (six million), but the following
one is Vancouver, with only two million and
five hours away, by plane. For less money
and the same time invested, musicians can
go to Paris, where roughly 12 million eager
French-speaking listeners await. So building
up an audience in Montreal is pivotal. Kear-
ney, alongside McCutcheon, has been trying
to do just that.
JÉRÔME DUCHARME PHOTO BY MARIE VALLIÈRES
A former student of Rafael Andi and
Alberto Ponce at the École normale
supérieure de Paris, Kearney had a break-
through in 1996 after finishing third at the
National Guitar Summer Workshop in New
Milford, Connecticut. He went on to grab
third place as well in the 1998 edition of
the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA),
just ahead of Iona Gandrabur. He spent last
summer playing for European audiences in
Holland, France, Scotland, and the Czech
Republic. “In Scotland I had the honor of
being one of the guest artists and teach-
ing faculty at [Matthew McAllister’s] Isle
of Cumbrae Classical Guitar Retreat,” he
notes. “And in the Czech Republic I had the
privilege of being included among such art-
ists as the L.A. Guitar Quartet at the 25th
Anniversary of the Brno Classical Guitar
Festival, directed by the internationally
renowned virtuoso Vladislav Blaha.”
Back home, Kearney can only say great
things about Montreal: “Great food, multi-
culturalism, bilingualism, openness.” Asked
if some of his students complain about
the notorious winters, he joked about one
of his pupils coming to class in slippers
even during the coldest weather. (Actu-
ally, Montreal has a very well-organized
subway system—once on a train, you can
access Concordia without ever stepping
outside.) Reputed for his interpretation of
Carlo Domeniconi’s Koyunbaba, Kearney
will soon be releasing a new album titled
Novae, featuring Canadian composers such
as Harry Stafylakis and Denis Gougeon.
JÉRÔME DUCHARME
Ducharme was waiting
for me in his classroom
at McGill University.
“Montreal can arguably
compete with any Cana-
dian city and with many
international cities for the quality of teach-
ing,” he says. Compared to the 1970s, when
most serious guitarists still felt they had
to expatriate in order to become accom-
plished players, the city now offers many
different options to students eager to mas-
ter the instrument.
Ducharme spent eight years at the Con-
servatoire de musique de Montréal, but
he argues that “traveling and getting chal-
lenged by different teachers is a must. Mon-
treal has a lot of great teachers, yet going
abroad when you are young is really the
thing to do. I tell my students not to stay
too long in the same place. The first years
are the ones where the learning curve is
the steepest, and the richest. Afterwards, it
becomes more of a routine.”
In 2003, Ducharme started looking at
learning opportunities in Europe. After
seeing Stephan Schmidt at the Festival
de Lanaudière in Joliette, Quebec, where
Ducharme is from, he moved to Switzerland
because Schmidt was working there. He had
been stirred by Schmidt’s interpretation of
Bach’s lute works played on a ten-string gui-
tar, but it turned out that Schmidt was also
busy running the Musik-Akademie der Stadt
Basel, so Ducharme ended up splitting his
sessions with Oscar Ghiglia, one of Segovia’s
most prestigious alumni.
Back in Montreal, he pursued a doc-
torate with McCutcheon. After scoring
third place in the 2004 edition of the GFA,
he finished first in 2005, becoming the first
Canadian to do so. “I won a set of tuning
pegs,” he says with a laugh, “but mainly the
chance to tour North America and record a
recital with Naxos featuring works by Hétu,
de Falla, and Ginastera, among others.”
He performed on a guitar made by René
Wilhelmy, one of the most praised luthiers
in the area, whom I only recently realized
lives a block away from my house in the Vil-
leray quarter of Montreal. You can also hear
and see Ducharme on a 2005 Mel Bay DVD,
which features a pair of works of Montreal
composer Maxime McKinley, among other
works. At McGill these days, Ducharme
has a dozen students from Canada, South
Korea, France, and the U.S.
STEVE COWAN
Steve Cowan, one of
Ducharme’s students,
is definitely a musician
to watch. I Skyped him
while he was on tour in
Aberdeen, Scotland, and
I realized we had actually played together
on a piece by Tim Brady for 20 electric gui-
tars last year at the Sound Symposium in
St. John’s, Newfoundland, where Cowan is
originally from. (My guess is I was too busy
following the conductor to notice him.)
Impressively, Cowan had managed to book
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 17
 LETTER FROM . . . MONTREAL
a solo guitar tour that also took him to
Munich, Paris, Copenhagen, and a few cit-
ies in Norway and the Netherlands—quite
a feat for a musician working on his own
and communicating mostly through email.
Back home, he recently put out his
debut album, Pour Guitare, featuring music
for solo guitar, guitar duo, and electron-
ics, exclusively by Canadian composers,
including works by Cowan, Claude Vivier,
Jacques Hétu, and Jason Noble, among oth-
ers. (The disc was favorably reviewed in
the Spring 2017 issue of Classical Guitar.)
Cowan completed a master’s degree at
the Manhattan School of Music with David
Leisner, and it was there that he heard
about Michael Laucke, known for com-
missioning pieces from many composers
from Quebec in the 1970s, and premiering
more than 25 original works from Canadian
composers, including Vivier’s Pour guitare,
the title track on Cowan’s album. After
completing his studies in the U.S., Cowan
wanted to move back to Canada, and at the
Domaine Forget (pronounced for-jay) music
festival in Charlevoix, Quebec, he was intro-
duced to McCutcheon and to many other
Montreal musicians who praised the gui-
tar community there. Excited to hear that
Alvaro Pierri was in town, and drawn by
the contemporary music scene, Cowan
decided to pursue his doctoral studies
with Ducharme at McGill, where he’s now
is in his third year. “I like the French aspect,
the quasi-European vibe [of Montreal],” he
says. “There are so many students here
specifically in classical guitar, and I have
been able to get a lot of performance and
teaching work, even as an Anglophone.
Montreal also keeps a low cost of living,
which is great for the musician life.” Nearby
cities like Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, and
New York have presented further opportu-
nities for gigs. “It’s a fantastic place to live
as an artist. I don’t see myself leaving the
city—it has everything I need.”
18 Fall 2017
SEBASTIEN DUFOUR
For this interview,
Sebastien Dufour and
I stop in a café on Mon-
treal’s picturesque Mont-
Royal street.
Dufour is part of the
Montreal Guitar Trio (MG3)—alongside
Marc Morin and Glenn Lévesque (both
former pupils of McCutcheon)—one of
the most active local ensembles focused
on classical guitar. “Montreal is one of the
most hybrid cities, providing a mix of all
genres and influences, and no barriers,” he
comments. “And we can thank the Festival
international de jazz de Montréal [FIJM] for
this openness.”
Even though many local jazz musicians
complain that the “jazzfest” isn’t jazzy
enough— with the likes of Prince, the B-52s,
Bob Dylan, and Snoop Dogg, among the fea-
tured artists in past years—hosting one of
the biggest jazz festivals in the world has
definitely opened the Montreal audience to
a palette of many different colors. “The way
musicians here perceive and see music,”
Dufour says, “has been greatly affected by
this one eclectic festival, responsible for
introducing Montreal to such musicians as
Michel Camilo, Paco de Lucía, Miles Davis,
Bela Fleck, and so many more. In a way, too,
the festival paved the way for MG3.”
Inspired by composers such as Egberto
Gismonti, Ennio Morricone, Astor Piaz-
zolla—who were influenced by classi-
cal music but also vernacular music, as
well—the group started exploring ways of
bringing the instrument to uncharted ter-
ritories and new audiences. “We also regu-
larly tour with the California Guitar Trio [a
steel-string acoustic ensemble] as a double-
feature,” Dufour says. “It’s a mutually ben-
eficial association that has allowed us to
build an audience by putting on concerts
centered on the guitar.”
After so many years of exploring so
many different musical avenues (including
playing with the California Guitar Trio as
a sextet), MG3 is back to basics this year
with Danzas, an album released on Analekta
Records devoted to the music of Manuel de
Falla, Paco de Lucía and Agustín Barrios
Mangoré (see review, p. 64). “In a way it’s
a full circle,” Dufour says. “We did all this
work, all these collaborations to now get
back to the roots. I feel like I’m in university
again, studying the classics.” MG3 was set
to tour this spring, giving a dozen concerts
across the UK.
ALVARO PIERRI
Having been exposed
very young to Alvaro
Pierri’s 1995 recording
of Villa-Lobos choros,
etudes, and preludes—
which I still consider a
reference—I was surprised and flattered to
see him so thrilled to come to my house for
an interview, which lasted two hours.
Originally from Uruguay, where his aunt
Olga first taught him the guitar, he became a
student of the great teacher Abel Carlevaro:
“Carlevaro only taught once a week, on Mon-
days. The lessons were only 30 minutes, but
since I was his last student at 7 o’clock, very
often I was still there until 10. We improvised
together and played all kinds of music.”
Pierri first came Montreal in 1981, while
recording in New York. “It was in February,”
he says, “I wanted to experience the cold!”
This initial visit gave him the chance to meet
composer Jacques Hétu (who later wrote
a recital for him), and everything sparked
from there. “I was invited to perform and
teach at the Orford Festival, and by the same
occasion teach at McGill University, the Con-
servatoire, and the Université du Québec à
Montréal, where I eventually was offered
a full-time position.
“I stayed for the people,” he continues.
ALVARO PIERRI PHOTO BY PAUL WILKE
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 LETTER FROM . . . MONTREAL
“Montreal is unique—it’s North American,
French, Nordic, and cosmopolitan. You can
feel that vibe on the music scene. It’s import-
ant to respect, cultivate, and celebrate
cultures. But it’s also important to mix them.
In Brazil, for example, the tradition is very
alive, but it’s a blend of Portuguese, Italian,
and African—a perfect illustration of a cul-
ture that is proud but open.”
Pierri lives in in Montreal, but he spends
much of his time traveling the globe, teach-
ing in Vienna, L.A., and Hong Kong, and
also performing all over. One of his favorite
recordings was published in 1991 on the
www.marchione.com
(713) 522-7221
20 Fall 2017
Amplitude label: it includes the Suite pour Gui-
tare by Hétu (the same one Cowan recorded)
and Agua e vinho by Egberto Gismonti. He
has four recordings in the making this year,
including collaborations with the Logos
Quartet and the Orchestra della Svizzera Ital-
iana. You can also revisit his work by watch-
ing him perform with Astor Piazzolla on a
DVD released by Deutsche Grammophon
in 2007. This year he has performed at the
GFA in L.A., in Milwaukee at the Guitar Series
presented by University of Wisconsin, and is
scheduled to play in December in San Fran-
cisco at the Omniconcerts Series.
SIMON DUCHESNE
AND HUGO LARENAS
I continued my caffeine
intake on Mont-Royal
Avenue with Duchesne
and Larenas, two young
players driving many dif-
ferent projects, including
their own duet, Con Fuoco, on a self-
titled album.
“It’s amazing to see the reaction to the
music,” says Duchesne. “Very often people
have never seen a more modern approach
to the guitar” (i.e., various percussive tech-
niques). Duchesne grew up playing rock and
heavy metal, and is also part of Tim Brady’s
electric guitar quartet. They played a very
fuzzy version of the Art of the Fugue by Bach
last year at the Montreal Baroque Music Fes-
tival and are touring Canada this year with
a set of Canadian compositions. Forestare,
led by Alexandre Éthier, also occupies part
of Duchesne’s time. As a group for 12 guitars
(often playing extended guitar quartets), the
band has now been active for 15 years. “You
have to be creative to bring the classical
guitar on stage and draw people in to ven-
ues,” he says. “There’s an ‘awe’ effect having
all those instruments on stage.” Their last
recording, titled Baroque, explores music
from Bach, Vivaldi, and Lully.
Like most of their colleagues, they both
split their efforts between teaching and per-
forming in all kinds of projects. “There are
not enough job opportunities to only play
solo or duo, so we have to be really creative
and open,” notes Larenas. Classical guitar
is not embedded in Quebec’s culture as it
is elsewhere. “Lagoya, McCutcheon, Pierri,
and such did a great job propelling the instru-
ment. Unfortunately, it didn’t have a lasting
effect with the audience. Here, the guitar is
seldom perceived as a soloist instrument.”
Larenas tours Canada, Europe, and South
America with Intakto, run by Chilean singer
Alejandro Venegas; with Color Violeta, based
around arrangements of compositions by
the Chilean folk musician Violeta Parra;
and with Willy Rios, a charango player from
Bolivia. “It’s absolutely not a compromise,”
he says. “I make a living playing what I like—
the nylon-string. It’s a mix of everything I
love—South American music, flamenco, and
classical. I use my own voice and express
my musicality in varied contexts. Montreal
allows this kind of meeting. Musicians come
here from abroad to launch their career, and
then get the support to expand their notori-
ety around the world.” CG
berta rojas

WWW.SAVAREZ.COM
MOMENTITO

n May 25, 2017, I attended a devastated by the horror that it seemed inconsolable. Listening to guitar music by
remarkable guitar concert at the futile to practice a musical instrument Brouwer or Britten, Barrios or Walton, Tár-
Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, either on that day or some days following. rega or Rodrigo cannot by itself assuage
England, featuring John Williams in part- What is the relationship between making the anguish of bereavement.
nership with John Etheridge and Gary music on the plucked string and total nihil- But take a step back to consider other
Ryan. Just 72 hours elements within the
earlier, half a mile away framework of trag-
in the same city, a ter- edy. In the fanatical
rorist had detonated a Islamic State (which
suicide bomb outside immediately, to their
a concert by Ameri- everlasting shame,
can pop star Ariana claimed responsibility
Grande, killing 22 for the Manchester
people, many of them bombing), music of all
children, and injuring kinds is banned, and if
dozens of others. played, brutally pun-
At the time, the ished. Communist and
government estimated fascist dictatorships
the security risk level hate various forms
at “critical,” the highest of music, such as the
possible, indicating a avant-garde and jazz,
further terrorist attack preferring composi-
was possibly “immi- tions that re-create
nent.” The police a glorious imaginary
patrolled the streets golden age of the past,
in groups of five and or the bland sound of
six, carrying huge military bands.
automatic weapons— Concerts in many
a rare sight in Britain. Middle Eastern coun-
In various parts of tries have to be vetted
the country, combat and licensed by gov-
troops were deployed ernment departments.
alongside the police. When I performed a
The UK had been guitar recital in Kuwait
in the throes of a gen- (a reasonably liberal
eral election, but after Muslim country com-
the bomb went off, pared to Saudi Arabia
political campaigning or Iran), the organiz-
was postponed for a ers needed a permit
week to allow a period from the government
of national mourning. In dark times, the guitar before it could take
The Williams con- can add a little light place. It was no coin-
cert, entitled “Six BY GRAHAM WADE cidence that the
Hands,” was another Manchester bomber
potent reminder of made his attack at a
the creative power of pop concert, nor that
music. John Williams terrorists in Paris
gently thanked the assaulted the Bataclan
audience at the outset nightclub during a
of the concert for just show by a rock group.
being there. At the end, To fanatics of their ilk,
John Etheridge called all music is regarded
for a moment of reflection before the trio istic bloodshed? as a kind of depravity.
performed a very moving second encore. For those who mourn the loss of sons As guitarists, we know that simply tak-
I was reminded of our feelings imme- and daughters, fathers and mothers, rela- ing a guitar out of its case can be spiritually
diately after the catastrophe of the 9/11 tives and friends destroyed in meaningless enriching. In other words, we feel better for
attack in New York, when many were so acts of evil, the grief must be practically playing. The more we play, the better it feels.

22 Fall 2017
Sometimes the process of studying and eminent musicians presenting their art try to adhere to our values. The sonorities
improving may seem a struggle. But either with such perfection was a true beacon of of plucked strings are easily suffocated by
way we love it. Both the physical aspects light in an uncertain world. the cries of the victims and the blast of
of playing and the expressiveness of music Tragically, less than a fortnight after war. But ultimately, our dedication to life
reach down into our hearts and minds and that evening recital, terrorists struck again in all its richness and to art in its many
refresh and restore our inner selves. (this time in London), killing more than forms is what we live for. We have to con-
Similarly, to listen to a concert by a 20 again, and injuring dozens of innocent tinue to believe in the positive goodness
great player such as John Williams is an people. Shortly before that, horrendous of what we are trying to achieve. It is a
experience of great intensity and enjoy- suicide bombings had been perpetrated in moral and philosophical question. To be
ment, and it also imparts to us a sense of Kabul, Afghanistan. defeated in this leads only to cynicism
revelation at what is possible in artistic In the face of all this evil, we can but and despair. CG
terms on the guitar. We are taken out of our
routine responses into a sphere of expres-
siveness, wonder, and fulfilment.
OBERLIN BE AUTHENTIC.
CONSERVATORY
OF MUSIC
AS MUSICIANS, WE EXIST IN BE INSPIRED.
A POSITIVE, CREATIVE WORLD,
PERPETUALLY DISCOVERING
NEW AESTHETIC TRUTHS AND
EMOTIONAL DEPTHS THAT THE
EARNEST STUDY OF A MUSICAL
INSTRUMENT ENGENDERS.
Such heightening of our faculties is part
of the therapeutic, life-enhancing aspect of
playing the guitar. Whenever I see a guitar-
ist walking down the street with their gui-
tar case, I always feel, “There goes an opti-
mist!” Go to any guitar festival and you will
find a vibrant community, content with a
beautiful purpose in life. As musicians, we
exist in a positive, creative world, perpetu-
ally discovering new aesthetic truths and
emotional depths that the earnest study of
a musical instrument engenders. At Oberlin, original thought and individual artistry are our highest goals. That’s why
It is very natural for terrorists to hate students here receive training in all facets of the art of playing classical guitar.
any sense of fulfilment through art. Any- You will pursue a rigorous and highly individualized technical regimen as well as an
thing gloriously human is to be destroyed. intensive repertoire-based course of study. You will learn from accomplished faculty
For that reason, the beautiful ancient and esteemed guest artists. You will perform numerous recitals, each one representing
city of Palmyra, in Syria, was razed to the a balance of your musical interests and your pedagogical needs. You will be encouraged
ground—an irreparable loss—as were the to make your own arrangements and to write and perform your own compositions.
ancient Buddhist statues of Afghanistan and And you will leave Oberlin an authentic musician with an artistic voice all your own.
countless other archaeological marvels.
To return to my opening thought about Oberlin Conservatory of Music | Office of Admissions
39 West College Street, Oberlin, OH 44074
the performance at the Bridgewater Hall:
440-775-8413 | www.oberlin.edu/con
The memory of that very special concert
will remain with me. The occasion of three

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 23
 SPANISH GUITARIST ROBERTO MORONN PÉREZ
BRINGS THE ANDRÉS SEGOVIA ARCHIVE TO LIFE
T
he winter of 2017 saw the arrival of a won-
derful new album called ¡Viva Segovia!,
which is the third volume in Spanish gui-
tarist Roberto Moronn Pérez’s striking
and significant “Andres Segovia Archive” compila-
tions on San Francisco–based Reference Recordings.
It joins his previous Segovia Archive releases
devoted to Spanish Composers (2013) and French
Composers (2014); the latest includes works by two
Englishmen, an Italian, and three Swiss composers.
It is well known, of course, that from nearly the
beginning of his storied career, Maestro Segovia
actively encouraged composers to write new
pieces for the guitar (at the same time he was
arranging many existing compositions, old and
recent, for the instrument). Segovia’s clarion call
yielded an incredible flood of new pieces that came
to him beginning around 1920 and never com-
pletely subsided until his death in the 1986. Segovia
debuted a staggering number of works by a wide
range of composers from around the world, includ-
24 Fall 2017
BY BLAIR JACKSON
ing now-famous pieces by Federico Moreno
Torroba, Manuel Ponce, Alexandre Tansman,
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco,
Federico Mompou, Joaquín Rodrigo, and others.
Yet Segovia was also the recipient of
numerous compositions that for a variety
of reasons he elected not to play or record.
The story of how these “rejected” music
manuscripts—many of them uncopied, irre-
placeable originals sent by eager authors—
survived through the decades of Segovia’s
peripatetic life, is a topic worthy of a book
in itself. But the point is, most of them did
survive, and as we’ve learned since Sego-
via’s passing, many of the pieces are very
high-quality works. Thanks to the efforts
of Italian guitarist/composer/musicologist
Angelo Gilardino, who became the artistic
director of the Andrés Segovia Foundation
in 1997 (and remained in that post through
2005), many of those forgotten works were
published for the first time in a collection
called The Andrés Segovia Archive by Edizioni
Musicali Berben, of Ancona, Italy.
Subsequently, some of the pieces have
been recorded here and there, but the Pérez
series represents the most concentrated and
far-reaching attempt to capture the scope of the
Archive. Masterfully recorded by the great engi-
neer John Taylor at Holy Trinity Church in Weston,
Hertfordshire, England, in 2010, 2013, and 2015, the
three albums are replete with beautiful and memo-
rable pieces by composers likely unfamiliar to most
fans of guitar music, along with a few by names
many will recognize, such as Mompou, Lennox
Berkeley, Henri Martelli, and Ida Presti. All three
CDs are widely available and can also be heard on
various streaming services. I strongly recommend
you track them down.
Pérez has turned out to be a masterful guard-
ian and interpreter of these works. Since studying
guitar in Spain, Italy, and the UK, he has gone on
to play all over the world, win a number of com-
petitions, and debut several pieces by prominent
composers himself. We caught up with Pérez
for this email interview about his work with the
Segovia Archive.
CLASSICAL GUITAR: How
and when did you first
become aware of the great
Segovia Archive?
ROBERTO MORRON PÉREZ:
My  introduction to the
Segovia Archive took place
when I was studying for a
master’s degree in Italy with
Angelo Gilardino, who was
the general editor of the full
collection. He first showed
me the manuscripts and then
the publications. In fact, I
collaborated on the work of
some of the Spanish com-
posers.
CG: When you were devel-
oping your skills as a guitar-
ist, did you ever study and/
or try to imitate Segovia’s
style?
PÉREZ: No, I’ve never tried
to imitate Segovia’s style.
Obviously, when I was a stu-
dent, and over the years, I
listened to his recordings
and watched his videos,
and I also had teachers who
were former students of
Segovia, or who continued
his line, but I was always
looking for my own way. All
of my performances come
from my own personality.
Each musician must follow
his own way and that is
really what is interesting

and beautiful in music. For these CDs, my
only guide was always the musical text.
CG: Was there a particular piece, or pieces,
in the Archive that you heard or studied that
really attracted you and made you want to
take on this enormous project seriously?
PÉREZ: Not really. I think all of them are very
interesting. Having so many composers
with their own different musical languages
allows you to always find something cap-
tivating and fascinating in each piece.
CG: How many of the pieces were com-
pletely new to you?
PÉREZ: All of the pieces I have recorded in
my three CDs have been new discoveries for
me. My incentive has been to bring into the
guitar repertoire music of high quality that
is little known, and in some cases, almost
totally neglected; pieces that deserve to be
played and heard.
CG: What piece was the most pleasant sur-
prise to you?
PÉREZ: It is very difficult to choose only one.
As I said before, these pieces are full of sur-
prises and you can find something charming
in each of them. I couldn’t select only one.
CG: You said in the notes to one of the
discs that you did not want to speculate
why Segovia chose not to play or perform
a particular piece. However, in the course
of working with all these pieces and getting
inside of them, so to speak, and knowing
what you must know about Segovia’s likes
and dislikes, you must have formed opin-
ions of why he chose what he chose and
ignored what he ignored.
PÉREZ: Why Segovia did not include
these pieces in his repertoire is some-
thing we cannot know. For sure, there
must be a variety of reasons. As a per-
former, I don’t think I need to speculate
about what  these reasons might
be, and honestly, I don’t consider it
important. I can only thank Andrés
Segovia for his legacy: the legacy he
left during his lifetime with his perfor-
mances, recordings, and inspiration, and
for the legacy he treasured in the shadow,
and which we can now appreciate.
My only responsibility is to live up to
what it represents and to try my best in
my performance to play with the convic-
tion that this music requires.
CG: Related to that last question: Do you
have a sense of how the repertoire Sego-
via played shaped or affected his style, or
whether he chose pieces that fit into his
already developed style?
PÉREZ: I think that Segovia chose the
repertoire that best fit into his style and
that he  felt the most affinity with. For
this reason, we talk about the “Segovian
repertoire.”
But it is the same case with other
musicians, whatever instrument they
play. We talk about Julian Bream and
his repertoire, very close to his musical
skills. And the same, for example, with the
piano: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli with
Debussy or Ravel, or Sviatoslav Richter
with Prokofiev. It would be a long list.
CG: In your head, have you tried to picture
Segovia playing all these pieces?
PÉREZ: I can imagine how Segovia
might have played some of the pieces,
especially some phrasings and ruba-
tos, in his very distinctive style, but
I have not really tried to visualize it.
CG: If you had to pick, say, two less-known
composers on each of the three discs
that surprised you with the high quality
of their compositions, who would you
choose?
PÉREZ: On the Spanish CD, I’d pick Jaume
Pahissa, with his very elegant style, and
Vincente Arregui, who continues in the
Romantic line. On the French CD, I would
name Pierre de Breville, whose Fantaisie
is a major piece—a completely idiom-
atic work—and Raymond Moulaert, with
his monumental Suite. Finally, on Viva,
I’d choose Cyril Scott, whose Sonatina
requires of the performer a spiritual
engagement in order to fully bring out all
its fragrances, and Ettore Desderi with his
Sonata in mi, a real masterwork.
CG: How many of these pieces do you play
when you perform concerts these days?
PÉREZ: Most of them are now in my rep-
ertoire. I always try to include some of the
pieces, if not a full program. And I must say,
they are always very well-received by the
audience. These pieces fit very well into my
style, and, as important, I like them a lot.
CG: Did working on Viva feel any different
because the composers came from so many
different countries?
PÉREZ: Actually, no—in the sense that
each composer has his individual musical
language, as was the case with the French
composers. Maybe the Spanish composers
have more in common with each other.
CG: What do you think the Maestro would
think of your project?
PÉREZ: I hope he would like it. He left this
legacy for future generations, so what I am
doing is what I feel he would have wanted:
to play this music, and to play it with all my
heart and soul. CG
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 25
 MUSICAL
GABRIEL AYALA’S

MEDICINE E CLECTIC
NATIVE AMERICAN
GUITARIST
FIGHTS AGAINST
STEREOTYPES AND
BY KAREN PETERSON
INSPIRES
26 Fall 2017
“I
t’s important to have
something positive in
your life,” says classical
guitarist Gabriel Ayala,
who has spent the bet-
ter part of his 44 years
seeking and expressing
brightness through a “positive, beautiful
addiction” to music and the guitar.
An international performer, composer,
and educator, Ayala is happy to report that
the last 15 years, in particular, have been
good ones. Reaching what artists aspire to,
he says, “I have been creatively engaged
and I have been able to be sustainable as a
musician.” On this sunny winter day in his
hometown of Tucson, Arizona, Ayala was
looking forward to what underscores his
musical life: rarely sitting still.
He talks enthusiastically of the album
he is working on now, an all-classical
album titled An Offering for the Love of God,
which pays homage to Agustín Barrios’
Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios. “Barrios
believed that God himself was knocking on
the door,” says Ayala. Barrios and Bach will
be featured on the CD, along with Chopin.
“You always have to have Chopin,” laughs
Ayala.
He also talks of the album he will be
JOEY LUSTERMAN PHOTO
working on with Marty Friedman, former
lead guitarist with Megadeth—yes, the
thrash-metal rock band. He met Friedman
in 2016 when the two were among the per-
formers aboard the rock ’n’ roll cruise called
Axes and Anchors. “We had a beautiful con-
versation,” says Ayala, with the upshot, he
adds, that Friedman commissioned him to
write songs for his new CD. “So, hopefully,
in the spring I’ll be going to Japan [where
Friedman lives] and hang out with Marty.
“I am internally a classical guitarist
who is just branching out to feed my soul,”
explains Ayala of the juxtaposition of having
both heavy metal and classical recordings
in the works. That branch also has spread
to embrace jazz, as well as his own varia-
tion, a hybrid he calls “JazzMenko.”
As the name implies, flamenco is a
component. “I wanted to create this fusion,
this musical conversation. I know people
have been experimenting [on such com-
binations] for years, but I’m naming it. It’s
a blast to create something that doesn’t
exist—no one can tell me it’s wrong!”
Ayala performs his JazzMenko with a
quintet (guitar, two percussionists, upright
bass, and keyboard). Their 2014 live perfor-
mance to benefit 250-year-old San Xavier del
Bac Mission outside Tucson is the basis for
the Encore! CD. (Following a dispute with
his record company, in 2012 Ayala started
his own label and recording operation,
DeezMas Records. He also bought back
the rights to his compositions—“I made the
money back within a year [by reaching out]
to my fan base,” he says.)
But on this day, while Ayala considers
the future and his multi-layered role in it,
he is also very much in the present. He had
recently returned from his third visit to the
Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North
Dakota, where he joined the water protec-
tors protesting construction of the Dakota
Access Pipeline, which is planned to be
built across Native American tribal lands.
Both a protector and a performer on
his weeklong visits in the fall of 2016, Ayala
says of the latter role, “There is no greater
joy than to look out at an audience and see
them looking at you and smiling because
they need the healing.”
Of his experience as a protector, he
reports, “I have been chased by helicop-
ters and have worn goggles to protect
my face from Mace. I pushed my celebrity
aside to stand on the front lines. I believe
in what indigenous people are fighting for.”
So, when Ayala uses the word “addic-
tion” to describe his passion for the guitar
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 27
 GABRIEL AYALA’S MUSICAL MEDICINE
and the music it produces—and he does
frequently in his conversation with Classical
Guitar—it is said circumspectly. A member
of the Pascua Yaqui tribe in Tucson, a small
community with deep cultural roots in
southern Arizona and northern Mexico, he
knows firsthand that the word
has negative connotations.
As a Native, Ayala recalls
the times when he would
show up for a concert and
someone would ask, “Where’s
your flute?”
“It was assumed that since
I was dark-skinned with long
dark hair, I must play a flute,”
he says. “Instead, I’d go on
stage with my guitar and play
Bach, or Scarlatti, or Giuliani.
We are often depicted as being
alcoholics, or being lazy. I
hated that so much. I wanted
to break those stereotypes.”
His story and his music
addiction also infuse his work
as a mentor to young musi-
cians, Native and otherwise.
“The most important word in
any language is perseverance,”
he tells them, and also “never
give up, believe in yourself.”
“Music is medicine, and it
is my way of paying it forward
to help young students find a
positive addiction.”
Ayala has been lauded
by indigenous groups and
is a recipient of numerous
awards, including the Native
American Music Awards’ “Best
Instrumental CD” (2009), “Best
World Music” (2010), and “Art-
ist of the Year” (2011) and,
from the Canadian Aboriginal
Music Awards, “Best Inter-
national Album” (2010, for
Remembrance, and 2011, for
Passion, Fire & Grace).
Ayala had his epiphany at 14. “I saw my
destiny laid out before me, like a shooting
star—I was going to become a famous gui-
tarist and travel the world. It was a spiritual
thing, a Native thing, of just knowing what I
was going to do in life and [then] to go out
and attain it.”
Self-taught, what he also brought to
his golden-tinged future was diligence. “I
28 Fall 2017
practiced 12 hours a day; I couldn’t stop,”
a to-the-grindstone attitude that remains
today. This discipline—and his devotion to
technique—helped him scale the first major
wall he hit while an aspiring music student.
Enrolling at Texas A&M, he was told that
“you’re pretty good, but not great,” words
that stung. “It crushed me,” Ayala says of
the verdict and his placement in the edu-
cation, not solo performance, program. “I
thought I was pretty good; I do have an ego.
Then I heard the other [students]. They
were so good!
“So I upped my practice. I would just play
WHAT HE PLAYS
Gabriel Ayala’s go-to guitar
is a Mérida Extrema from
Connecticut-based Mérida Guitars.
“It’s a beautiful guitar,
with rosewood back and
sides and a cedar top,”
he says. Among the few
individualized alterations:
electronics for playing
JazzMenko.
He also owns a 1993
Christopher Savino guitar
and endorses Hannabach
Strings’ 888 Green Line,
“with extra-high tension.”
scales,” he recalls. And then
he became obsessed with
Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Douze
Etudes, calling the etudes “the
pinnacle of what technique is
for me . . . to get your hands
to where your foundation is
almost bulletproof. If you can
complete them and success-
fully perform them, then you
have a foundation that can
travel anywhere.”
And he did perform
them—first, before the same
group of educators who had
been less than enthusiastic
about his playing skills. “Five
months later, I met with the
same jury. They told me, ‘You
have progressed at an incredi-
ble rate.’ And they suggested I
move to a performance major.”
He also performed the 12
etudes for his senior recital. “I
played them back to back. For
me, it was a test.”
Ayala says he knew he was
“going to make it” after a per-
formance at the Kennedy Center in Wash-
ington, D.C., 20 years ago, an evening he
describes as an “in-body” experience. “How
did I get here? I grew up humble, so how did
this kid who grew up running around bare-
foot end up on this stage?”
The answer, as played out over the
next 20 years: “No matter how many doors
closed, I’d try the next one.” CG
ON HER
GUITAR
EDUCATION,
MASTERING
PERIOD
INSTRUMENTS,
AND MORE
BY THÉRÈSE WASSILY SABA
30 Fall
30 Summer
2017 2017
T
his year, the Belgian classical guitarist Rapha-
ella Smits is celebrating her 60th birthday.
Her extensive discography not only reveals
her broad tastes in repertoire, but even more
reflects her deep love for performing on historic
instruments—on which she is deeply musically
expressive, matching musical content with timbres
and tone colors. I spoke to the great maestra about
her early years of study in Belgium, summers in
Spain with José Tomás, her contact with Andrés
Segovia, her favorite instruments, and her 60th
birthday recording release.
CLASSICAL GUITAR: Raphaella, when you play,
your phrasing feels very natural. I know you sang a
lot when you were young. Do you think this is part
of the secret of your expressiveness—because
you started in music in the right way: with musical
expression rather than with the instrument?
RAPHAELLA SMITS: Oh, yes, it’s true. I still think
that the voice is the most important instrument
in any music—that if you can sing it, you can play
it; also to be able to use words, to use the musical
line that on its own makes phrasing already, with-
out even the knowledge of how the music should
be interpreted. I was almost 13 years old when I
got my first guitar, but I was already singing well
before that.
In primary school, I went to a Rudolf Steiner
school, which was founded in Belgium by my
mother, Caroline Van Giel. In that education sys-
tem, even in primary school, you get a lot of art,
voice, choir, all kinds of flutes, theater. Of course,
it is not aimed at a professional level, but it is
just included in the education. Therefore, I knew
music and I knew about singing. I do have a kind
of good voice, so then a few years later, I went
to the children’s choir of the Flemish opera in
Antwerp where I was living; that was also my first
stage experience.
My very first teacher, Ward de Beer, was not
a guitar teacher. He gave me a book to learn from
with songs written in two clefs: bass and treble; a
German guitar method but with piano scoring. So
I was playing very simple chords but like a piano
player on the guitar, and of course I had to sing
the melodies. When I am playing, still now, I hear
all the different voices, where they are coming
from and where they are going to, and often, it is
like an instrumental choir. That is also how I am
teaching.
CG: Do you think that that is quite unusual for
a guitarist? When students come to you, do you
notice that they don’t have that facility as a nat-
ural quality?
SMITS: Yes, absolutely, but some of them do have
it and I love them! Most of the young players, or
MARLEEN PEETERS PHOTO
my students, are so focused on the instrument
that it becomes an issue rather than a tool.
CG: Can you change people?
SMITS: Yes. Sometimes, when the score is compli-
cated for them, I play with them, so that they are
playing one voice and I play the other voice, or
I let them sing. Some of them don’t dare to sing,
but I say, “You have to sing, because then you will
feel how the phrasing is going.” Also it is the phys-
ical feeling of even very simple things, when the
music is going higher or lower, you feel it physi-
cally easier when you sing it, rather playing it on
the guitar. So I think I can change them.
Also what is very important for me, which is
how I was educated and what I try to pass on to
my students, is the rhetoric in the music—telling
the story with all the emotional possibilities; I
think it is very important to be able to put this
into your fingertips. But most of the time, I just
really think about the music, about the phrasing,
about where the voice is going.
CG: I noticed, for example, that when you play
the Bach Chaconne, you have the full drama all
perfectly planned. It always feels as though it is
moving forward and just about to arrive at a cli-
max, but it doesn’t climax, and yet you don’t drop
the energy. Playing large-scale pieces is hard but
you do it very naturally.
SMITS: I think that’s true, and thank you for saying
that. But this is really because when I am playing
I am always thinking about the future, and I feel in
the present, and my memory is on the past—so
I am really in the middle of that past–future and
I am in the present. I think this is what you feel
when I play those large pieces.
CG: Did you go to the Conservatorium after high
school?
SMITS: I went first to the Royal Conservatory
in Antwerp, and studied with Victor van
Puyenbroeck, and later, just for my concert
diploma, I went to Brussels to study with Albert
Sundermann and Jef Goor. Beginning when I was
I was 16, I went every summer for a couple of
months to José Tomás [in Alicante, Spain], from
July to September more or less. I started with
José Tomás in 1974, I think.
CG: When you won the Tárrega competition [in
Benicàssim] in 1986, was that your first big com-
petition win?
SMITS: It depends what you call a big win. I think
it was in 1981 when I went to Granada for the com-
petition on the interpretation of Spanish music.
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 31
Andrés Segovia was the president of the
jury. I didn’t get the first prize there, but
I got a very nice third prize from the Uni-
versity of Granada. I was still very young
of course; I was still a student in my early
twenties.
CG: Did you play on a six-stringed guitar for
the competition?
SMITS: No, I was already playing on the
eight-string guitar. I was playing the guitar
that I played on for my most recent record-
ing—the John Gilbert guitar from 1980.
CG: When you were in Granada with Segovia,
did you have masterclasses with him as well?
SMITS: I met him a couple of times and we
had some conversations and he expressed
his admiration: He really liked my playing
a lot. So it was a very moving encounter,
but I never took classes with Segovia; he
was never my teacher. There were some
rumors saying, “When you go to the com-
petition, do not play on an eight-string
because he doesn’t like it!” But there was
no sign of this problem with my instru-
ment when I played for him—absolutely
not!
At that time in the Granada competi-
tion—and it was the same in Benicàssim—
there were so many participants. Things
have changed now, but at that time, there
were very few competitions, so we were
over 100 competitors. It took three or four
days just for the elimination round, then
two days for the semifinal, and then one
day for the final. It was a very long process
for everyone—for the jury, of course, and
for us who had to wait for so many days
in the Spanish heat in beautiful Granada.
Anyway, Segovia said to me: “You gave
me the best moment of the whole week,
listening to your performance of those
Tárrega pieces.” So I only have good mem-
ories of that Maestro.
Later in that same summer, I went to
Palma de Mallorca, where I was awarded
the second prize. Then one year later, in
1982, I went for the first time to Benicàs-
sim and I won the second prize; it seemed
as if everyone thought I deserved the first
32 Fall 2017
prize. So that was really a big success
because all the newspapers and the tele-
vision—everyone was speaking about it.
It was only in 1986, when I had already
been giving a lot of concerts that one of
my colleagues, Hubert Käppel, and I were
teaching master classes in Netherlands,
and he said, “You just have to go back to
compete in Benicàssim!” I was reticent,
but I began practicing the obligatory
pieces eight hours a day and put my pro-
gram together. And I enrolled, I went, and
I won.
CG: After Benicàssim, did you start to tour a
lot? Is that when your international touring
career began?
SMITS: It had started before that, in the
very early 1980s when I played my debut in
New York at the Lincoln Center. From there,
I had a huge tour including San Francisco,
Los Angeles; all the big cities. At that time,
I was already playing in the Netherlands,
in Germany, of course in Belgium, and
sometimes in England—I was playing with
David Russell in England at that time. We
made two recordings actually—one with
the music of Castelnuovo-Tedesco and the
other with the music of Sor. After winning
the Benicàssim competition—I must say it
was most important for my own country;
that was really big news—then everyone
started to pay attention to me, and also I
could start working with Accent Record-
ings with whom I made so many records.
CG: What was your first recording with
them?
SMITS: Romantic Guitar—Music by Giuliani
and Mertz. But I was playing on my Gilbert
guitar in about 1986 or 1987. By coinci-
dence, my very first solo guitar recording
was recorded by the same sound engi-
neer, Andreas Glatt, who had recorded my
very first solo album, which was entirely
dedicated to music by Coste. It was very
special because at that moment, Coste,
just like Mertz, was absolutely unknown.
CG: For those you played on your eight-
string Gilbert guitar, and of course, with
Coste you need the lower basses, so you
could play things no one else could?
SMITS: Yes, exactly. There are a couple of
recordings on my six-string Ramírez, but
that was in 1977; I was just 20. My first
recording was of old Flemish songs with
the tenor Guy de Mey; he is still one of the
big stars, with a beautiful tenor voice. My
six-string guitar was a very, very beautiful
Ramírez, but after that I got an eight-string
Ramírez, which José Tomás bought for me,
that was really too big for me and too diffi-
cult for me to play.
CG: When did you start playing on historic
guitars?
SMITS: When I was in high school, I heard
that there was an auction in London, of all
places. There was a collection coming in,
so I went to see the collection and I just
chose one small guitar, which is a Lacôte-
type guitar. They said to me, “But there are
others which are beautifully ornamented.”
I said, “I’m not interested in that; I am just
interested in the sound.” There is no Lacôte
label inside, but it is very much like a Lacôte
guitar and it sounds very, very beautiful.
That was my first Romantic guitar. It had
to be cleaned up a little, but it was in very
good condition.
I really love music because of the sound.
That is why I think a certain sound can be
perfect for one kind of music, and other
sounds could be better for different kinds of
music. That is why the instrument has to fit
with the music. And that makes you look for
different instruments.
CG: Most people would like to have a dif-
ferent instrument for a different period of
music, but for example, on your all-Mertz
Le Romantique recording, you play a Roud-
hloff, your seven-string Mirecourt, and your
eight-string Gilbert guitars, so even for
Mertz, you needed three different guitars to
express what you feel in his music.
SMITS: Actually, it was Accent in Germany
who decided to put together my very
first Mertz recording on my Gilbert guitar
together with the later Mertz recording on
MARLEEN PEETERS PHOTO
HOW I WAS EDUCATED, AND WHAT I TRY
TO PASS ON TO MY STUDENTS, IS THE
RHETORIC IN THE MUSIC—TELLING
THE STORY WITH ALL THE EMOTIONAL
POSSIBILITIES. I THINK IT IS VERY
IMPORTANT TO BE ABLE TO
PUT THIS INTO YOUR
FINGERTIPS.

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 33
period instruments. So at that moment
in 1986, I didn’t play the Romantic 19th-
century guitar yet.
CG: So now, if you had to record those
Mertz pieces again, which instruments
would you choose?
SMITS: I would choose my eight-string
Mirecourt. If I have to choose one guitar
for the 19th-century repertoire, it would
be that. It’s a very particular instrument;
it’s very French. The Lacôte-style guitar,
the very first one I bought, is also a French
instrument, typical for Sor. With that dif-
ference, some of these beautiful Romantic
guitars are excellent in a room and could be
fantastic for a recording, but wouldn’t
be so great in a big concert hall. My Mire-
court guitar, built around 1827, is fabulous
in a concert hall, as well. The two low
basses were added later by the German
builder Bernard Kresse.
CG: Is that the reason you play Bach on it
as well, because if you are travelling, you
can’t take too many guitars?
SMITS: Yes, I have stopped taking two gui-
tars when I tour. I did it many times with
two guitars, but I don’t do it anymore. And
I have to say that the Bach sounds really so
beautiful on the Mirecourt; it’s stable and
reliable and the type of sound fits very well
with old music. Of course, from a musico-
logical point of view it’s not correct, but
at least it is more than one hundred years
closer to the original.
CG: What type of strings do you use on
that guitar?
SMITS: It’s always low-tension strings; the
lowest tension that I can find is the best. I
use six-string guitar strings on the seventh
and eighth strings. Even on my John Gilbert
guitar, the sixth, seventh, and eighth are
all sixth strings. I think that is why they
sound so transparent and they stay so
well in tune. I’m not so keen on the strings
that are thicker because they lose some of
their brilliance. I am very fanatical about
strings, so it depends on the material that
the string is made from. If there is more
silver, they can have more tension there,
more like a normal tension string. I would
never put high-tension strings on.
34 Fall 2017
CG: You have released a recording in cel-
ebration of your 60th year [Guitar Recital;
Soundset Recordings]. Would you have
released it anyway?
SMITS: Well, I thought it was a good occasion
to do something special. I really wanted to
record these pieces that I never had before.
That is the approach that I always take with
my recordings—I always ask myself, “If this
would be my last recording, what would I
regret not having realized?”
CG: I assume that the Suite Compostelana
by Mompou is something you studied with
José Tomás and therefore, it is extra special
repertoire for you?
SMITS: Yes, let’s say that the whole record-
ing is filled with music that I have always
wanted to play but never did. I had forgotten
that I had played a couple of movements of
the Suite Compostelana by Mompou a long
time ago, but I never had played the whole
suite. I also have a kind of feeling that some-
times when something is too indoctrinated,
I have an aversion to it and I don’t want to
do it. There were a couple of things that I
didn’t like so much in the edition by Segovia,
but I didn’t know why until later when I got
the manuscript.
CG: Was the Suite in A minor by Ponce
something you studied with José Tomás?
SMITS: No, I never did. I understand why
you are asking, because it was a standard
work when I was studying in Alicante. But
there again, I really like to play things that
not everyone is playing. Also, I am very
happy that I didn’t play it then, because
then I would be playing it like someone else.
At that time, I was at the age where you are
very influenced by what is around you, and
you also like to embrace the knowledge of
someone else; that is why you are going to
study with someone.
For many years now, and even as a stu-
dent, I really liked to have this blank page
and then make my own story with whatever
I could find within the piece of music. So I
never played what everyone was playing.
Of course, the score of Ponce I have was the
working score that Tomás was using at that
time, and I am very happy about that.
CG: And then the Barrios. I know you have
made some fantastic recordings with the
singer Liliana Rodríguez, and with Jorge
Cardoso as well. Is this all part of your strong
connection with Latin American music?
SMITS: Yes, absolutely I do have a strong
connection with Latin American music and
for different reasons: for the music and also
because I really love the countries and the
people and how they are surrounded with
music; how the guitar is part of their lives.
With the Barrios, again the pieces which I
choose are not the most popular. The Ley-
enda Guaraní is rarely played because it
is almost unplayable, so I rearranged it. It is
really an arrangement for my eight-string
guitar. I don’t know if you know the story
of that Barrios piece, but some parts of the
piece were lost, so I took the score as I found
it and reworked it as I thought in the style
of Barrios. It is a different Barrios than the
popular Barrios; it is kind of classical, but
you can feel the influences—that he went to
Buenos Aires, and you even feel the mixture
of Europe and Argentina and Paraguay and
Uruguay. You feel wherever he has been in
that piece. Leyenda is such a deep piece. You
even feel some Liszt, like the ending—it is
unbelievable that it was written by Barrios.
CG: You always have a very busy schedule:
traveling, visa organization, and teaching.
SMITS: Yes, I have been traveling so much
and it has been beautiful. I had a Japanese
tour which was heart-warming, and I am very
happy that my new recording will be sold in
Japan. Then there were quite a few concerts
in Belgium, which is also really nice, as we
have a small country. I can leave home at 5
p.m. and be home by 11 p.m., and it’s nice to
play for your own public. Then I had a big
tour to the United States for three weeks and
performing or giving master classes almost
every day. It was a really nice trip.
CG: How do you keep going and keep your
stamina up? You look bright and you cer-
tainly don’t look exhausted, but you have
such a heavy schedule and even just the
traveling is exhausting. It’s not easy, is it?
SMITS: No, it is not easy. I think the secret
is to do with [putting] all your energy [into]
whatever you have to do at that moment,
and try not to worry too much about the
next things that are waiting to be done. CG
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36 Fall 2017 RODRIGO DA SILVA (AURA AUDIOVISUAL) PHOTO
 FINDING
FELICIDADE
IN THE
MUSIC
OF BRAZIL

BY BLAIR JACKSON

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 37
 THROUGH CANCER
I LEARNED THAT YOU

IT CANNOT TAKE PLAYING

has been quite a ride for Para-
guayan guitarist Berta Rojas since
she last appeared on the cover of
this magazine in the fall of 2014.
There have been professional
triumphs—such as well-received
albums pairing Rojas, first, with Buenos
Aires’ Camerata Bariloche chamber orches-
tra for an exceptional 2015 disc of Argentin-
ian music called Historia del Tango; and her
exciting spring 2017 Brazilian-music ven-
ture, Felicidade, on which Rojas was joined
by an even larger orchestra—the Orquesta
Sinfónica Nacional del Paraguay—and,
on several more intimate tracks, by some
of Brazil’s best-known singer/musicians:
Gilberto Gil, Toquinho, and Ivan Lins.
But on the personal side, part of those
last three years was consumed by some-
thing outside of her thriving music career—a
shocking breast cancer diagnosis which
effectively took her out of circulation for
nearly a year, as she devoted most of her time
to fighting the disease. The greatest news of
all is that she appears to be on the other
side of that battle, fully energized and com-
mitted to continuing her always-intriguing
musical explorations of Latin America (and
beyond).
“I had to cancel all my concerts in the
year 2015,” she says by phone from her
home in Asunción, the capital city of Para-
guay, where she grew up. “It was a difficult
year due to surgery and chemotherapy, but
I am now, two years after, completely recov-
ered and healthy. Through cancer I learned
that you need to live a balanced life, with
time to work, to rest, to enjoy life, to exer-
cise. You need all colors in your life.
“I also learned that you cannot take
playing the guitar for granted. You may one
day lose your ability, so we have to appreci-
ate it when we can play.”
That spirit of renewal clearly helped
make the recording sessions for Felicidade
among the most enjoyable and satisfying
of Rojas’ long career. She made a point of
savoring every moment, and her collabora-
tions with the orchestra, with her guest duet
partners, and with producer/arranger/con-
ductor Popi Spatocco, inspired her to new
creative heights. “Felicidade” translates as
“happiness” from the Portuguese, and that
pretty much sums up her feeling about
the project. You can hear
it throughout the album,
even as the music navigates
a tonally complex land- THE GUITAR FOR GRANTED.
scape of emotions: breezy
takes on Antônio Carlos YOU MAY ONE DAY LOSE
Jobim classics, such as the
title track (in the widely YOUR ABILITY, SO WE
admired arrangement by
the late Roland Dyens), and HAVE TO APPRECIATE IT
the oft-covered Desafinado
(Rojas’ own arrangement);
an homenaje to Brazilian
WHEN WE CAN PLAY.
jazz composer Baden Powell
(a medley arranged by Sebastian Hen-
riquez), and Powell’s own Berimbau (writ-
ten with Vinicius de Moraes); moving and
heartfelt duos with Lins, Gil, and Toquinho
(who is splendid on Ernesto Nazareth’s
lovely Odeon, as well as in two pieces on
which Rojas and the orchestra also appear);
a beautifully rendered guitar-and-orchestra
version of Egberto Gismonti’s suddenly
popular Água e vinho; a nod to the father
of modern Brazilian classical guitar, Heitor
Villa-Lobos (Choro Tipico); and even Paulo
Bellinati’s popular romp, Jongo.
Some of the more extravagant orches-
trations sound like they would be perfect
accompanying some ’60s or ’70s James
Bond or Jean-Paul Belmondo action movie
set on Rio’s Copacabana Beach and Sugar-
loaf Mountain, but many of the other songs
feel like deep dives into the very soul of Bra-
zil. It’s a wonderful, varied journey that will
likely broaden Rojas’ audience, as Historia
del Tango did.
For those who might not be up to speed
on the trajectory of Berta Rojas’ story, a
quick review is in order. Her guitar education
was spread over many years in Paraguay,
Uruguay, and the United States, and with
an assortment of excellent teachers, each
of whom imparted something different to
her. As she noted in an interview with Dr.
Annett Richter of the Minnesota Guitar Soci-
ety, “My first teachers in Paraguay instilled
in me, above all, the love for music, which
was the main driving force for everything
that came afterward, and they introduced
me to the person who would embody per-
severance and the continuous pursuit of
excellence: [Paraguayan composer/gui-
tarist] Agustín Pío Barrios. Little by little,
with the guidance of
my teachers in Uru-
guay, I kept advanc-
ing, strengthening my
Latin American roots,
and transitioning until
my own voice could
be heard through the
guitar.” Among her
teachers in Uruguay
were Abel Carlevaro,
Eduardo Fernandez, and
Mario Paysée, and in
America—at the Pea-
body Institute, where she earned her
advanced degrees—Manuel Barrueco, Ray
Chester, and Julian Gray.
Since the beginning of her professional
career she has been closely associated
with the music of Barrios, recording what
some consider the best all-Barrios album
ever made—Intimate Barrios (1998)—and
promoting his works far and wide. Indeed,
since 2009 she has made countless appear-
ances in Paraguayan schools, introducing
nearly 45,000 young people to the country’s
greatest composer, and has also under-
taken several long tours dubbed “In the
Footsteps of Mangoré [Barrios]” to 20 coun-
tries in South America, Central America,
and the Caribbean. She told Richter, “I felt,
given my background and sense of belong-
ing to Paraguay, perhaps I could musically
portray the various scenarios that Barrios
described with his music, and in that way,
make a contribution. The public received
it with amazing warmth, and the truth is,
at present, I could hardly play a concert
without including Barrios—the audience
would request it if I didn’t!”
But as she has shown repeatedly
through the years, there is much more
to her than Barrios—or even what
many would strictly categorize as
“classical guitar.” On her albums and
at her live programs, she has cham-
pioned numerous contemporary
composers, such as Vincent
Lindsey-Clark, Alberto Rojo,
Juan Manuel Acevedo, Walter
Heinze, Ismael Ledesma, and
so many others. And she
has also made stunning
duet albums and toured

JEISSON RODRIGUEZ PHOTO

38 Fall 2017
with Cuban saxophonist Pacquito
D’Rivera (Día y medio; “A day
and a half”) and Brazilian guitarist
and arranger Carlos Barbosa-Lima
(Alma y Corazon).
The move toward Rojas’
fuller, more orchestral sound
actually began on the first track
of the otherwise-solo 2013 album
Salsa Roja: a piece called Tambito
Josefino, by Costa Rican composer
Edin Solis. But it would truly blos-
som on Historia del Tango, for which
Latin Grammy winner Carlos Franzetti
wrote lively arrangements for the
17-piece Camerata Bariloche, directed
by Freddy Varela Montero and conducted
by another Latin Grammy winner, Popi
Spatocco. Their collaboration on
Astor Piazzolla’s famous
title suite and
other pieces by Argentin-
ian composers ranging
from Carlos Gardel to
Mariano Mores to Aníbal
Troilo to Julián Plaza felt
completely new and differ-
ent; clearly the chemistry
was there at every stage of
the production. The album
earned Rojas a much-deserved
Latin Grammy nomination, her
third (the first two were for the D’Ri-
vera album and Salsa Roja).
Even before she made Historia del
Tango, Rojas had her eye on some-
day making an album devoted to
Brazilian composers, and the
fact is she had been
recording Brazil-

WHAT
BERTA
ROJAS
PLAYS
“I play a
beautiful
cedar-top
guitar by the
Irish luthier
Michael
O’Leary. We
have been
together for
a number of
years now. This
one I play was
made in 2008.
I use Savarez
strings, live
and also on
recordings.”

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 39
ian pieces throughout her career, including
ones by a handful of the composers repre-
sented on Felicidade: Gismonti, Jobim, Vil-
la-Lobos, and Nazareth. The close bond she
formed with Popi Spatocco on the Tango
album continued after those sessions and
after her recovery, so when she decided
to proceed with a Brazilian album, he was
the natural choice to produce again. “I had
never worked with a music director before
and I really liked it,” she says. “He always
was so full of ideas, and it was nice having
someone I could rely on to work with the
musicians and take care of the project when
I was tired.”
What made her think Spatocco would
be the right person to also handle the
orchestrations this time? “I had heard his
arrangements for the great Argentinean
singer Mercedes Sosa on the two Cantora
CDs and loved them, so I thought it would
be nice to hear Popi’s arrangements for
guitar and orchestra. Then, when Toquinho
and I played in Paraguay with the National
Symphonic Orchestra [in late 2016], I had
asked Popi to make the arrangements and
he proved to be an amazing arranger. I had
the time of my life working with Popi—he’s
such a great musician and a great human
being. His arrangement of [the song] Felici-
dade made Roland’s arrangement feel like it
always had to be played with an orchestra.”
I asked her if she ever felt overwhelmed
by playing guitar in such a large pop orches-
tral context, which is considerably different
than, say, playing a classical guitar con-
certo. “Well, it was not too hard, but that’s
because on this recording my biggest allies
were the contrabass and the percussion—I
really listened to them, and if I was together
with them, it was alright. So we became
very good friends,” she says with a laugh.
“The whole thing was really a beautiful
experience. All the musicians were excited,
and Popi was wonderful, and it was also so
special to record the orchestra here in Par-
aguay.” Some additional recording also took
place at studios in Brazil and Argentina.
Each of those countries has its own
unique folk and popular music which has
been adapted to varying degrees by “clas-
sical” composers in South America (just
as European composers of every era bor-
rowed from folk sources). Rojas observes,
“There are some similarities between Brazil-
ian, Argentine, and Paraguayan music, but
one thing that’s different in Brazilian music
40 Fall 2017
is the presence of so much of
an Afro influence, which you
hear in some of the rhythms.”
She says she doesn’t think
much about categories of
music—folk, pop, classical,
jazz—so making an album that
draws freely from all four of
those genres felt completely
natural to her. “It was Carlos
Barbosa-Lima who told me:
‘There is only a border between
good and bad music,’” she says.
“He is able to arrange popular
music that is so full of nuances.
And of course he really knows
how to orchestrate the music
for two guitars. I learned a lot
from him.
“In the end I just record
the music that touches my
heart, and I don’t worry about In the spring, Bill Kanengiser spent a few
whether it’s this type of music days in Paraguay working with Rojas’
or that type of music—I just
PuRory ensemble, in whiach she works with
some of the most talented young guitarists
want to play that piece, so I do
in the country, as selected by a national
that.” YouTube competition. “The students are
But, I ask, do you see a nat- amazing. We pay all their expenses for
ural connection between, on them to come to the capital city.”
one side, the Villa-Lobos choro,
and on the other, Bellinati’s
more “pop” Jongo? “Yes. For one thing, both as accompaniment, counterpoint, and punc-
were inspired by popular idioms. The choro tuation to Spatocco’s arrangements; as a
is everywhere in Brazil. I remember years reflective and sympathetic complement on
ago being in a choro club in Rio de Janeiro; I the pieces with Toquinho, Lins, and Gil; and
believe it was the Casa do Choro. And people beautiful in its purity on the two solo gui-
seated at different tables started to play and tar showcases, Jongo and, especially, Hom-
sing from their tables—table one proposed enaje a Baden Powell. That last is also one
a piece, table four responded singing, table of Rojas’ favorites—“We picked five pieces
three with guitars, table two with percus- by Baden Powell and asked [Argentinean
sion. Soon the whole place was united sing- arranger] Sebastián Henriquez to develop a
ing and playing! I found the choro to be very piece around them; so there are a few differ-
much alive in Brazil. ent styles in there—you can even hear some
“Part of what I wanted to do on this Baroque in there. I love that people can be so
album is combine different rhythms and creative: Baden Powell and also Sebastián.”
textures, different feelings and sounds, and Rojas says she’d love to perform the
have the guitar sound good in each case. pieces from Felicidade in concerts. but
Like, there’s quite a difference between when we spoke in mid-June, nothing had
Agua et Vinho and Odeon, no? Part of the been planned. On the more immediate hori-
challenge of making this was to decide: zon: starting in September, she will be a new
Can the guitar part really be heard? And is associate professor at Berklee College of
it appropriate? I like that there are so many Music in Boston.
kinds of music on here.” And then? “Well, I haven’t really decided
Once the initial surprise of hearing the yet, but I do want to explore the music of
orchestra so prominent on seven of the Central America more . . .”
13 tracks wears off, attentive fans of Berta Whatever her next move is, it is cer-
Rojas’ exquisite and evocative playing will tain to be interesting, full of passion, and
find much to enjoy throughout this album— also fun. CG
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T
here are many guitarists more famous
than Anthony Glise, but relatively
few can claim the impact he has had
over the course of a rich, varied, and
award-winning career as a performer,
composer, and educator. Beyond the many
albums and dozens of compositions and
music publications he’s created, Glise has
also had an enormous effect on countless
students of classical guitar—ones he taught
directly, others who have attended his
classes and lectures at universities in Italy,
Germany, Austria, and the USA, and still
thousands more who have benefitted from
the wisdom in his book Classical Guitar Ped-
agogy—A Handbook for Teachers, published
in 2000 by Mel Bay and still in use at many
schools throughout the world.
The St. Joseph, Missouri, native traces
his own music education to programs such
as the Konservatoriun der Stadt in Vienna,
the New England Conservatory in Boston,
and the Université Catholique de Lille in
France (among others), and he has been
“formally based in Europe since 1983,” he
says—for the last 18 years in southern Ger-
many and northern France. He still spends
part of each year in Missouri, but just as
likely you’ll find him in France, perhaps
helming the “Red Socks and the Guitar”
music festival/program, which he directs in
Chartres every summer.
Glise’s latest opus is an important new
book called The Guitar—In History and Per-
formance Practice (From 1400 to the 21st
Century), put out by his own Aevia Publi-
cations, and designed to be (as it says on
the cover) “a university textbook for the
historical study of the classical guitar.” In
a way, it could be considered a companion
volume to Classical Guitar Pedagogy, though
it easily stands on its own. The book’s 300
pages contain a bounty of color and black-
and-white photos and illustrations—some
depicting historical vihuelas, lutes, and
Baroque guitars from the celebrated mod-
ern builders Steven Barber and Sandi Harris
of London—and many musical examples, as
it traces the history of the guitar, describes
how it was taught through the centuries, dis-
cusses compositional and technique inno-
vations over time, and spotlights significant
players and composers. Glise says his book
is aimed at “three specific target audiences:
general education students, undergraduate
guitar majors, and graduate guitar majors.
It’s designed so it can be used in all three of
those categories.” In fact, it does have sug-
gested weekly writing and playing assign-
ments for those three levels, as well as
quizzes, vocabulary lists, suggested reading
and listening, a helpful “Historical Timeline
S P E C I A L F O C U S
An interview about
pedagogy and his
valuable new textbook
on guitar history and
performance practice
BY BLAIR JACKSON
in Relation to the Guitar from 325 AD to
Today,” an intriguing “Brief History of His-
torical Ornaments,” and much more.
Also newly available from Glise is a
separate 60-page small-format book called
Research and Writing: A Handbook for Aspir-
ing Authors and Musicologists, which is
exactly what it purports to be. In both cases
his writing is lively and informative, the fine
detail of his research balanced by a conver-
sational tone and even dashes of humor.
He’s the kind of engaging guy I would have
loved to have had as a professor in college.
CLASSICAL GUITAR: I’ve never really got-
ten a sense of whether there’s any kind of
“accepted” route to learning guitar—whether
you start with the Sor or Carcassi “methods,”
or if there are certain logical building blocks;
certain pieces or composers you study first.
You’ve done a guitar pedagogy book, but this
one takes a more historical approach, talking
about what was added to guitar knowledge
and technique during each era up to the
present. Can you talk a bit about this way of
attacking the subject?
ANTHONY GLISE: Well, pedagogy is
obviously based on technical and musical
development, so there are different steps
that go down in training the hands, as
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 43
opposed to discussing the history. So the
most logical approach with the history book
was to simply take it chronologically. Peda-
gogy is a different beast in that it is a little
more of an open book, because what we’re
after there is actual motor skill development.
That is not necessarily linked to historical
development in our compositions.
The other problem is that guitar, as
opposed to almost every other instrument
on earth, nearly died out twice; we com-
pletely lost our traditions. It essentially dis-
appeared after the Baroque and then again
near the end of the 19th century, roughly
after 1856 when Mertz died in Vienna. With
piano, violin, and the more standardized
classical instruments, you can go back and
follow the entire path of how they were
taught and what pieces they used. But we
don’t have this same tradition of pedagog-
ical progress with the guitar. Back in the
19th century, when we really get our instru-
ment—the six-string guitar tuned the way
it is now—most of the methods that came
out were by composers and performers
and they naturally predominantly included
their own compositions, so it’s a bit of a
messy deal to use any of the older manu-
als, because their methods are only going
to expose the student to a very miniscule
sliver of our repertoire.
Now we’ve gotten to a place where the
pedagogical development has to be mixed
historically, so it’s either up to the teacher
to create a list of pieces that build one on
the next to develop the student, or there
are a few established things out there you
can turn to: Like, the Royal College of Music
of Canada has a graded series of repertoire
that’s mixed-historical. There’s also a great
book called Dix ans avec le guitar—“ten
years with the guitar”—and it’s the essen-
tial manual that’s used in France in all the
conservatories and music schools. I believe
that goes through six levels, and within
each level there are five or six separate lev-
els; all very rational progressions of music
for solo, chamber music, concerti; there’s
even some jazz and chord work in these.
So there are systems out there, but they
aren’t really plugged directly into repertoire
development specifically.
CG: Why do you think the USA did not
embrace the “grade” system prevalent in
Europe and other places?
GLISE: Europe and the USA have an inherent
disconnect in how we think about learning
instruments. For example, your bachelor’s
44 Fall 2017
degree in America is traditionally four years.
In Italy it’s nine. France is darn near the same,
depending on how far you go. France is also a
totally different beast because under the for-
mal conservatory system you have to have
studied solfège [the application of the sol-fa
musical scale] for at least one year before
they even allow you to pick an instrument.
In the USA we’re into more immediate grati-
fication. In Italy, the repertoire that they use
in all the primary conservatories is identical.
It was set up under the arts council division
under Mussolini, so basically in every single
school you do exactly the
same pieces depending on
what level you’re at. Some
might call that overly struc-
tured. I don’t know. That’s
not really for me to judge.
Guitar as a formal
degree in the United States
got shoved in late. Music
in general, frankly. And the
colleges in this country
had already been widely
established as four-year
programs. So we’re a little
trapped in that regard.
CG: When you work with your students, how
do you see or determine what the holes are
in their learning, if there isn’t a coherent sys-
tem in place that determines “levels”? Is it
based on pieces? On whether they can handle
certain articulations?
GLISE: Actually, no. It’s quite a bit more
structured than that for me. The first book I
wrote that really took off was called Classical
Guitar Pedagogy, which is very pragmatic. It’s
about 15 years old now, but it’s still used in
almost every university that has guitar. How
I approached that was to break it into three
sections: physiology—how the hands work;
then actual pedagogy; and the third section
is just pure musicianship.
As for finding holes, there are specific
things I, and I think most teachers, look at.
Number one, you’re concerned with anything
that might be happening that can cause phys-
ical damage, which involves everything from
sitting position to how we move the fingers.
Problems there can cause some pretty severe
physical ailments—tendonitis, focal dysto-
nia, carpal tunnel. Then you start looking at
any technical issues that may come up: Is a
finger not returning as soon as it should? Is
the nail shape causing the finger to snag
when it releases the string? That sort of
thing. Then you shift to the third stage, which
is musicological, and see if there’s anything
going on technically that’s negatively affect-
ing the interpretation. A subsection of that
third category is looking for anything that
is simply not coming across—and that’s the
coaching stage.
Ultimately, you’re going through three
stages with a piece: You’re learning it, you’re
memorizing it, and then you’re polishing it. I
try to keep a student with at least one, usu-
ally two pieces in each of those categories—
learning, memorizing, or polishing. That also
makes it a lot more interesting for the stu-
dent, because they’re not
sitting around for months
doing technical exercises,
and they’re not just sitting
back, as in the third stage
of playing through stuff,
trying to get it stage-ready.
CG: Do you find that stu-
dents have an easier time
memorizing or working
with something that is con-
sistently rhythmic—a Sor
piece that has a certain
“classical” logic you can
follow—versus tackling
something by say, Bogdanovic, which might
be more unconventional or irregular?
GLISE: A little more “out” [as in the jazz term
“outside”]. That’s an interesting question,
because in my opinion, in the same way we
try and have a rational development for tech-
nical issues, we also really do try to have a
rational development of the repertoire, and
a gradual opening up of the student’s ears.
You can’t take a young kid and throw him into
a piece by Stockhausen or, as you say, Bog-
danovic, or even Roland Dyens. We have to
gradually ease into that, expose them to these
things, because it’s truly a foreign language to
so many young guitarists. I’m not being criti-
cal of that music at all. I love it! I’m a composer
and I do some relatively avant-garde stuff—
though still pretty audience-friendly. But
coming from a more traditional foundation of
western music, most students are more com-
fortable with music they can understand bet-
ter, and that makes them enjoy learning more.
CG: You have quite a substantial chapter
in your book about improvisation, which
is slightly unusual still, even though there
are obviously many great improvisers in the
field today.
GLISE: Improvisation in classical music has
 S P E C I A L F O C U S

existed since the Middle Ages. And even
through the turn of the 20th century, a
group like the Brahms Quartet out of Ger-
many would, in the middle of a Brahms
string quartet, improvise. Improvisation
used to be considered the ultimate test of
a musician’s skill. We have to remember
that when Beethoven shows up in Vienna,
the first couple of years he’s making his
living from teaching and also from win-
ning improvisation contests that people
used to have in their homes. I imagine it
could be terrifying to be in one of those
contests and Beethoven walks in the door!
But improvisation has always been a
part of who we are. People like Bogdanovic,
who is a very good improviser, and
Roland Dyens, too, improvise within their
own style and their own compositions. To
improvise today is totally authentic. It’s
also a little bit touchy, because the old
composers have become these iconic fig-
ures, so it’s like, “You don’t mess with Bee-
thoven.” And improvisation was totally
about messing with that.
CG: You talked about the guitar disappear-
ing, and the prominence of repertoire for
piano and violin. In the short time I’ve been
interviewing guitarists, I feel as though I’ve
noticed a slight inferiority complex about
the guitar versus those instruments.
GLISE: Well, we don’t have Mozart and Bee-
thoven and Brahms and the big 19th-cen-
tury guys that most other instruments can
flaunt. But inferiority? . . . Hmmm . . .
CG: Maybe that’s the wrong word.
GLISE: It’s a good concept. I get where
you’re coming from. But I really believe
that much of the repertoire we have [for
guitar] is on a par with some of the best
repertoire that’s out there for any instru-
ment. We just don’t have very much of it
yet. It’s a more limited repertoire. Part of
that “inferiority” has to do with the rec-
ognition of the instrument. The guitar has
certainly been more accepted in Europe as
an instrument to formally study than it has
been in the States.
CG: How have students changed or pro-
gressed in the years you’ve been teaching?
I feel like a lot of the younger players,
besides being so skilled, are also very open
and adventurous.
GLISE: I agree. I think part of the advantage
we have with guitar is we are allotted the
courage to be a little bit more adventure-
some in what we do because we have been
considered a fringe instrument. There is a
plus to this. Like I said, you don’t go in and
start improvising on Beethoven; it’s too
sacred. But you sure can get away with it in
Diabelli and Giuliani and Sor, because they
don’t have that level of . . . halo over them
that would make some say, “I wouldn’t
dare mess with this composition.”
One of the cool things about guitar in
general is that so many of us didn’t start
with classical; there’s rock, blues, jazz,
world music . . . even Julian Bream is a seri-
ous jazz player. And because of that, I think
there’s a little more openness in the gui-
tar community to introducing elements of
other music forms into the repertoire and
adapting that, and being a little more on
the cutting edge of what we call “popular”
styles. The expansion of classical music
that guitar offers is much more adven-
turesome than most traditional classical
instruments dare. And that’s part of what
makes it so exciting to know how guitarists
played through history and try to guess
what’s coming next. CG

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ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 45
LIFELONG LEARNERS
The
West Dean Guitar
Festival is one of a
growing number of short
summer guitar programs
for adults (and young
people)

BY DAVID LUSTERMAN
Festival director Andrew Gough conducts the West Dean Festival Orchestra

46 Fall 2017
 S P E C I A L F O C U S

T
eachers frequently tell young stu-
dents that learning to make music
prepares them for a lifetime of
pleasure and exploration. All too
often, though, the complexities
and pressures of early adulthood inter-
vene, music-making takes a back seat, and
when the old guitar is finally retrieved
and restrung decades later, the question of
how best to proceed can prove perplexing.
Even after finding a competent and encour-
aging local teacher and resuming practice,
adult learners often find themselves on a
solitary quest that can be difficult to sustain.
Summer camps and courses are a staple
in the development of musicians as young
as seven or eight, providing not merely
technical training but also a sense of com-
munity and fellowship with other players
and teachers. And while adult amateurs of
orchestral instruments can find hundreds
of such opportunities each year, there is a
surprising dearth of summer courses where
adult classical guitarists are welcome.
The West Dean International Classical
Guitar Festival has earned an enviable rep-
utation as both a pioneer and a leader in Alex
this small and slowly growing field. Since Roche
1991, classical guitar aficionados have gath- in a
master
ered each August in the pastoral setting of class
West Dean College in the south of England with Irina
for a stellar concert series in Saint Andrew Kulikova
Church and the Sussex Barn Auditorium,
hearing such artists as Benjamin Verdery, the West Dean course 15 summers. She practice in a certain way. You practice dif-
Berta Rojas, Irina Kulikova, Sean Shibe, and credits a conversation there with teacher ferently when you know you have to play in
the Aquarelle Quartet. John Mills for helping her overcome her front of a group of people, especially when
But the deeper attraction of West Dean is performance anxiety. “I had become more they are guitarists.”
its service to lifelong classical guitar learn- and more nervous about playing in front For Alex Roche, who switched from
ers. For many, the journey to this eccentric of people, even in my private lesson,” she bass and drums to the classical guitar at
flint-stone manor, with its extensive gar- says. “John Mills said I should play for other 17 and is completing a degree at the Bir-
dens and forested walks, built to house an people. I said, ‘That’s easy for you, because mingham Conservatoire in the English
Anglicized American merchant prince of you are a performer.’ And he said, ‘If you Midlands, West Dean holds a different
the Victorian Era, is something of a pilgrim- don’t have it, you must create it.’ So that’s attraction. “Being new to the guitar, I hav-
age. Every August, anywhere from 40 to 60 what I did. I created a guitar circle and we en’t been going to festivals for ages, so I
devotees of the guitar, from teens to septu- play concerts for family and friends. It’s don’t know what they’re like. But this is
agenarians, immerse themselves in a four- now about 12 or 15 people, all classical such a great place. You’re all together; it’s
or five-day course of lessons, classes, and players. We’re all nervous and we all have such a cool vibe. You get to wake up and
master classes, as well as daily ensemble the same problems. But the main thing in get together with a great teacher, have a
rehearsals culminating in final-day per- my guitar circle is sharing—tell something master class, sign up for a rep class. There
formances. Most, if not all, return home about the music and we’ll give you feed- is always something. It’s so nice after leav-
inspired, affirmed, and a step or two closer back. We have to learn from each other. So ing the Conservatoire, where as a whole
to that elusive goal of musical mastery. if you make mistakes, it’s no problem. Then it’s always a bit too competitive, and then
Diana Zaat-Belfor, an acupuncturist from you see people grow. It helped me a lot for going home to Newquay, in Cornwall, where
Leiderdorp in the Netherlands, began play- playing for people. And we do that every no one plays classical guitar, to come here
ing the guitar at age seven and has attended six or eight weeks. So then I have a goal to where everyone just loves it and is having

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 47
 fun. I don’t feel I need to prove anything.” pieces, the way I act on stage. The artist-teach-
SUMMER CAMPS The West Dean Festival is unique in other
ways as well. Unlike most festivals where
ers are so finely tuned, and they can pick up
such minute details.”
AND COURSES ARE world-class performers can be heard in con-
cert, there is no parallel guitar competition to
West Dean also welcomes guitarists whose
devotion to the instrument, while perhaps less
A STAPLE IN THE distract from the focus on community, sharing,
and mutual support. West Dean is also self-con-
intense, is no less heartfelt. Wayne Lines, a
retired project manager who took up the guitar
DEVELOPMENT tained, with nearly all of the participants living
in the college residences, sharing meals, and
in his mid-30s and lives not far from the college,
has attended the West Dean course 18 times.
OF MUSICIANS, imbibing post-concert drinks in the college bar.
And its opening-day exhibition brings many fine
“When I was still working, life was stressful. And
then I’d drive 30 miles along the coast and come
PROVIDING NOT guitar-makers and specialists to display their
wares and engage with students and the artist
through the driveway [at West Dean] and think,
‘I’ve just entered another world.’
MERELY TECHNICAL faculty.
Kianush Robeson, who recently earned a
“On my first course, I was attending just
during the day and going home every night. I’d
TRAINING BUT degree in classical guitar at the Royal Welsh Acad-
emy of Music and Drama under the direction of
come to the concert and stay for just one drink
and then drive home buzzing. My wife had just
ALSO A SENSE OF John Mills, found this self-contained community
very much to his liking: “I came here for the first
gone to bed, and I’d wake her up and say, ‘I’ve
just got to tell you about this!’ And we’d stay up
COMMUNITY AND time. In many respects it’s even more intense
than I expected. It’s very focused and driven,
until one in the morning. Then, I’d have to get up
early and shower and dress and drive back over
FELLOWSHIP WITH and the tuition is quite serious. I’d pictured a
guitar festival in the countryside, something
here. So she said, ‘If you’re going to do this again,
why don’t you stay there?’
OTHER PLAYERS very relaxing and holiday-esque. Nevertheless,
I came prepared to do my best and I found it’s a
“For older people, West Dean is a learning
experience, an inspirational experience, and
AND TEACHERS. very intense, full-on experience. It’s a good envi-
ronment to consider aspects of my performing
it also is a bit of social activity that you look
forward to every year that’s different from any-
which I sometimes overlook—the way I convey thing else you might do.” CG

WHERE ARTISTRY + INNOVATION SHARE CENTER STAGE

music.cmu.edu | Application Deadline: December 1

48 Fall 2017
 S P E C I A L F O C U S

GUITAR EDUCATION
Here are a few established programs that welcome adult learners. Prices,

WANT TO TRY A dates, and faculty are for 2017 only. These listings will give you an idea of what
the programs offer and for how much, so you can begin planning for 2018.

SUMMER COURSE? WEST DEAN INTERNATIONAL CLASSICAL

The Grounds at West Dean
The Church at Ben Verdery’s Maui Master Class
The Lake at Brevard Music Center
GUITAR FESTIVAL
LOCATION: West Dean College,
Sussex, Chichester, England; director:
Andrew Gough; year founded: 1991;
WestDean.org.uk/study/short-
courses
2017 DATES: August 19–24; tuition:
£525; faculty: Amanda Cook, Trond
Davidsen, Andrew Gough, Liz Larner,
Vincent Lindsey-Clark, Craig Ogden,
Pavel Steidl.
CLASSICAL GUITAR RETREAT
LOCATION: Cathedral of the Isles,
Isle of Cumbrae, Scotland; director:
Matthew McAllister; year founded:
2008; CGRetreat.com
2017 DATES: July 5–10; tuition: £420;
faculty: Aisling Agnew, Uros Baric,
Sharron Griffiths, Dale Kavanagh,
Thomas Kirchhoff,
Lukasz Kuropaczewski, Jamie
MacDougall, Matthew McAllister,
Allan Neave, Raphaella Smits, Peter
Stewart
BEN VERDERY’S MAUI MASTER CLASS
LOCATION: Keawala‘i Church,
Makena, Maui, Hawaii; director:
Ben Verdery; year founded: 1998;
BenVerderyMauiClass.com
2017 DATES: July 3–12; tuition:
$500; faculty: Martha Masters, Ian
O’Sullivan, Ben Verdery
EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY SUMMER
GUITAR WORKSHOP
LOCATION: East Carolina University,
Greenville, North Carolina; director:
Elliot Frank; year founded: 1995;
ecu.edu/cs-cfac/music/guitar/
workshop.cfm
2017 DATES: July 15–18; tuition: $400;
faculty: Mary Akerman, Cindy Spell,
Francois Fowler, Elliot Frank, Joseph
Ikner, Rene Izquierdo Adam Kossler,
John Kossler, Patrick Lui, Stephen
Mattingly, Matteo Mela, Lorenzo
Micheli, William Hart Wells, Andrew
Zohn
CINCINNATI CLASSICAL GUITAR
WORKSHOP
LOCATION: College-Conservatory
of Music, University of Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, Ohio; director: Clare
Callahan; year founded: 1983; ccm.
uc.edu/summer/
This workshop was not offered
Summer 2017 due to CCM
performance space availability
during campus renovations, but stay
in touch with the website for future
plans.
ADULT GUITAR WORKSHOP @ BREVARD
LOCATION: Brevard Music Institute,
Brevard, North Carolina; director:
Adam Holzman; year founded:
2017; BrevardMusic.org/institute/
guitarworkshop
For guitarists 30 and up!
2017 DATES: June 5–10; price: $1,200
(includes tuition, housing, meals,
concert tickets); faculty: Adam
Holzman; the Texas Guitar Quartet:
Isaac Bustos, Jonathan Dotson,
Alejandro Montiel, Joseph Williams II

HARTT SCHOOL GUITAR FESTIVAL

LOCATION: Hartt School of Music,
University of Hartford, Connecticut;
director: Richard Provost;
HarttSchoolGuitarFestival.com
2017 DATES: June 26–30; tuition:
$550; faculty: Christopher Ladd,
Richard Provost, Andrew York

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 49
 Learn to sharpen
your reading, gauge your
progress, and open the
door to new music
BUILDING SIGHT-READING CONFIDENCE
Alan Rinehart helped develop the guitar  and—especially for teachers—assess fin-
performance program at the University of
British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada,
where he was a faculty member from 1983
to 2003. He is a founding member of the
Vancouver Guitar Quartet. His latest record-
ing, Verdi’s Guitar, will be released on the
Ravello label in September. More informa-
tion about his musical work can be found at
alanrinehart.com. This is an adaptation of an
August 2016 lecture given as part of the Clas-
sical GuitarFest West at Mount Royal Univer-
sity in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Are you a good reader? By what standard?
Ideally, a guitarist should be a confident
enough reader to play chamber music com-
fortably, happily explore new repertoire
50 Fall 2017
gering at sight and be able to make changes
to assist your students.
PREFACE
One of the most fundamental aspects of life
is competition. Whether for food, a mate,
or territory (the source of food and mates),
competition drives activity. Humans also
have the added capacity to compare with
other humans and make improvements to
better their competitive chances. Tight-
ening the focus to the playing of a musical
instrument, particularly the classical guitar,
we have objective means for comparison:
accuracy of playing of the notes and
rhythms, speed of playing the same,
academic understanding (historical or com-
PIETRO ANTONIO NOVELLI, A SEATED MAN PLAYING A GUITAR
positional practice), and subjective means:
artistic quality, tone, dynamics, and the
subject of this piece—musical literacy.
Judging sight-reading ability is problem-
atic. What are the criteria? “Cold-reading”
skill (essential for studio work, ensemble
playing, or tests in school exams)? Comfort-
ably playing a piece from beginning to end
for enjoyment or research, as one would
read a book? Improving sight-reading starts
with the confidence developed by seeing
clear advancement.
Guitarists are generally thought of as
poor readers, either by themselves or by
other instrumentalists. Reading notation
on the guitar is a complex process, with the
reader having to think and process music
vertically (harmony) and horizontally (mel-

ody), as well as dealing with many situa-
tions where a note occurs in multiple places
on the fingerboard. The obvious solution to
this is reading as much music you can, but
that does not necessarily lead to having con-
fidence in your reading ability. I’ve known
many fine guitarists who read well but don’t
consider themselves good sight-readers.
This is likely a result of reading practice
where there is no gauge of progress.
With other aspects of playing, we have
measures by which we can clearly see
improvement. A metronome will help us
maintain tempo, gain rhythmic accuracy,
and achieve a goal, such as the required
speed of technical tests. Written fingerings
can guide us in following a method/style of
playing (guide fingers, glissandos, arpeggio
patterns etc.).
Score reading, however, is usually done
out of some sort of necessity, such as learn-
ing a new piece for your repertoire or at the
instruction of a teacher (often undertaken
reluctantly), being presented with a part in
an ensemble (“I hope I can keep up and not
make a fool of myself”), or a sight-reading
example in a test. The result of such read-
ing may be successful, but it does not help
give the reader a sense of improvement in
reading skill.
The simple method described below will
help you gauge your progress, sharpen your
reading at any level, and open the door to the
joy of exploring new music and playing with
other musicians with greater confidence.
THE STORY
My experience with reading scores was not
unusual. I was attracted to the classical gui-
tar by hearing music played by someone—in
my case Narciso Yepes playing Fantasia 10
by Spanish Renaissance composer Alonso
Mudarra. Trying to learn Fantasia by ear led
to finding a score and stumbling through the
painful process of finding notes in strange
places on the guitar. That led to listening to
more music, being attracted to pieces, find-
ing the score, etc. Curiosity led to acquiring
a large stack of various scores that I then
chopped and hacked my way through until
the reading felt more comfortable. Many les-
sons, concerts, master classes, and cham-
ber music sessions later, I felt that I had a
pretty good handle on reading.
Then, after enrolling in an intensive lute
study course in London, I was faced with
learning to read German lute tablature in
a very short time. I had already become
fairly proficient with Italian tab, and was
also pretty fluent with French/English tab,
but I had almost totally avoided German
tab, which is as close as we get to musical
notation in a completely different system.
Without going into detail, the fact that a
blind organist developed it may give you an
idea of the task. Out of necessity, I used a
version of the method described below to
gain a basic German tab reading skill—with
success!
Moving forward five years, I faced a sim-
ilar dilemma. I was hired to help develop a
guitar performance program at the Univer-
sity of British Columbia and I was introduced
to an incoming student who had a problem:
He was a proficient guitarist in other styles,
had passed his audition playing from mem-
ory, and his general reading skills were suf-
ficient to do the written-theory entrance
exams. However, it became quickly apparent
that his actual reading skill on the guitar was
very elementary—at best! How was he going
to cope with the demands of a four-year
intensive study program? I adapted my Ger-
man tab experience and found that the same
approach worked beautifully to help my stu-
dent gain the confidence and skill to finish
his studies with much less stress.
THE GUIDELINES
Improving your sight-reading needs a few
things to make it work.
• A maximum of 10–15 minutes of
sight-reading practice day. This is essen-
tial: True sight-reading—the reading of
totally new music for the first time—is
arguably the most mentally taxing and
tiring activity. You need to be totally
focussed, present, and alert. As with
technical practice, short, attentive, and
intense work bears great fruit. If you
wish to browse scores later, that’s fine—
this practice is about sharpening your
sight-reading skill and developing a way
to gauge progress.
• A supply of reading material that is not
overly advanced for your current com-
fortable reading skill, and ideally a mix-
ture of music from different periods in
different keys. The Bridges graded rep-
ertoire series from the Royal Conserva-
tory of Music is an excellent example.
You need enough music that it takes at
least several days to read through.
• A determination to be a better, relaxed
music reader!
S P E C I A L F O C U S
GUITAR EDUCATION
THE METHOD
Though it seems a bit rigid at first, this is
not a performance! It is not about learning
new pieces. This is a focussed, disciplined
practice aimed at seeing clear improvement
of a specific skill.
1
Set a time limit for the exercise:
5/10/15 minutes. Stay aware of
time and don’t go over!
2 Have a collection of 20-plus pieces
ready. For example, you could use
the Grade 2 Bridges book, which
contains 56 pieces.
3
Start with the first piece in the
book. Look it over before starting,
then count yourself in and begin.
Avoid looking at your hands as
you play. If you stall completely,
stop, breathe, regroup, and pick
up where you left off.
4 Do not repeat notes or passages
to “get it right.” It is very import-
ant to keep your eyes and aware-
ness moving—if you can only play
half the notes correctly, you are
50 percent correct! (Be patient!)
5 If there is a repeat sign or da capo
in the music, feel free to do it; oth-
erwise, when you finish a piece,
go to the next piece.
6
Continue until the 5/10/15 min-
utes are over—remember, don’t
exceed your time limit.
7 At the next session, start where
you left off, wherever that was. As
soon as you see the time is over,
stop. That is where you start the
next session and continue until
you reach the end of the book—
you should have done at least 20
pieces; that way, when you return
to the first piece, it is almost like a
completely new piece.
8
Go through the entire book again,
noticing anything that seems
more familiar or comfortable (you
may get 75 percent of the notes
instead of 50 percent). You should
start to see patterns and positions
that you may have missed on the
first pass through the book.
9
After reading through the book
twice, go to a new book and
repeat the process.
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 51
 IMPORTANT THINGS VARIATIONS
TO REMEMBER Here are some variations on the method

• Speed is not a factor. Continuity and

smoothness are the goals. Keep your
eyes moving!
that can be done anywhere and that become
useful practice and teaching tools:

PRIMARY Practice rhythm only; pitch only;

• Counting rhythm is an important
part of this process. Try to keep your
rhythm as accurate as possible, espe-
harmony only; single voices in a more com-
plex texture
cially with slow notes—count and hold
SECONDARY Practice dynamics; articula-
them for their full value.
tion (including slurs); fingering (left alone,

• Comfortable score-reading, including

performance details, and regular con-
sulting of the score leads to a much
right alone, together)

PATTERN RECOGNITION Work on see-

more reliable and flexible memoriza- ing arpeggios, chords, and sequences as
tion of a work. “words,” instead of seeing individual notes
as “letters”

READING NOTATION ON THE GUITAR IS A COMPLEX PROCESS, WITH THE

READER HAVING TO THINK AND PROCESS MUSIC VERTICALLY (HARMONY)
AND HORIZONTALLY (MELODY), AS WELL AS DEALING WITH MANY SITUATIONS
Alan
Rinehart WHERE A NOTE OCCURS IN MULTIPLE PLACES ON THE FINGERBOARD.

GREG BRANDT
Maker of Classical Guitars

gregbrandtguitars.com
(818) 980-9348

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81
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52 Fall 2017
 S P E C I A L F O C U S

GUITAR EDUCATION
TABLATURE too many page turns for even short AND FINALLY…
Some strengths and weakness of tablature pieces, and they discourage use of the Many hours, a large stack of scores, a nat-

• By nature, tablature reflects fingering pitch notation. ural curiosity, and the needs of a roster of

•
for the left hand and can contain right- Tablature does not reflect voice lead- students can eventually lead one to have a
hand fingering as well. ing, an essential element in contra- reasonable musical literacy, but very few
people can say they have unlimited time to
• Tablature is not pitch-related. Using puntal music—that is left to the under-
standing of the player. spend pursuing the development of a skill.
tablature makes transposing and learn-
Helping a student to use time effectively
•
ing to read new tunings (i.e. DADGAD, Other instruments do not use tabla-
and economically is a key element of good
or open chord) unnecessary. ture—a player showing up to a cham-
teaching. It is my sincere wish that this

• Used traditionally, tablature was sim-
pler and cheaper to print (numbers
or letters rather than more abstract
ber rehearsal or studio recording who
controlled approach to sight reading devel-
has to depend on tablature is inviting
opment will be an efficient tool in helping
scorn from the other musicians.
anyone to be a better, more relaxed, and

•
symbols) and takes up much less Tablature has its place, but is not a sub- confident musician, happily exploring the
space on the page than pitch notation, stitute for musical literacy. wonderfully large and varied literature of
as there is no need for ledger lines or our instrument. CG
the rhythmic spacing needed to make
pitch notation more readable; a real
consideration when paper was expen-
sive. This is the complete opposite of
modern books that are printed in pitch
notation with tab underneath. These
books are very cumbersome, with far

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ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 53
 METHOD

in 1985, Tango en Skaï was one of Dyens’

concert improvisations until it was sug-
gested he actually set it down. The title
translates, literally as Tango and PVC (“skaï”
is French slang for fake leather or PVC: poly-
vinyl chloride). This is Dyens’ very Gallic
way of signifying that this piece is a carica-
ture of the tango or perhaps a witty replica
of it. This lighthearted tone is further
advanced by the notation “Un rien canaille”
at the beginning (approximate translation:
“a worthless scoundrel”) to instruct the
performer to be a little vulgar or coarse
with the proceedings.
This lesson will explore its required
advanced technique, fluidity, tango rhythm,
and polyrhythms.

OVERVIEW
Tango (originally an African Kikongo word
that translates roughly as “the place/people
of the dance”) is one that today instantly
conjures up images of sensual dancing, Latin

DYENS’
sentiment, and infectious rhythm. Origi-
nating from the River Plata region between
Argentina and Uruguay (the musical love
child of the danzón and the milonga), its
cultural influence quickly spread around the

IMMORTAL
world via shipping lines and migrant passen-
gers. Essentially a paired dance, the music
contains the scars from the clash of two cul-
tures: European and African, and like many
dances before it, such as the contredanse, it

TANGO
began life indecently in the barrios and slums
before slowly working its way upwards into
society balls and respectability. The tango
itself is characterized by staccato rhythms
supporting a clear melodic line—and lots of
attitude. There is very little classical polish
or rubato, apart from a very subtle amount
A study in fluidity and rhythm on the very end of phrases. The tempo has
BY RHAYN JOOSTE to be maintained for it to be authentic. So
don’t slow down or pull the notes apart;
as Dyens declares for his piece: “…there
should be no rhythmic distortion.”
Tango en Skaï is arguably the most
recognizable of Dyens’ vast output. It is
a party piece that revels in its excess, but
significantly never strays from the steady
heartbeat of the tango rhythm.

ango en Skaï by Roland Dyens
(1955–2016), is a short showpiece
that will put your technique to
the test. In this lesson, we will cover how
to approach this challenging work and also
how to get more authenticity in your tango
performances.
Before it was published by Henry Lemoine
TANGO RHYTHM
The basic tango rhythm is a short synco-
pated ostinato cell (Figure 1), derived from
the Tumba francesa cell, which was born out
of the mélange of musical traditions created

54 Fall 2017
 To watch video demonstrations of each of the micro studies, go to ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com/method.

Fig. 1

Spanish Tango Cell (Habanera)

Basic Tango Cell

Micro
Micro Study
Study 1a 1a Micro Study1b1b
Micro Study
a a a a a a
a m i a m i

1/2 CI
a a
m a m a
i m i m
i i
p p
p p

1 0 3 1 0 3 2 1
1 1 1 1
2 2 2 2
2 2 2 2
0 0

(Full planting on chords) (Rest stroke the A, plant back after E)

by slave communities in the Caribbean. It’s
found in two regional flavors—Spanish and
Argentinean—and is at the heart of every
piece that bears the name tango. Dyens had
a lot of fun placing and messing about with
the tango/habanera cells in various rhyth-
mic variations throughout his piece, so keep
an eye out for them.
RIGHT HAND
Tango en Skaï will challenge your right hand
pretty much straight out of the gate: bars 1,
2, and 4 require excellent control. The abil-
ity to select strings, pluck and damp notes,
and control bass strings is essential to mak-
ing the character of the tango apparent.
This carries through the entire piece, but
especially where there are chords.
Micro Study 1a is purposefully sim-
ple to help achieve the tango feel and
to practice control. It uses half of bar 1,
explicitly stating the staccato and tenuto
notes. Aim to have the melody sustain
over any chords, or dampened notes—use
full planting to achieve this; a half-barre
is needed to play the F over the A minor
chord. Staccato accompaniment and a
singing melody are what you are aiming
for, so use a little more pressure on your
ring (a) finger to achieve this.
Micro Study 1b is a stripped form of
the remainder of bar 1, and has a 3:2 poly-
rhythm (see Figure 2, p. 56) and a 16th-note
melody over the bass eighths. The bass
should remain firm and in-time as the trip-
let pulls against it. Practice with a rest
stroke in the thumb (p), then planting back
on the A string; this will help strengthen the
RH bass control mechanism and clarify the
voices. Once the triplet is secure, take out
the bracketed note to get closer to Dyens’
original idea.

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 55
 METHOD
Travel Ex.
Fig. 2
Left Hand
Right Hand
3:2
If you have never tried to play 3 beats over 2
see the example above for the rhythmic dis-
placement. (Figure 2) This requires some
independence and practice away from the
guitar, so this polyrhythm is an excellent
“transport” exercise: Sitting in a traffic jam
or on a bus, put the melody in the right hand
and the bass in the left and tap the rhythms
out on your knee until they are internalized.
Micro Study 2 hones in on the dimin-
ished arpeggio in bar 3 and simplifies the
rhythms slightly to make it easier to read, as
well as placing it in 2/4 to break it up visually
(and mentally) across the fretboard. Prac-
tice each bar until secure, then put them
together. How you instigate this arpeggio
is important to achieving fluidity, so take
note of the RH finger suggestions. Due to
the symmetrical nature of the dim chord, it
is possible to fret this in a variety of ways.
Dyens’ fingering has been mostly retained
(with an added slur), however that should
not stop you from experimenting with your
own. To cement the fingering, I suggest
using broken rhythms to practice this and
work up to 16th-notes (see Classical Guitar
Summer 2016 for more).
Of special note, be aware these two bars
require a lot of RH mechanism movement
to be accurate, so slide the RH down over
the strings in bar 1 where the music moves
from string 6 to string 1; after that the RH
will hover for bar 2. If you are still struggling
to attain speed, separate the hands and play
this as an open-string ex. only and concen-
trate on the string-crossing.
Micro Study 3 (a diminished chord
from bar 5) is a practice example that uti-
lizes rhythmic intensity to get the bursts
of speed up. Use full planting on the slow
passes. Note: These are grouped in fours as
56 Fall 2017
(swop hands every two repeats)
they are not triplets, which are easily played
with this finger combination.
LEFT HAND
Tango en Skaï has an A B structure with
repeats; the A section is always followed
by a two-bar intro, bars 1–2 and then bars
22–23. However, we get a better idea of
what Dyens was aiming for in his structure
using popular music terms: Intro, (A) verse,
(B) chorus, and then bridge. It is typical in
tango music that the verse is march-like and
staccato, with a chorus that has more rhyth-
mic variation and excitement, which is why
Dyens has added arpeggio runs and a lot of
pizzazz in the B section.
FLUIDITY
Fluidity is the ability to play effortlessly,
smoothly, easily, or naturally, and it is the
noun that best describes what most guitar-
ists yearn to attain: speed; “Fluide” is what
Dyens has written above bar 14’s 32nd-note
sextuplets. For clarity, Micro Study 4 places
this bar into half-time, and concentrates
on the Cmaj7 chord shape
at the seventh fret. Stagger
placing the left-hand fin-
gers down 4, 3, 2 and then
1. Once you have it under
your fingers, place the
bass chord notes back in,
as per the original. Again,
use rhythmic variations to
cement this into your hands
if needs be.
Remember: Speed is a
consequence of relaxed,
effortless technique, which
is achieved through mindful
repetition. Do not practice
in long sessions where it is
possible to daydream.
ENDING
Dyens has ended his tango very typically,
and in style, with what is colloquially termed
“chum chum.” Every tango orchestra has
its own variation on how to end these two
chords—V–I; a suggestion is to come up
with your own.
FINAL REFLECTION
Although Tango en Skaï is a challenging
piece, it has the ability to advance your
technique significantly when worked on in
a systematic way. The humorous sentiment
Roland Dyens has secreted in this compo-
sition is now poignant as we approach the
first anniversary of his passing, so it is fit-
ting that the last word on this piece should
be his:
“Try to create for this little work the
party atmosphere in which it was born,
without being unduly serious or overly com-
passionate. Keep a smile deep inside you
and remain detached.” CG
 To watch video demonstrations of each of the micro studies, go to ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com/method.

Micro Study2 2 Micro Study 2

MicroStudy
Micro Study
(The
(The
RH 2
RH
mechanism (The
mechanism
needs RH
needs
to tomechanism
bebe
relaxed
relaxed needs
and
and toinbe
fluid
fluid in relaxed
bar 1.)1.) and fluid in bar 1.)
bar
Micro Study 4
44 4
0 0 1 1 4 4 10 1 41 4 24 2 11 1 04 0 21 1 12 2 01 1 01 0 2 4 4 14 2 32 2 0 1 21 1 4 2 2 1

i i mm i i mi m i mi mi m ama mi m mi i a mm m ai a i i mmm aa a mi m m a
p p i i p p ip i pi p ip i mi m ap a i m a
p i m
p m a

0 00 0 0 0 0 0 90 9 12 10
7 12 8 9 1
0 2 20 0 0 2 2 2 0 0 11211 8 8 11
0 0 0
3 3 0 0 0 32 2 3 3 0 2 0 0
12312 9 9 12
0 0 0 2
2 50 5 0 0 2 5 0 0 0 10
0 0 01 1 04 4 0 0 0 1 4 0 0
0 0 0

(The
(Try
(Try
asastriplets
an an
open
opencan be(Try
strings reversed
strings asex.,
only
onlyan for
open
ex.,andextra
and practice
strings
concentrate
concentrate -ex.,
onlyon pRH
onmRHi.)
and concentrate
string
string
crossingon
crossing -RH
- followstring
follow
thethecrossing
tab
tab
with
with- no
no follow
LHLH the tab with no LH fingers.)
fingers.)
fingers.)

Micro Study 3
Micro Study 3
a m i p
4
2
3
1

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
6 6 6 6
7 7 7 7
6 6 6 6

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
6 6 6
7 7 7
6 6 6

Micro Study 4
Micro Study 4
4 3 2 2 1 4 2

p i m
p m a
0 0 0 7 10 8
0 0 0 0 0 0 8 8
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 9
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0

(The triplets can be reversed for extra practice - p m i.)

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 57
 To watch a video of Yates playing ‘Prelude No. 4’ or to see guidelines for
MUSIC TO PLAY submitting pieces for ‘Music to Play,’ visit classicalguitarmagazine.com/musictoplay.

by this, and having worked in classical-mu- and Antonio Lauro. While my collection of

BLUE YATES’ sic retail for some years, I decided to start

a business as a professional guitar teacher
12 Studies is designed to develop specific
technical qualities, the 6 Preludes are a

CHARMING
and performer. freer form, exhib-
As the business grew, iting melody and
I invested in recording texture inspired, to

‘PRELUDE NO. 4’ equipment and a decent

microphone, and made
numerous trips to visit luth-
iers in Madrid. I started to
some extent, by the
sound of the guitar
in South America,
and offering the per-
We asked English guitarist/composer/teacher
Blue Yates to tell us a bit about himself and the write and record music and former an opportu-
also to notate some of it, nity to experiment
piece we’ve selected.
initially to offer some inter- with tonalities and
esting repertoire to my stu- other variations in
My interest in classical guitar began when I
dents. This has continued articulation.
heard Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez as a
and I established a sheet This piece is
child. The music seemed so evocative and
music imprint, Rekoba Edi- about tonal contrast
caught my imagination. I started playing gui- tions, last year. as much as anything,
tar when I was 11 years old and completed My Blue Yates Guitar so when playing the
my Grade 8 exam at age 17 in 1988. Tuition business has been successfully repeats (or repeated sections) try to vary
I continued to play for fun, but while operating now for 14 years in the UK Mid- them. This could  be different fingerboard
living in Italy I found myself playing to lands town of Burton upon Trent in Stafford- positions, varying tone from ponticello to
some guests and their reaction took me by shire, and in that time I have taught more tasto or dynamically. I have indicated some
surprise. It seemed to me that at the time, than 150 students. specific positions and kept others more
classical-guitar music and musicians were I have always had a fascination with open to interpretation.
regarded with more interest and respect in the work of South American composers
Continental Europe than in the UK. Inspired such as Rodrigo Riera, João Pernambuco, For more info and to purchase music, go to blueyates.com

58 Fall 2017
 ‘PR ELUD E NO. 4’
BY BLUE YATES
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VII V III

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ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 59
 ALBUMS
GUITAR DUO EXCELS ON RARE
ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM
Period instruments and arrangements lend authenticity
hat Beethoven did not write specif-
ically for the guitar has been and
will be a subject of discussion and
analysis for many years to come. That he
was familiar with the guitar and the guitarists
of the day is not in doubt; it simply appears
that the plucked “box” we so love did not
light his compositional fire. The fascinating
booklet notes for this CD describe the guitar
in Beethoven’s “milieu,” in Vienna’s excep-
tional music scene at the dawn of the 19th
Century, as an instrument that had reached
more than respectable heights through such
luminaries as Wenzel Matiegka, Vincenz
Schuster, Simon Molitor, and Anton Diabelli
all championing its cause through arrange-
ments of the great works of the day.
Guitarists appear to have always been
adventurous fellows, on the lookout for new
peaks to ascend, and the guitar, while not
perhaps having the dynamic range of the
piano, could and can in its own way imper-
sonate a full-blown orchestra if desired; all
in the comfort of the salon.
That said, there are no attempts at
arranging any of Beethoven’s symphonic
works here. It’s the piano sonatas and
John Schneiderman and Hideki Yamaya
BY TIM PANTING
quartets that have lent movements to this piano works: Sonata Op. 2, Variations on a
project, as has the Septet, Op. 20, which pro- Theme of Paisiello, WoO 69, and Andante
vides the opener of the CD with the Varia- Favori, WoO 57. At ten-and-a-half minutes,
tions, Op. 3 arranged by Vincenz Schuster. the latter is the longest work on the record-
The delicate sound-world is ing, and the valedictory piece
made utterly convincing by of the CD.
the obvious technical com- The delights that bubble
mand of the performers. The and simmer in between those
call-and-answer phrasing of include Four Waltzes, from Six
the variations is exemplified Waltzes Anh. 14 (published by
by two musicians in perfect Schott a year after Beethoven’s
synchronization with each death, undoubtedly capitalizing
other. John Schneiderman on the fame of the composer).
(guitar and terz guitar) and Arranged by Alexandre Heeser,
Hideki Yamaya (7-string gui- this curious mix of waltzes by
tar and guitar-in-D), provide Beethoven Schubert and unknown sources
us with a sumptuous record- for Two Guitars will be of great interest to the
ing on their period instru- Schneiderman-Yamaya musical detectives out there.
ments (both originals and Duo The soft, nail-free (?) sound
modern copies). Hänssler Classic is beguiling and quickly draws
The arrangements are you to the intimate world of
by leading lights of Beethoven’s era, includ- two early 19th-century guitars. Those
ing Ferdinando Carulli, whose Variations expecting Beethoven’s fireworks may have
and Rondo Op. 155 is from Piano Sonata Op. to accept a more delicate approach to the
26, and who also contributes the Fantasy maestro’s oeuvre. But this is a fine addition
Op. 157, which is, as the notes say, a rather to period instrument recordings played by
freely arranged amalgamation of three exponents of the highest level. CG
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 61
 ALBUMS
Federico Moreno Torroba:
Guitar Concertos Vol. 2
Pepe Romero and Vicente Coves (guitars)
Naxos
Classic guitar concertos in
masterful hands
Torroba, a non-player, started writing guitar
pieces because of Segovia. While past the
age of 50, he still wrote nearly 100 works for
guitar, including 10 concertos; here Romero
plays two and Coves the third.
Homenaje a la Seguidilla (1962), fea-
turing Romero, is an homage to a lively
Spanish song and dance in triple-meter. It
is in three movements, the first of which
begins with a mysterious and evocative
“Andante” turning into an “Allegretto” with
plenty of flamenco-inspired scale passages
and rasgueado. The dance-like sections are
interwoven with freer parts reminiscent
of a solo singer. After a second movement
filled with ornate lyricism (“Andante”)
comes the final movement, a technical
tour-de-force full of intermittent hemiola
reminiscent of a seguidilla.
Tonada Concertante (1975–80) is in four
movements, a tonada being a theatrical
song from the 18th Century. The opening
movement is playful and friendly, with the
“Andante” second movement a great con-
trast; quite introspective. The first of the
two concluding shorter movements is a
“Scherzo,” which acts as a link to the final
“Allegro,” a happy, rhythmic close.
Concierto de Castilla, from 1960 and fea-
turing Cloves, is also in three movements
and highlights both Torroba’s imaginative
writing for the guitar and also his fine use
of the orchestra. It is a warm involving
work. All three are wonderful, as are the
playing and the recording too.
A lovely CD. —Chris Dumigan
62 Fall 2017
Meng
Meng Su
Tonar Music
Awe-inspiring “debut” from young
but seasoned artist
This is the first solo recording of Meng Su,
who at age nine became a protégé of profes-
sor Chen Zhi in Beijing; then, after numer-
ous awards, she took advanced studies
with Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Con-
servatory of the John Hopkins University,
Baltimore. With three acclaimed CDs under
her belt with Manuel Barrueco and Yameng
Wang, her partner in the Beijing Guitar Duo,
you could say she has already reached the
status of a seasoned artist.
There are many ways to tackle the
choice of pieces for a “debut” album, but
the most straightforward is to choose core
components of the main repertoire and do
something with them that will set you apart
from the legions who have tried before
you. Here, Meng Su delivers with incredibly
original interpretations of Castelnuovo-Te-
desco’s Sonata “Omaggio a Boccherini” Op.
77, J.S. Bach’s Lute Suite BWV 1006a, and
William Walton’s Five Bagatelles. Throw in
a couple of Tárrega lollipops, Gran Vals and
Rosita, and you have a recipe for a CD with
wide appeal. Making it even more eclec-
tic are the pieces that sandwich the main
contents: two John Williams (the film score
composer) compositions: Anver’s Theme
from the film Munich, and Rounds, dedicated
to Christopher Parkening.
Meng Su possesses a transcendent
technique that is simply awe-inspiring.
She brings a special luminescence to these
stalwarts of the repertoire. The Tedesco
tingles, the Bach glows, and, my favorite—
the Walton—is ecstatic. This year’s finest
debut by far. —TP
Recital
Martin Bickerton
martinbickerton.co.uk
Tansman, Bach, and engaging
originals from English guitarist
On this crowd-funded two-CD set, English
guitarist/composer Martin Bickerton opens
with Bach’s evergreen Prelude, Fugue and
Allegro BWV 998 using a 1994 arrangement
by Tilman Hoppstock. A suitably noble atmo-
sphere permeates the “Prelude” and “Fugue,”
although some may consider the rather cau-
tious “Allegro” a less than satisfying conclu-
sion. The deep bass resonance of Bickerton’s
seven-string Stephen Hill guitar is ever-
present, bringing to mind those vintage ten-
string Bach recordings by Narciso Yepes.
Tansman’s Cavatina is presented
with style and maturity in its published
four-movement form, minus the “Danza
Pomposa” used as a finale by guitarists
from Segovia onward. The unassuming
“Barcarole” movement serves as a prelude
to Bickerton’s own 16-minute Homage dé
Tansman. Extensive and at times intro-
spective, this challenging yet engaging
work firmly establishes Bickerton as more
than just another guitarist who writes the
occasional tune. The score has been pub-
lished alongside the recording, as has that
of Bickerton’s shorter but equally probing
Zwillinge, for which he is joined by violin-
ist Tory Clarke. A name-check is also given
to Rory Russell of the Aquarelle Guitar
Quartet, whose unspecified contribution
appears to be in Aragón by Albéniz.
However, it’s the poignant and sur-
prisingly non-dissonant tri-tonal dialogue
of Zwillinge that leaves the most lasting
impression in this enterprising release from
a musician still short of his thirtieth year.
— Paul Fowles
The Soldier’s Return: Guitar
Works Inspired by Scotland
James Akers
Resonus Classics
Scottish guitarist honors heritage
with period guitars and pieces
James Akers is primarily a period guitar-
ist; here he plays a Panormo copy made
in 2015, an 1820 original, and a terz guitar
copy from 2013. All have a lovely, sweet,
and refined sound that suits this repertoire
perfectly. Beginning with the Variations on
a Favourite Scottish Air, Op. 40 by Fernando
Sor, he immediately shows the musicality of
his playing and the beauty of the sound he
produces. The piece contains the famous Ye
Banks and Braes as its main theme, and is a
fine opening.
The remaining tracks consist of eight
by Mauro Giuliani, two variation sets by
Luigi Legnani, and one by J.K. Mertz. Five of
the Giuliani are from his Sei Arie Nazionali
Scozzesi, a posthumously published work
that includes The Bluebells of Scotland,
Coming Through the Rye, and the reel Jen-
ny’s Bawbee as three standout tracks, with
the modal quality of the original melodies
cleverly incorporated into the 19th-century
harmonic sound.
The Mertz is Fingal’s Cave (not the
Mendelssohn overture), and is one of the
many Bardenklänge pieces he penned. It is
a darkly hued work with a very effective
climactic coda. The Legnani variations sets
are both themes from Rossini’s opera La
Donna del Lago, based on Sir Walter Scott’s
poem, and are lively and rewarding works.
Many of the pieces here are relatively
unknown and are premiere recordings,
with Akers playing superbly throughout.
This is an excellent album for any lovers of
19th-century guitar. —CD
Mappa Mundi
Canadian Guitar Quartet
ATMA Classique
An exciting blend of traditional
and modern approaches
The latest from this venerable quartet—
Julien Bisaillon, Renaud Côté-Giguère,
Bruno Roussel, and Louis Trépanier—is
filled with life and adventure. After start-
ing with a stately, crowd-pleasing histori-
cal piece—a two-cello concerto by Vivaldi,
arranged for guitar by CGQ member Roussel
—the rest of the CD is devoted to four con-
temporary works that are considerably
less conservative and more modern, with
patches of dissonance, leaping and abrupt
tempo and rhythm shifts, but still on the
edges of melodicism most of the time (and
in the case of Côté-Giguère’s excellent Fille
de cuivre, deftly weaving together a blend of
different approaches and moods).
Patrick Roux’s two-part, 20-minute
Concierto Tradicionuevo  offers interesting
mutations of some familiar Argentinean
musical elements—traditional and Piazzol-
lan tango and more—plus what the liner
notes depict as “a wild taxi ride through the
streets” of Buenos Aires; fasten your seat
belts for that one! Hans Brüderl’s  Octopus
goes from rhythmically manic to elegiac, and
also includes some lovely, lilting passages.
Christine Donkin’s invigorating four-
movement title work has a slightly Bernard
Hermannesque opening (think Psycho) and
closing—and in between, more sonorous
movements that in parts seem to hint at
world-music forms (is that a calypso feel
in “Turris Babel,” and guitars mimicking
Italian mandolins in “Yperbori”?). This
final Mappa Mundi suite also features guest
cellist Rachel Mercer, to very nice effect.
—Blair Jackson
Key West: Latin American Music
for Two Guitars
Duo Amaral
duoamaral.com
Duo excels on Brazilian pieces and
new commission
Mexican guitarist Jorge Amaral and Israel-
born Mia Pomerantz-Amaral formed Duo
Amaral in 2008. Here, they immediately
grab your attention with “Pinote,” the
lightning-fast first movement from Sérgio
Assad’s Tres Cenas Brasilieras, which they
go on to play in its entirety. This is the sort
of music most duos would like to play, but
often haven’t got the necessary technique.
This is not a problem with Duo Amaral!
Jose Manuel Lezcano’s Key West follows,
written for the Duo, a premiere recording.
Also set in three movements, it begins with
“Seven Mile Bridge,” a fast-paced opener,
followed by the warm and relaxed “Bolero
Del Atardecer,” with its meltingly beautiful
harmonies, and finishes with “Duval Street
Stomp,” a rhythmic and exciting closer. The
musical style is always melodic but also
interestingly rhythmic.
Guido Santorsola’s Suite All’Antica in
four movements follows. A lovely, chordal
“Preludio” is followed by a tiptoeing “Tempo
Di Minuetto.” “Piccola Arietta” follows and
is haunting in its melodic beauty, while the
“Finale” is relentlessly fast and full of gor-
geous close-harmony work.
Radames Gnattali’s famous Suite Retratos
is a wonderful piece that is in the repertoire
of many of the best duos. It is harmonically
rich, with complex voices weaving in and
out; fabulous music beautifully performed.
The final work is Egberto Gismonti’s
Aqua e Vinho, an apt ending to a truly great
CD of effortlessly beautiful playing and
timeless interpretations. —CD
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 63
 ALBUMS
Danzas
Montréal Guitare Trio
Analekta
Fresh arrangements of Falla, Paco,
Barrios, and more
When you decide to open your recording
with Mediterranean Sundance by Al di Meola
and Paco de Lucía, the opening track of
Friday Night in San Francisco (1981), you
are dealing with a tune that has inspired
thousands of hopeful virtuosos around
the globe. MG3 (Montréal Guitare Trio:
Marc Morin, Glenn Lévesque and Sébastien
Dufour), have, as they say, the chops to pull
off such a tune. While not being a full-blown
flamenco outing, Danzas is a vivacious
recording for lovers of that fiery brand of
guitar playing, with machine-gun Phrygian
scalar runs and whiplash rasgueados inter-
spersed with rhythmic golpes augmented
by acoustic bass.
A lovely arrangement of Barrios’ La Cate-
dral shows this fabulous composition in a dif-
ferent light—the walking bass of the middle
“Andante religioso” movement is inspired.
Paco de Lucía’s inspiration can be felt
throughout the recording, especially with
the works here by Manuel de Falla, as Paco
famously recorded an album of works
entirely dedicated to the composer. Yet
there are no attempts to slavishly imperson-
ate the flamenco master. MG3 have a sound
all their own. The virtuosity is fresh and the
arrangements delightfully full of dynamism
and surprises. Their take on the Ritual Fire
Dance is gorgeous.
There are some beautifully sensitive
moments, too. “Nana” from Siete Canciones
Populares Españolas is simply fantastic, as
is the valedictory Our Spanish Love Song by
Charlie Haden (from Pat Metheny’s Under
the Missouri Sky album). —TP
64 Fall 2017
Nocturnos de Andalucia
Christoph Denoth (Guitar), London Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Jesus Lopez Cobos
Signum Classics
Title piece is a bold addition to
guitar-concerto canon
Of the three works on this CD by Swiss
guitarist Christoph Denoth, the most inter-
esting and substantial is the 40-minute,
six-movement concerto by Lorenzo Palomo
(b. 1938) called Nocturnos de Andalucia.
Scored for a large orchestra, this concerto
was premiered by Pepe Romero back in
1996, and from all accounts made a con-
siderable impact, though it is not played
frequently.
So skillful is Palomo’s orchestration that
it is never allowed to overpower the guitar.
The musical style is rich and colorful, never
atonal, and generally typical of the bold and
spicy music of Cordoba. The six movements
all have appropriately descriptive titles,
and as a whole the concerto is probably
unlike anything you have heard before, as
its size and scope are so unusual for guitar-
ists; it feels more akin to a full-fledged piano
concerto, and all in all is a considerable
achievement for all concerned.
Rodrigo’s crowd-pleasing Concierto
De Aranjuez makes a perhaps inevitable
appearance and is nicely played but, won-
derful though it is, pales in comparison to
the dramatic title work,.
The final work is Denoth’s own
orchestration of Joaquín Malats’ Serenata
Española, originally part of an orches-
tral suite, Impresiones De España, but
then arranged by Malats for piano solo.
Denoth’s version is masterful and captures
all the qualities of the original. Don’t miss
this wonderful album! —CD
Sonidos de Paisajes: Music of
Spain
Ozan Saritepe
ozansaritepe.com
Traditional Spanish fare gets a fresh
and spirited makeover
The guitar and Spain are inextricably linked,
and while some reviewers may approach
yet another “music of Spain” recording with
an eye-roll, it would be a great mistake in
the case of this recording by Turkish-born
Ozan Saritepe. Albéniz, Tárrega, Llobet,
Falla, Ruiz Pipo, Morreno Torroba, and
Mompou—virtually the gamut of the most
famous Spanish composers favored by gui-
tarists—are represented here by some of
their most distinguished compositions.
Asturias opens the show in atten-
tion-grabbing style with the addition of that
box-like percussion instrument, the cajon.
The guitar-playing that continues sans per-
cussion is relaxed yet highly assured, and
the recording quality is enjoyably dynamic.
Miguel Llobet’s Mazurka por Federico
Bufaletti is an interesting gem, as is Emilio
Pujol’s Impromptu.
Saritepe likes his rasgueados, and his
use of the controlled strumming technique
so familiar in the music of Spain permeates
his technique in a fresh and masterful way;
Falla’s La Vida Breve is a great example of
this here. Torroba’s Sonata-Fantasia is less
well-known than the ubiquitous Sonatina
and I cannot remember when or where I last
heard it. Saritepe breathes life into the Ibe-
rian idioms so imbedded in Torroba’s style.
Saritepe has achieved a rare thing by
creating a musical concept free from cliché;
the music of Spain is as exciting as it ever
was and should continue to be so. It is deliv-
ered here with unpretentious flair and skill-
ful artistry. —TP
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Karmana
Simon Thacker (guitar)
and Justyna Jablonska (cello)
Slap the Moon Records

Intriguing and original modern

multicultural fusion
Guitar-and-cello duos seem to be popping
up all over lately, but this one is definitely
unique. For many years, Scottish guitar-
ist Simon Thacker has been exploring the
nexus between Indian and Western music
CARBONFIBERCASES.COM
forms, both as a solo player and in various
combinations of musicians, and this album
with Polish-born cellist Jablonska, domi-
nated by Thacker’s original compositions,
continues his intriguing journey down
that road.
The six-part title piece alone is more
than 30 minutes of fascinating modern music
that goes in myriad, occasionally unusual,
directions—there are Indian sonorities,
blazingly fast guitar bursts juxtaposed with
hypnotic legato cello, folkish strains, bits of
Balkan influence, sharp jabs, and soothing
melodic turns. It’s a thoroughly engrossing
multitextured work.
Also fascinating are a dramatic and
moving Polish folk tune; a traditional Roma
piece featuring singer/violinist Marta
Natanson that sounds like Balkan folk/jazz
(Jablonska is great on plucked cello “bass”
in parts); a somber but beautiful Gaelic
tune; another work featuring bizarre back-
wards electronic manipulations a la the
Beatles and Jimi Hendrix—interesting until
it devolves into noise—which then seam-
lessly moves into a Highland ballad sung
beautifully by Karine Polwart; and finally,
a piece that brings in tabla player Sarvar
Sabri for a last blast of India.
This magical mystery tour is a feast for
the adventurous listener! —BJ

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 65
 PRINT
NEW GUITAR QUARTETS
FROM BRASIL GUITAR DUO’S JOÃO LUIZ
Rhythmic and harmonically interesting pieces for advanced players
BY DEREK HASTED
Alfaia e Maré; Kirsten
João Luiz
Doberman-Yppan, 10 pp. and 11 pp. plus parts
Four identical books landed on my desk—
or rather, four books with identical covers.
Space constraints dictate we review two
and just mention the others. Alfaia e Maré
and Jogo de Roda were both commissioned
by the New York Classical Guitar Society
Orchestra. Da Bahia Ao Daomé is dedi-
cated to the Toccata Guitar Quartet, and
Kirsten written for the Quaternaglia Guitar
Quartet. Let us review the hardest and the
most straightforward; both are listed as
“advanced” by the publisher.
Alfaia e Maré consists of 10 pages plus
parts. Guitar Four is tuned to 6=C, and
opens with a compelling rhythmic bass
line. Then things take a sudden turn: The
66 Fall 2017
music moves into 5/8 time and Guitar One
is at fret 19 with quick passages across the
strings. We return to 4/4 and to energetic
rhythm patterns played loudly. Many of
the opening passages are repeated, and
the writing is rhythmic and harmonically
adventurous. The texture evolves with
staccato chords and a solo woven from
triplets. A center section with harmonics
and a recitative quality leads into a pianis-
simo reprise of the opening bassline before
a fiery ending on the last 16th note of the
bar. It looks at first sight like more is to
come, but no, the piece finishes on a stac-
cato note right at the end of measure. This
piece requires a competent ensemble, but
there is nothing that looks unfamiliar to a
good player.
Kirsten comprises 11 pages plus parts.
It has three guitars tuned to 6=D and the
fourth to 6=C. The strongly rhythmic open-
ing is almost fugal in its writing, with one
short but distinctive rhythm entering after
another. There are three-note chords in
some lines, and these are not so much diffi-
cult as they are awkward, as they frequently
contain flat notes. With a lyrical feel and
the occasional triplet, this music has an
improvisatory character. The “moderato”
section is more complex, with chords that
seem unfamiliar, but the rhythm is not hard
and the sound is big and rich. Guitar Two
has a solo set over unusual but spacious
chords before the ensemble thickens again.
I am not sure that a bass note is going to
last for 17 beats, but there are tricks an
ensemble can use to create the illusion
that it does. There is a charming ending
with chords in 3+3+2 rhythm, supporting
an arpeggio of harmonics. The piece fades
away to nothing.
A most interesting piece! CG
Passacaglia
Paolo Bozzola
Bèrben, 5 pp.
Difficult but rewarding concert
piece covers much ground
Paolo Bozzola (1977–2011) left this man-
uscript unedited when he died. Later it
was discovered by the eminent guitarist
Cristiano Porqueddu, who revised and
added fingerings to the piece.
It begins with a seemingly improvi-
satory lento introduction based on six
unusual but tonal chords arpeggiated in
either or both directions. After this brief
start, a moderato in a mixture of times
(5/4, 2/4, 7/4, 3/2 and 3/4) takes over, with
a walking bass line underpinning some
gently exotic ideas above, often involving
atypical chordal statements. There are a
number of places where the part-writing
and the unusual nature of some of the
widely spread chords could cause trouble,
and the tessitura is often very wide, with
the upper fingerboard frequently used. A
brief return to the opening chordal idea
finally leads into the passacaglia proper;
it’s based on a five-note ground, begun in
the top treble before becoming the usual
bass line a few bars in. The melodic mate-
rial woven around the ground is multi-
rhythmic and gently dissonant, changing
key a number of times during its journey.
Everything ends as it began, with varia-
tions on the opening chords, again spread
over various unusual patterns and often
including high positions intermixed with
open notes to create an unusual effect.
This is rather difficult to play, owing to
the individual nature of Bozzola’s writing,
but it is also intriguing, with a certain gran-
deur to it that makes for a rewarding four
minutes or so. —Chris Dumigan
Songs for Harry
Niels Eikelboom
Les Productions D’Oz, 19 pp.
Intermediate set designed
for developing players
This Dutch guitarist and composer has
been concentrating on helping younger
players along the path to performance,
and this set of 14 little pieces is aimed at
less technical players who like their music
tuneful and uncomplicated. The pieces
often rely on relatively simple bass lines of
open strings, as in Younger, which is writ-
ten in two voices with a pop-style melody
with a number of off-beat rhythms. The
following Alexander has some strummed
chords of five or six strings, so it might not
be quite as simple to play for some. A little
bit of two-handed percussion on the guitar
livens this piece up. Irish Flute is a nice,
melodic andante with entirely open strings
below a pleasing folkish melody.
However, some pieces are not as easy,
such as Burning Fingers, which begins with
a two-bar passage destined to trip up the
unwary, followed by a syncopated melody
atop mostly simple basses. Martha’s Song
is a berceuse that morphs into a saudade
half-way in. Another notable piece is Waltz
Rode, which is in a strange mixture of 3/4
and (3 + 2)/8.
If this set has a weakness, it’s the pre-
dominance of open basses in the majority
of the pieces. Clearly, the intention was to
make the whole set a bit easier, but unfor-
tunately it makes some of the items a bit
bland. Nevertheless, this is a good set for
developing players to improve with. —CD
Fantaisie
Antoine de Lhoyer
Ut Orpheus, 14 pp.
Obscure but solid work from
underrated composer
Antoine de Lhoyer was a 19th-century
French virtuoso guitarist who composed
around 50 works for both the five-string
and six-string guitar. These pieces were
chiefly comprised of duos, trios, and cham-
ber music, with just a handful of guitar solo
pieces, such as this one. History has seen
him overshadowed somewhat by such
contemporary luminaries such as Mauro
Giuliani and Fernando Sor, which is a great
shame, as his works have charm, elegance,
and excitement.
His Fantaisie is a relatively lengthy
work, consisting of a leisurely introduction
in A minor followed by a change to A major
for the rest of the piece, which is made up
of a theme and six variations. The “theme”
is pleasantly melodic and memorable (as a
theme should be if followed by variations),
with an almost a child-like simplicity.
The rest of the composition is formed of
the characteristic 19th-century variation
style of multitudes of flighty passages com-
prised of 16th and 32nd notes, with the
original theme never far from the ear.
The presentation here is excellent, with
very clear printing on high-quality paper,
and the fingering (by Fabio Rizza) is sen-
sible and not too intrusive. Fantaisie is
perhaps not in the same league as some
of the aforementioned composers’ works,
but it is a solid and satisfying composition
for the advanced player to consider for
the concert platform as a choice for an
“unknown” work from this period.
—Steve Marsh
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 67
 PRINT
Las Tres Américas (for guitar
orchestra)
Claudio Camisassa
Les Productions d’Oz, 22 pp. plus parts
A ‘stark and aggressive’ tour of the
Americas by guitar
Musical directors the world over may
weep when an orchestration of 65 players
is suggested; even more so when those
players have to be comfortable playing in
11/8 time, up to the 19th fret at six notes
per second. If only we all had access to that
sort of resource! But this piece will work
acceptably as a sextet, and if there is no
contra guitar for line 6, then a conventional
guitar will suffice. It would be better with
more than one player per line, because the
top four parts have divisi writing.
Starting in North America, deriving
inspiration from minimalist composers
and drawing on the fashion for tapping, the
music continues to Central America with
more syncopated rhythms, and then to the
South with tango and milonga influences.
It’s difficult to describe this piece ade-
quately, but Lady Luck is on our side, as
there is a YouTube video of the entire
work. It won’t be to everyone’s taste,
as this is quite a stark and aggressive
piece of writing, but it’s perhaps the fin-
est way of hearing the challenges this
piece brings to playing tightly in step.
The piece is not technically as challenging
as many I have reviewed, but it requires
players with a solid sense of rhythm and
the courage to play strongly, because so
many lines provide rhythmic clues to the
timing in some of the harder passages that
beset each part in turn. —DH
68 Fall 2017
Sonata No. 1
Nick Fletcher
Les Productions d’Oz, 14 pp.
Prolific guitar composer finally
writes a sonata
Nick Fletcher is a UK-born player/com-
poser who has written many fine pieces
for the guitar published through d’Oz, and
here he tries his hand at his first full-blown
sonata. It’s in three movements—the first
and third are fast and furious, the second
is a very smooth, jazz-like, free-rhythmed
piece that sounds almost like it could have
come from the 1930s.
The first movement, “Allegro,” has a
ground bass A over which a long-breathed,
rhythmed melody of a 16th note and two
32nd notes takes hold. The time signa-
tures change from a steady 4/4 to 2/4, 3/4,
and 5/4 at times, as the melody ploughs
through relentlessly. A brief, more melodic
second theme intervenes before a presto
materializes, consisting of an arpeggiated
four 32nd-note idea that is harder to exe-
cute than it looks. After the repeat, a
development section plays with the previ-
ous themes, before yielding to a complete
repeat of the recapitulation section and a
small coda.
The slow movement is wonderfully
warm and clearly jazz-influenced, with melt-
ing harmonies and sudden changes of key.
The final “Presto con Fuoco” is a mix of 6/8
and 3/4, mostly in two voices, leading to
a middle section that quotes directly from
the first movement before returning to the
opening idea and a swift and forceful coda.
This is a pleasant and rewarding piece
that definitely deserves to be heard. How-
ever, it is advanced in its techniques and
really only for the experienced player. —CD
19 Contradanzas
(for two guitars)
Manuel Saumell, arr. Marc Bataini
Henry Lemoine, 38 pp.
Duo transcriptions of appealing
Cuban piano pieces
Manuel Saumell Robredo (1818–1870) was
a Cuban pianist/composer who is cred-
ited as being the first musician to promote
Cuban musical nationalism. His main style
of composition was based on the contra-
danza, the Spanish/South American form
of the contradanse, a popular type of dance
from the 18th century originating from the
English country dance. It was the first type
of Cuban dance music to gain international
popularity, and Saumell composed around
50 contradanzas for piano.
I admit to never having heard of this
composer before playing through this col-
lection, but throughout the research for this
review I came across many wonderful piano
performances of his music, all of which I
found extremely attractive.
All of these guitar duet arrangements by
Marc Bataini are well–thought-out, with the
parts shared equally between the two play-
ers, and for the advanced duo, most of this
music should fall neatly under the fingers
easily enough. Rhythmically, the music is
very appealing, and from a musical view-
point, two or three pieces stand out easily
from the rest in their melodic and harmonic
inventiveness. A short “set” for recital use
could easily be assembled from these pieces.
The book does not have separate parts
for each player but is quite readable for two
players. The only niggle I have about this
is that, compared with the music played
in its original format for piano, these two-
guitar versions don’t come close to doing
the music full justice. —SM

Suite Paranasera (for 4 guitars)
Raul Maldonado
Les Productions d’Oz, 28 pp. plus parts
Substantial advanced piece from
Argentinean composer
This is a big three-part work, and although
not intimidating on the page, it contains
one or two traps for the unwary. “Fin Del
Rio” opens in G Minor, and though it is set
in 6/8 time, Guitar Four is playing in 3/4
time underneath. From there we move to G
Major and the roles are passed from player
to player, so this requires four of equal
ability. The piece then moves to D major.
With no performance markings and very
few dynamics, it calls for some experimen-
tation to really capture the feel.
“Me Dijo El Manguruyú” is a very effec-
tive piece of writing, pitching 4/4 time
against the characteristic 3+3+2 Tresillo
pattern, giving a real feeling of energy.
The key of E makes for a rich sound and
not too much high-position work. This is a
lengthy movement, but the writing takes us
through a variety of keys.
“Del Buen Amigo” is perhaps the hard-
est movement, again putting 6/8 over a 3/4
bass, but then moving onto quadruplets,
playing four eighth notes in the time of
three without being put off by the 3/4 bass!
The edition has no fingering and
requires some expertise and patience
before the parts lock together and the
music starts to emerge from behind the
notes. However, when it does, the move-
ments are substantial and not overly repet-
itive. I just wonder if the effort needed to
make this suite go well might put some
people off. —DH
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and basic knowledge of music theory is a
prerequisite to understanding this instruc-
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Guitar Chair
examples and diagrams included help to off-
set some of the more dense written material
(such as linearity of inversion math formu-
lae!). Topics covered in this course include the details make the difference
an introduction to the fretboard, tunings,
interval additions, fretboard geometry, har-
monics, the CAGED system, anchoring, mir-
roring, transposition, and more.
The book has its roots in lessons that
Mashhour took with guitarist Davis H.
Murdy, who also co-authored his first book,
Intervallic Fretboard. Though it’s not for
beginners, by the end of Fretboard PhD,
most guitarists will have a comprehensive
view of all things fretboard, from its phys-
ical layout to its properties, to ways to
visualize and organize it in connection with
overarching musical concepts.
Now, Mashour has published another
valuable resource: The Little Big Guitar Scale
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Tutorial” (scale construction, harmonizing
in thirds, overlapping patterns, etc.), plus
page after page of intricately diagrammed
scales (Dorian, Lydian augmented, minor
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ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 69
 PRINT

University Professorship for Chamber Music Guitar

The University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Institute for String Instruments, is offering
a position most likely beginning with the academic year 2018/19 for a University Professorship
for Chamber Music Guitar based on § 98 of the Universities Act and § 25 of the collective
agreement for university employees, in the form of a parttime contractual position with an extent
of employment of 50% of a fulltime contractual position for an indefinite period. It is possible to
agree to an overpayment of the minimum monthly salary, which has been determined by the
collective agreement and which at present is 2.445,55 € brutto (14 payments annually).
Tasks and activities related to the position are
l teaching in the main artistic subject in the study area of Instrument: Chamber Music Guitar
l willingness to participate actively in the further development of the university’s teaching and
learning culture, and its artistic and scientific public presence
l willingness to contribute actively to academic organization, administration and evaluation
duties
Specific Employment Requirements
l international concert activity in the area of chamber music guitar
l outstanding pedagogical and didactic competence
l artistic experience in dealing with contemporary music
l gender competence

Please note that under GZ 39/17 the 50% position of a university professor for guitar has been Sonatina After a Concerto
achieved to run at the same time with the above university professorship. Qualified persons Stephen Goss
with the appropriate professional competence are also invited to apply for this second position. Doberman-Yppan, 24 pp.
In the case of a successful appointment, it is possible to sign a fulltime contractual employment
relationship combining both positions. In this case, the collective contractual monthly salary
will be a minimum of 4,891.10 € brutto (14x annually) and this sum can also be increased by Challenging set looks back at
agreement.
earlier Concerto
Interested candidates with the appropriate qualifications are invited to submit their written
application before the September 18th, 2017 in a PDF-file by e-mail to: bewerbung-UProf@
Stephen Goss’ music has been performed
kug.ac.at using the identification number GZ 40/17. If necessary, sound recordings or DVDs by a multitude of players, and his is a
can be sent by regular post. success story that many composers wish
Further information can be found on: they could emulate. This Sonatina, which
www.csc-kug.at/jobinfo/kug.html On behalf of the rectorate
Elisabeth Freismuth is actually a reworking of his Concerto for
Guitar, is in three movements (written
as separate commissions), each named
after a place in London: “The Circle Line,”
“Marylebone,” and “Canary Wharf.”
“Circle Line” mixes and matches three
contrasting musical ideas presented cycli-
cally—“Bold and Bright,” full of brash
University Professorship for Guitar strums with campanella passages in
The University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Institute for String Instruments, is offering a between (a feature of this whole work),
position most likely beginning with the academic year 2018/19 for a University Professorship for “Lyrical and Tender,” the briefest of the
Guitar based on § 98 of the Universities Act and § 25 of the collective agreement for university three, and finally “Sparkling,” which races
employees, in the form of a parttime contractual position with an extent of employment of
50% of a fulltime contractual position for an indefinite period. It is possible to agree to an around in 16th notes leading to a cadenza
overpayment of the minimum monthly salary, which has been determined by the collective before a strummed section heads back into
agreement and which at present is 2.445,55 € brutto (14 payments annually).
Tasks and activities related to the position are
the opening for a fortissimo close.
l teaching in the main artistic subject in the study area of Instrument: Guitar as well as “Marylebone Elegy” is an homage to
InstrumentalPedagogy Edward Elgar in memory of guitarist Rich-
l willingness to participate actively in the further development of the university’s teaching and
learning culture, and its artistic and scientific public presence ard Hand, and is partly on two staves, to
l willingness to contribute actively to academic organization, administration and evaluation
bring the melody into high relief, accom-
duties
panied by gentle melancholy chords and
Specific Employment Requirements
l international concert activity as a soloist secondary melodies.
l international networking with other colleagues as well as with other universities
“Canary Wharf” is brash, and again
l outstanding pedagogical and didactic competence
l experience with contemporary music and in the area of chamber music begins with multiple strummed passages
l gender competence that recall the traditional canarios in a
Please note that under GZ 40/17 the 50% position of a university professor for chamber music 20th-century musical style. A slower sec-
guitar has been achieved to run at the same time with the above university professorship.
Qualified persons with the appropriate professional competence are also invited to apply for tion, marked “Gently Flowing” provides a
this second position. In the case of a successful appointment, it is possible to sign a fulltime momentary break from the mayhem before
contractual employment relationship combining both positions. In this case, the collective
contractual monthly salary will be a minimum of 4,891.10 € brutto (14x annually) and this sum the opening ideas return and the whole
can also be increased by agreement. piece finishes with a fortissimo strummed
Interested candidates with the appropriate qualifications are invited to submit their written section, a huge tremolando glissando, and
application before the September 18th, 2017 in a PDF-file by e-mail to: bewerbung-UProf@
kug.ac.at using the identification number GZ 39/17. If necessary, sound recordings or DVDs a sforzando chord to close.
can be sent by regular post. This piece is very difficult to play, but
Further information can be found on: very successful in what it tries to achieve,
www.csc-kug.at/jobinfo/kug.html On behalf of the rectorate
Elisabeth Freismuth and many people will love this work. —CD

70 Fall 2017
 COME WITH US TO

NEW DATES ADDED!

MARCH 10-17, 2018

We invite you to experience the music and
culture of Cuba in a way few have before.

From Havana to Cienfuegos to Trinidad...

Trip highlights include:

Spend the evening at Private performance and

Café Madrigal lecture on Cuban Music

Discussion and performance City tour of Cienfuegos

with La Reina y la Real

Behind the scenes art tour Rum and cigar tasting

FOR MORE INFORMATION & TO REGISTER, VISIT

CLASSICALGUITARMAGAZINE.COM/CUBA
 STAGE
SHARON
rammy award–winning classical guitar-
ist Sharon Isbin, founder of the guitar
department at Juilliard, opened this
ISBIN &
year’s New York Guitar Festival at WNYC 93.9 FM
Radio’s Greene Space this past May with a two-
hour evening concert of solo and duo pieces per-
STUDENTS formed with three of her graduate students, Colin
Davin, Tengyue Zhang, and Alberta Khoury. The
event was broadcast live on the New Sounds pro-
OPEN NY gram with host John Schaefer, who conducted
onstage interviews with each of the performers
before a live audience packed inside the high-tech
FESTIVAL glass fish-bowl studio, visible to all passersby on
Charlton Street in the Tribeca area of Manhattan.
Isbin tuned her guitar and launched straight-
away, without preamble, into a languid rendition of
Colin Davin, Miguel Llobet’s transcription of Enrique Granados’
Tengyue Zhang, and Spanish Dance #5 (Andaluza). She imbued another
Alberta Khoury show Iberian-flavored audience favorite, Francisco
their brilliance, too Tárrega’s elegantly Moorish Capricho árabe, with
BY JULIA CROWE her distinctively sweet tonal palette. Her solo por-
72 Fall 2017
Isbin with Colin Davin
tion of the program closed with the exuberantly
tricky, swirling dance rhythms of Waltz Opus 8, #4
by Agustín Barrios Mangoré, which culminated in
a dramatic full-stop finish.
When Schaefer asked Isbin how she had come
to study the guitar, she explained to the audience
that when she was nine years old, her father’s
work relocated their family to Varese, Italy, and
there she took up the guitar lessons that her
brother had abandoned. She did so out of duty,
initially, because her parents had gone to the
trouble to invest in a custom-built guitar. “Some-
one had to play that guitar,” she said. The rest is
history.
She also told the story of encountering the
Pulitzer Prize–winning composer John Corigliano
standing in line at the local post office and how
she finally persuaded him, after many years, to
write her a set of pieces. All she had to do was
fulfill his rather Rumpelstiltskin-like request of
procuring a theme that did not fall into what he
JULIA CROWE PHOTO
felt was the guitar’s dreaded trope of Span- of sonorous dynamics, effortless technical pulsive arcs, which Khoury played with
ish music. Isbin succeeded by proposing skill, and considerable artistry. [Editor’s expressive ease and sensitivity.
that he write music for her based on the note: Zhang was the first-prize winner of To close the program, Khoury and
compositions of the medieval French trou- the 2017 Guitar Foundation of America’s Zhang brought the house down with their
badours, and this became the title of both International Concert Artist Competition show-stopping performance of Cuban
the piece published by G. Schirmer, Trou- in Fullerton, California. See page 10.] composer Ariannys Mariño’s “Parantesis”
badours (Variations for Guitar and Chamber Alberta Khoury of Sydney, Australia, from 5 duos for 2 guitars, and the dizzy-
Orchestra), and her 2014 biographical film the last soloist of the evening, performed ingly exuberant “Chiquinhua Gonzaga”
documentary, Troubadour. two movements from Leo Brouwer’s El from Radamés Gnattali’s Suite Retratos.
Isbin and her student Colin Davin per- Decameron Negro: “L’arpa del Guerrero” Demonstrating a breathtaking adroitness
formed Gentil Montaña’s traditional Colom- and “La Huida de los Amantes por el Valle and joyful musicality, the guitarists made
bian dance from his Suite Colombiana No. de los Ecos.” The piece, originally written it abundantly clear that they should con-
2, “Porro,” a lively, airy, swinging piece. for Sharon Isbin, swells in dramatic, pro- tinue to perform together as a duo. CG
Davin’s playing complemented Isbin’s with
considerable ease and expressiveness.
Davin, who teaches at the Cleveland Insti-
tute and the Baldwin Wallace Conserva-
tory in Ohio, appeared three years ago on
The Late Show with David Letterman as a
musical guest along with soprano Jessye
Norman.
Next, the duo played the thematic music
that film composer Howard Shore had writ-
ten for Isbin to record in the soundtrack for
Scorsese’s film The Departed, titled Three
Pieces for Two Guitars: “Madolyn,” “Beacon
Cultivating the next generation of
Hill,” and “The Departed Tango.” It was a world-class musicians
treat to hear this beautiful music performed
in this setting because in the film it is pre-
sented very subtly and takes a back seat to
the action. The duo closed their portion of
the program with Aranjuez, ma pensée, the
lovely adagio theme from Rodrigo’s famous
Concierto de Aranjuez.
Davin performed a solo piece, “Airs,”
written by the admittedly “guitar-averse”
American composer Mohammed Fairouz. It
fit the lexicon of most contemporary, intel-
lectual music written for the instrument,
full of fast and slow angular passages, with
a randomly plonking bass line and requi-
site spanking of the soundboard. To his
credit, however, Davin has the distinct abil-
ity to wring the depths of expressiveness
from all that he plays.
Jonathan Schaefer introduced Chi-
nese-born guitarist Tengyue Zhang by his
nickname of “TY,” and he took to the stage GUITAR FACULTY
to play a solo set that included the second Lawrence Ferrara
movement from Leo Brouwer’s Afro-Cuban Judicaël Perroy
Rito de los Orishas, the “Danza de las diosas David Tanenbaum chair, Guitar Ensemble director
negras” (“Dance of the black goddesses”), Marc Teicholz
SFCM welcomes Judicaël Perroy
filled with dark, resonant rhythms. Zhang Richard Savino baroque guitar, lute to its faculty
followed this piece with the busily beau-
Home of the historic and rare guitars
tiful third movement from Sérgio Assad’s
of the Harris Guitar Foundation
Aquarelle, entitled “Preludio e Toccatina.”
As the first few of Zhang’s plucked notes
unfurled, it was clear that he is a power-
house of a guitarist who projects a range 800.899.SFCM sfcm.edu

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 73
 TOOLS OF THE TRADE
MARCHIONE
hen I crack open a shipping car-
ton and pull out a lightweight Bam
hardshell case to reveal a freshly
completed Marchione classical guitar, I’m
CLASSICAL
struck right away by how refined and luxu-
rious the instrument is. Its perfectly applied
French polish feels exquisitely smooth
and amplifies the color and texture of the
woods in an exciting way. A few scalar runs
Guitar making and arpeggios reveal that the instrument’s
at the highest level voice is equally dazzling. It’s rich and
BY ADAM PERLMUTTER warm, confident and projective—exactly
how a serious concert guitar should sound.
Stephen Marchione, the expert luthier
behind the instrument, has been building
for three decades. In his Houston, Texas,
workshop he makes not just classical
guitars, but steel-strings, archtops, and
electrics, and, having studied with violin
maker Guy Rabut, the occasional violin.
Marchione’s mastery of all of these
instruments—with their different
means of sound production—is
impressive.
FINELY CRAFTED
Marchione makes a classical
guitar that’s firmly rooted in the
Spanish tradition—built in the
solera, face down and with
integral neck support—
and it has the custom-
ary 650-millimeter scale
length fretboard. The
luthier used a time-honored
tonewood combination—a
Swiss spruce soundboard, with
Madagascar rosewood back
and sides, and a Spanish cedar
neck—and clearly procured a
top-shelf set in terms of sonic and
visual beauty.
The woods are complemented by
Marchione’s restrained decorative
flourishes. The elegant rosette, of his
own design, is inspired by artwork
decorating the Alhambra in Granada,
Spain. (The same artwork informs the
shape of the headstock.) A bloodwood
motif on the rosette is artfully echoed
in the purfling, a layer of the headstock
veneer, and even in the coloring of the top
three strings of the D’Addario composite
set that Marchione prefers on his classical
guitars.
Superlative is an accurate word to
describe the build-quality of the guitar,
74 Fall 2017
which Marchione assembled with hide glue
throughout. It’s evident that the luthier
sweated every detail. He was exacting with
the fretwork and the shaping and slotting of
the nut and saddle; he was just as fastidious
with the inlay work as he was with the brac-
ing assembly and other interior aspects.
A BRILLIANT AND BROAD VOICE
While cutting his teeth as a luthier in New
York City in the late 1980s and early ’90s,
Marchione got to know hundreds of fine
classical and flamenco guitars. Those he
found most satisfying to play had stream-
lined necks, so he keeps this in mind when
carving the profile on a new blank.
The review model has a sleek neck
and plays like a dream. The neck’s shape
seems to reduce stress on the fret-
ting-hand thumb, making it comfortable to
work barre chords for extended stretches.
A perfect low action also contributed to
the playability, and the guitar actually felt
performance enhancing: I could play more
fluidly, and at greater velocity, than usual.
What jumped out to me about the gui-
tar’s sound is its remarkable consistency.
There are no dull spots on the neck; the
notes were uniformly clear and loud from
string to string, and from the first fret to
the 19th. The natural harmonics at frets 5,
7, 12, and even 4 and 9, sparkled brilliantly,
and the intonation was perfectly true.
Given its sonic evenness, its resonance,
and dynamic range, the guitar could cover
a wide range of stylistic territory. It’s just as
satisfying to run through a J.S. Bach prelude
as it is a portion of Luciano Berio’s Sequenza
XI. The former piece benefits from the Mar-
chione’s clarity, while the latter makes good
use of its impressive headroom.
Idioms outside of the classical tradition
also work nicely on the guitar. It’s a great
tool for gentle bossa-nova accompaniment
and relaxed country-and-western soloing,
in the manner of Willie Nelson. (Judging
by the wear that Nelson has placed on his
famous Martin nylon-string, it’s horrifying
to think about a Marchione being sub-
jected to similar treatment.)
There are plenty of great instrument
options, both new and vintage, for the
serious concert guitarist. Commissioning
a new Marchione is expensive, but if our
review model is any indication, the luthier
is building beautiful guitars from beautiful
woods—at the highest level. CG
MARCHIONE CLASSICAL (AS REVIEWED)
BODY Swiss spruce soundboard;
Madagascar rosewood back and sides;
French polish finish
NECK Spanish cedar neck; ebony fretboard;
650 mm scale length; 53 mm nut; Sloan tuners
EXTRAS D’Addario EJ45C Pro-Arté Composite,
Normal Tension; Bam Hightech Classical
hardshell case
PRICE $15,000 (as tested)
Made in the USA. marchione.com

ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 75
 TOOLS OF THE TRADE

RAMÍREZ
GUITARRA
DEL TIEMPO
A top-quality option
for the price
BY ADAM PERLMUTTER

amírez—whose instru-
ments have been played
by everyone from Andrés
Segovia to Chet Atkins—is one of the
most celebrated names in lutherie.
This Spanish guitar dynasty began in
1882, when the freshly apprenticed
guitar maker José Ramírez I opened
a workshop at Concepción Jerónima
No. 2, in Madrid.
Five generations and more than
135 years later, Amalia Ramírez,
daughter of José Ramírez III, presides
over the company while instructing
her apprentice niece and nephew,
Cristina and José Enrique.
For many players, own-
ing an instrument made in
Ramírez’s workshop—cost-
ing in the five-figure range—
is well out of reach. Luckily
for cost-sensitive players,
Ramírez also offers its
Studio line, a series of
relatively affordable
guitars that the com-
pany has been out-
sourcing to other
Spanish shops. The
latest addition to
the Studio lineup
is the Guitarra
del Tiempo,
which is a ter-
rific instrument
in all aspects,
with a modest
price tag.

76 Fall 2017
RICHLY VOICED
The Guitarra del Tiempo—the name trans-
lates as “guitar of the time,” a reference
to Ramírez’s long history—is the succes-
sor to the popular 130 Años anniversary
model. It is a traditional offering, with a
cedar soundboard (spruce is optional)
and Indian rosewood back and sides—all
solid—and a 650-millimeter scale length
fretboard.
The first thing I notice about the
Guitarra del Tiempo, aside from its intox-
icating smell, is its impressive sustain.
Whether I play open strings, fretted notes,
or natural harmonics, the notes hang in the
air for a long time. The guitar feels quite
powerful and projective, perhaps because
of its newly enhanced top bracing, and it
has an obviously wide dynamic range.
Overall, the Guitarra del Tiempo’s voice
is warm and lush, with a beautiful round-
ness to notes in all registers. The trebles
are clear and singing, and the bass is richly
present but not overpowering. Whether I
run through Damien Aribert’s “Nin-Nin,” a
bossa nova–inspired piece presented in
the Summer 2017 issue, or an arrangement
of a John Dowland lute piece, the guitar
endorsed
by
the
LAGQ
"...exceptionally well-constructed
and intelligently designed
instruments for young players.”
“A highly affordable guitar..."
(LAGQ)
USA & Canada Distributors
feels inspiring to play.
With its shallow rounded neck and
comfortable action, it’s also a breeze to
play—all regions of the neck and barre
chords included.
BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED
AND BUILT
The Guitarra del Tiempo has not just a
handsome voice, but an attractive appear-
ance as well. The review model had a lovely
set of woods: tightly grained cedar, with no
visual defects, and quartersawn rosewood
with the deepest chocolate coloration. The
floral motif used on the rosette and echoed
on the bridge’s tie block is a nice flourish,
as are the fine red and green definition
lines on the purfling.
My only complaint has nothing to do
with the craftsmanship of the guitar and
isn’t a deal-breaker, but the Ping tuners did
not have smooth tuning action, and this
was especially noticeable when I tuned the
sixth-string down to D.
Elsewhere, the guitar is very well built.
Its gloss finish is buffed perfectly and feels
unobtrusive. The bone nut and saddle are
perfectly notched, and the frets bear no
The Musicians’
Company
NEA
www.wcom.org.uk/new-elizabethan-award
roughness at their edges. Inside, the brac-
ing and lining were attended to with similar
care and attention.
The Guitarra del Tiempo was clearly
designed as a top-quality option for the
intermediate or advanced student, and it
excels in this capacity. But with its sono-
rous voice and easy playability, this fine
Spanish-made guitar would not be out
of place in the concert hall or recording
studio. CG
RAMÍREZ GUITARRA
DEL TIEMPO
BODY Cedar soundboard (as reviewed);
Indian rosewood back and sides; gloss
polyurethane finish
NECK Cedar neck; ebony fretboard; 650
mm scale length; 52 mm nut; gold open-
gear Ping tuners with ivoroid buttons
EXTRAS Augustine Regal strings; TKL
hardshell case
PRICE $2,284 (street)
Made in Spain
goldtonemusicgroup.com/joseramirez
New
Elizabethan
Award
2019
A major biennial award for classical
guitarists and lutenists for the
performance of solo and/or ensemble
music by composers from the two
Elizabethan ages.
Eligibility: participants in the inaugural 2019 award
must have been born on or after 1st January 1987
Deadline for receipt of applications:
30th April 2018
Selection Round: 6th July 2018 at the Royal Academy
of Music, London
Showcase Concert: 9th February 2019 at
Wigmore Hall
Value of the award: £15,000, including concerts at
prestigious venues in the UK and other career-enhanc-
ing opportunities
ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 77
 FESTIVALS & COMPETITIONS

AUGUST 19–24
26th West Dean International Classical
Guitar and Summer School
West Dean, West Sussex, England
At West Dean College: concerts, technique
classes, lectures, master classes,
workshops, and lessons. Tutors include
Amanda Cook, Trond Davidsen, festival
director Andrew Gough, Liz Larner, Vincent
Lindsey-Clark, Craig Ogden, and Pavel
Steidl. Performances by Steidl, Lindsey-
Clark, Gaëlle Solal, and the Katona Twins.
Sauble Beach Guitar
westdean.org.uk/study/short-courses/
courses/cg7172-west-dean-international- AUGUST 22–25
classical-guitar-festival-2017 Sauble Beach Guitar
Festival
AUGUST 21–27 Sauble Beach,
27th International Ontario, Canada
Vienna Guitar Forum In a beautiful setting
Vienna, Austria on picturesque Lake
Courses, concerts, lectures, competitions, Huron: classes,
luthier exhibitions. Concerts at historic lessons, seminars, and
Grosser Ehrbar Saal. Teachers and concerts featuring
Denis Azabagic performers include Gerard Abiton, Denis the Azuline Duo,
Azabagic, Marcin Dylla, Hans-Werner Jeffrey McFadden,
Huppertz, Thomas Offermann, Jorgos Thomas Viloteau, and
Panetsos, Alvaro Pierri, Andreas de Vitis, Miodrag Zerdoner.
and more. forum-gitarre.at saubleguitarfest.com

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CLASSICALGUITARMAGAZINE.COM/NEWSLETTER

78 Fall 2017
SEPTEMBER 14–17
University of Louisville Guitar Festival
and Competition
Louisville, Kentucky
Solo Artist and Youth competitions,
workshops, master classes, concert
series. Artists/clinicians include Ricardo
Cobo, 2016 GFA winner Xavier Jara,
2016 U of L Fest solo winner Ilie Dragos,
San Francisco Guitar Quartet, Stephen
Mattingly (Fest director).
louisville.edu/music/guitarfest
SEPTEMBER 25–30
International Guitar Competition
Michele Pittaluga
Alessandria, Italy
This important competition (now in
its 50th edition!) in northwest Italy
always draws top talent. Birthdate limit
is January 1, 1984. This year’s artistic
director is Marco Tamayo. Entries must be
in by August 31. Pittaluga.org
OCTOBER 6–8
Florida Guitar Festival & Competition
Tallahassee, Florida
On the campus of Florida State University,
open and youth competitions, plus
concerts, lectures. Artists include Adam
Holzman, Andrew Zohn, Bruce Holzman,
Stephen Robinson, Akerman-Teixeira Duo.
floridaguitarfestival.wordpress.com

SEPTEMBER 22–24
La Guitarra California
San Luis Obispo, California
Wonderful biennial fest features nine “The London Guitar Studio is an oasis in London
concerts, five masterclasses, vendor for all guitarists and for me personally,
fair, guitar auction, and guitar art show.
it’s always
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ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 79
 FESTIVALS & COMPETITIONS
OCTOBER 14–21
Festival del la Guitarra de Sevilla
Seville, Spain
Three competitions: International solo,
flamenco, and composition for solo
guitar. Lectures, master classes, concerts.
Artists include Kiyoshi Shomura, Shinichi
Fukuda, Zoran Dukic, Francisco Bernier,
Martha Masters, Judicael Perroy, Marko
Topchii, and more.
guitartfestivalsevilla.com
NOVEMBER 3–5
Big Guitar Weekend
Glasgow, Scotland
A celebration of guitar at the Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland. Concert series
features Otto Tolonen, Ian Watt, José
Antonio Escobar, and students from all
the UK’s conservatories. Those guitarists
and RCS faculty offer a course, and there’s
a school ensemble competition.
facebook.com/bigguitarweekend

OCTOBER 28–29 NOVEMBER 6–11

Indiana International Guitar Festival and
Competition
Bloomington, Indiana
The 8th annual competition at the
prestigious Jacobs School of Music
at the University of Indiana. Two full
days of competition in Open, Senior
Iliana Matos Youth, and Junior Youth divisions, plus
master classes and guest recitals with
Iliana Matos (Cuba) and Fabio Zanon
(Brazil). More than $9,000 in prize money
dispersed among Open and Senior Youth
competitors. Competition rules and
registration: blogs.music.indiana.edu/
guitarfestival/
Budapest International Guitar
Competition
Budapest, Hungary
€5000 top prize in this relatively recent
competition (first held in 2014), which
has been drawing strong players to
the beautiful and historic Ferenc Liszt
Academy of Music. Players must have
been born after Jan. 1, 1985 to compete.
budapestguitar.com

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ClassicalGuitarMagazine.com 81
 THE BACK PAGE

19TH CENTURY WOMEN COMPOSERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

CLOCKWISE: Agathe Backer-Grøndahl,
Luise Adolpha LeBeau, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel,
Clara Wieck-Schumann
T
here are relatively few women
composers who have made a
mark on classical music of any
kind through the ages; in guitar they
are practically nonexistent until the
20th century, and it is still a rarity in
what has always been a heavily male-
dominated field. Ryan Marquardt, a
student of the University of Missouri
working toward his bachelor’s degree in
guitar performance, tells us, “One day it
clicked in my mind: there is virtually no
historical music by women for guitar.
That seemed like such a shortcoming
in our repertory and something that I
could actually do something about, al-
beit indirectly.”
What he’s done is self-published a
valuable new book called Women Com-
posers of the 19th Century Arranged for
Guitar Quartet, for which he took four
piano works and one string quartet by
four women composers from the Ro-
mantic era, and devised guitar settings
for them. Two of the composers are
fairly well-known by virtue of their re-
lationship to famous male composers:
Clara Wieck-Schumann (1819–1896)
was the wife of Robert Schumann, and
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805–
1847) was the older sister of Felix
Mendelssohn-Hensel. Luise Adolpha
LeBeau (1850–1927) “achieved relative-
ly strong success for a woman of the
time, particularly given the fact that she
did not come from a family with a mu-
sical background,” Marquardt writes in
the short biographical profile that pre-
cedes his transcription of the second
movement of her String Quartet, Op.
34. The fourth is Norwegian composer
and pianist Agathe Backer-Grøndahl,
represented by five short pieces from
a multi-part work called Fantasistykker,
Op. 39, which Marquardt says is blend
of German Romantic, Norwegian folk,
and even some Impressionist elements.
Marquardt says that in researching
the lives of these composers he was
surprised to learn “how well-connected
many on these women were. It is rela-
tively known that Clara Schumann had
plenty of contact with the day’s leading
figures, along with her husband and
their colleague Johannes Brahms. And
Agathe Baker Grøndahl was around Ed-
vard Grieg, George Bernard Shaw, Franz
Liszt, and many others.”
Asked how he managed to track
down the pieces in the collection,
Marquardt says, “Fortunately, I was able
to start with some of the work by Sylvia
Glickman and Martha Furman Schleifer
in their collection  Women Composers:
Music Through the Ages; and  also [Ven-
ezuelan pianist] Rosario Marciano’s re-
cordings [of Grøndahl]. I was able to get
access to the music from libraries, and
in some cases order the music from Ger-
man publisher Furore Verlag. Hildegard
Publishing company is another good
source for people looking for women
composers.”
Any disappointments along the way?
“Not really a disappointment, but more
of a roadblock perhaps: I had originally
wanted to arrange the whole Sonata in G
minor by Clara Schumann, but the many
wide-ranging arpeggios made it imprac-
tical, so only the second movement,
Adagio, made it into the book.”
At 156 pages, which includes the
full quartet and individual part scores,
plus the informative biographies and
Marquardt’s performance notes before
each piece, this is a substantial volume
that is certain to shed new light on an
overlooked sector of the music world.
“It’s about bringing recognition to these
composers and expanding the classi-
cal guitar’s repertory,” the author told
his hometown newspaper in St. Joseph,
Missouri. “Historically, women were not
really allowed to compose. It was a men’s
profession and it was thought that [only]
men had the creative and artistic abilities
to create great music.” Books such as this
put the lie to that sexist notion.
To purchase the book, go to
amzn.to/2uehi2M —Blair Jackson

Classical Guitar (ISSN – 0950-429X, USPS# - 17279) is published quarterly by String Letter Publishing, Inc., 501 Canal Blvd., Suite J,
Richmond, CA 94804. Periodical postage paid at Richmond, CA 94804 and additional mailing offices. Printed in the USA. Postmaster:
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82 Fall 2017
 Alí Arango
INTERNATIONAL AWARD WINNING
CLASSICAL GUITAR PLAYER / COMPOSER

MadeinSpain
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