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 GUITAR
2009
CLASSICAL
Editorial Consultant:
Colin Cooper
Features Editor:
Guy Traviss
Reviews Editor:
Tim Panting
Music Editor:
MARCH

Neil Smith
Managing Editor:
Maurice J. Summerfield
News Editor:
VOLUME 27, No.7 Thérèse Wassily Saba

PHOTO: DARIA DYLLA

4 Editorial
5 Classical Guitar News – Compiled by Thérèse Wassily Saba
8 Events, Festivals and Competitions
10 Concert Diary
11 Marcin Dylla – Interviewed by Colin Cooper
17 Carlos Martinez – by Sabastián Domínguez
20 Aalborg International Guitar Festival – by Paul Fowles Marcin Dylla – page 11.
23 Obituary – Lukas Foss (1922-2009) – by Colin Cooper
24 20th Wirral International Guitar Festival – by Paul Fowles
27 The Ivor Mairants Guitar Award 2008
28 Obituary – Charles Camilleri (1931-2009) – by Graham Wade
30 Andrew Rutherford – by Theodore Diehl-Peshkur
36 Concert Reviews
38 Book Reviews
39 Music Reviews
44 CD Reviews
48 DVD Reviews
50 Composers: Who needs them? –
Conference report by Thérèse Wassily Saba
54 Views from Everywhere – Compiled by Thérèse Wassily Saba
56 Gruppetto
57 Letter from New York – by Julia Crowe
59 Letters to the Editor
60 Classical Guitar Teachers
61 Classical Guitar Societies
COVER PHOTO: STANISLAW MARKOWSKI BECKY STAROBIN

Contributors:
Julia Crowe, Lawrence Del Casale , Zbigniew Dubiella, Paul Fowles,
Allan Clive Jones, Paul Magnussen, Oliver McGhie, Jorge Morel,
Matanya Ophee, Danielle Ribouillault, David Russell, Carlos Martinez – page 17.
Maria Isabel Siewers, Rico Stover, Maurice J. Summerfield,
Graham Wade, William Yeoman, Luis Zea.
Reviewers:
John Arran, Jane Bentley, Vladislav Blaha, Colin Cooper,
Julia Crowe, Chris Dumigan, Lorraine Eastwood, Paul Fowles,
Sandra Hambleton-Smith, Derek Hasted, Harvey Hope, Allan Clive Jones,
Linda Kelsall-Barnett, Stephen Kenyon, Steve Marsh, Emma Martinez,
Oliver McGhie, Tim Panting, Danielle Ribouillault, Neil Smith,
Thérèse Wassily Saba, William Yeoman, Fabio Zanon.
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Classical Guitar Magazine 3

EDITORIAL
‘TONALITY is dead’, declared Schoenberg. He prob- usage and seeing an exponential growth in a group
ably believed it at the time. So powerful was his of ‘friends’ that seems to be taking on a life of its
sense of the rightness of his cause that he could not own. We are talking about guitarists from almost
imagine that the ‘corpse’ would ever sit up and everywhere and for me to ‘meet’ them on an individ-
breathe again. ual basis, in ‘real’ time, would be impossible. The
His declaration irritated and alienated many peo- beauty of Facebook is that it is not something loom-
ple. In three words he had, by implication, accused ing grim reaper-like over the printed word and,
the huge majority of music lovers of necrophilia, of more importantly, Classical Guitar Magazine; its
unnatural congress with the dead. But composers relationship is symbiotic, and I will draw readers’
and painters tend to talk like that. They are cre- attention to a recent musical experience there which
ators, not consumers; they have an entirely differ- was exhilarating enough to make the hair on my
ent attitude. arms bristle. A guitarist I’d not heard before,
Most of us believe that good music, of whatever Cristiano Porqueddu (b.1975), appeared in a recital
age, can never die. It only waits for resuscitation by clip, playing the music of Angelo Gilardino; in all my
skilled interpreters, of the sort who issue from experience of listening to live classical guitar music,
musical academies year after year, equipped with Angelo’s music has not been a common feature in
enough technical and mental ability to breathe new concert programmes. After watching and listening
life into the music of the past - and the past, let’s to CP play, quite brilliantly, Jondo, and ‘Toccata’
not forget, is a vast period of time, beginning last from Tombeau de Maurice Ravel, I am convinced
week. Even Beethoven’s music is now regarded as that this revered composer’s exciting works are due
ancient. There are people living who were born with- for inclusion into recitalist’s repertoire as much
in a century of Beethoven’s death: they too must Brouwer’s. The clip of Porqueddu was originally
accept their description of ancient. But in that case, posted on YouTube but I discovered it on Facebook.
what do you call someone who lived a thousand The picture and audio quality is rarely perfect, espe-
years ago? Two thousand? A million? Longer? cially on the small screen of a laptop, but the elec-
Prehistoric, perhaps, though that’s not enough to tric atmosphere in this example in what appears to
describe millions of years of human life. To young be a church is a wonder to behold.
people of 18, anyone older than 40 is prehistoric. TIM PANTING
Words aren’t adequate to describe the history of
humanity.
In this context, the guitar music of someone like
Barrios does not seem quite so old as the harmony
often suggests. It flourishes within a wide spectrum
that includes Hildegarde of Bingen, Monteverdi,
Dowland, Bach, Schubert, Brahms, Wagner,
Debussy, Schoenberg himself, Britten, Cage,
Maxwell Davis and Adams, as diverse a collection as
you could wish for. To criticise any member of it for
not conforming to the ideals and principles of one or
more of the others is futile.
We don’t know how guitar music is going to devel-
op in this rich landscape. The guitar has its own
rules, seldom conforming to any other ideal or prin-
ciple. The future, as always, remains unknown ter-
ritory. Schoenberg must have known that.
COLIN COOPER

THE phenomenon of Facebook, which seems to

have risen inexorably to the top of the pile of social
networking sites on the internet, is something that
people seem to love or hate. It is hard to find an
indifferent response to something that has linked so
many individuals on such a spectacular scale. As
with YouTube, which has proved beyond doubt to be
one of the most useful reference sites for rare film
and music clips, otherwise near impossible to find
on the ground, Facebook is alive with musicians,
having fun with each other but also on a much more
practical level, sharing ideas, showing video footage
and announcing forthcoming events. As a tool for
keeping a metaphoric ear to the ground I have found
it indispensable. If I had a free pass to travel at will
around the globe, staying where I wanted, welcomed
by all I stumbled across, then I might eschew the
cyber concept, but that happening has similar odds
to winning the lottery so I am gradually refining my

4 Classical Guitar Magazine

 CLASSICAL GUITAR NEWS COMPILED BY THÉRÈSE WASSILY SABA
John Williams’ transcriptions

John Williams has just launched a

website where he will be putting his
own compositions and transcriptions
for people to download for free.
Speaking about the website, in a
recent interview, soon to be published
in Classical Guitar in full, he said: ‘The
first piece I’m going to put on is Hello
Francis because a lot of people want
that and I might follow that with a
couple of the others, like Prelude to a
Song. Certainly during the middle of
this year, I’m going to put the arrange-
ment I do of the Vivaldi Concerto in D
which is a piece people hear me play
in concerts. The arrangement is based

PHOTO: THÉRÈSE WASSILY SABA

on Bach’s version for solo harpsichord
of the same piece. The two main pieces
are going to be that and Granados’s
Valses Poeticos.’
I asked him about the exciting fact
that it will be free to download his
scores, and he explained: ‘When you
publish music with music publishers,
the arranger, or the transcriber or even John Williams.
the composer sometimes, if a piece National Youth Guitar Ensemble
sells for £10 for example, they might
get 80 pence or something like that. The National Youth Guitar Ensemble
But that costs £10 in today’s econom- has reported a very healthy response to
ic circumstances, even before the lat- their call for auditions and had to
est crises, and for a young student in organise an extra date to accommodate
Indonesia or in Kenya or in Nigeria, it’s the increasing number of applications.
impossible. A lot of them get photo- It is open to guitarists aged 13–18 of at
copies when they can but a lot of them least Grade 5 Distinction standard. The
simply can’t afford it and don’t have
the music at all. Now the least I can do,
after a long time of playing concerts
and having a very nice life, thank you
very much, is to provide music which
they can get hold of for nothing. If a
performer, like a solo guitarist wants to
make a CD or perform it in public, the
usual rules of copyright apply; they
have to pay copyright for that sort of
reproduction, but with the sheet
music, for the sake of me getting an
extra 80 pence, it gives me much more
pleasure that someone in Nigeria or
Kenya or wherever, maybe here, in
Wigan or Hull, if they want that piece
of music, can easily have a copy of it.’
It will be a non-response website, that
is, it is not for correspondence. Please
watch this news column for details of
the website address!
Classical Guitar Magazine
NYGE with Musical ՈÌ>ÀiÊˆvvÕȜ˜Ê«ÀiÃi˜ÌÃÊ°°°
Director, Gerald Garcia
have planned two resi-
dential courses this year
in April (Easter course at
Quorn, Leicestershire)
and August (part of the
World Youth Guitar
Festival, Cheltenham).
Please see Events &
Festivals.
They have recently
released their first CD
called Festive Fizz and
have some concerts lined
up for 2009 featuring
guest artist British gui- iiÌÊÕÃʜ˜Ê̅iÊÜiLÊt
tarist Carl Herring (for- ÜÜÜ°}ՈÌ>Ài‡`ˆvvÕȜ˜°Vœ“
mer NYGE member and Uʓ>`iÊLÞÊ}ՈÌ>ÀˆÃÌÃÊ°°°ÊvœÀÊ̅iÊ}ՈÌ>ÀˆÃÌÃÊU
prize winner of the
ÎÊvœÀʜÕÀÊvÀiiʘiÜÏiÌÌiÀ
“>ˆJ}ՈÌ>Ài‡`ˆvvÕȜ˜°Vœ“
Julian Bream Prize and
5
 Ivor Mairants Award).
Please see Concert Diary.
For more information on
the National Youth
Guitar Ensemble, contact:
Coordinator, Liz Larner,
tel. 0773 683 9134.
www.egta.co.uk/content/nyge
Cem Durouz
London debut
The Turkish guitarist
Cem Durouz will give his
London debut recital at
the Purcell Room on
Monday 16 March 2009
at 7.45pm. His pro-
gramme includes two
Cem Durouz.
contemporary Turkish
pieces by Koral Sazli and Berkir
Kucukay, works by the baroque com-
poser Marin Marais, Durouz’s own
arrangements of several Balkan and
Turkish dances, such as Boslak,
Yuksek Yuksek Tepelere, Sultanniyegah
Sirto and works from the classical and
traditional Turkish repertoire of the
17th and 18th centuries, as well as
some of Durouz’s arrangements of Astor
Piazzolla’s tangos.
The concert is being presented by the
Latin American and Caribbean Cultural
Society (LACCS), in collaboration with
the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey.
For tickets, tel. 0871 663 2500.
Future LACCS concerts are of the
Paganini Duo, an Ecuadorian duo of
violinist Jorge Saade Scarfe and gui-
tarist Julio Almeida, 29 June 2009
with music from Paganini to the
Andes.
New Britten edition
Boosey and Hawkes have
recently published a new
arrangement by Julian
Bream of Benjamin
Britten’s The Second Lute
Song of the Earl of Essex,
from Gloriana, for voice
and guitar. The arrange-
ment of a song from
Britten’s 1953 opera
Gloriana dates from
1957. It was recorded by
Peter Pears and Julian
Bream and was often
included in their recital
programmes. This is the
first time that the
arrangement has been
6 Classical Guitar Magazine
published; Julian Bream has applied
minor revisions for this publication.
Micheli & Mela
The Italian duo of Lorenzo Micheli and
Matteo Mela have just released their
first early music album on the theorbo
and baroque guitar, playing Andrea
Falconieri’s La suave Melodia, 1650
with Massimo Lonardi on archlute (CD
Stradivarius 33781).
Matteo Mela and Lorenzo Micheli, who
are also known as SoloDuo, released
their new CD Noesis in February 2009
through the American label
Pomegranate Music. Noesis – 19th
Century Masterworks for Two Guitars
(POM CD-1926) features the Grand Duo
by Coste, Trauerlieder by Mertz, Duo
Concertant op. 34 no. 3 by Lhoyer and
Grandes Variations, op. 35 by Giuliani.
This new recording follows on from
SoloDuo’s previous album Solaria - 20th
Century Masterworks for Two Guitars
(Pomegranate Records). Lorenzo Micheli
and Matteo Mela will be touring from
February until May, performing in Italy,
France, the US and Mexico. Lorenzo
Micheli will be also be performing solo
recitals in Turkey and Holland, as well
as in Germany with David Knopfler and
the Ensemble05 for the first German
performance of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s
Morning in Iowa at the Koblenz
International Guitar Festival in May
2009.
Noesis is Mela and Micheli’s eighth
CD together; it follows De Fossa’s
Quartets op. 19 (Stradivarius),
Piazzolla’s Guitar Music (Stradivarius),
Lhoyer’s Duos (Naxos), Falconieri’s La
suave melodia (Stradivarius), the DVD
Live in Milan (Mel Bay), an anthology of
Giuliani’s works (Amadeus) and Solaria
(Pomegranate).
Their forthcoming recordings include
Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s 24 Preludes and
Fugues, Ferdinand Rebay’s Sonatas for
solo and two guitars and an album of
17th century Italian music for voice,
theorbo and baroque guitars.
Ramón de Algeciras (1938–2009)
The Flamenco guitarist Ramón de
Algeciras (Ramón Sánchez Gómez)
died early on 20 January 2009 in
Madrid. Ramón de Algeciras is the
eldest brother of guitarist Paco de
Lucía and singer Pepe de Lucía. An
obituary will be published in our next
issue.
Savino on baroque guitar
Richard Savino has released a record-
ing of six Sonatas from Capricci
Armonicci (Harmonic Caprices 1692) by
Count Ludovico Roncalli (1654-1713).
Savino describes the music as “....pos-
sessing Italianate lyricism combined
with a French textural aesthetic.”
Consisting of nine ‘suites’ organized by
key, it is one of the last publications of
Italian music for the five-course
baroque guitar printed during this peri-
od. The sonatas were first transcribed
by the Italian musicologist Oscar
Chilosotti 1881, and so are well known
to modern classical guitarists, although
they have long been unavailable on
baroque guitar. Richard Savino per-
forms these works on an instrument by
José Espejo, copied from an original by
Antonio Stradavari. (Sonatas for
Baroque Guitar – Dorian Sono Luminus
DSL-90804)
Richard Savino has been Professor of
Music at the California State University,
Sacramento for many years. He is also
on the faculty of the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music. His invaluable
research has been published by
Cambridge University Press, Editions
Chantarelle and the Indiana University
Press.
Guildford Guitar Day
This year’s Guildford Guitar Day is on
14 March 2009 and forms part of the
Guildford International Music Festival.
The day begins with a recital by Xuefei
Yang playing works by Brouwer, Goss,
Albéniz and Granados which will be fol-
lowed by a public interview with John
Williams. Michael Partington plays later
in the afternoon, giving the première of
a sonata by Michael Karmon alongside
sonatas by Goss and Castelnuovo-
Tedesco. John Williams completes the
day with a full solo evening recital fea-
turing his own compositions, folk
arrangements and favourites from his
solo repertoire.
www.guildfordinternationalmusicfestival.co.uk
Guitarmaking in Paracho DVD
Charlie Williams, the son of John
Williams, has produced a wonderful 53-
minute independent film called The
Guitar Is Their Song, about the small
town of Paracho which specialises in
making guitars in the state of
Michoacan, Mexico. He visits the work-
Classical Guitar Magazine
shops of more internation-
ally known guitar makers
such as Abel Garcia, and
lesser known makers, as
well as some of the facto-
ries. It is a fascinating doc-
umentary, some of which
was filmed during their
annual Guitar Festival and
also features guitarists
John Williams, Carlos
Bernal and Alex Garrobe.
Speaking to him about
the documentary, he said:
‘I always hoped the film
would go some way in rais-
ing the town’s profile and
helping it gain the recogni-
tion it deserves. Due to the Richard Savino.
fact that it produces so many cheap,
popular guitars, the fact that world
class instruments are also built there is
often overlooked. Abel Garcia is one
good example of a top maker but he is
not the only one; José Luis Diaz, Rafael
Granados, Daniel Caro and many oth-
ers are also worthy of recognition.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to include
everyone in the film.
I should probably add however that
it was not the quality of its guitars and
guitar makers that struck me the
most, but the way in which the guitar
was so uniquely implicated across all
aspects of daily life. As the documen-
tary shows for example, the local
CIDEG centre (Centre for the
Investigation and Development of the
Guitar) showcases some great young
guitar playing talent, and admirably
advocates the importance of ensemble
playing. A fantastic young
player named Alfredo
Amezcua Janacua is defi-
nitely one to look out for.
You may have noticed him
in the film playing Fuoco
by Roland Dyens.’
Charlie Williams did an
MA in social anthropology
at the University of
Edinburgh and during
that time spent one year
in Mexico. His final thesis
was on the town of
Paracho, so he knows his
subject very well. What is
even more remarkable is
that he has made this
documentary virtually on
his own, acting as a direc-
tor, editor, photographer
and he even wrote and
7
recorded the theme music for the documentary on
guitar.
Sharon Isbin’s new album
Sharon Isbin’s new recording called Journey to the
New World (SONY Classical) which features Joan Baez
and violinist Mark O’Connor, will be released at the
end of March. John Duarte wrote the Joan Baez Suite,
Op. 144 for Sharon Isbin in 2002, however, this is the
first recording of the piece, which is almost 16 min-
utes long. Another première recording on the album is
Mark O’Connor’s Strings & Threads Suite, which he
arranged for violin and guitar for Sharon Isbin; he per-
forms the work with Sharon Isbin on this recording.
The recording also includes some early renaissance
pieces, Andrew York’s Andecy, an arrangement of
Wayfaring Stranger by Carlos Barbosa-Lima and a
transcription of Go ‘way from my Window by Sharon
Isbin, both performed by Joan Baez and Sharon Isbin.
Marlos Nobre’s 70th anniversary
The Brazilian composer Marlos Nobre celebrated his
70th birthday this year on 18 February 2009. The
Brazilian Post Office has even
issued a commemorative
stamp in his honour. Fábio
Zanon, who apart from being a
very busy touring concert gui-
tarist, has had a long-running
classical guitar radio pro-
gramme in Brazil, writes of
Marlos Nobre: ‘I believe he is
performing here at the Santa
Isabel Theatre, the lovely opera Marlos Nobre.
EVENTS, FESTIVALS & COMPETITIONS
COMPILED BY THÉRÈSE WASSILY SABA
EVENTS
5–6 March 2009: Manchester. MusicLearningLive!2009,
The National Festival of Music Education at the Royal
Northern College of Music.
www.musiclearninglive2009.net
5–7 March 2009: Rome, Italy. Masterclass on Spanish
Music by Carles Pons I Altes and concert (Friday 6 March,
8.30pm) at Fondazione Arts Academy, Accademia
Internazionale di Musica, Via G.A. Guattani, 17 - 00161
Rome, Italy. Tel. +39 06 4425 2303, mobile: +39 328 332
8689, fax: +39 06 4425 4767.
email: info@artsacademy.it
www.artsacademy.it
9–14 April 2009: Quorn, Leicestershire. National Youth
Guitar Ensemble Residential Course with Musical
Director: Gerald Garcia at Quorn Hall International
Centre. Contact: Coordinator, Liz Larner, tel. 0773 683
9134.
www.egta.co.uk/content/nyge
8–10 May 2009: Wrexham. A Jazz Guitar Weekend with
Ulf Wakenius and Trefor Owen to improve your Jazz gui-
tar skills at Glyndwr University. Contact: tel/fax +44
(0)1745 812 260.
8 Classical Guitar Magazine
house from his hometown Recife. I’ve managed to
insert most of his solo guitar music in my radio pro-
gramme; that has taken two programmes and a bit of
a third one.’ Here is the link to hear the first one
online:
http://vcfz.blogspot.com/2006/06/25-marlos-nobre.html
Here you can find the second and third, but we
haven’t managed to put the audio in yet; that will
take a couple of weeks. http://vcfz.blogspot.com/
This second link gives you access to all my radio
programmes, almost 200 of them. The Brazilian
Series alone will have 148 programmes when it is fin-
ished. Too bad it is spoken in Portuguese, but I am
sure you can enjoy the music in between.
I am very satisfied with this series, as we’ve man-
aged to portray nearly all the significant guitarist-
composers of Brazilian popular music and I’ve man-
aged to commission recordings of very nearly every
significant composition for solo guitar written in
Brazil by established composers. There are many
world premieres – some 40 actually – including
Marlos’ own Entrada & Tango and Rememorias.’
David Russell Honorary Prize
The 4th edition of the Honorary Prizes ‘David Russell’
for Talented Young Performers at the Conservatorio
Profesional de Música in Vigo was held from 23–25
January 2009. Eight prizes were awarded, three of
them to guitarists. The guitarists were: Andrea
Roberto (Italy), 13 years old, Tuur Segers (Belgium),
14 years old and Anna Likhacheva (Russia), 15 years
old. The other prizes went to two exceptional violin-
ists, a flute player, a bassoonist and a trumpet play-
er. The competition is open to players of any nation-
ality between the ages of 18 and 25.
email: northwalesjazzsc@aol.com.
www.northwalesjazz.org.uk
22 July–1 August 2009: Chateau de Ligoure, France. The
32nd Guitar Course of the Chateau de Ligoure with
Tania Chagnot, Eleftheria Kotzia, Etienne Candella and
Denis Pasquet. Contact: tel. +44 208 785 4054.
email: eleftheriak@tiscali.co.uk
www.guitarenfrance.org
5–10 August 2009: Bagnoles de l’Orne, Normandy. Guitar
France with Gary Ryan (Course Director), Craig Ogden
and Gordon Dunn. Contact: Louise Holmes, Guitar France
Administrator, tel. +44 (0)1689 840 076.
email: info@guitarfrance.com
www.guitarfrance.com
FESTIVALS & COMPETITIONS
14 February–26 March 2009: Aschaffenburger,
Germany. Aschaffenburger Gitarrentage 2009
includes masterclasses with David Russell and Ivo
Kaltchev, Four Rodrigo Concertos for guitar and orches-
tra (David Russell, Zoran Dukic, the Kaltchev Guitar
Duo and Sebastian Montes, with Thüringen
Philharmonie Gotha-Suhl conducted by Hermann
Director, Erwin Rodríguez García. For the competition,
contact: Daniel Camero Espinoza (Director Académico),
Calle Paseo Shiraz 988-10, Residencial Viñedos Sección
La Rioja, C.P. 80063 Culiacán, Sinaloa, México.
email: camerodaniel@hotmail.com
www.internationalguitarculiacan.com
6–22 March 2009: Malmoe, Sweden. The 14th
International Guitar Festival with Duo Guitarinet,
Laurent Boutros, Timo Korhonen, Erik Steen, Stefan
Östersjö and Javier Garcia Moreno. Contact: Artistic
Director, Carsten Grøndahl,
email: carsten@carsten.nu
www.migf.nu
25 March–3 April 2009: Monterrey, Mexico. The X
Festival Internacional de Guitarra and the II
International Guitar Contest of Mexico 2009 is open
to guitarists of any nationality born after 15 March
1977. Closing date for entry: 6 March 2009. Contact: X
Festival Internacional de Guitarra, Monterrey 2009,
Escuela Superior de Música y Danza de Monterrey,
Padre Mier No. 1720 Pte, Col. Obispado, C.P. 64000,
Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.
www.guitarramonterrey.com.mx
27–29 March 2009: Lake Konstanz, Germany. 2nd
Lake Konstanz Guitar Meeting. Contact: Andreas
Stevens or Gerhard Penn,
email: andreasstevens-gitarrist@online.de
email: gerhard.penn@bluewin.ch
10–13 April 2009: Patras, Greece. 18th Patras Festival
with Evangelos & Liza, Yannis Yakoumakis, Martina
Schaeffer, Bojan Ivanovski, Virginia Amariotaki (winner
of last year’s competition), Georgia Papadatou, Yorgos
Georgatos and the Trio Athenaeum. Contact: Filippos
Nakas, 41 Hippokratous St, Athens 106 80, tel: 210 363
4000.
email: conservatory@nakas.gr
15–19 April 2009: Split, Croatia. The 3rd Split Guitar
Festival 2009. Contact: Petar Culic,
email: petar.culic@splitguitarfestival.com
www.splitguitarfestival.com
4–9 May 2009: Toledo, Spain: 18th Concurso
Internacional de Guitarra ‘Infanta Cristina’ 2009.
€20,000 in prizes, with concerts throughout Spain,
Europe, Africa and America, and studio recordings with
Radio Nacional de España. Entry deadline: 16 March
2009.
www.fundacionguerrero.com
7–16 May 2009: Markneukirchen, Germany. The 44th
International Instrumental Competition
Markneukirchen 2009 for guitarists born after 1
January 1977. The competition consists of three rounds
and a final with orchestra (Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto
de Aranjuez). Contact: Internationaler
Instrumentalwettbewerb Markneukirchen e. V., Am
Rathaus 2, 08258 Markneukirchen, Germany. Tel. +49
(0) 37422 41160 and 41161, fax +49 (0)37422 41169.
email: instrumentalwettbewerb@markneukirchen.de
www.markneukirchen.de
25 May–1 June 2009: Koblenz, Germany. The 17th
Koblenz International Guitar Festival & Academy
with Pepe Romero, Manuel Barrueco, Eliot Fisk,
Roberto Aussel, David Russell, Los Romeros,
SPANISH GUITAR CENTRE
36 CRANBOURN STREET LONDON WC2H 7AD
Tel and Fax 0207 240 0754
www.spanishguitarcentre.com
ONLINE
Browse the website - Pay by card using our Secure Server
Classical Guitar Magazine
Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, Kristiin
Poska, David Knopfler, Lorenzo Micheli, Massimo Felici,
Marcin Dylla, Alexander-Sergei Ramírez, Fabio Zanon,
Joscho Stephan Quartett and guest Richard Smith,
Aniello Desiderio, Wulfin Lieske, Konrad Ragossnig,
Hubert Käppel, Alfred Eickholt, Federico Moreno-
Torroba, Judicaël Perroy, Sonja Prunnbauer, Robert
Brightmore, Tadashi Sasaki, Zoran Dukic, Volker Höh,
Dale Kavanagh, Steve Thachuk, Kaan Korad, Kürsad
Terci, the Young Artists in Concert Series with Anatoly
Izotov, Goran Krivokapic, Vladimir Gorbach, Gabriel
Bianco, and the Koblenz International Guitar
Competition ‘Hubert Käppel’ 2009 held in three
rounds with a free-choice programme in each, and no
limits of age or nationality. First Prize: 10 concerts in
Germany and €3000. Contact, the Director: Georg
Schmitz, Koblenz International Guitar Festival &
Academy, Bahnhofstr. 58, 56068 Koblenz, Germany.
Tel. +49 (0)170 311 5446.
email: info@koblenzguitarfestival.de
www.koblenzguitarfestival.de
26–30 May 2009: Malibu, California. The Parkening
International Guitar Competition at Pepperdine
University with a total of $US55,000 in awards.
www.pepperdine.edu/arts/parkening
16–21 June 2009: Ithaca, New York. The 2009 Guitar
Foundation of America International Convention &
Competition at Ithaca College with guest artists:
Roberto Aussel, Daniel Binelli, Adam del Monte, Eden-
Stell Duo, Ismo Eskelinen, Nicholas Goluses & Bonita
Boyd, Eduardo Isaac, Lynn McGrath, Newman-Oltman
Duo, Elena Papandreou, Marco Pereira, Ryoanji Duo,
Tango de Camera, Tantalus Quartet and Andrew York.
Contact: Pablo Cohen, Convention Host.
www.guitarfoundation.org
1-5 July, 2009. Dublin, Ireland: 6th Waltons Guitar
Festival of Ireland 2009 with Los Romeros, David
Russell, Tap Olé, Flavio Cucchi, Alec O’Leary, Krzysztof
Pelech, John Feeley, Andy McKee and many more.
Contact: Festival Director, Alec O’Leary, Waltons Guitar
Festival of Ireland, Ballybannon, Milford, Carlow,
Ireland. Tel. +353 59 914 6287.
email: info@gfi.ie
www.gfi.ie
10–13 July 2009: Millport, Isle of Cumbrae, Scotland.
The Classical Guitar Retreat with Amanda Cook, Allan
Neave, Peter Stewart, Frevo Quartet and Douglas
Whates. Solo and chamber music workshops with other
instruments at Cathedral of the Isles. Contact: Artistic
Director, Matthew McAllister, tel. 0141 443 9296.
email: info@classicalguitarretreat.com
www.cgretreat.com
24 July–23 August 2009: Aspen, USA. Sharon Isbin
Masterclasses at the Aspen Music Festival 2009
where she is the Director of the Classical Guitar
Program. Each student will receive a total of five lessons
in a masterclass setting. Advanced students will receive
all their lessons from Ms. Isbin. There is also coaching
for guitar ensembles and chamber music with other
instruments. Students may also take music-related
courses, and they can attend any of the masterclasses
and concerts given by orchestras and renowned
soloists. Over 350 musical events are presented
throughout the course of the Festival. Scholarships are
available. Contact: Aspen Music Festival, tel. 970 925
3254.
www.aspenmusicfestival.com
11–14 August 2009: Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK:
World Youth Guitar Festival for young classical gui-
tarists from 8-18 years old, with guest artists Martha
Masters, Brad Richter, Graham Anthony Devine, Mark
Ashford, Frank Gerstmeier, Gary Ryan, Eden Stell
Guitar Duo and Peter Nuttall, and it includes the
National Youth Guitar Ensemble Residential Course.
Contact: Helen Sanderson, WYGF Director, Festival
Office, 17 Hyde Abbey Road, Winchester, SO23 7DA.
email: info@wygf.org
www.wygf.org
9
CONCERT DIARY
MARCH 2009
1 Sunday
Langholm: SIMON THACKER & CLAIRE DEBONO (sopra-
no). Buccleuch Centre.
London: HAYLEY SAVAGE. Ealing Guitar Society, St.
Matthews Church Hall, Ealing W5, 7.30pm. Tel. 020
8621 1394.
2 Monday
London: DAVID LEISNER. Royal Academy of Music,
7.30pm.
4 Wednesday
Oxford: DIMITRIS DEKAVALLAS. Hertford College.
5 Thursday
Birmingham: DAVID LEISNER. Recital Hall, Birmingham
Conservatoire of Music, 8pm.
6 Friday
Sutton Valence, Kent: DIMITRIS DEKAVALLAS. Groves
Hall music school, 7.30pm. Tel. 01622 844 888.
7 Saturday
Dunfermline, Scotland: FREVO QUARTET. Carnegie Hall,
7.30pm.
Mickleover, Derby: DAVID LEISNER. Derby Classical
Guitar Society, Cedar Park Centre for Music and the Arts,
7.30pm.
Oxford: DIMITRIS DEKAVALLAS with the HCMC
Orchestra conducted by John Hardie. 8pm. (Rodrigo’s
Concierto de Aranjuez).
Worcester: EDEN STELL GUITAR TRIO. Worcester Arts
Workshop, Sansome Street, 7.30pm. Tel. 01886 832 715.
Baltimore, MD: ALVARO PIERRI. Baltimore Museum of
Art, 8pm.
New Orleans, LA: MARCIN DYLLA.
10 Tuesday
Glasgow: DAVID LEISNER. Royal Scottish Academy of
Music and Drama, 7.30pm.
11 Wednesday
Santa Cruz, CA: UCSC CLASSICAL GUITAR ENSEMBLE
with special guest ERDEM HELVACIOGLU, directed by
Mesut Özgen. UCSC Music Center Recital Hall, 7.30pm.
Tel. 831 459 2159.
12 Thursday
Maidenhead: DIMITRIS DEKAVALLAS. Norden Farm
Centre for the Arts, 7.30pm. Tel. 01628 788 997.
Welshpool, Wales: AGNEW-MCALLISTER DUO.
Welshpool Music Club, 7.30pm.
New York: PAUL GALBRAITH. Baruch Performing Arts
Center, 25th St. and Lexington Ave, 8pm. Tel. 646 312
4085.
14 Saturday
Sherfield English: HAMPSHIRE GUITAR ORCHESTRA. St
Leonard’s Church, 7.30pm. Tel 01794 884 840.
Huntsville, AL: MANUEL BARRUECO & Huntsville
Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tobias Foskett.
Miami, FL: CHRISTIANO PORQUEDDU. St. Philips
Episcopal Church, 1142 Andalusia & Columnbus
Avenue, Coral Gables, 8pm.
Roverto, Italy: LORENZO MICHELI. Associazione
Filarmonica.
Santa Cruz, CA: CATERINA LICHTENBERG (mandolin)
with LINDA BURMAN-HALL (harpsichord & fortepiano),
and MESUT ÖZGEN (19th-century & modern guitars).
UCSC Music Center Recital Hall, 7.30pm. Tel. 831 457
9693.
15 Sunday
Durham: JUAN MARTÍN MUSIC TRIO. Gala Theatre.
London: FREVO QUARTET. Spice Jazz, 7.30pm.
16 Monday
London: CEM DURUOZ. Purcell Room, 7.45pm. Tel. 0871
663 2500.
18 Wednesday
St Albans: EL MORENO. The Maltings Theatre, 1pm. Tel.
01727 844 222.
Chicago: JOHN WILLIAMS. Orchestra Hall at Symphony
Center.
19 Thursday
Fort Worth, TX: BRASIL GUITAR DUO. The Modern Art
Museum of Fort Worth, 7.30pm.
20 Friday
Hartford, CT: OSCAR GHIGLIA & ELENA PAPANDREOU.
Wallace Stevens Theater, 8pm. Tel. 860 249 7041.
10
21 Saturday
Morrow, GA: JOHN WILLIAMS. Spivey Hall, Clayton State
University, 8.15pm. Tel. 678 466 4200.
New York: LOS ROMEROS – 50th Anniversary concert.
92nd Street Y. Tel. 212 415 5500.
North Sydney, NSW: DANIEL MCKAY & ZOË BLACK (vio-
lin). Independent Theatre, 269 Miller Street. Tel. 02 9955
6455.
Sarasota, FL: MARCIN DYLLA.
22 Sunday
Cambridge: ELEFTHERIA KOTZIA. Gonville & Caius
College, Bateman Auditorium, Trinity St, 7pm. Tel. 01223
332 400.
Dallas: BRASIL GUITAR DUO. Dallas Museum of Art,
2.30pm.
Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taff: JOHN & COBIE MILLS.
St Catherine's Church, 3pm.
24 Tuesday
Penzance: JUAN MARTÍN MUSIC TRIO. The Acorn.
Philadelphia, PA: JOHN WILLIAMS. Perelman Theater,
Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, 300 S Broad St, 8pm.
Tel. 215 569 8080.
25 Wednesday
New York: JOHN WILLIAMS. Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall,
7.30pm. Tel. 212 247 7800.
26 Thursday
Newbury, Berkshire: MANDOLINQUENTS and friends
(special guest: Belshazaars Feast). New Greenham Arts,
8pm, Tel: 01635 522 733.
28 Saturday
Denver, CO: LORENZO MICHELI & MATTEO MELA.
29 Sunday
Ayr: SIMON THACKER & Ayrshire Symphony Orchestra.
Ayr Town Hall (Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Concerto
no.1 op.99).
Gainsville, FL: JOHN WILLIAMS. University Auditorium,
University of Florida, 2pm. Tel. 352 392 1900.
Los Angeles, CA: LORENZO MICHELI & MATTEO MELA.
Loyola Marymount University.
31 Tuesday
Oberlin, OH: LORENZO MICHELI & MATTEO MELA.
Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
APRIL 2009
3 Friday
Monterrey, Mexico: ELENA PAPANDREOU. (Nikita
Koshkin’s Concerto for guitar and string orchestra).
Morrow, GA: DAVID RUSSELL. Spivey Hall, Clayton State
University, 7pm. Tel. 678 466 4200.
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Classical Guitar Magazine
 MARCIN DYLLA
Interviewed by COLIN COOPER
MARCIN DYLLA was born in Chorzów, Poland, in
1976. Early ambitions to be a footballer were
brought to a end by the discovery that he had
glaucoma, an eye condition that if not treated will
lead to blindness. Extreme physical exertion was
ruled out, which was disappointing but it at least
had the effect of making him concentrate on anoth-
er interest, music. Guitar tuition from Wanda
Palacz in the State Academy of Music in Katowice
was followed by study with Oscar Ghiglia in
Basel, with Sonja Prunnbauer in Freiburg, and
with Carlo Marchione in Maastrict.
I first heard him play when he was a boy of
14; he was good, he was talented, but so were
many of his generation in Poland at that time.
And then, when he was 18, it suddenly became
clear that here was a fine guitarist in the mak-
ing. Marcin Dylla had become a young man to
watch.
That was in 1994. He has come a long, long way
since then, winning a large number of competi-
tions, beginning with the Edmund Jurkowski in
Tychy (1996) and including all the majors such as
Alessandria (2001), the Rodrigo in Madrid (2002),
the Princess Cristina in Madrid (2002), the
Printemps de la Guitare in Charleroi (2004) and
finally the GFA in Los Angeles (2007).
Some indication of the way he works, planning
the shape of his programme with meticulous care,
comes through in this interview, which took place

PHOTOS: DARIA DYLLA

the morning after his memorable performance at
West Dean.

You began your concert at West Dean with Ponce’s

Sonata Romantica. It’s subtitled ‘Homage to
Schubert’, but the richness of texture and feeling
on this occasion made it sound more like music
from the later Romantic period - on a level with
Schumann, perhaps. How did you approach the
piece?
This was a new piece in my programme, which I
started to organise in April this year (2008). To be
honest, I chose this piece because I love Schubert
so much. I really enjoy listening to his music
played by Krystian Zimerman on the piano. I
wanted to have something on the guitar, and I
like the Ponce so much because I think he man-
aged to write a piece in the style of Schubert. The
harmony he is using, the harmonic aspect, is
very much like Schubert, and also the melodies
are very similar to Schubert’s. The melodies are
very easy and simple, but somehow they have a
great deepness behind them. That’s what I enjoy
about Schubert’s music.
It was hard to find tension in the piece, because
it’s quite long. The first movement is slow; it’s
dramatic in the middle part. Then comes the
Andante, which again is slow, and two fast move-
Marcin Dylla.
ments. So it’s hard to find a nice balance. I
believe that people enjoy it.
They certainly do. There’s also the texture: every-
thing was so clear and rich. Do you take each part
of it and work on it individually, and then put it
back? What do you do?
Oh yes. You know, teaching showed me a lot
how to work by myself. Already, in my students,
I can hear that they don’t really care about the
small details, they don’t care about the lines.
And then, I work by myself: if you expect it from
your students, you must expect it from yourself
also. They can see how important it is, for exam-
ple to play separating the melody from the bass
line.You see how they co-operate together.
Maybe that’s why, when I perform the whole
piece, it sounds very, very rich. That’s how I was
working on it: independent lines, which you put
together. So I’m really grateful that you find it
like that.

Classical Guitar Magazine 11

Do you take the same approach with other new
pieces?
Yes. If you work like this, you always know the
piece. You discover many things. Especially with
modern pieces where the language is more
sophisticated. It’s very important when the
melody lines are not so clear. You have to decide
what the melody line is, what the middle line is.
Then it’s much more clear for the audience. If you
understand this, the audience will understand it
too. More or less, I do the same with all pieces.
Some people complained that in Sonata
Romántica there are sections where you can see
that the composer did not know what to do. The
very end, with a long chord section. I believe that
if you really believe in the power
of these notes, the simple idea,
then it works. “The Rossiniana
is not a great
You have just arrived back after
a tour in the United States. How piece, you know,
many concerts did the GFA when you think
arrange for you after you won the
prize last year? about the form
Over 60. It’s quite a lot. But I’m and so on - if you
still waiting to feel tired with
playing concerts. I was waiting understand that
also for a great experience for Giuliani loved
me as a musician, to have the
opportunity to play a concert Rossini and his
almost every second day, to start music so much,
to improve. So I believed that at
the end of this tour it would then it seems so
make me a different person. much more like a
In last night’s concert you played happy piece.”
Tansman’s Variations on a
Theme of Scriabin. Where did the theme come
from?
It’s from a piano prelude. It’s very beautiful. I
think that this piece shows what kind of a com-
poser Tansman was. It’s very simple, and there’s
not even one variation which is a kind of show-
piece. It’s very personal.
When I first went to Poland, over 20 years ago,
Tansman seemed to be thought of as a French
composer, perhaps because he lived in Paris.
Although he remains international, it’s good that
he is now re-established in his own country.
He should! Guitarists in Poland used to call him
the Chopin of the guitar. Chopin was also living
in France and missing his country so much, and
Tansman used to say the same. It makes us
happy to think of him like this.
I”ve never heard his Scriabin Variations in a con-
cert before, although I know there are various
recordings.
It’s not often played. It’s not a showpiece, it does-
n’t have a happy ending. Also, it’s very difficult
for the left hand; there are many chords that are
very hard to play. Segovia never played this piece.
12
He was having a busy time, and he gave it to
Alvaro Company - he did the arrangement for gui-
tar. Segovia always asked Tansman for a happy
ending, like Cavatina or Danza Pomposa. He was
always looking for happy parts, and this one
doesn’t even have a happy ending.
Is this why Segovia didn’t play it?
I think he did, but when the piece was already
published. So he didn’t change anything. I think
a happy ending to this piece would kill it. Of
course, if the piece is strong and fast, with a
happy ending, people start to clap more loudly
and you have the feeling that they like it more.
I’m not so sure. I remember concerts after which
I didn’t want to clap at all: the
music was so deep and so sor-
rowful. Clapping would destroy
everything.
There was a criticism last night
that your inclusion of the Giuliani
Rossiniana weakened your pro-
gramme. All these strong. well
composed pieces, and then we
get a collection of Rossini tunes.
The Rossiniana is not a great
piece, you know, when you
think about the form and so on
- if you understand that Giuliani
loved Rossini and his music so
much, then it seems so much
more like a happy piece. Also,
you know, I chose to play the
Rossiniana just because of these
piano Variations I played after
(Tansman’s Variations on a
Theme by Scriabin) and the music I played before
(Maw’s Music of Memory). I thought, OK, in the
first part I play music by Ponce and Nicholas
Maw, which is very nice high quality music - and
very special. To open the second half with the
Rossiana, very light and not sophisticated music,
would not be very bad. And then again, to end
with the Scriabin Variations and Junto al
Generalife - that was my idea.
Some people want the highest level all the way
though, and feel strongly about it.
I appreciate that very much, but still I believe
that it’s not so bad to play the Rossiniana. You
just have to understand the reason why Giuliani
wrote the Rossiniana, and just enjoy it as it is.
For me, this was the second performance. I
played it for the first time last Sunday, so it’s very
new. I think I will keep it in my programme for a
while. I think it makes a nice, refreshing start to
the second part of the concert.
The other point was that Giuliani did write a lot of
good, serious music, and hardly anyone plays it.
We keep hearing the same few pieces again and
again - the Grand Overture, Variations on the
Classical Guitar Magazine
Harmonious Blacksmith. David Starobin made
that point when we were talking last night. He felt
that the Rossiniana did not match the standard of
the rest of the programme.
Maybe that’s why he was so strong with his opin-
ion last night. He wanted to hear another piece as
good as the others.
At first I felt a bit disappointed that you weren’t
going to play the Sonata Giocosa.
You don’t like it so much?
I love it. But Junto al Generalife was wonderful
too, and not so familiar. Another pleasant surprise.
I’m still looking for a piece at the end. Somehow I
would like to have some Spanish music. I will
keep some in my programme. Something very
nice to end the concert.
For sure I would like to keep the Tansman
Variations. To play this piece, you must have two
different pieces around it, other-
wise it would see too slow and
too sentimental for concerts. “Several times,
It’s always hard to decide what after I’ve played
to play - what would you like?
What fits your programme? Music of Memory,
What would be nice for the audi- people have come
ence? It’s not easy.
up to me and
Can we talk about Nicholas said, ‘I’m not a
Maw’s piece, Music of Memory?
Nineteen minutes - even longer in musician, I’m a
some hands - but full of interest hairdresser’ - or
for me from start to finish. How
did you approach what has been whatever -
called ‘a loose sequence of “med- ‘but this music
itations” based on a theme from
Mendelssohn’s A minor String makes me cry’.”
Quartet (Opus 13)’?
It was very, very hard to learn this piece. I spent
about two months, just to memorise it. It’s com-
plicated and sophisticated music. Nothing
repeated, always a new idea. It was hard to learn
it, but because it’s such great music, you know,
it’s not a problem to keep the tension in the piece.
The clear shape of the piece somehow made it
easy for me to keep the tension.
From the very beginning, when I began to play
the piece, people liked it; they say, ‘You know, it
was really something, I couldn’t have liked it for
only five minutes, it’s really rich music.’
To be honest, after one month working at this
piece, I almost gave up. I was in the middle of it,
and I said ‘You have to learn it’. At that time I
couldn’t realise how it worked, what the music is.
If you don’t have the imagination of the whole
piece, you don’t really know how it works. I
thought it was too difficult, and actually it was
not so great - I thought at the time! But I did it,
and then I realised how good the piece is.
I really loved the idea of the theme coming sev-
eral times in the piece. I think he wants to keep
the theme in the memory of the audience all the
14
time, even when the variations go far away from
the theme. Because he repeats the theme, he still
has his own mind in the memory. And to choose
music from Mendelssohn - he’s taking music
from the memory.
I really like this way of composing. Because
that’s who we are, in the 21st century. We use
many modern themes, we live in a modern world,
but then we also enjoy the beauty of the past.
Modern technology has brought us a wide knowl-
edge of the past. We have heard far more music
than composers ever did before. Sometimes I won-
der how modern composers manage to find their
own way forward, they have so many other influ-
ences.
You know, I feel I would like to compose some-
thing, to produce some music. The main problem
is, you don’t know which way to go, what lan-
guage you should choose.
Would you agree that Maw’s
piece has overcome those partic-
ular problems?
Several times, after I’ve played
Music of Memory, people have
come up to me and said, ‘I’m not
a musician, I’m a hairdresser’ - or
whatever - ‘but this music makes
me cry’. It means that even if you
are using a modern language for
your music, if it’s done right, peo-
ple enjoy it, whether they came
for the music or just because
they saw the poster. That’s proba-
bly very important. I became con-
vinced that an audience of non-
musicians can recognise it as a
great piece. They can feel the dra-
matic shape of the piece, they can feel the rich emo-
tions, and they enjoy it.
Have you got your eye on other pieces of music?
What else are you going to add to your repertoire?
Oh yes! I’ve played Nocturnal, by Britten. It’s such
a great piece, and it’s on my list. So are Nuccio
d’Angelo’s Due canzone lidie. Do you know the
Greek Duo Melis?They play a lot of French
Baroque music. It’s so good on the guitar, and
now I feel like I would like to do some transcrip-
tions myself. It’s great music and not so well
known. Even in chamber music, many pieces are
not played.
My feeling about what should be played, and
then this wish to compose something, are both
very strong. If you have a strong imagination of
what kind of music it should be, the best solution
is to do it yourself. But I know that it costs a lot
of time and a lot of energy to so something very
well, but for sure I will try.
Tell me about this guitar. It’s by Boguslaw Teryks,
I believe.
Classical Guitar Magazine
This guitar is quite new. For three or four years
I’ve been playing his guitars, but he’s making
such great progress. Each time I hear a new gui-
tar from Boguslaw I always beg him to give it to
me. Each one is better. I also like him as person,
he is my very good friend. A pleasant, hard-work-
ing person. Right now he has this new idea, to
make a sandwich top out of spruce and cedar.
The spruce is on the top. At first I thought it was
kind of crazy, but now I can hear both woods in
the sound: the quality of the spruce, and at the
same time the power of the cedar.
Everyone I spoke to loved it. But look who was
playing it! It wouldn’t sound like that if I played it.
Now, tell me about the GFA Convention in San
Francisco, where you were one of the judges. What
is your general impression of competition?
It was very exciting, and important. It was fine for
me, because I’ve taken part in so many competi-
tions. And now they often ask me to judge. It
gives you a really different view on just what a
competition is. Of course there were times when I
was disappointed with what I did, but it never
took longer than two or three days. People, you
know, they speculated: should I go there or
should I go there, or because I won this one
should I go to that one? The problem is that they
don’t realise that to be an artist, to be a musician,
is a very long process. Your whole life. The pur-
pose is to get better and better.
MARCIN
WAWEL ROYAL CASTLE
DYLLA
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TEL: +44 (0) 191 414 9000 FAX: +44 (0) 191 414 9001 e-mail: mail@ashleymark.co.uk Web: www.FretsOnly.com
Classical Guitar Magazine
If you are a teenager, or 20-something, to do a
competition is just the very beginning. So it
shouldn’t be like this, the speculation and feeling
bad if you don’t win. I remember some Germans
asking me what was the competition that opened
the doors to a great career. I said there wasn’t
really a competition like this. And they said, ‘Oh,
that’s really a pity.’ I said, ‘No, it’s great. It’s
great, because it shouldn’t be like this. To be a
musician is a long, long process. It shouldn’t be
like one day winning a competition and becom-
ing famous, great. Because it would be fake,
unreal.’
I’m always saying to my young students, take
part in as many competitions as you can, then
you see what progress you are making, because
of this motivation, the date you have to prepare
for.
When I was very young, someone said ‘There
are no losers in this competition, everyone is a
winner.’ I said to myself, ‘Stupid! There’s just one
winner.’ But now - now I realise that it was true.
Because what we win is the experience, the
progress, the development. That’s what you win
in a competition.
And then, you know, I play a concert like last
night. What does it mean that I won so many
prizes? Nothing! People expect to enjoy the music,
so the prize I won means absolutely nothing. Of
course, maybe because of this prize I am able to
play!
IN CONCERT AT
IN POLAND
This stunning DVD, especially imported from Poland, was
filmed in August 2008 in the Stefan Batory Courtyard of
the Royal Wawel Castle. The concert was part of the new
annual chamber music festival 'Wawel Royal Castle at
Dusk'. Dylla is a virtuoso guitarist whose musicianship is
much admired all over the world. THis concert, one of the
finest guitar performances currently available on DVD,
includes;
Manuel Maria Ponce (1882-1948) - Sonata Romantica.
Hommage a Franz Schubert
1. Allegro non troppo, semplice 7'27"
2. Andante espressivo 4'26"
3. Moment musical: vivo 3'04"
4. Allegro non troppo e serioso 5'55"
Nicholas Maw (1935) - Music of Memory 18'03"
Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829) 6. Rossiniana No. 1 Op. 119
14'24"
Joaquin Rodrigo (1902-1999) - Junto al Generalife 4'36"
Total time: 57'55" Sound: LPCM 24 bit, 48 kHz, stereo
Picture: widescreen PAL 16:9
15
 CARLOS MARTINEZ
By SEBASTIÁN DOMÍNGUEZ
Carlos Martínez.
BY THE end of the 1980s and in our show De
Segovia a Yupanqui, on Radio Nacional, we were
already able to assert that the young guitarist
Carlos Martínez was Atahualpa Yupanqui’s finest
interpreter. The Yupanqui spirit was present in
all his performances, and it was surprising to
find that such a young player – just 17 years old
at the time – could possess this musical ability.
Martínez recently validated this artistic skill with
the release of six CDs commemorating the 100th
anniversary of the great Argentinean poet and
composer. This tribute is presented in two box-
sets and features compositions by Yupanqui him-
self as well as works by other composers.
Yupanqui’s music displays characteristic
rhythms from across Argentina, and in each we
encounter the musical value of vidalas, bagualas;
the peculiar zambas, gatos, chacareras and the
brilliant beats of the huella or the malambo that
identify the Argentinean Pampas. Aside from
Yupanqui’s obvious compositional merit, he has
also transformed pieces by Andrés Chazarreta,
Pablo del Cerro, Carlos López Buchardo, Julián
Aguirre and the Díaz brothers, among others,
into classics of the popular repertoire. These
works can be found on the second set of discs.
Classical Guitar Magazine
In his comprehensive collection of Yupanqui’s
instrumental work, published by Acqua Records,
Martínez manages to maintain his own distinct
style while capturing the musical essence of a
performer and composer of a lifetime. Narciso
Yepes once said that if a Yupanqui school could
be established, we would all try to play in that
peculiar and profound manner. Carlos Martínez,
who is considered by critics and colleagues to be
one of the most talented musicians of recent
times, now offers his reflections on the quality of
these historical recordings.
Sebastián Domínguez: Taking into account that
Yupanqui never committed his music to manu-
script, how did you come to play his music in the
first place?
Carlos Martínez: I started to study the guitar
with Luis Gómez when I was 13 years old. At 15,
He introduced me to the instrumental pieces of
Yupanqui. Since then I was deeply involved with
that music and the magic it made me feel. My
teacher gave me his own transcriptions of the
pieces because the Argentinean publishing houses
did not publish music for guitar.
17
So, when did you start making your own arrange-
ments?
Once I had my own recording material. The only
material I had to up until then was some arrange-
ments by Japanese guitarist Sonko Mayu and by
the Argentinean maestro Pablo Anapios. Others
had published Yupanqui’s music but it was only
for piano. I had to be patient, listen to the record-
ings and write down every note he played. So the
arrangements were obtained by ear.
How would you define his guitar compositions?
Harmonically, the pieces are very simple but this
is not to say that they lack a certain depth.
Yupanqui is one of the few popular artists who
studied an entire catalogue of guitar styles
belonging to an individual country; from the
Pampas in the Buenos Aires province and
Northern Argentina to Santiago del Estero,
Tucumán and Jujuy. He had a complete knowl-
edge of the various techniques that amateur
musicians from those regions would use in order
to create music that would, say, evoke different
frames of mind or popular Argentinean legends.
Yupanqui made this vast volume of popular cul-
ture immortal through all of his works.
Which other elements of Yupanqui’s music affect
you?
His sound, that very peculiar vibrato and his
famous glissandos. These characteristics, so typ-
ical of string instruments, are sparingly used
nowadays, and there are few musicians who
maintain this attribute. Everything is played fast,
very fast, and there is no holding back which can
make the piece sound considerably better.
Sometimes I think that musicians play so fast
that they are, in fact, getting nowhere…
That reminds me of the time when a flamenco gui-
tarist visited Yupanqui in Paris. He played so fast
that when he finished, Yupanqui said: “Young
man, you play so fast that you suffocate the notes,
if the music does not breath it dies. Just like
you…”
Yes. A lot depends on the clarity and organisation
of the mind when one plays an instrument. I hear
many popular guitarists who seem to forget this,
so they end up distorting the real message. The
same happens with many young students from
classical music schools.
I was surprised to learn that you used an old gui-
tar from 1939 to undertake the enormous chal-
lenge of recording over 100 pieces…
Yes, it was a Breyer guitar, I discovered it a few
days before I started recording. It didn’t have a
big volume but I was impressed with the sound,
so typical of the recordings of the old masters
such as Yupanqui and Segovia.
It is quite unusual for a local recording company to
support such a meaningful proposal…
18
Sebastián Domínguez and Carlos Martínez.
That’s absolutely correct. Between 2006 and
2007 I recorded four CDs dedicated to Eduardo
Falú and Abel Fleury. They had a big impact
upon their release and Acqua Records were taken
by surprise. The fact that the first editions sold so
very quickly was a big encouragement. It con-
firmed that I had chosen the right path, even
though I knew these composers aren’t particular-
ly fashionable. Consequently, those who are in
charge of the publishing house have considerably
broadened their attitude by committing them-
selves to the complete instrumental works of
Yupanqui. This too has been a great success, and
it was very exciting to learn that the CDs are
among the best sellers at Zival’s music stores.
You have an extensive classical repertoire, per-
formed with the Chamber Orchestra of the
National Congress and released several CDs
including complete works by composers such as
Abel Fleury, Eduardo Falú and Yupanqui. How
have you managed to become such a versatile per-
former?
All I try to do is keep to a daily study routine. You
cannot achieve anything without sacrifice. Talent
is not enough, and this we have heard time-and-
time-again from the great masters of the guitar. It
is an enormous responsibility and personal com-
mitment to be an artist. Yupanqui wisely defines
this concept in his poem Destino del Canto:
‘Fuiste elegido para tu sacrificio, no para tu
vanidad’ – ‘You were chosen to make sacrifices,
not to be vain’.
You made a big impact on the French public with
all-Argentinean repertoire for your performances
there in 2001. Do you think that you will be so well
received in other countries today?
Definitely. The pieces I perform cause excitement
because of the quality of their composition; and
quality is recognized all over the world. They are
Classical Guitar Magazine
widely known in Spain, France, Germany, Belgium,
Poland, Russia and Japan among other places.

Which other composers are you most interested in

performing works by?
Everyday I become friends with Bach,
Scarlatti, Father Soler, Bacarissee, Barrios,
Tárrega, Sor and Aguado. They are always
with me. I rediscover them every day with
admiration and respect. They are musical
sources that nourish my soul and make this
modern life, so full of frivolity and unpleasant
news, much richer.
I wholeheartedly share that notion. Our beloved
instrument is so generous that it becomes a
haven for our inner-selves, a haven for Carlos
Martínez and for his privileged listeners.

Recordings:
-Estilo Pampeano / Arraigo – Arte y Cultura Criolla.
-Agua Escondida / Atahualpa Yupanqui / Sello
Independiente.
-Carlos Martínez Interpreta a Abel Fleury / Volumen I
y II / Acqua Records
-Carlos Martínez Interpreta a Eduardo Falú / Volumen
I y II / Acqua Records.
-Atahualpa Yupanqui / Obra Completa para Guitarra
/ Composiciones propias / Acqua Records.
-Atahualpa Yupanqui / Obra Completa para Guitarra
/ Versiones / Acqua Records.

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Classical Guitar Magazine 19

 AALBORG INTERNATIONAL
GUITAR FESTIVAL
11-16 November 2008
Finn Svit, Vladislav Blaha, Marek Dlugosz and Bernard Hebb.
IT’S NOT every day that a CG reporter becomes
the subject of an SAS rescue. I refer to that fine
body of Nordic aviators whose full title is the
Scandinavian Airlines System. For it was the
regular SAS service from Manchester to
Copenhagen, with frequent connections to
Aalborg, that saved my bacon after Denmark’s
low-budget Sterling airline flogged off its fleet of
patched-up Dakotas and duly filed for bank-
ruptcy.
There was a further silver lining insofar as the
SAS flight safely deposited me at Aalborg’s
small but pristine air terminal in ample time to
witness the inaugural concert by Tine Rehling
(harp) and Mikkel Nordso (guitar). Past listings
established that this was the same Mikkel
Nordso who, fronting his all-electric band, had
delivered the crowning glory of the rock pro-
gramme at Aalborg in 2005 (CG June 2006).
Despite the presence of a small PA system,
Nordso’s performance in the company of the
hugely talented Rehling, amid the monastic
surroundings of the Aalborg Kloster, was an
essentially unplugged affair. But in stark con-
trast with the lyrical and even folksy connota-
tions that the harp/guitar combination might
suggest, what we witnessed tonight was a full-
on dose of 70s-style acoustic jazz-rock served
up by two world-class practitioners. Although
long improvisations were naturally part of the
20
PHOTOS: PAUL FOWLES
mix, the agenda was composition-based with
Chick Corea making a cameo appearance amid
the various original offerings.
Thus concluded a terrific opening move that
was warmly received by a near-capacity crowd.
Could this turnout have had anything to do
with the fact that Rehling has recently starred
in a national TV commercial for a Danish bank?
Say what you like about the goggle-box, there
are times when its clodhopping influence actu-
ally works in favour of live music.
The père et fils team of Erling Moldrup (guitar)
and Toke Moldrup (cello) is a familiar sighting
on the Scandinavian circuit, although their
Wednesday evening performance was a first live
encounter for me. Amid established fare,
including the evergreen Bachianas Brasileras
No.5 by Villa-Lobos, their programme revived
such worthy obscurities as Soffren Degen
(1816-85). Also present was a cello and guitar
version of Libra (1973) by national big hitter Per
Norgard (b.1932). This is a specialist area for
the elder Moldrup, whose most recent CD is
devoted exclusively to Norgard’s guitar works.
It’s easily forgotten that Nikita Koshkin’s once
ubiquitous Usher Waltz was originally written
for Vladislav Blaha, a senior figure on the East
European guitar scene and driving force behind
the Brno Festival. Blaha’s arrival at the Kloster
yielded a rare opportunity to witness the work
Classical Guitar Magazine
THE 18TH INTERNATIONAL CLASSICAL GUITAR FESTIVAL AND SUMMER SCHOOL
15 – 21 AUGUST 2009 Director: John Mills

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Leo Brouwer

Graham Devine Duo Montes-Kircher

Widely recognized as one of the world’s greatest events of its type, the 2009 International Classical Guitar Festival and
Summer School features the following exciting line-up of names:
Celebrity Recitals by: Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Graham Devine and Duo Montes-Kircher.
Three Public Masterclasses by: Leo Brouwer.
Tutors: John Mills, Gerald Garcia, Andrew Gough, Paul Gregory and Fiona Harrison.
Open Day exhibition by guitar makers and specialist guitar shops.
This year’s International Classical Guitar Festival and Summer School offers:
Ensembles — Individual lessons
Study sessions and workshops in ‘The Learning Zone’
Masterclasses — Celebrity recitals — Guitar ‘Open Day’
Informal performance opportunities for course participants
THE PROGRAMME is aimed at all levels including a beginners’ course.

West Dean College is set in a fine historic house on the South Downs, sur-
rounded by tranquil landscaped gardens and parkland. The College is well-
known for the quality of its teaching and facilities, its friendly, informal atmos-
phere and its comfortable accommodation and good food.

For further information and an

application form please contact:

THE COLLEGE OFFICE W EST DEAN COLLEGE

W EST DEAN, CHICHESTER W EST SUSSEX
P O18 0QZ
T: 01243 811301 F: 01243 811343
(9 am to 5 pm, 7 days a week)
E-mail: short.courses@westdean.org.uk

Classical Guitar Magazine 21

 Gibson spotter probably, wasn’t. The combina-
tion of piano and straight classical guitar,
although not without its merits, will always be
one of limited scope. But the pairing of Wolters
and Bergmann established beyond all doubt
that the format has much to offer in a contem-
porary jazz context, their inspired account of
Bluesette by Jean ‘Toots’ Thielemans being one
of several items that charmed an appreciative
audience of local commuters.
In accordance with established Aalborg prac-
tice, the didactic part of the festival didn’t kick
off until the Friday evening. The sudden influx
of aspiring guitarists, some of whom had yet to
Bernard Hebb and Carlo Marchione. leave primary school, meant standing room
only at the Kloster for the triumphant return of
performed by its dedicatee. Also on the agenda
Carlo Marchione. To describe Marchione as a
were the shimmering textures of the Sibelius-
class act is a major understatement; his lyrical
inspired Elegy by Stepan Rak, a currently
yet dynamic account of Ponce’s sumptuous
neglected work by a composer who has become
Sonata III being one of the finest you’ll experi-
undeservedly unfashionable.
ence anywhere. Marchione can also be relied
Observing the proceedings was Amsterdam
upon to come up with stylish transcriptions of
luthier Jeroen Hilhorst, whose instruments
baroque and classical works nobody else has
Blaha currently champions. Noteworthy from
heard of. Tonight we witnessed a keyboard
Hilhorst’s latest crop was a newly finished pro-
sonata by Pietro Domenico Pradisi (Paradies)
totype with an ebony neck and weighing what
(1707-1791) and a violin partita by J.J.
felt like the equivalent of two Smallman guitars.
Vilmayr, about whom I can reveal no further
A road test in the hands of Blaha revealed an
details because he (or possibly she) doesn’t
outstanding bass and mid-range, although the
make the cut for Grove and even drew a blank
top end didn’t quite have the same clout.
on Google. But in the hands of Marchione, these
Hilhorst was encouraged by the results, and
forgotten relics were born anew and offered a
was in no doubt that the lessons learned could
pleasing diversion from more familiar fare.
be effectively applied as the concept evolves.
By the following morning, it was all hands on
Sharing the programme with Blaha was Polish
deck at Skipper Clement School, where Blaha,
guitarist Marek Dlugosz, who I first met when
Moldrup, Dlugosz and Marchione were con-
he used to drop in on the Manchester Guitar
ducting individual and class sessions at various
Circle as a shy teenage student. Interestingly,
corners of the building. Also on the teaching
the now thirtysomething Dlugosz appears to
roster were festival director Finn Svit and his
have benefited considerably from performing on
long-standing duo partner Bernard Hebb, who
cruise liners, an activity traditionally associat-
this year replaced the long-serving Per
ed with classical musicians whose careers
Christiansen on the festival committee.
either have yet to take off or are past their sell-
Elsewhere, specialist pedagogue Soren Bodker
by date. Mixing a medley of Tarrega Mazurkas
Madsen was drilling the junior ensemble in an
with his own flamboyant quasi-flamenco cre-
arrangement of Hall of the Mountain Kings,
ations, Dlugosz has matured into one of those
while senior bluesman Uffe Steen was honing
rare players who can successfully ‘work the
the improvisational skills of a keen body of ado-
room’ from a sedentary position. After hours, he
lescent rockers. The fruits of their labours
offered me a sneak preview of a dazzling new
Latin-based work by his compatriot Marek
Pasieczny. There can be little doubt that both
Mareks are names worth watching.
German fingerpicker Burkhard Wolters, who I
first saw in action at the Vallendar Gitarrentage
(CG July 2008), made what I believe was his
Aalborg debut with an early evening perfor-
mance at the Klavierstemmeren piano show-
room in the company of Sven Bergmann, a
young classically-trained pianist who has now
turned his attentions to jazz. Although the
Vallendar set was strictly acoustic, Wolters
spent most of the present innings brandishing
a splendid f-hole Gibson that looked like an
ES175, but, with my lousy batting average as a Erling Moldrup and Toke Moldrup.

22 Classical Guitar Magazine

would form the core of the participants’ concert just
one day later.
In the meantime, a short stroll to the town library
was amply rewarded with a lunchtime performance
by Tim McVeigh-Pedersen, whose contributions to
previous festivals had earned him the title Danish
Talent of the Year. Welcomed on stage by a massive
pair of trousers in which was concealed a woman
librarian, McVeigh-Pedersen ticked all the right
boxes by presenting two of PF’s favourite guitar
sonatas, namely those of Brouwer and Turina.
Mature and well-rounded accounts they most cer-
tainly were, the inevitable background noise from
people using the library for its primary purpose
causing only a handful of minor distractions. But
can we please have a microphone next time?
A slightly longer trek to the Nordjylands
Kunstmuseum found us in the company of Carsten
Linck from Germany and Aalborg native Carsten
Grondahl, presenting a programme bearing the
title 22 Strings. So no prizes for guessing that they
were performing on a pair of those 11-string alto
guitars, built by the late Georg Bolin and primarily
associated with Göran Söllscher, who I’m told
might just be visiting Aalborg in 2009. Although
I’ve never been a great fan of oddball guitars with
battalions of extra strings one cannot possibly
damp, the Bolin alto guitar, with its specific renais-
sance/baroque mandate, remains a rare and
notable exception. Most impressive of all was
Linck’s transcription of Bach’s Partita in B flat
LUKAS FOSS
1922-2009
THE German-born American composer Lukas
Foss, who died in February 2009 at the age of 86,
will be remembered by guitarists for his American
Landscapes for guitar and orchestra (1989),
which was premiered by Sharon Isbin and
recorded, together with other new concertos by
John Corigliano and Joseph Schwantner, by Isbin
with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra conduct-
ed by Hugh Wolff.
Other publications will no doubt cover exten-
sively Foss’s widely varied output, which includ-
ed a piano concerto (in which he himself was the
able soloist), symphonies, choral works, opera
and much more, all in so wide a variety of styles
- he was a natural experimenter, innovator and
improviser - that critics found it difficult to pin
him down.
The style in which American Landscapes is writ-
ten is not a bad one to be remembered by.
Fragments of old American song, warmly melod-
ic, are interspersed with spiky modern interjec-
tions. The second movement is a set of variations
on the white spiritual Wayfaring Stranger. The
finale has elements of bluegrass as well as the
Classical Guitar Magazine
major BWV 825, colloquially known as Keyboard
Partita No.1.
Returning to Skipper Clement, an alluring aroma
from the dining room indicated that David Svit, son
of Finn and the festival’s resident star chef, would
soon be serving a wholesome repast in preparation
for an informal evening featuring Leandro Riva
from Argentina, who was also rejoicing in the title
International Talent of the Year. A studious and
unassuming 26-year-old, Riva is a textbook exam-
ple of a serious artist whose personality is revealed
through his music. Particularly memorable was his
dashing account of the Barrios Maxixe, although
Riva had me seriously spooked when he
announced that the closing item was to be a tango.
Mercifully, it turned out to be a harmless tradition-
al piece of the pre-Piazzolla type, so all was well.
As tends to be the case, the closing participants’
concert was a mixed agenda from which several
unexpected highlights emerged. Mathias Hoier,
who I’d seen in classes but hadn’t heard in action,
turned in a highly promising Elogio de la Danza,
while a trio of very young players presented of won-
derfully secure account of the haunting
Septembervise, composed by a clearly delighted
Soren Madsen.
Given that Madsen’s protégés represent the gener-
ation that’ll be providing the music when we’re all
being pushed to the concert hall in our bath chairs, I
can’t think of a more positive note on which to end...
Paul Fowles
folk melodies. There is humour too: while the gui-
tar improvises, the orchestra interrupts with
America the Beautiful, in G major, while violin,
piano and guitar continue to the end in E major.
It is a pity that this fresh and original work is
not more widely known, or at least performed
once in a while. To those of us who appreciate
wit and humour, in music as in life generally,
American Landscapes serves as a testimonial
both to the personality of its composer and to
the spirit of modern America at its best.
Colin Cooper
23
 20TH WIRRAL INTERNATIONAL
GUITAR FESTIVAL
4-28 November 2008
Tivoli Trio.
WHETHER it’s a one-off concert or a full-on inter-
national festival, location is of paramount impor-
tance. In this respect, sun-drenched antipodean
events such as Darwin naturally find themselves
in pole position. Even relatively modest European
gatherings like the Vallendar Gitarrentage can
woo prospective visitors with panoramic views of
the Rhineland. But a Merseyside festival that
takes place in darkest November is surely going
to finish up as last among unequals, isn’t it?
Actually no, for many’s the time during the
British summer’s brief but brutal heat waves
when I’ve caught myself murmuring the mantra
‘roll on the Wirral’. Travelling to Birkenhead amid
torrential rain and gale force winds undoubtedly
harbours many a mortal danger, but at least
drowning in your own perspiration isn’t one of
them.
A cheery wave from a shadowy figure outside
the Pacific Road Arts Centre confirms my suspi-
cion that the spectral outline is my old friend
Dave Tracey, who assures me he’ll put the kettle
on as soon as he’s finished his cigarette. A sense
of homecoming warms the heart, and even the
hands and feet start to thaw after a few minutes
near the radiator in the staff kitchen. Dave, I
should explain, has been working on the festival
for as long as anyone can remember and has
24
PHOTOS: PAUL FOWLES
risen through the ranks to become a pillar of the
management structure, a reassuring presence
when director Rob Smith is called to far-flung
corners of his ever expanding empire at Wirral
Leisure Services.
The core membership of the Liverpool Mozart
Orchestra (LMO) is a regular sighting at Pacific
Road, their November programmes usually pro-
viding a tie-in with the guitar festival. This year,
they offered the Villa-Lobos concerto with Mark
Ashford as soloist. With its bold opening figure
and seductive central theme, the first movement
is in itself a triumphant coda to Villa-Lobos’ gui-
tar writing. Add to this the dazzling cadenza and
rousing finale, and you have a textbook example
of a compelling creation whose rare outings indi-
cate that it has fallen victim to Aranjuez
Syndrome. I say this with no disrespect to
Rodrigo’s most celebrated work, but the box office
certainty of the Aranjuez has inevitably caused
promoters to shy-away from risking almost any
other guitar concerto, except possibly the low-
maintenance D major Vivaldi. So all credit to the
LMO under the baton of Mark Heron for fielding
this under-exposed gem, and equal credit to
Ashford who, not for the first time on these
premises, emerged as a front man of the highest
order.
Classical Guitar Magazine
 After Ashford had returned to the platform for a
dashing and unscheduled account of the first
Villa-Lobos prelude, the evening ended with
Symphony in D by Juan Crisósmo Arriaga (1806-
26). Despite being produced at a time when the
approaching shadow of Romanticism loomed
large, this uplifting work fully justifies the
labelling of Arriaga as the ‘Spanish Mozart’. And
yes, the unfortunate chap did indeed turn up his
toes just ten days before completing his twentieth
year, although in his tragically short life he
appears to have produced an astonishing legacy
of two operas, three string quartets, two sacred
works, two overtures, various smaller items and
the isolated symphony presented tonight.
The Williamson Art Gallery and Museum has for
many years been one of my favourite Wirral
venues, not only for musical reasons. Its now
sadly defunct motoring memorabilia section once
played host to a magnificent Sunbeam Talbot 90,
the current whereabouts of which I’d be very
curious to know. This year’s special presentation
was a striking and provocative exhibition of
paintings by celebrity zoologist Desmond Morris.
But the true reason for my presence here on a
damp Sunday afternoon was the lecture by
Graham Wade, followed by a recital from Wirral
regular Neil Smith, standing-in for the absent John Etheridge.
Stanley Yates. tion from the floor about Bream’s compositions.
Wade’s eloquent appraisals of Julian Bream’s Festival founder Brendan McCormack, who hap-
career have already been widely covered in the pened to be filming the day’s proceedings, was in
pages of CG, but this particular manifestation no doubt that he had witnessed Bream perform-
yielded an intriguing revelation following a ques- ing an original work on television during the 60s
and could even provide a thumbnail description
of the piece he heard. Does this footage survive?
A seasoned pro who can always fill in at a
moment’s notice, Smith charmed the small but
appreciative audience with a mainly Hispanic
agenda, together with such engaging rarities as
Three Moods from the Song of Solomon by Pieter
van der Staak. The real surprise, however, was a
semi-improvised take on the evergreen Danza
Brasilera by Jorge Morel. A backstage conversa-
tion established that the source was a broadcast
performance by the composer that is now pre-
served on a reel-to-reel tape, apparently predat-
ing by several years the definitive studio version
on the Guitar Masters LP from 1981.
An overlap of dates with the Aalborg Festival
(reported elsewhere in CG) meant I couldn’t be
around for the Wirral performances by Martin
Taylor, Gordon Giltrap and several other major
attractions. But I was back at Pacific Road for the
return of senior jazzman John Etheridge in the
company of double bass legend Arild Anderson
and ex-Soft Machine drummer John Marshall.
This time, I was greeted at the door by premier
league Merseyside sound engineer Tim Tapling,
who has been employed by the festival through-
out its history.
Etheridge may be best known to CG readers for
Neil Smith. his crossover collaborations with John Williams,

Classical Guitar Magazine 25

but his roots lie firmly in the revered tradition of
British jazz-rock. So it was a privilege to witness
him arrive on stage brandishing a solid-bodied
electric to present a stunning set from his spiri-
tual home ground, with Anderson’s ethereal com-
position A Song I Used To Play emerging as the
highlight of the evening. Some musicians are gen-
uinely bilingual and can drift chameleon-like
from one genre to the next. Others excel in their
foremost discipline but are decidedly under-
whelming in any other field. This has always been
the case with John Williams, and the world-class
brilliance of tonight’s offering established that the
same can be said of John Etheridge.
Come feast or famine, crisis or credit crunch,
there’ll always be a full house when Brendan
McCormack plays at the festival. This may in
part be the public paying homage to the man
under whose stewardship the event prospered
in its formative years, but a more likely expla-
nation is that Brendan is a superb all-round
guitarist and a natural entertainer. Performing
in the company of brothers John Byrne (violin)
and Nick Byrne (cello), the genial Liverpudlian Graham Wade.
delivered his customary quota of inspired
arrangements and related anecdotes. Starting Finally, a sincere tribute to my late father’s
with Every Breath You Take and moving seam- ancient but utterly dependable Toyota, which I
lessly into the vintage Del Shannon hit inherited last year and whose slender girth is just
Runaway, the ensemble collectively known as the job for those notoriously narrow lanes in the
the Tivoli Trio brought forth a brilliant yet lis- Mersey Tunnel...
tener -friendly array of Schubert and Paul Fowles
Boccherini, freely interspersed with Stairway to
Heaven and the Dambusters’ March. Unlikely
though it may sound, every item hit the target
dead centre, with no exceptions.
In recent years, the final Sunday evening slot
has been held in reserve for those ebullient South
African ethno-jazzers the Lucky Ranku Band. A
deft hand at quickfire runs and Montgomery
octaves, Ranku also displays a sense of spon-
taneity that is second to none. As Tim Tapling
remarked just two days before the performance:
‘It’s anybody’s guess who Lucky brings with him
- for all I know, I could finish up doing the sound
for an army of drummers and a five-piece brass
section’.
In the event, Ranku fielded a relatively compact
line-up comprising keyboards, electric bass,
drums and congas. Also present was a charis-
matic female guest singer, whose dramatic entry
was almost scuppered by the failure of a radio
mic. Fortunately, the voice channel used for
announcements was already up and running, so
all was not lost. But it certainly raised a smile
when a member of Ranku’s road crew, having
fixed the recalcitrant piece of kit, climbed on
stage and handed it to the good lady mid-num-
ber. I might also add that those intoxicating Afro
rhythms make Ranku gatherings one of the rare
occasions on which I lament the fact that I can’t
dance. But please don’t turn up at Pacific Road
with your camera, because it isn’t going to hap-
pen.
26 Classical Guitar Magazine
 THE IVOR MAIRANTS
GUITAR AWARD 2008
NOW in its eleventh year, the Ivor Mairants Guitar
Award, administered by the Worshipful Company
of Musicians, has emerged as the United
Kingdom’s most enduring competition for the
instrument. Its unique format, reflecting the life-
long interests of its eponymous founder, encour-
ages performers at the outset of their careers to
explore the connections between classical and jazz
styles and, thereby, grow as musicians. Since its
inception it has attracted entrants from every con-
tinent and a number of its
winners have progressed to
recognition on the interna-
tional stage, and, in a few
cases, major recording con-
tracts.
As in previous years, each
contestant is required to per-
form three items: a pre-
scribed movement from one
of Ivor Mairants’ Jazz
Sonatas, a piece of their own
choice composed after 1920,
and a set work. The latter
category usually, but not
necessarily, features a repre-
sentative opus by a leading
British composer. This time
it was the turn of William
Sanja Plohl.
Walton and Richard Rodney
Bennett, both musical knights and past recipients
of WCOM honours. Their respective Bagatelles
and Impromptus have become well established in
the guitar’s concert repertoire; less familiar is
Appassionata, an extended, single-movement
work by the Brazilian Ronaldo Miranda which has
inspired increasing advocacy in recent times. It is
gratifying, therefore, to report that there was an
approximately even balance in the selection by
this year’s competitors from these three very dif-
ferent compositions.
Given such a spread of age among the players,
the jury on this occasion was faced with an inter-
esting range of options. If in the end it settled for
experience, the decision was reached only after
considerable deliberation.
At 19 both Laura Snowden (RCM) and Steven
Hickey (RNCM) showed much promise and were
commended for their clear tonal projection and
sense of communication. To merit one of the top
places, however, a more satisfying depth of inter-
pretative insight was needed and this Georgina
Whitehead (TCM), four years their senior, certain-
ly achieved in the Bennett, which was most sensi-
tively phrased; her playing was well organised
throughout but felt by the jury to lack that final
degree of flair to take her beyond third place.
The choice of winner came down to the final
Classical Guitar Magazine
wire. Stewart French (RAM) impressed everyone
with his professional poise and technical assur-
ance in, perhaps, the most challenging pro-
gramme, having elected to play the Miranda and
Walton pieces. For the latter he had done some
very interesting research on the original score and
presented a version, which differed in several
areas from the printed edition, but carried convic-
tion. If his Miranda did not quite set the spirit rac-
ing as the composer intended, there was neverthe-
less a firm grasp of the musi-
cal structure in this perfor-
mance, which augured well.
Unlike some of their younger
competitors, Stewart French
and Sanja Plohl, who was
last in the line-up, found a
natural, unforced tempo for
the Mairants, allowing the
music to make its point with
rhythmic ease and appropri-
ate expression.
Trained at the Royal
Conservatoire in The Hague
and more recently at the
Salzburg Mozarteum, where
she is a student of Eliot Fisk,
Sanja Plohl brought to her
performance a spontaneous
identification with every
phrase and sonority, which compelled the listen-
er’s attention and opened up the imaginative
world beyond the text. Her Walton sparkled in the
outer movements and sang in the slow one, while
her sense of poetic involvement with the
Bogdanovic made light of its length and intrica-
cies. There was a feeling of genuine improvisation
here of which, the jury was sure, Ivor Mairants
would have approved and deservedly earned Sanja
Plohl the first prize.
The 2008 competition was held on 27 November
at the Coopers’ Hall in the City of London. As in
past years, the organisation was in the expert
hands of Margaret Alford, the Company’s Clerk.
Current Master Petronella Burnett-Brown and
Pastmaster Adrian Davis attended as auditors.
Sponsors included The D’Addario Foundation for
the Performing Arts, Classical Guitar Magazine,
Mel Bay Publishing Inc., Onboard Research,
Manuel Rodriguez Guitars, Chanterelle Verlag,
and Ediciones Joaquín Rodrigo. The panel of adju-
dicators comprised Court Assistant Michael Lewin
(Chairman), with (in alphabetical order) Graham
Devine, Richard Hand, Eleftheria Kotzia, Senior
Warden Maurice Summerfield and John Taylor.
Colin Cooper was, unfortunately, indisposed on
the day of the competition but his contribution to
the IMGA Committee was warmly appreciated.
27
 CHARLES CAMILLERI
(1931-2009)
CHARLES CAMILLERI, the national composer
of Malta, died on 3 January, 2009. Flags flew at
half-mast throughout the island, the leaders of
Maltese political parties expressed their sense
of loss for this composer of international
renown, and tribute concerts of his works have
been arranged.
Camilleri, a virtuoso accordionist in his
younger years as well as an excellent pianist,
began his musical career in light music. He
started composing at the age of eleven and soon
became immersed in researching and absorbing
the folk music of his country, writing the
orchestral Malta Suite when he was fifteen.
During his early development he lived in
Australia, England and the USA, his style
steadily evolving from diatonic and tonal music
to more dissonantly avant-garde styles. He
studied not only traditional Maltese music but
also Arabic, African and Asiatic cultures, as
well as being influenced by composers such as
Stockhausen and Stravinsky. In particular he
became interested in rhythmic experimentation
which developed concepts of beat and accent
beyond the normal structures of time signa-
tures and barlines. friendship blossomed and the following year, at
In the 1970s he taught in Canada and the the same Summer School, I played his evocative
USA where he met composers such as Cage, Four African Sketches and Three Pieces from
Carter and Feldman. Returning to Malta in Chemins, the latter originally for the piano ‘but
the early 1980s, he became professor at the written with the sound of the guitar in mind’.
University of Malta in 1992. His prolific out- Charles Camilleri was an affable and intense-
put of over three hundred compositions com- ly loveable personality, whose presence would
prises music for the stage, concertos, orches- light up a room. The range of his erudition,
tral, choral, and chamber works and many musically, culturally, and linguistically, was
instrumental pieces for organ, piano, guitar, immense and his experience of the world pro-
etc. foundly cosmopolitan. Yet his national roots
I first met Charles in the 1980s at the inspired and sustained his creative powers, or
Warwickshire Summer School organised annu- as he expressed it, I could not survive without
ally for the county’s music teachers. Having travelling, but I like to know that my home in
reviewed his ambitious but somewhat enigmat- Malta is always here to come back to’ and ‘I owe
ic guitar piece, Fantasia Concertante No. 5 (pre- everything to my country, its people, its language
miered by Alan Torok at the World Guitar and the sea that surrounds the island’.
Congress Toronto in June 1978 and awarded His musical vision was summed up by a quo-
the composition prize in Quest for New Music, tation from The Music of Charles Camilleri
promoted by the Toronto Guitar Society that (Christopher Palmer, Midsea Publications,
year) I mentioned my interest in the work on Malta, 1975): I have all my life been fascinated
our way from breakfast one morning. Charles and haunted by the stars – their apparent disor-
immediately suggested that I should perform ganisation gradually made me realise in later
the item that evening at his lecture. The com- years that in fact this is the very essence of their
poser would accept no evasion of his generous unity. I compare this vision to my music – a uni-
offer and I duly settled down to study the work versal type of rhythm made up of small, appar-
over the next ten hours. ently unconnected, units. Slowly I try to bring out
That night during his talk on compositional their essential unity –the one whole piece. The
concepts, I learned about the ‘atomisation of ultimate goal of these small rhythmic cells is to
the beat’, a topic which clarified various prob- form part of a greater type of rhythm – the uni-
lematical aspects of Fantasia Concertante No. 5. versal rhythm which in its turn forms part of an
After the performance, to a possibly bemused even greater rhythm, the rhythm of the universe.’
audience (for its three movements are dissonant Charles is survived by his wife, Doris, a
to the point of opacity), Charles inscribed my writer, his daughter, Anya, who works in the
copy of the score, ‘with many thanks for a great film industry, and his son Charles, a composer,
performance, bravo, warmest greetings’. From and we send them our sincere condolences.
this encounter with the man and his music, our Graham Wade

28 Classical Guitar Magazine

Manfred Fuchs
Gypsy Jazz Workshop
Lead- and rhythm guitar performed by Andreas Öberg.
35 930 incl. CD, ISMN 979-0-012-19850-5, ISBN 978-3-902667-14-4
This volume pursues two goals: on one hand it can
be used as a performance collection for beginning
gypsy jazz ensembles and contains, apart from
two famous standards, new pieces in this sty-
le. This is why each piece has not only the melody
part, but also a bass part – both written both in
notes and tablature – and chords and rhythms for
the accompanying guitar.
On the other hand, Gypsy Jazz Guitar provides the
player with an opportunity to improvise without
having detailed knowledge of music theory. The
diagrams and licks show, which notes on the fret-
board fit the chord progressions. These can also
easily be fitted to other pieces.

The included CD contains listening and playalong versions of all pieces performed
by Swedish guitarist Andreas Öberg. Transcriptions of Öbergs improvisations
included.

Michael Langer (Ed.)

Stars of Classical Guitar Vol. 3.
Play & Listen to the Stars on NAXOS Records
35 923 CD included, ISMN: 979-0-012-19708-9
This anthology contains both classics and rarities
of the guitar literature, arranged in order of
difficulty and furnished with fingerings. Includes
information on the composers and the individual
works, and suggestions for interpretation. The
enclosed CD contains recordings of all the pieces
by internationally known guitar virtuosos.
Book III – Masterpieces: With works by Alonso
Mudarra, John Dowland, Gaspar Sanz, Guerau,
Domenico Scarlatti, J. S. Bach, Domenico Cimarosa,
Mauro Giuliani, Fernando Sor, Franz Schubert,
Francisco Tárrega, Isaac Albeniz, Joaquin Malats.

Distribution for dealers: Music Distribution Service GmbH, Kundenservice, Carl-Zeiss-Straße 1,

55129 Mainz, GERMANY, Tel.: 0049 / 6131 / 505100, FAX: 0049 / 6131 / 505 115 / 116,
E-Mail: order@mds-partner.com, www.mds-partner.com
d Doblinger Music Publishing www.doblinger-musikverlag.at
 ANDREW RUTHERFORD
An American luthier
By THEODORE DIEHL-PESHKUR
THERE has always existed a
kind of deeply symbiotic
connection between contem-
porary instrument makers
and performers through the
centuries, as many docu-
ments and common sense
are able to attest. However,
in addition to those contem-
porary relationships, there
also exists a particular vari-
ant, a special and much
more difficult type of musi-
cal symbiosis between
builders and performers
that started unconsciously
at the end of the 19th centu-
ry’s early music revival and
still continues to the pre-
sent. This is a far more com-
plex state of affairs, combin-
ing detective work, research,
testing and analysis -
together with a large dose of
intuition and feeling - from
builders and performers. We
are all keenly aware that the
performance of early music
has, like the history that
describes it, gone through
myriad changes and evolu-
Andrew Rutherford and the finished lute.
tion since those first
attempts to perform on early instruments and the
copies created in their name, and that the devel-
opment is ongoing.
During that revival to the present day, a whole
different set of problems began to play a role in a
manner quite different from that which existed
between, let’s say, Bach and the violinmaker
Jakob Stainer, a contemporary whose instruments
Bach particularly praised. This natural connection
between performers and builders is of course an
eminently logical one, since all performers need an
instrument to give a voice to their interpretations
of compositions whether from centuries past or
present. However, with instruments like the lute,
this relationship is especially thorny due to the
multiple variables involved in reconstructing lost
techniques for an instrument that has no continu-
ous history and documentation to the present day
like the violin and organ possess. When you con-
sider that we can dissect these large numbers of
variables into an endless number of smaller vari-
ables like those presented by wood, strings, thick-
nesses, tone production, skin, interpretation,
tempo, dynamics - the list goes on ad infinitum. In
30
the end it is fair to say that
the problems faced by lute
performers and builders
alike are equally mind-bog-
gling in size and difficulty.
Add to this the problem that
lutes don’t age well, rarely
surviving in any kind of
playable or unaltered state
which means that those few
rare surviving instruments,
however tantalising they are,
can’t really aid us in getting
closer to experiencing the
past, and it might seem that
the problems facing lute
makers and players are
insurmountable. It remains
a wonder in my opinion that
we have been able to recon-
struct as much as we have
with so little information.
Despite all the unknown fac-
tors that exist, all one can do
as a builder or performer is
forge ahead and get to work
on solving whatever prob-
lems you come across. One
of those unassuming indi-
viduals quietly forging ahead
is the American lutemaker
Andrew Rutherford, who is
hard at work dealing with the lute in all its various
forms and with all of the questions it poses - for
builder and performer alike.
Rutherford is quite tall, and his height, in com-
bination with his blond hair parted down the
middle and eyes framed with wire-rims, gives him
the mien of a 19th-century prairie preacher with
a supplementary dab of Gothic Americana. One’s
initial impression is as if he had just stepped out
of an episode of Deadwood. Although at first a
man of few words, uttering sentences containing
only a bare handful of syllables, he is in actuali-
ty an easygoing, talkative person once you get
him going. Nonetheless, this stern visualisation I
have made of him here befits the underlying seri-
ousness of Andrew’s mission - the creation of his-
torically accurate instruments suitable for the
interpretation of some of the finest and most
extraordinary music ever written for plucked
strings.
It wouldn’t be incorrect to describe Andrew
Rutherford as an introverted freethinker, with a
healthy, but not decidedly Bohemian attitude to
life, who more or less appeared out of nowhere in
Classical Guitar Magazine
 Young Artists in Concert
Koblenz-Preisträger stellen sich vor. Jeweils um 16.00 Uhr.
27. Mai Anatoly Izotov (Russland)
28. Mai „Duo Cologne“ (Gorbach/Krivokapic)
29. Mai Gabriel Bianco (Frankreich)

KOBLENZ INTERNATIONAL
GUITAR SOCIETYe.V.
the New York lute scene in the late 1970s via a
rather curious and circuitous route.
At a young age he was already playing piano as
well as electric and acoustic guitar, (having even
toured as a guitarist for a while with a black
Rhythm and Blues group called The Mighty
Cobras), as well as being very active with painting,
graphic design and drawing. In fact originally
Andrew had planned to become an artist and had
even received a full graphic arts scholarship to
study art at Cooper Union in New York City, but in
the end he found that study-
ing art and painting weren’t
where his true aspirations
lay and he ended up leaving
after only about a month or
so had passed. (I secretly
suspect that almost no
school could really hold onto
him for long.) Having gained
this knowledge about what
he didn’t want, he went on
what can only be described
literally as a life journey;
travelling through the USA
playing acoustic and electric
guitar in various bands, tak-
ing up various odd-jobs in
different states and seeing
the world. He told me: ‘It’s
funny, but there are a lot of
similarities between pop
music and lute music. Both
were the music of their time,
and both require an ability to
improvise. I started out
learning piano, and later
learned electric guitar by ear,
followed by classical guitar
and lute, although I only had Unfinished lute back.
an East German “lutar” at
that time, and had no notion of what I was miss-
ing in lute sound and technique.’
At one point during a job at a furniture maker’s,
he inadvertently lost the tip of one of fingers, but
luckily was still able to play and perform. (The
more you talk with Andrew, the more you discov-
er, somewhat like a comfortable and rambling
house with doors and passageways you had never
peered behind for some reason. Somewhere in the
man is a novel, I’m sure of it). In the end, all of
these musical and artistic meanderings finally led
to his entering the Violin School of Utah in Salt
Lake City and this led in turn to his contact with a
teacher there, Anton Smith, who had previously
built lutes for Julian Bream. A visit by Paul Beier,
a former student of Diana Poulton’s, with his
ensemble to the school was an eye opener for
Andrew. Beier introduced him to the essence of the
lute: tone production, historic building practice,
and performers the likes of Paul O’Dette. When
Andrew discovered these aspects of the lute, a
whole new world of challenges opened up for him.
32
The school was not against such excursions into
worlds unknown like the lute or viola da gamba,
but it was something foreign to the curriculum and
school attitude and it had to be done on your own
private time, since the violin family took total
precedence. He was given his first lute drawing by
Stephen Gottlieb, wood to construct a lute by
Anton Smith, and received more ad hoc help from
various sources. Supported in this positive fashion
by those around him, he dove in, and decided to
concentrate mainly on researching and building
instruments of the lute fam-
ily.
After having built his first
lute and experiencing
another ongoing series of
more cross-country adven-
tures, he ended up in New
York City in 1979. This
arrival out of the blue led to
a fortuitous meeting with
Pat O’Brien, then and now a
well-known and famed
nestor of the lute world. Pat
was flabbergasted by the
quality and sound of the
instrument the young
unknown had conjured up,
and this led to his talent
being discovered in the New
York early music world,
marking his professional
entrance to the métier. Said
Pat O’Brien, ‘It was clear to
me when I saw his lute that
this was a guy with so much
talent, it was already obvi-
ous he was going to be well-
known.’ O’Brien ordered a
lute straight away (an 8-
course instrument based on
Hieber which he still uses regularly), and this was
followed by another 20 orders for the same instru-
ment placed by students and others in the lute
scene. This would have been the ultimate dream of
many an upstart young builder, but not for
Andrew. Having finally found his calling, so to
speak, Andrew quickly discovered that this kind of
success, building the same lute repeatedly with
slight variations, was definitely not what he either
wanted or needed, and he felt it imperative to stop
for a while and re-think his approach. POB: ‘He
saw that making the same instrument over and
over again was not the life he expected as a
lutemaker. He really needed the variety and chal-
lenges that would be available by following his
instincts.’ Andrew is perhaps less known for this
reason than one might naturally expect after more
than a quarter of a century, because after that
brush with fame as a builder he decided to only
accept orders for instruments that interested him
or that he found challenging in his particular
way. Even today, if you do get a hold of him and
Classical Guitar Magazine
wish to place an order for a lute, it might be a lit-
tle difficult for you to get exactly what you want.
POB: ‘One time, I wanted to order a baroque lute
after Edlinger from him, but he refused, saying it
was boring, preferring a Jauck type instrument
with stepped pegboxes instead. He built that for
me and it was magnificent, so I was glad I listened
to him.’ (Later, in a roundabout way, Robert Barto,
for a number of his recordings would use this
same instrument).
All this interest led to Andrew’s eventually set-
ting up shop and taking root in New York City,
where he began building all variety of lutes whilst
studying Renaissance lute performance. POB: ‘At
one point we shared some space together on 1261
Broadway; he was building as well as playing lute
and in the other half I was giving my lessons. It
often happened that you would leave at the end of
a long day, then come back the next morning and
suddenly see this marvellous
painting that he had conjured up
between his lute building - just “For a while I
because he felt like it. Those
artistic roots seem to have
had a fully
always stayed within him.’ organised shop,
Although his work has certain-
ly been well known within the
but working
United States since that period, it mainly at home
was mostly in the course of the
last several years that recogni-
was more
tion of his instruments really practical in
took flight, in particular via the
amazing series of Weiss record-
the end”
ings by Robert Barto and most
recently Bach by Paul O’Dette, all of which made
him more well known as a builder to a wider lute
audience. It is in fact via Barto’s recordings that I
got to indirectly know Andrew’s instruments,
which in turn led to my ordering one for myself,
ending up finally meeting the man himself in New
York city for the first time last year.
In the 9th Street Espresso cafe, surrounded by a
group of tattooed, slightly stoned and pierced rock
musicians, evidently in for a latte after an early
morning gig, we got into a discussion about what
it was like creating lutes in the midst of the hectic
life of New York City. AR: ‘I’m lucky that most of
the work involved in lute making is done only with
hand-tools, so the neighbours didn’t have too
much to complain about. The few operations that
require a band-saw or other noisy machines can
be done elsewhere. For a while I had a fully organ-
ised shop, but working mainly at home was more
practical in the end.’ Materials are also a difficult
question, especially for someone working within
the confines of a Greenwich Village apartment,
since making lutes requires a large supply of aged
wood. I started off the discussion mentioning the
dating of the soundboard wood from a number of
lutes made by members of the Widhalm family,
showing that the woods they used were already
quite old before being used for instruments. AR:
‘From when I started building, like any serious
Classical Guitar Magazine
maker from the past or present, I was collecting
the best quality woods for future use, and most of
the wood I have now was already aged to begin
with. Funny, actually it was so long ago that I
began stockpiling that now most of it is now about
30 or 40 years old. Luckily, lutes are not very big,
so a large stockpile doesn’t take up too much
space. I agree with those builders who think that
split soundboard wood is important, but even
more important in my view is that the grain is real-
ly well quartered.’ Also an active performer on the
Renaissance lute, Rutherford’s approach to re-cre-
ating a sound for an instrument is down to earth -
listen to everything very carefully, follow your
instincts and gather knowledge from original
instruments and each completed instrument. And
if you are a player as well, you can use that knowl-
edge for making sure the action is perfect for other
player’s fingers.
Materials are just the begin-
ning; Andrew feels it important to
get an intuitive feeling of the
wood’s strength and flexibility by
tapping and slightly bending
each piece as he chisels, planes,
cuts, bends or thicknesses it
and, perhaps of greatest impor-
tance, he understands that
moment when something should
be left alone and further fiddling
won’t achieve any musical
results. Pat O’Brien summed it
up a different way: ‘Andy has this
Zen-like thing of working freshly,
directly and quickly with wood without going over-
board on a super perfectionism as a goal in and
unto itself. In this way his instruments in my opin-
ion are much closer to the originals in every way,
they too also had this al fresco aspect in finish and
sound. An instrument’s construction has to have a
kind of easy finesse in its construction in order to
be able to breathe and sing.’ An analogy with the
action of a artist writing Japanese characters in
swift brushstrokes is what came to mind during
the conversation with Pat O’Brien, and many per-
formers have the same feeling about his work.
In 2008, Andrew and his wife Anna moved to
upstate New York, (by the way, not so far from
where Hopkinson Smith was born and raised),
to a fantastic 68-acre country property with an
old and comfortable house with a wide front
veranda that had been a family retreat for many
years. Now, Andrew’s work continues in an idyl-
lic setting within a small but cosy old barn
located between the ancient trees of the proper-
ty. Besides the peace and quiet of the idyllic sur-
roundings, which seems only to be broken by
the sound of a wild turkey searching and
screeching for a mate whilst positioned under
your window at 6 in the morning, and the hun-
gry ticks that wait to attach themselves to your
soft bits if you meander off the beaten path in
the woods, the only thing lute insiders would
33
gather about the move is that the labels in his
lutes now sport a different address.
The virtuoso lutenist Robert Barto would likely
agree de facto with Andrew’s approach to lute-
making as well, since he uses Rutherford’s instru-
ments for his world premiere undertaking of
recording the complete works of Weiss for Naxos.
RB: ‘We really have no exact idea how old lutes
must have sounded back then, and it’s always a
guessing game. However, for me Andy’s instru-
ments have a beautiful roundness in their sound
combined with a string action and layout that feels
just right - and which is very difficult to achieve.
You really need that as a player when performing
difficult and complex music such as that com-
posed by Weiss, which often tests the outer limits
of the lute’s capacity.’ This kind of comment dove-
tails into the symbiotic relationship between great
players and makers mentioned above. However, at
the centre of that relationship is the fact that the
better the performer is, the more demands will be
put on the builder, and at the same time the
builder is empowered by these demands to hear
musical aspects regarding the lute’s sonority, reac-
tion and ability to deal with difficult passages that
might normally remain hidden from perception.
AR: ‘Robert Barto is an amazing player, but also
a very demanding one. When I show him a new
instrument, he will invariably play over the entire
range of the instrument touching on every possible
note and chord whilst making commentary on the
sounds produced by each. You can see that he is
really evaluating everything and comparing it to an
ideal sound concept that he has in his mind that
he really wants to achieve and hear realised. For a
lute builder this kind of approach can be a nerve-
racking experience, but in the end it is highly
instructive and makes you more than keenly
aware of how each note in the music counts dur-
ing a performance, and also how someone on the
stage with only your lute in their hands relies on
you as a builder to provide them a vehicle with
which to communicate their ideas and emotions. If
you think about that, it could easily make anyone
nervous. For me as a builder in any case, the plus
point of making an instrument for Robert Barto is
the fantastic sound he gets out of my instruments,
hearing him play is a joy.’
In conversations with me, both Robert Barto as
well as Paul O’Dette have repeatedly commented
on the kind of action Andrew achieves with his
instruments, and when I asked Andrew about it,
he mentioned to me that this aspect ended up
being something he indeed spends a lot of time on
during a lute’s construction. AR: ‘You know, I’m
regularly travelling to museums to look at and
measure instruments even today after all my trav-
els. It is really unusual, and many people don’t
realise or notice it, but many of the old baroque
lutes possess a kind of very small lengthwise con-
cave taper measuring only some millimetres in the
middle section of the neck just under the finger-
board. I’m still not sure exactly what effect this
34
Finished lute back and neck.
taper has on the sound and action, perhaps even
the lute’s stability, but I feel that attention to this
aspect is really quite important. In addition to this
is a more well-known taper going from the bass to
the treble side of the fingerboard (from the lowest
to the highest strings), which is also changing in
cross-section from the area near the pegbox joint
up to the highest frets. One can easily ignore some
changes or anomalies in these tapers from one
original instrument to another as a mistake or an
unconscious effect, but I found that it is something
quite well planned out by the old builders.
Following these aspects in my view is really impor-
tant for achieving a really good action, and indi-
rectly a good sound, on a baroque lute. Since the
majority of Renaissance lutes have flat finger-
boards and are more straightforward in their
design, this is less of a predicament. For me any-
way, getting the neck of a lute and the complicat-
ed tapers and arching taking place in so many dif-
ferent directions absolutely perfect is among the
greatest challenges in lute making. The sound-
board and body are also tricky in their own way,
but comparatively easy to keep track of and con-
trol during building. Of course the greatest chal-
lenge for any lute-maker remains achieving a good
sound.’
As mentioned above, it is often the relationships
between performers and builders that help define
an instrument’s character and possibilities since
they are able to go to the extremes of what the
instrument can really achieve, what sonorities and
depths it has hidden within the wood. Without that
push from the performers, builders can easily get
stuck in a particular way of building that does not
necessarily match the needs of the music. Think
for instance of the concrete example of a harpsi-
chord that has a beautiful sound perfectly suited
for Bach; but with a sluggish keyboard on which
performing trills and ornaments is a nightmare. A
builder might only discover that problem when a
good performer puts his finger on the sore spot, so
to speak. AR: ‘As a builder, you are always balanc-
ing between two extremes. Take the problems of
thicknessing for example. If you make a lute
soundboard too thin, the sound becomes loose
Classical Guitar Magazine
and a little “crazy”. If it balances towards being too
thick, you generally get fewer overtones, and that
in turn can affect the listener’s perception of pro-
jection. You need to strike a balance between both
of these aspects to create a good sound. Many tops
of old instruments are unbelievably thin, they have
lots of overtones, but this usually expresses itself
with a number of wolf notes. So, in the end you will
always need to use a certain amount of intuition
and experience, maybe even a little dose of super-
stition and prayer to get it exactly right each time.’
Paul O’Dette is another performer who has a few
things to say about lute performance, and when I
spoke with him about Andrew Rutherford, he sud-
denly waxed poetic and went into great detail
about what he liked about Andrew’s instruments.
He had met Andrew via Pat O’Brien in the early
1980s and has three lutes from him - a 13-course
baroque lute, Renaissance six-course and an arch-
lute. POD: ‘Andy’s instruments have lots of colour
and a multilayered sound, with the complexity of a
great wine. Many of the modern lutes I come
across today often will sound good in principle, but
they possess what I would call a one-dimensional
sound that you can’t do anything with. And there
means the sound develops immediately without
delay and this is important when you want to cre-
ate clear contrapuntal lines.’
Andrew loves making all kinds of lutes, but
finds baroque lutes the most challenging. ‘The
baroque lute has more of bass/treble orientation,
melody and accompaniment as it were, and a
really singing treble is very important. On the
other hand the Renaissance lute is more homoge-
nous sound-wise from top to bottom. In terms of
construction, the Renaissance lute’s flat finger-
board uses a simpler action; the baroque lute has
a really complicated set of contours to get the fin-
gerboard and action exactly right, like I men-
tioned. It is intriguing. I find it mind-boggling
thinking about how sophisticated the neck of a
baroque lute really is. Perhaps because of my
interest in those kinds of details, many people see
me as a baroque lute specialist. In any case, I
don’t really want to be pigeonholed in any partic-
ular direction; at the moment I am very taken up
with the English guitar, and am experimenting
with them and performing on them, having found
some nice originals. One thing I do know: even
after 28 odd years, lute making still remains a

2
are many aspects behind just the sound. In poly- tremendous challenge. However good one gets at
phonic music like Bach’s for instance, Andy’s it, there is always something new to learn with
instruments come into their own because they every instrument you build. And as long as there

4
have what I would call a certain quickness of is something new to learn, I’ll keep making lutes
speech. If an instrument speaks quickly, that - that’s for sure.’

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Classical Guitar Magazine 35


DAVID RUSSELL
Kings Place, London
30 October 2008
In this recital we heard the pre-
mière of El Llanto de los Sueños, a
work written for David Russell by
the British guitarist and composer
Stephen Goss, who is professor of
Composition at the University of
Surrey. Stephen Goss has been
writing a number of solo works
lately which have been dedicated
to performers, such as The
Chinese Garden and Raise the Red
Latern which were written for Xue
Fei Yang and premièred at the
Wigmore Hall in 2007. This latest
piece, El Llanto de los Sueños, is in
three movements: Cantiga,
Madrugada and Alborada and
draws its inspiration from the
poetry of Federico García Lorca,
including Las seis cuerdas (The Six
Strings) and La Guitarra. The
Cantiga began with dream-like
arpeggios and David Russell was
particularly nurturing in the tone
quality here, creating a honey-
sweet melody. Madrugada had all
the expectant, and yet unsure
eerie ambiance of that time before
dawn. The music was gentle with
some nice harmonic choices, but
all very understated. The final
movement, Alborada (Dawn), was
much longer and livelier. Every
new work needs to be played in
and fortunately David Russell
plans to keep this piece on his pro-
gramme for the coming year.
Couperin can be quite demand-
ing and one really needs to have
his impressive technique to make
these transcriptions of David
Russell’s work so well on the gui-
tar. He played three pieces: Les
Barricades mistérieuses, an ele-
gantly ornamented Les Silvains
and the technically impressive Les
tours de passe-passe, which
appropriately translated as ‘sleight
of hand’, as the hands need to
work like magic.
The two pieces by Albéniz,
Mallorca and Malagueña were
very pleasing for the detailed care
taken in the individual voices
which allowed you to hear the
beauty of the composition with
great clarity. The Malagueña had
a good balance of delicacy in the
upper voice over a strong, rhyth-
mic foundation.
36
The concert ended with three
light works by Roshegar, Waltz
No.7 and Lullaby. The third piece,
Good Luck Waltz is dedicated to
David Russell.
This concert was my first at the
recently-opened London music
venue called Kings Place, which is
very close to Kings Cross Station,
built on Regent’s Canal. The com-
plex is now home to two of
London’s renowned orchestras,
London Sinfonietta and the
Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment, and is also the
headquarters of the Guardian
newspaper. There were no train
noises, despite our closeness to
the international train terminal at
St Pancras, the building sits on
rubber shock absorbers, that
clearly do the job very well.
Thérèse Wassily Saba
DIMITRIS DEKAVALLAS
& KATE STILLMAN (violin)
St Thomas’ Hospital, London
10 November 2008
Although the Central Hall of St
Thomas’s Hospital is not the qui-
etest place to give a recital, I must
say that I thoroughly enjoyed the
excellent music-making of this vio-
lin and guitar duo. The March et
Scherzo Op.33 by Napoleon Coste
was elegant salon music and
Dimitris Dekavallas had a particu-
larly warm tone and lyrical expres-
sion on his new Smallman guitar.
This piece and Les Regrets,
Cantilene Op.36 were originally
written for oboe and guitar by
Coste but worked well on violin
and guitar. It was calm and sooth-
ing music, appropriate for a recital
in a hospital’s hall, where the
music was enjoyed by hospital
staff and visitors.
Villa-Lobos’s Distribution de
Fleures is in some ways a very
primitive sounding piece; it is sim-
ple but with absolutely seductive
melodies on both instruments.
Katie Stillman relaxed into the
timelessness of the piece with ease
and we could appreciate even more
the beauty of the tone quality on
the very long notes on the violin.
That atmosphere continued in
Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras
No.5, a piece originally written for
voice accompanied by eight cellos.
Here it was beautifully played in
CONCERTS
an arrangement for guitar and vio-
lin, with the violin of course taking
the part for voice.
Each of the performers played
solos. Katie Stillman, a Canadian
violinist who like Dekavallas has
won a string of awards and is
experienced both as a chamber
musician and soloist, played an
absorbing interpretation of the
Allemande and Sarabande from
Bach’s Partita for solo violin No.2 in
D minor, BWV 1004. She has a par-
ticular way of leaning into the end
of the phrases which is quite dis-
tinctive and completely absorbing
to listen to. In her solo the volume
increased considerably, which
meant that in duo she was very
mindful of the more limited volume
of the guitar and adjusted her
playing accordingly – a guitarist’s
dream partner for chamber music.
Dimitris Dekavallas gave a
sunny performance of Albéniz’s
Sevilla with plenty of drive and
momentum, and a moving inter-
pretation of the melody line in the
slow section.
The music making continued to
be pleasing into the last piece, the
History of Tango by Astor Piazzolla,
which was as impressive as the
rest of the programme. Dimitris
Dekavallas’ rhythm was solid,
playful and exciting with the nec-
essary magical interplay between
the performers that makes
Piazzolla’s music really come to
life. As a duo Dimitris Dekavallas
and Katie Stillman were an excel-
lent match. They both manage to
be deeply involved in the music
that they are playing at the same
time as closely following what the
other is doing, with a feeling of
equality.
Thérèse Wassily Saba
BERTA ROJAS
Purcell Room, London
27 November 2008
Berta Rojas has recently released a
rather special DVD performance of
Barrios’s works, with each piece
set in a place of incredible natural
beauty. This concert, entitled
‘Berta Rojas: Paraguay According
to Agustín Barrios’, had a large
screen above the centre of the
stage and the scene for the concert
was set by the opening of the DVD
with Berta Rojas sitting in a bar
Classical Guitar Magazine
playing Barrios. Although it may
seem an unusual approach for a
classical music concert, the result
was very effective. We all relaxed
and even more so when she did
start playing ‘live’, with her
remarkably relaxed technique and
distinctive phrasing which works
so well in the Barrios because,
despite its very classical style, his
music also has folk music influ-
ences. In her own career Berta
Rojas has performed both the seri-
ous classical guitar repertoire and
has also performed Paraguayan
music in various ensembles. Her
most recent collaborations in duo
with Carlos Barbosa-Lima show
her ability to work with ease in
both styles.
Each group of pieces was intro-
duced by Berta Rojas, giving snip-
pets of biographical information
about Barrios. Although this can
be disturbing in some perfor-
mances, here it seemed to fit per-
fectly with the atmosphere she had
created, which felt very intimate,
despite the large film screen just
behind her head on the stage. The
programme included El Ultimo
Canto, Aconquija, Maxixe, Choro da
Saudade, Julia Florida, Las
Abejas, La Catedral – all favourties
of the Barrios repertoire. It was an
unforgettable performance. For
those who may not be lucky
enough to hear Berta Rojas play in
concert, then it is some consola-
tion that one can purchase the
DVD, however, both are the ideal.
Thérèse Wassily Saba
AGNEW AND MCALLISTER DUO
Ilkley Manor House. West
Yorkshire, 28 November 2008
Flautist Aisling Agnew and gui-
tarist Matthew McAllister had the
ideal setting for their concert on
this very cold and blustery Friday
night, namely the art gallery and
occasional concert venue that is
Ilkley Manor House. The room was
of moderate size but surrounded
as we were by all manner (no pun
intended!) of pots, glass objects
and pictures it seemed all the more
intimate.
Libertango by Astor Piazzolla
proved a very good opener, imme-
diately establishing the musical
credentials of this fine duo that
made its intricacies seem very easy
indeed. The first thing I was made
aware of was the rather unusual
sitting position adopted by
McAllister, who placed the guitar
on top of his lap almost vertically,
Classical Guitar Magazine
necessitating him to have to hold
on in quite a different way to the
normal. When asked afterwards he
stated that it gave him much more
freedom to move with the music as
other instrumentalists can, and
usually do, but we, the guitarists,
normally cannot. Fair enough, it
certainly did not detract from his
playing in any way. Egberto
Gismonti’s Agua e Vinho was slow
and hauntingly played whilst the
chôro Quebra Queixo (apparently a
type of gummy, chewy sweet) by
Celso Machado flowed beautifully.
Francis Poulenc’s quirky
Mouvements Perpetuels followed, a
composer whose music is always a
pleasure to listen to, so fresh and
tangy as it is with so many sur-
prising details, and then
Debussy’s solo flute piece Syrinx
which gave Aisling Agnew a chance
to show how lucky the flute is to
have a composition by Debussy,
and how unlucky we guitarists are
not to. It was all at once wistful
and exotic and could have been
written by no one else. The Carmen
Fantasie of Francois Borne, based
on Bizet’s original melodies closed
the first half. The fireworks were
hugely in evidence as both players
met the piece’s extreme difficulties
with disarming ease.
The last two movements of
Bach’s Sonata in E minor
BWV1034 were followed by
McAllister’s solo version of Peter
Maxwell Davies’ Farewell to
Stromness which was a stunning
arrangement not apparently com-
mitted either to paper or yet to a
recording, a factor which he
should rectify as soon as possible!
Three of the four movements of
Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango were,
as always, a pleasure to hear live
and proved a fitting end to the
concert proper, except for the
encore piece Arisaig a slow Scots
Air that could not have been more
beautifully played. Altogether this
was a fabulous concert of wonder-
fully diverse music played by a
quality duo that deserves to be
heard by anyone interested in
good music.
Chris Dumigan
ANTONIS HATZINIKOLAOU
St Martins-in-the-Fields, London
23 January 2009
This was an excellent lunchtime
recital by the Greek guitarist
Antonis Hatzinikolaou, who
offered well-balanced and con-
trasting repertoire. He opened with
an engaging performance of the
Paganini Andantino Variato where
his choice of tone qualities in the
different voices showed his empa-
thy with the work. This, as with all
the pieces on the programme, was
played with a very secure tech-
nique which was absolutely at the
service of his interpretation. The
two movements from Sonata BWV
1005 by Bach were arranged by
Hatzinikolaou. They worked very
well on the guitar and harmonical-
ly speaking provided much plea-
sure. The Largo was a majestic,
stately piece and the Allegro assai
was a fast-paced but very long
movement which was well struc-
tured in terms of pace and phras-
ing, and therefore was very excit-
ing to listen to. Four pieces by
Barrios followed including a very
intimate performance of Prelude in
C minor. In Barrios’s Mazurka
Appassionata again we saw
Hatzinikolaou’s skill at shaping
long pieces, so that it feels capti-
vating, as if listening to an epic
story. For a complete contrast of
styles, he played Roland Dyens’s
Saudade No.3 and here even more
did we experience his broad range
of expressive tone qualities and
timbres, and the rhythm was solid.
He ended this thoroughly enjoy-
able recital with an equally
impressive performance of Sonata
Giocosa by Rodrigo.
Antonis Hatzinikolaou has been
a prizewinner at the Koblenz
International Guitar Competition
‘Hubert Käppel’, the Ivor Mairants
International Guitar Award and
won the coveted Julian Bream
Prize. Since completing his post-
graduate studies at the Royal
Academy of Music, he has
remained living in London. We
hope to hear more of this fine
young performer.
Thérèse Wassily Saba
Concert Reviews printed in
Classical Guitar are written
solely by the magazine’s own
staff. We regret that we can-
not accept unsolicited reviews
for publication, and cannot
undertake to return any thus
submitted. Concerts outside
the brief of our writers will con-
tinue to be mentioned in
‘News’, ‘Society News’ and
‘Views From Everywhere’.
TIM PANTING,
Reviews Editor
37

MENDELSSOHN
By Neil Wenborn
Naxos Books, 2008, 230pp
ISBN 978-1-84379-232-1
This year sees two prominent
anniversaries in mainstream
music. The great Haydn died on 31
May 1809; and Felix Mendelssohn
was born on 3 February of the
same year. Naxos has marked
these occasions with two notable
biographies. Each is accompanied
by two CDs, showing a representa-
tional range of works. Both books
are well-researched; the com-
posers’ lives as well as their music
are set out in a clear and readable
manner. Each has a glossary of
musical terms, though rather more
useful is the annotation of the CD
tracks.
Very few composers could match
Haydn in terms of volume and
quality, but the young
Mendelssohn had obvious genius -
the overture to his wonderful inci-
dental music for The Midsummer
Night’s Dream is played in full
here, but the equally remarkable
Octet, written when he was only
16, is limited to the first movement
only. Had he not had the shocking-
ly bad fortune to die at only 38, he
might have gone on to compose a
wealth of good music. As it was,
his output was pretty substantial:
symphonies, piano music, songs,
chamber music and oratorios
flowed from his fertile brain.
There’s not much for the guitar
in all this. Segovia used to play a
movement from a string quartet,
and another movement, from the
Op.13 Quartet, appears (and reap-
pears) in Nicholas Maw’s intriguing
Music of Time. Arrangements of the
Songs Without Words abound, how-
ever, for solo guitar, for two gui-
tars, for flute and guitar, and no
doubt more.
The music provides the ultimate
test of a book like this. If it doesn’t
appeal to you, you are hardly like-
ly to enjoy reading the text.
Nevertheless, taken together they
make a powerful combination.
Naxos are on to something here.
Most of the old favourites make
an appearance, even if only in
truncated form. What is surprising
is the quality of some of the music
that is not so familiar. Listen to
these CDs, and you may well revise
38
your perception of Mendelssohn.
There is charming story that
when Mendelssohn visited
Buckingham Place, Queen Victoria
sang one of his songs - though
Mendelssohn had to admit it had
been written by his sister Fanny,
included in his collection for rea-
sons of family solidarity. In Danny
and Joan Abse’s entertaining book
The Music Lover’s Literary
Companion (Robson Books, 1988),
Mendelssohn himself describes
how, before she sang, the Queen
said: ‘The parrot must be taken out
or he will scream louder than I can
sing’.
Whereas the death of Schubert
went largely unnoticed, that of
Mendelssohn provoked a wide-
spread sense of tragedy through-
out Europe: fame in his own life-
time had seen to that. Schumann
composed a touching piano piece
in tribute, impossible to play with-
out feeling the sadness of a great
talent brought to an end far too
soon.
Colin Cooper
HAYDN: HIS LIFE AND MUSIC
By David Vickers
Naxos Books 203pp
ISBN: 978-1-84379-213-4
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was
one of the greatest classical com-
posers of all time. Any musician
with an ear for construction who
has actually played his music
knows this, and finds it hard to
understand why he isn’t revered as
the equal in stature of Mozart,
Beethoven and Schubert. My par-
ticular favourites are the string
quartets, most of which I played in
my twenties and came to love, as
Mozart did: not for nothing did
Wolfgang Amadeus dedicate six of
his own quartets to his spiritual
master. But there is so much else:
Haydn’s symphonies, over a hun-
dred of them, many of them mas-
terpieces; the works for piano, the
trios in particular, the oratorios
(including the staggering Creation
and the delightful Seasons), the
songs, and the operas, which were
largely unknown until fairly
recently. He wrote nothing for gui-
tar, though arrangements for that
instrument have been played from
time to time, notably by Segovia,
who performed one or two
BOOKS
andantes and minuets in his inim-
itable style. It was not the style of
today, or even of the quartets of
yesterday - you only have to listen
to the old recordings of the Lener
String Quartet to realise that. But
great music allows a variety of per-
forming styles; you pays your
money and you makes your choice.
More recently, guitarists such as
Jukka Savijoki and Erik
Stenstadvold have struck sparks
out of some of the early music, and
Paul Galbrath has recorded a cou-
ple of the sonatas, with great
effect. There have been others, and
there will be more.
Joseph Haydn’s output was
enormous. As well as the 100+
symphonies, there were over 80
string quartets, more than 400
sacred works (including 38 mass-
es), 30 divertimenti, several orato-
rios, and innumerable smaller
chamber works, some of which
have been lost. A giant of a com-
poser!
There is a glossary of musical
terms, which most musicians will
know already and which non-
musicians may, or may not, care to
learn. The informative volume also
includes two CDs of Haydn’s
music, well performed and of
unfailing interest and occasionally
sheer delight.
David Vickers’ book is very wel-
come.
Colin Cooper
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A Jazz Legend
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HARDBACK
EDITION:
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SUMMERFIELD
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Available from Book and Music Shops everywhere.
In case of difficulty available direct from the Publishers.
Add 10% to cover Post and Packing.
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PUBLISHING COMPANY
1 & 2 Vance Court, Trans Britannia Enterprise
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Classical Guitar Magazine

FIVE PIECES
for solo guitar
by Stephen Kenyon
Published by Jacaranda Music
03-001. 5pp.
Here is a nice little set of Grades 4-
5 pieces each one having enough
melodic and rhythmic invention to
hold the interest and all serving an
instructive purpose covering mat-
ters of articulation, slurs, phrasing,
sonority, position changes, etc.
Of particular note is the poignant
Celtic-flavoured piece, The Island, a
deceptively simple-sounding piece
where the importance lies in bring-
ing out the several voices through-
out the work.
The wonderfully-titled Balkan
Fidget, with its’ quirky 7/8 rhythm
and staccato feature is another
which captures the imagination
well.
Elsewhere there is the renais-
sance-styled Fancy; Dancing Under
the Trees, a piece invoking a tradi-
tional folk dance; and the gentle
melodic work Song for Rhiannon,
written for a baby’s naming cere-
mony.
There are brief, but informative
and useful notes from the compos-
er concerning each piece and the
music is well presented, well fin-
gered and contains much thought-
provoking musical directions
throughout.
Steve Marsh
CANZONETTA
for solo guitar
by Stephen Kenyon
Published by Jacaranda Music
03-003. 2pp.
Presented in a very simple, plain
and no-nonsense front cover,
Canzonetta is far from all that; for
here is a particularly attractive
tremolo piece of the musical quality
one usually expects from some-
thing of a higher technical stan-
dard.
The work is in two sections of the
E minor/E major variety and the
tremolo concerns itself entirely
with the first three strings. Apart
from the fact that there are some
really nice melodic lines and har-
monies throughout the work, the
extremely good news is that once
the (admittedly, demanding) tremo-
lo technique has begun to emerge,
there are no real problems for the
Classical Guitar Magazine
left hand, certainly nothing in
which the player of around grades
6-7 would have any difficulties with
whatsoever.
The music is well presented and
very expertly fingered.
Recommended.
Steve Marsh
FEEL THE SUN
for solo guitar
by Michael Erin
Pub by Zimmermann, Frankfurt.
16pp + CD
This is a well planned and enter-
taining new production aimed
towards the student of around the
Intermediate level. Within the list of
12 titled pieces there is enough
musical variety to keep the interest
level sustained throughout the
whole book, that is, there are no
pieces which seem just included as
’fillers-in’, each one stands on its
own merit.
The musical styles cover a range
of influences including blues, folk,
Spanish, popular/trendy and
Celtic and each study has a peda-
gogical function (listed at the back
of the book) including playing an
apoyando melody over an arpeggio;
legato; position shifts; bar chords;
harmonics, etc. As an additional
supplement to the usual array of
student studies, this is a worthy
contender and I can well imagine
the music going down well, espe-
cially at the younger end of the
market.
The slight disappointment with
this new production came with the
listening to the recording of the
music by the composer on the
accompanying CD. Although he
performs with full technical securi-
ty, it just seems that Michael Erin
cannot play slowly. Several of the
compositions are marked Andante
and there is no way that listening
to his performance of these pieces
one would ever consider that partic-
ular tempo marking. Similarly
there are other tracks where the
playing speed just ruins the piece -
Country Girl for example - a lovely
little work spoilt by an over-zealous
performance. As the composer he
obviously knows what he is after,
but if the CD was not there to
measure the speed against, I
would guess that most players
working through these works
MUSIC
would be taking far more time to
get through the book than he does.
This rapidity in many of these
works could make the student of
the intended technical level suffer
with a sensation of inadequacy if
they could not match up to level
heard on the CD. Pity about that.
Steve Marsh
CHRISTMAS COLLECTION TWO
for guitar ensemble
by David Burden
Garden Music.
20pp plus one duet part
This is a pleasing collection of
Christmas trios and quartets, but
the vagaries of getting the music
out for ‘road-testing’ and back into
the queue for publication mean
that this review will probably arrive
in a heatwave. No matter – this can
be the first Christmas advertise-
ment for 2009! The ‘plus one duet
part’ needs explaining. Every piece
is a trio or quartet, and has one line
marked that will produce a pass-
able duet with the tune. These lines
have been extracted onto a single
folded sheet so that the book and
this sheet together allow a duo to
play with a music stand each. For
the ‘real’ arrangements, more than
one copy of the book will be needed,
and the warning about photocopy-
ing is very clear, so you’ll need to
buy four copies of this book. Two
pieces have page turns that could
have been avoided by relocating
some one-page pieces and using
one more sheet of paper.
The 15 pieces are nearly all well
known and only the top part tends
to go up the neck. Unfortunately,
this apparent simplification of the
lower parts is lost in some pieces
because they are set in the key of E,
meaning big, buzzy stretches on
the lower strings. All in all though,
the pieces are simple enough for
novices to want to tackle, and sat-
isfying enough that intermediate
players will want to tease some
extra musicality out of these
arrangements, especially the one or
two less-familiar pieces that make
this collection all the more satisfy-
ing to own.
The typesetting is clear, although
not without some quirks – the use
of string names instead of numbers
is unusual, and some of the finger-
ing is not optimal – piece number
39
four has a shift from V to III and
back up that’s easier remaining in
V, the tune in piece number seven
doesn’t need to shift position; the
Common Time symbols in the full
score become 4/4 in the part score.
But these are proof-reading slips,
not errors, and they don’t detract
from what is a good, solid collection
of playable and enjoyable pieces,
arranged very effectively. Buy early
for Christmas!
Derek Hasted
TRAVELLING IN STYLE
CELTIC SUITE &
CARIBBEAN COLLECTION
for guitar quartet
by David Burden
Garden Music. 14pp plus parts
These two four-movement suites
are original works and they’re
clearly intended for novice players.
Celtic first…
The Seafarers’ Tales has a rather
lovely nautical feel to the melody. It
is interesting that the right hand
has more fingerings than the left;
I’m not sure some of them are
needed. The top part moves into
second position (though third posi-
tion would be much easier) and
then into the lower register. The
other parts are technically more
modest. Nice tune.
Killarney Jig is very atmospheric,
but with some fast notes that might
trip up an inexperienced player
producing an otherwise good per-
formance.
Echoes Across The Cove lilts
peacefully but with a very odd fin-
gering. I think the teacher might
get a pencil out here; there are two
better ways of doing bar 12.
Going Down To Bantry is superbly
rhythmic, but needing some double
stopping. A nice piece to teach two-
note playing!
The Celtic Suite is lovely and
straightforward with four contrast-
ing pieces, and it’s fun to play, fun
to listen to.
Now we’re Caribbean bound…
Hot And Spicy Calypso intro-
duces a key change. With the cen-
tre of each bar being rather obvi-
ous, it didn’t quite swing enough
for me, but novice players will find
the arrangement easier to lock
together this way.
The Melon Seller, though, does
take the middle of the bar away in
places and it’s an enjoyable and
cheeky piece to play.
Kingston Calypso needs the abili-
ty to manoeuvre in and around
three strings, so it’s a little more
40
complicated, and the use of F dou-
ble sharp instead of G natural on a
descending chromatic line conceals
a simple A7 chord and scares most
novices.
Jamaica Farewell, the concluding
piece, is an original arrangement of
a well-known piece that will be an
audience pleaser and a lovely end
to the suite. Competent arranging
makes this a good suite.
To save paper, the part scores are
in small type and it becomes clear
that sometimes the dynamics
aren’t chased through – a forte fol-
lowed by a cresc. to a forte, for
example. But the addition of cues is
welcome. Novices will love playing
catchy rhythms and haunting
melodies.
Derek Hasted
TRAVELLING IN STYLE
SPANISH FOLK SONG SUITE
for guitar quartet
by David Burden
Garden Music. 12pp plus parts
This four-movement suite is a
pleasing mix of the familiar and the
not-so-familiar.
Ay Linda Amiga opens with three
parts in harmonics wrapped round
tune in ninth. But why does it say
D string and not ninth position,
and where does it go after that? The
fingering stops just as quickly as it
started. No matter. The liberal use
of harmonics makes this an atmos-
pheric piece and a lovely opener to
the set.
Zapateado is naturally more
ebullient; rather than dart from
second to seventh to ninth position,
why not start up the neck? As writ-
ten it’s a recipe for flying up high
and missing. I couldn’t get on with
the fingering at all: strings as let-
ters, and sliding from third to first
when there’s no need. It spoiled my
enjoyment and there were errors
too – the G on fret 8 of string 2 was
indicated as on the G string.
Ignoring that, the piece is good –
melody and countermelody, sitting
astride a simple bass and some
very playable three-note chords on
the off-beats.
The familiar El Noi De La Mare
has one guitar tuned down to D
and is a restful and rich arrange-
ment that delights the ear. There
was one harmony sequence that
didn’t work for me, but the aug-
mented chord soon after performed
its poignant wince-making deli-
ciousness that melted away nicely
as the bass went deeper and deep-
er. Slurp!
Riu, Riu, Chiu, so often sung at
Christmas, is really rather special.
All tuned down to D, with tambor
and pizz and slides and accents
and triplets, this is a sleeves-rolled-
up let-me-at-it piece. There’s a
‘rass’ that probably means ‘rasg’
underpinning what is almost a
Bach-like half-speed version of the
tune. I liked it. Probably needs the
maturity of Grade 5-6 to give it the
‘oomph’ it cries out for.
The part scores are easy on the
eye, but I think 15 staves is too
much for one face of paper, and
splitting each part score onto three
faces of folded A3 instead of two
faces of A4 would have increased
the legibility massively for a few
pence. That closing item is good
though.
Derek Hasted
TRAVELLING IN STYLE
APPALACHIAN ALBUM
for guitar quartet
by David Burden
Garden Music. 12pp plus parts
This four-movement collection from
the ‘Travelling In Style’ series is not
as straightforward as the compan-
ion books, but the additional har-
monic complexity makes the pieces
that little more delicious on the ear.
The Riddle Song has an unusual,
haunting opening that delays the
arrival of the familiar melody,
asserted in the top part, echoed in
the bottom and shared about with
an almost fugal treatment. The har-
monies are chromatic and pleasing.
There are some position shifts in
the bass part that aren’t needed
and will probably squeak as writ-
ten.
Come Life, Shaker Life, is pizz
throughout and sometimes
involves the thumb strumming
three inside strings at once; it’s
apparent that a considerable arse-
nal of technical competence is
needed, as well as a leathery
thumb. Or it will be leathery by the
end. The tune is a little sparse and
it will be a good ensemble that can
deliver a tight and not-to-woolly
accompaniment with the chord
notes all equal volume. I couldn’t
make it come alive.
I Wonder As I Wander is a
leisurely 6/4 – almost a chorale;
the reprise of the diatonic melody
is in natural harmonics, so it’s all
over the fingerboard. Clever
though the writing is, I think I’d
opt for artificial harmonics for the
tune. Again the bass lines are
doing unnecessary shifts on the
Classical Guitar Magazine
wound strings in the opening sec- So what’s in it for a classical gui- any of us who play piano and/or
tion. tarist? bass guitar would find transposing
The Curst Farmer’s Wife is a fun There’s a solo with 6=D and 5=G, in the head a stimulating and fun
little jig in D minor with ligados which is a glorious fingerstyle folk job. The rest of the lines fit guitar
here and there to articulate the piece, but it does sound better on well, though some of the double
piece very effectively. After a verse steel-strung guitar. There’s a man- stops are a handful and might best
of straightforward fun, there are dolin/guitar duet that’s again be deleted. Of course everything is
some strummed chords taken with intended for acoustic guitar, so that an octave down and a lot more mel-
middle and thumb on the down- the tone is more uniform across the low than the original.
stroke and upstroke. Parts two and instruments. The next solo is for With 14 different pieces in all
three are in consort here and tidi- guitar tuned DGDGCD. sorts of orchestrations, this book is
ness is needed, but this interlude This really isn’t the sort of book a leviathan. But if you love folk
prefaces some adventurous sharing that a classical guitarist is going to music as music, it’s a delightful
of motifs and chords, in a harum- buy. collection of glorious tunes that
scarum passage that piles into But let’s turn it on its head. If could, with ingenuity, be crow-
some tambor and then some repris- you’re an open-tuned steel-strung bared onto classical guitar.
es of the opening. The chords give a guitarist in a mandolin ensemble, My biggest reservation is about
loud and effective finish to the buy it – the music is fantastic. mixing tab and score so that even if
suite. Or you could be laterally minded you photocopied the parts (rather
The standard is between Grades and try some of the mandolin-only than dismantling the book), they
5 and 7, though the second piece quartets on four classical guitars. wouldn’t fit on a music stand.
will be a tough nut to crack even The mandocello is in bass clef, but Derek Hasted
then.
The parts are slightly smaller font
than I’m comfortable with and
there are typos. One part has a
crescendo on a single long note;
some bars have rests inside the
stave and others up in the gods. It
looks like the full score was
checked and the part score extract-
ed automatically and never read
through. It’s a shame, but they’re
cosmetic and not faults in the notes
on the page. It’s a nicely contrast-
ing set and stylistically fresh for the
audience too.
Derek Hasted

TRADITIONAL FINNISH
FIDDLE TUNES
for guitars and mandolins
by Petri Hakala
Sibelius-Akatemian.
168pp including parts
Some review music just begs to be
played immediately. Some needs to
be read and inwardly digested first.
But I wasn’t even sure what to do
with this... Everything’s in one spi-
ral-bound volume, the parts don’t
come out, each part is score and
tab making some part-scores 6
pages long instead of 3, and a lot is
written for mandolin ensemble
only. Most pieces don’t have a full
score.
I kept putting the tome down and
then coming back to it.
Eventually I decided to put on the
CD in the back of the book.
Goodness – what a delight!
Although the CD is multi-
tracked, it works really well; it
reminds us guitarists just how
nimble other instruments can be
and how it seems to be only gui-
tarists who are scared to improvise.

Classical Guitar Magazine 41

CELLO SUITE No. 1 by J.S. Bach
Transcribed by Tilman Hoppstock
Prim-Musikverlag Darmstadt.
19pp.
I have not come across this pub-
lisher before, though it has quite a
large catalogue of guitar music,
largely edited by Hoppstock. In
this edition he takes the novel
approach of presenting two ver-
sions of the suite, the second ver-
sion having a greater complexity of
the usual ‘expand and add voices’
approach, and a corresponding
increase in technical demands.
The editor explains himself
decently in the preface. The usual
key of D with D tuning is retained,
and the first version shows close to
the minimum expansion of texture
and voicing usually taken. Even so
a mature and secure intermediate
technique is required, as there is
no attempt to simplify the material
and the faster movements will still
need to romp along.
The second version shares some
of the material with the first, but
produces quite a number of extra
ideas, the great majority of which
work very convincingly, though
one or two seem slightly fanciful. I
have a slight impression that the
inventiveness has greater rein as
the suite progresses.
Overall the second version is of
similar technical level to the classic
Duarte setting. The first is trickier
than the Yates/Mel Bay version let
alone the new Wright/Cadenza edi-
tion, both of which are in C. The
fingering is often left to the player,
with only occasional moments fin-
gered.
This edition is well worth consid-
ering, whether as a first or extra
edition, provided the upper-inter-
mediate technique is there, and
the extra-basses approach is
sought.
Stephen Kenyon
FRENCH SUITE No. 2
by J.S. Bach
Transcribed by Tilman Hoppstock
Prim-Musikverlag Darmstadt.
14pp.
This process of reviewing some-
times throws up strange coinci-
dences. In 1992 I went to the trou-
ble of making a solo guitar tran-
scription of this suite, helped by
the then fairly novel resource of
computer notation to try out differ-
ent keys. This project was eventu-
ally abandoned, due to the feeling
that despite its light texture
–which had drawn me to the work
42
in the first place – there was still
too much that would be lost under
the pressure of fingerboard realisa-
tion.
In 1993, Tilman Hoppstock
made a version of the suite for solo
cello, thereby of necessity going far
further in the reduction of the tex-
ture. This meant reversing, as it
were, the process by which Bach
himself had taken, for example the
5th cello suite, and expanded it
into a fuller sound with bass notes
and more chords. We see this
process lived out all the time in
guitar versions of cello suites
(including the recent ones from the
same editor reviewed separately)
and it touches on one of those
taken-for-granted things about
guitar – the relationship of dura-
tions written to those durations we
actually keep. What makes my old
transcription too stressful is the
insistence on the voicing Bach
writes in – and none better after
all! – with frequent piquancy of
harmonic effect. Historically, gui-
tar music has taken various
approaches to how literally you
take the written durations, and
Hoppstock in his solo guitar ver-
sion uses an approach allied to the
old-style reduction of different
voices into one voice, as part of his
means of making the work
playable.
He also uses a different key, D
minor (the original key was C
minor) against the E minor pre-
ferred by the other published edi-
tion by Vingiano, and mine.
The first six pages are taken up
with a three-way comparison of
the cello, guitar and clavier ver-
sions of the Allemande. We then
get the normal presentation of the
Allemande, the Courante (which is
really a Corrente), Sarabande, Air,
Menuet (there’s another Menuet
not included for some reason) and
the Gigue that reminds so much
of the one from that 5th cello
suite and its lute expansion.
Hoppstock has made a very
good case in his approach, and it
makes for a new, playable Bach
suite that is easier than any of
the ‘lute’ suites, but harder than
most if not all guitar versions of
cello suites. If I still struggle with
it for historical reasons that
should put you off if you have the
means to approach its technical
demands. If you do you won’t
miss the obvious typo at the end
of the Air.
Stephen Kenyon
SOLO ON DON GIOVANNI
partly from Thalberg’s piece
by Giulio Regondi
Doblinger. 10pp.
Hard on the heels of Stefan
Hackl’s comprehensive discussion
(CG September and October 2008)
comes the new edition of a newly
found Regondi piece from the
Hudleston collection. A substan-
tial introduction covers much the
same ground as those articles;
briefly, Regondi knew the pianist
Sigismund Thalberg, rival to
Franz Liszt; this work is a part-
transcription, part new composi-
tion, based around Thalberg’s
“Opernfantasie” Grand Fantaisie
Op 14. Given that the whole point
of Thalberg’s pianism (arguably!)
was the display of amazing techni-
cal prowess, it is nothing short of
staggering that Regondi, then
aged 17, should even think about
playing it on the guitar.
It goes without saying that this
piece, for the guitarist, is an
absolute monster. The composer,
apparently, made it sound won-
derful, and he included it in
recitals throughout his career. I
would love to hear the greatest
players of our day play it too. The
rest of us might like to buy this
edition to see how it’s done, but
there is no fingering present to
help the imagination.
Bracing and astonishing and
very much of its time.
Stephen Kenyon
CONTRAPUNCTUS No. 1 and
CONTRAPUNCTUS No. 23
by J.S. Bach
(published separately)
transcribed for two guitars
by Tilman Hoppstock
PRIM Musikverlag Darmstadt.
Score and parts.
The Art of Fugue was the final
musical statement of a composer
for whom fugue had been a life-
long concern of the greatest
importance. With his eyesight
failing Bach set out on a project to
write a set of exemplary fugues
and canons in many different
technical aspects, a project that
lay incomplete at his death in
1750. The instrumentation is
largely unspecified, in Bach’s
script, and the work’s compilation
and publication history is some-
what confused with various com-
peting views on what to include.
From this great work Tilman
Hoppstock has arranged the first
and last fugues for guitar duo.
Classical Guitar Magazine
They are published separately but
are covered here together because
so many things apply to both edi-
tions.
You may have read elsewhere of
Hoppstock’s cello suite and
French suite solo guitar editions
in which were discussed the vari-
ous issues arising from making
guitar versions from the cello,
where normally you expand tex-
ture, and keyboard, where nor-
mally you contract texture. The
present works are a useful exten-
sion of this question. The music
is transcribed for two guitars – so
texture can be more freely main-
tained – and the music is fugue, in
which probably everything in that
texture is critical and cannot nor-
mally be either expanded or con-
tracted.
The main questions the tran-
scriber is set are the choice of key,
the assignment of up to four parts
between two players, and any
matters of fingering. Hoppstock
has elected to move the key from
D minor to A minor, giving a C
sharp 6th string to one guitar in
Contrapunctus 1 and the common
D in no. 23. In the main the voic-
es maintain their integrity and
change guitars when they are
resting, the exceptions to this
being well managed and unobtru-
sive. There is no fingering what-
soever.
The editor has to intervene in
the case of Contrapunctus 23 how-
ever, as Bach left this piece unfin-
ished. Firstly I should raise the
point that all my sources describe
the final unfinished fugue as
Contrapunctus 14, not 23. But
this is a fugue on three subjects,
and it is understood that the sub-
ject from Contrapunctus 1 was to
appear shortly after the manu-
script stops, and then be com-
bined with the three other sub-
jects. Many different attempts at
completion have been made;
Hoppstock has chosen to adapt
that by Helmut Walcha into a fur-
ther 35 bars of conclusion.
Even in its incompletion this
fugue is longer than any the com-
poser actually finished, the lau-
rels for longest completed fugue
usually going to that from the C
major solo violin sonata. The
symbolism and gravity of this
undertaking can therefore hardly
be under-estimated and there are
few other guitarists one can imag-
ine making so satisfactory a
result.
Classical Guitar Magazine
Being practical for a moment,
the technical requirements for
Contrapunctus 1 suggest quite
advanced players, bearing in mind
the need to decide one’s own fin-
gering, for guitar two to tune to C
sharp and for both to maintain
two independent voices for most of
the time. Each part fits comfort-
ably enough on a double page
spread. The second item is in a
different league altogether. The
parts are printed much smaller
and only just fit on two double
spreads – you do your own copy-
ing, and go and fetch another
music stand. While the physical
demands of pinning notes onto
strings is not that much greater,
the sheer scale and at times,
strangeness of the work suggest
that only very accomplished duos
would find this a good experience.
Performing both fugues together,
for players up to the task, would
be perfect because the subject of
the first comes in to close the sec-
ond, in the reconstructed ending.
Everything in these editions and
others from this publisher is per-
fectly legible but I must say the
engraving could be quite a lot bet-
ter aesthetically, and more in
keeping with the quality and
depth of thought that has gone
into them.
Stephen Kenyon
SELECTED CONCERT WORKS
for the Russian 7-string guitar
in G open tuning
Edited by Matanya Ophee
Editions Orphée, 40pp.
The Russian 7-sring guitar is
tuned D’, G’, B’, D, b, g, d’, so no
matter how much you love the
sound of Russian music don’t go
buying this unless either you are
going to get an appropriate instru-
ment, you want to see how any
recorded versions of these pieces
are done, or you want to be nice to
Matanya. The back cover does
hint that a standard guitar can be
used but I can’t see it being worth
the trouble, without that extra D
string.
There are 16 pieces of various
sizes and shapes in this book. An
interesting version of the prelude
from the 1st Bach cello suite (my
I’ve seen a few of those lately!)
starts us off. There are variously
long or short 19th century pieces
by the likes of Vyssotsky and
Sychra, the long ones largely sets
of variations. The shorter, per-
haps second-encore type pieces
are easier but the overall techni-
cal level of the book requires a
very advanced technique to do the
music justice.
While the title of one piece – Ah,
Today is a Gloomy Day – goes
some way to summing up the
mood of the book, that probably
goes a bit with the territory. The
concluding surprise number by
Angelo Gilardino seals our fate
with a dolorous piece based on
L’Homme Armé that is at once the
most restrained and transparent
item here, and the most intelli-
gently written.
This edition recommends itself
automatically to players with
access to a Russian 7-string gui-
tar, and as always is beautifully
presented.
Stephen Kenyon
TROISIEME FANTAISIE OP 10
SUR UN THEME DE
BEETHOVEN
by Francois de Fossa
Editions Orphée. 10pp.
Dating from around 1825 and
dedicated to the future Mme de
Fossa this piece uses a theme
from Beethoven’s trio Op 8, a
work that was transcribed by
Matiegka some 20 years before. A
grand introduction justifies its
sub-title of Introduzione Capriccio
and the theme is followed by eight
variations, the last of which
dances off into a Coda.
It is necessary to remember that
de Fossa was not Sor or Giuliani,
or indeed Aguado, and his writing
does not feel or sound like theirs.
Like Sor one has the impression
this was written, at least partly,
away from the instrument, but
there is more use of colour than
Sor often gives us (a major excep-
tion being Op 9).
The key is D but we remain in
standard tuning and so there is
some impression of tightness.
Every so often there is a harmon-
ic moment that one wonders
about, but at least he is giving us
something to think about, and a
texture and discourse that
remains carefully wrought
throughout. This adds up to a
fairly high technical level, and
while keen amateurs are recom-
mended to give it a go if they can
do, say Sor Op 9, it doesn’t play
itself in that kind of way and will
take a seriously persuasive musi-
cal mind with advanced tech-
nique, to do it justice.
Stephen Kenyon
43

THE DEVIL’S TRILL
TARTINI: Sonata in G minor Op.1
No.4 (“The Devil’s Trill”); Sonata in
G minor Op.1 No.10 (“Didone
Abbandonata”); Largo (from
Sonata in E minor Op.1 No.5);
Sonata in A major Op.1 No.13
(“Pastorale”); Grave in D minor.
VERACINI: Sonata in A major Op.1
No.7.
The Palladians
Linn KCD 292
Did you spot the subtle change?
That’s right, the established and
respected Palladian Ensemble
have quietly and without fanfare
relaunched themselves as The
Palladians.
Does it really make the slightest
difference? After all, the group’s
many admirers have probably
been using this slightly abbreviat-
ed title in conversation for many
years, in much the same way as
followers of Pink Floyd refer to
their heroes as The Floyd. But
whatever they choose to call
themselves, an hour in the virtual
company of this first-rate baroque
chamber outfit is always welcome,
although I hope I don’t live to see
the day when representatives of
the music press are invited to
evaluate a slick new release titled
Rock Your Baroque with “The
Pals”.
But the reason why my heart
sank on receiving this all-new
2008 offering had nothing at all to
do with names, for despite the
striking cover illustration depict-
ing Tartini’s much-discussed
dream, it was impossible not to
notice that the disc is housed in a
fussy and fragile plastic package
calling itself a Super Jewel Box.
That can only mean that we’re in
the presence of yet another hybrid
SACD, one of those supposedly
clever products whose purveyors
insist they ‘can be played on any
standard compact disc player’.
Needless to say, the fully-func-
tional CD player that had just
spent an entire morning cheerful-
ly dealing with new releases on
the Naxos, Stradivarius and
Pilfink labels spat this one out
and remained resolute in its
refusal to co-operate. After open-
ing and closing various other
plastic drawers without success, I
finally discovered that the one
44
piece of available hardware willing
to take up the challenge was an
ancient laptop purchased from a
factory surplus warehouse and
running on Windows XP. Hurrah
for cutting-edge technology!
And now let’s finally get around
to the performance which, as
expected, is of the highest order.
We all know the story of the
Devil’s Trill, but it’s not that often
we get to witness the work in all
its satanic glory. Nor do we enjoy
regular encounters with the cre-
ative legacy of Francesco Maria
Veracini (1690-1768), whose
cantabile violin style is said to
have caused the young Tartini to
storm out in a frightful fit of self-
loathing, emerging after an
extended period of solitary prac-
tice with a longer bow, thicker
strings and new manner of play-
ing not dissimilar to that of
Veracini.
This and other related anec-
dotes are vividly recounted in the
superb programme notes by
Palladian archlutenist and
baroque guitarist William Carter.
As the fan club will already be
aware, Carter is now the only
remaining founder member, the
personnel on the present release
being completed by Rodolfo
Richter (violin), Susanne Heinrich
(bass viol) and Silas Standage
(harpsichord). The prodigiously
skilled Richter remains in the hot
seat for most of the proceedings,
although the equally adept
Heinrich has the final word in
Tartini’s valedictory Grave in D
minor.
A pointless rebranding and an
unstable format destined for the
same fate as the Betamax video,
but a terrific innings all the same.
Paul Fowles
SATYAGRAHA
VERDERY: Satyagraha; Let go.
DOMENICONI: Koyunbaba.
HENZE: Drei Tentos. D ANGELO:
due Canzone Lidie. TAKEMITSU:
Equinox. BRITTEN: Nocturnal.
Pia Gazarek-Offermann
Aurea Vox Krefeld
From the first notes you know
what the atmosphere of this
recording will be: poetic and deep.
Opening with Benjamin Verdery’s
Satyagraha, the eponymous title,
CDS
we are introduced to the pure
style of Pia Gazarek-Offermann,
with the raga inspiration of a
great 20th-century guitarist/com-
poser.
The entire record is dedicated to
original 20th-century guitar
music; a collection representative
of guitar-inspired music by con-
temporary artists.
Some of them, Verdery and
Domeniconi for example, are gui-
tarists who write for their instru-
ment - sometimes with great vir-
tuosity - and others such as
Britten or Henze, discovered new
ways of composing for the instru-
ment.
Listening to this record we find
in both cases an attempt to cap-
ture, with six strings, a spirit of
our time; sometimes through ori-
ental philosophy, as in
Satyagraha or in Domeniconi’s
Koyumbaba; sometimes by the
way of a meditation about death
in Verdery’s Let Go or Britten’s
Nocturnal (death as a long sleep);
other pieces evoke the past with
the precious, lydian mode as in
Nuccio d’Angelo’s Due canzone
lidie, or abstracted items like the
‘sweet colour blue’ in Hans
Werner Henze’s Drei Tentos
(Holderlin’s poem) and a diffuse
sensation given by nature in
Takemitsu’s Equinox...
What is present in each piece -
whatever its language: tonal,
atonal, modal and many other
possible combinations - is a deep
feeling for life and an authentic
sensibility and intelligence.
Here there are some of the best
examples of the art of the guitar
during the last 50 years. Pia
Gazarek-Offermann’s interpreta-
tion is at the same level - excel-
lent. She offers a very convincing
performance that contributes to
our understanding and love of
this music. She is truly outstand-
ing – even if she’s not very well
known on the international scene.
You may well ask why but
because there are so many play-
ers today, it is possible to over-
look, unwittingly, some excellent
ones. Also, perhaps it’s harder if
you are a woman.
Listening to this exquisite play-
ing, you understand who Pia
Gazarek-Offermann is. She has a
Classical Guitar Magazine
great sensibility in her phrasing
and she has her own special
sound, extremely pure. This helps
her to convey to the listener a
world of inner poetry.
She is nothing but a true artist
who never wants to show off but
aims at speaking to us, something
we need today more than ever.
Indeed, we need a music that
speaks about our time: us, our
questions and feelings about
truth, tenderness, depth or deli-
cious lightness. And she delivers
that. Let’s listen.
Danielle Ribouillault
MAFUÁ
YAMANDU COSTA: El Negro del
Blanco; Elodie. ARMANDINHO
NEVES: Mafuá. Y. COSTA: Samba
pro Rafa; Zamba Tuerta;
Bachbaridage; Bostemporânea;
Choro Loco; Caminho de Luz. ZÉ
GOMEZ: Quem é Você. Y. COSTA:
Ressaca. LALÃO: Lalão. Y.
COSTA: Tipo Bicho.
Yamandu Costa
Acoustic Music Records. Best nr.
319.1396.2
If there was such thing as visual
review where you could see the
reviewer’s first reaction to a
recording, perhaps a glimpse into
the future of publishing, then you
would have seen a Reviews Editor
skipping down the road; his
ecstatic strides almost breaching
the confines of common decency,
his MP3 player bouncing on his
chest, manic grin, as Yamandu
Costa’s debut with Peter Finger’s
astounding Acoustic Music
Record company travelled via the
Sennheiser in-ear headphones
into his brain, opening up a realm
of senses he had all thought were
quite dried up, yet now sizzled
with the drama of a full blown
Amazonian electrical thunder
storm. Not since hearing
Sebastião Tapajos for the first
time have I heard such musician-
ship and guitaristic naturalness;
if this man was an archer in a
past life, his name would have
been Robin Hood. I had ‘heard’
Yamandu before...recommended
by the encyclopaedic guitar
genius Stuart Blagden...I sought
him out, and indeed reviewed a
fantastic GHA release (Ida e Volta
GFA 126.060) of his work with a
trio. The release of Mafuá, which
Peter Finger freely bows to
Yamandu’s jaw-dropping instru-
mental powers, and where Costa
steers an entirely solo path, blows
Classical Guitar Magazine
everything out of the water. My
preconceptions have been joyous-
ly scuppered! Avast there land-
lubbers...there be another South
American, Brazilian guitarist
more precisely, headed your way,
and by the cut of his thumbnail
(glued on) he will be taking no
prisoners.
Nothing is original; originality is
an inexplicable conglomeration of
the past, as dazzling as to warrant
the ‘O’ word. I mentioned Costa’s
cherubic countenance in the pre-
vious review, please investigate
this on YouTube; he is a musician
who embodies the auras of a stel-
lar list including, Garoto, Bonfá,
Baden-Powell, Toquinho, already
mentioned Tapajos, Gismonti,
gleefully plucking from the styles
of the whole plethora of Latin
American guitar players. Yet he
sounds remarkably fresh and
new. Not too far from Raphael
Rabello yet with the surprising
punchy audacity of the great
tanguero from Argentina, Juanjo
Dominguez. I mention these
names because listening to
Yamandu is like hearing all of
them in a hall of mirrors; exciting.
Yamandu Costa is a wonderfully
vibrant guitarist, with a huge
range; from a subtle whisper to a
full-out thrash and in between
sweet and joyous musical aban-
don. Like Peter Finger I have
become a fan. Please buy this
superb recording straight after
reading this message.
Tim Panting
RECUERDOS -
GUITAR CLASSICS
F. TÁRREGA: Recuerdos de la
Alhambra; Grand Vals; Capricho
Arabe. P. TCHAIKOWSKY: Dance
of the Sugar Plum Fairy. J. S.
BACH: Prelude in E. R. DURRANT:
The Walrus T ree. Y. YOCOH:
Sakura. S. MYERS: Cavatina. D.
SCARLATTI: Sonata in A K322. I.
ALBÉNIZ: Asturias.
Richard Durrant
LongMan 049DAVD
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,
The Walrus Tree, Grand Vals …
hardly guitar ‘classics’ as the CD
title implies; but it has to be said
that they are nicely performed
here and especially pleasing is
Durrant’s own short-lived compo-
sition: a moody work with flamen-
co/latin/jazz connotations’ Such
a shame he did not feel fit to alter
the title of this recording and
include more of his originals, if
The Walrus Tree is anything to go
by.
The Tárrèga threesome is a nice
start to the programme and is
great to hear on disc the rarity,
Grand Vals (the origin of the
Nokia ring tone). Capricho Arabe
is given a good interpretation here
and also allows the player to dis-
play his Segovia-style vibrato to
full extent. The Recuerdos is
pleasant enough but there are
better versions with clearer
tremolo on many other record-
ings.
I love the fire and force Durrant
puts into his arrangement of the
Bach Prelude (from the fourth lute
suite), a power he achieves with-
out having to resort to too much
high velocity playing which some
players resort.
The same energy is given to
parts of the beautiful Japanese
classic Sakura but Durrant also
manages to illustrate his more
subtle and emotional side within
several of the variations in this
composition.
When a player has proved on
previous tracks that he has a
beautiful command of warm, lush
tone, it then seems a strange idea
to begin the highly romantic
Cavatina, in a hard ‘ponticello’
sound, as he does on this record-
ing. Although a richer tone is
restored later I’m not convinced of
the merits of beginning in this
fashion.
In Richard Durant’s own
arrangement of Asturias he has
taken a few liberties from the orig-
inal piano score, modifications
which you will either love or loath,
I go for the latter I’m afraid.
This recording may not take the
guitar world by storm but, with
just a few personal reservations, I
can say that it is emphatically
worth a listen.
As a bonus, this is a double-
sided disc with the conventional
recording on side ‘1’ and the same
recordings on the second side but
this time with the music playing
in a 5.1 surround sound audio
mix containing still images of the
player performing on his unusual,
but attractive Gary Hearn guitar.
Steve Marsh
PORTRAITS
I. ALBÉNIZ: Asturias. E. SATIE:
Gymnopodie No. 1. ANONYMOUS:
Go From My Window. A. BAR-
RIOS: Julia Florida. J. L. MER-
LIN: Evocacion. F. SOR:
45
Introduction and Variations on a
Theme of Mozart. J. DOWLAND:
Melancholy Galliard. TRADITION-
AL: Wild Mountain Thyme. J.
VINAS: Fantasia Original. J. S.
BACH: Toccata and Fugue in D
minor. P. M. DAVIES: Farewell to
Stromness.
Gabriel Ayala
Canyon CR7086
Unfortunately, the programme
begins on a low note. If you are to
record one of the most recognised
works in the guitar repertoire, i.e.
Asturias, you need to firstly get
the notes right (many are miss-
ing) and also attempt to say
something which other record-
ings do not; this performance
certainly tells you something but
regrettably it is the wrong mes-
sage.
Nowhere on this disc can I find
the name of the arranger of some
of these pieces, so I must assume
it is Gabriel Ayala himself. His
treatment of Erik Satie’s most
celebrated piano work is nice
enough, as is the following
anonymous lute piece.
As regards the Barrios master-
piece, Julia Florida, it is here
given a bland and lacklustre per-
formance and is not a track I
would have an urge to return to.
Although Ayala gives a creditable
presentation of the lovely opening
movement from the Argentinian
composer Jose Luis Merlin’s
suite, it would have been nice to
have the whole suite.
The Sor Introduction … begins
in fine flamenco style with fff
chords - just a pity it’s not fla-
menco - and then gets underway
proper with a fairly poor perfor-
mance, both musically and tech-
nically of this celebrated guitar
piece of which in the sleeve notes
Ayala writes ‘To perform this
piece a guitarist must achieve the
uppermost levels of technical and
musical virtuosity.’ - Indeed.
Listening to Ayala’s recording of
the Dowland masterpiece, I
thought that here he was putting
in a decent performance and then
lo and behold, a fluffed note rears
its head at the half-way point.
Although not credited as such, I
have a suspicion that the version
on this disc of the traditional
Scottish song Wild Mountain
Thyme is the one which Scott
Tennant recorded (and pub-
lished) - a lovely arrangement
indeed and played very nicely
here.
46
The Jose Vinas composition
Fantasia Original is here played
with energy and verve and shows
Ayala to have a rather acceptable
tremolo, but unfortunately there
are too many ‘clipped’ and buzzed
notes to enable one to sit back
and enjoy the music.
Seeing the next two, thankfully
final, items on the programme
made my heart sink and I can
honestly say that I was not disap-
pointed. One must I suppose,
congratulate Ayala for tackling
the Bach organ masterwork in
the first place, but really this ver-
sion is just nine minutes of waf-
fle. The Peter Maxwell Davies
fares better only in that it is a
much shorter piece.
I can only surmise that the
recording engineer on this project
must have been asleep at his post
during the sound balancing on
this disc as on several occasions I
had to reach to adjust the volume
control. Unfortunately (and I
realise that I’ve used that word
several times during this review -
not the best of signs) there is not
much to recommend this disc for,
not even the player’s tone can
come to the rescue.
Steve Marsh
SPIRIT OF THE GUITAR
ISAAC ALBÉNIZ: Asturias; Cadiz.
JOAQUIN RODRIGO: Sarabanda
Lejana. FRANCISCO TÁRREGA:
Recuerdos de la Alhambra.
DUSAN BOGDANOVIC: Jazz
Sonatina. BEN BARRON: Ode to
Christopher. JULIAN ORBON: Five
Preludes. AGUSTIN BARRIOS:
Julia Florida; Maxixe; Villancico de
Navidad. FERNANDO SOR: Rondo
in C; Estudio in A; Estudio in
Thirds.
Ben Barron
Groove Tonic Media GTM-1072
Throughout this album of mostly
famous classical guitar reper-
toire, American guitarist Ben
Barron does justice to the music
for the majority of the programme
in bold and confident perfor-
mances, although it has to be
said that I found the more unfa-
miliar items so much more enjoy-
able to listen to than I did with
the frequently visited ones. The
three-movement Jazz Sonatina by
the Serbian composer Dusan
Bogdanovic (with whom Barron
studied at the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music) for
instance. This performance made
such an impression on me that
these three tracks were repeated
on my CD player several times
before I let the disc run on. Then
it happened again … the next
track being a totally unfamiliar
work by the Cuban composer
Julian Orbon, a composer of
whom Aaron Copland once
described as ‘Cuba’s most gifted
composer of the new generation.’
Barron gives a totally convincing
presentation of this composer’s
Afro-Cuban styled Preludio y
Danza, another piece I felt the
urge to hear several times.
On the negative side, Barron’s
tremolo on Tárrega’s legendary
study for this technique is good,
but I’ve heard better, and I’m not
really convinced by the rather
exaggerated ‘rit’ in Villa-Lobos’
second prelude. The trio of
Barrios’s compositions are finely
performed but I felt that there
was room for more charm here
and there.
The three 19th century pieces
by Sor which conclude the pro-
gramme are an absolute delight
and it is so refreshing to once
again experience a performance
of these works.
In conclusion, this is a record-
ing which has its merits but the
more celebrated works do not
present any competition to many
other recordings. On the strength
of the performances of the
Bogdanovic, Orbon and, indeed,
the player’s own composition, I
would have much preferred a pro-
gramme of lesser-known guitar
works.
Steve Marsh
ANDRÉS SEGOVIA AND HIS
CONTEMPORARIES
Vol. 8 Segovia & Oyanguren
Part II
Doremi DHR-7794
Vol. 9 Segovia &
Regino Saínz de la Maza
Doremi DHR-7804
Vol. 10 Segovia &
José Rey de la Torre
Doremi DHR-7854-6
This series should be prescribed
listening for guitar students at
Colleges of Music and universi-
ties as the recordings encapsu-
late the spirit of the early guitar
traditions of the 20th century
now frequently misunderstood.
Only recently a reviewer in these
pages described Segovia’s style
as ‘idiosyncratic’ as if such an
adjective were sufficient to bring
us closer to an understanding of
Classical Guitar Magazine
what the Maestro represented. In like manner the playing of
The Doremi series opens our ears Oyanguren, recorded on
to the essential ‘idiosyncrasy’ of Columbia and Victor between
the entire generation of recital- 1937 and 1941, comes at us with
ists from the 1920s to the 1950s, some latent awareness of aspira-
before the Bream/Williams revo- tion but achieving less pinpoint
lution ushered in new concepts of precision than we would now
interpretation, technique and expect. The preferred types of
repertoire. guitar then were of course the
Younger players hearing these bass heavy traditional models
tracks may encounter a certain (and - before the 1940s - with gut
culture shock. For the concert strings), not the perfectly
performers of the early 20th cen- homogenised and evenly toned
tury followed a different philoso- machines of modern makers with
phy of the guitar, enveloping both vastly improved string reso-
their method of presentation and nance. Yet Oyanguren’s choice of
everything that evolved from that. repertoire is still surprising -
A DVD of the playing of José Rey Giuliani’s Grande Ouverture,
de la Torre on Vol. 10 (recorded something of a rarity for many
for CBS along with an unctuous years, and Cimarosa’s Sonata in
interviewer and flamenco items A, preceding Bream’s advocacy of
from Carlos Montoya), will give this composer by nearly 20 years.
much food for thought. For one At the same time he offers lol-
thing, de la Torre’s performances lipops such as Rodriguez’s La
(filmed in 1957 and 1962) are not Cumparsita, Parga’s Alhambra,
note perfect and sometimes give and his own Andalucia, works
the impression of studied casual- that no self-respecting adult
ness. would nowadays expend much
His chosen repertoire (Sor’s time or energy on, whether listen-
Variations Op. 9 and Study in B ing or playing. The guitar in this
minor, Falla’s Homenaje a context seemed caught between
Debussy, Pavane by Luis Milán, the instrument’s popular café
Turina’s Fandanguillo, Asturias- associations and the player’s pre-
Leyenda by Albéniz, Choros 1 and tensions towards the seriousness
Study No. 11 by Villa-Lobos), is of the concert hall, a somewhat
sufficient to return us, as in a schizophrenic mix with often
time capsule, to those hopeful, regrettable consequences.
pioneering days. The interviewer Similarly we listen to the play-
appears concerned whether audi- ing of Regino Sáinz de la Maza,
ences had even heard of ‘classical recorded 1935-48, with our his-
guitar’ while Rey de la Torre feeds torical cap on. This includes his
in some slightly off-beat glosses premiere recording of the
on guitar history, suggesting, for Concierto de Aranjuez, a seminal
example, that the guitar devel- moment in guitar history. His
oped generically from the lute or performances of pieces by
the Moors introduced the guitar Tárrega, Recuerdos de la
to Spain. But in the actual play- Alhambra, under the title of
ing we discover the essence of the Evocación, Sueño (subtitled
old style - a personal touch, a Reverie), and Mazurka, provide
reticent, unflashy presentation fascinating interpretative
and a sweetly lyrical sound insights for Sáinz de la Maza,
appropriate to his choice of first studied guitar with Daniel
Simplicio and Hauser guitars. Fortea, a devoted Tárrega stu-
There is something endearing dent. Regino Sáinz de la Maza
and quietly passionate about the himself remained for most of his
performance, the revealing of a life at the heart of Spanish cul-
specific guitaristic voice, small tural activities, being the son-in-
but plaintive, poignant but law of Concha Espina, the novel-
undemonstrative. The guitar ist, and close friend of both Lorca
then was not a pseudo-keyboard and Dalí, as well as giving inter-
attempting to break the bounds national recitals and encouraging
of its intrinsic limitations. The Rodrigo to write a concerto at a
playing appears somehow more time when very few guitarists
informal than nowadays, the were capable of sustaining a pro-
expressiveness lying close to the fessional career.
heart of the recitalist and draw- Despite the manifold virtues
ing us into the sounds unobtru- and historical significance of the
sively and intimately. other recitalists featured,
Classical Guitar Magazine
Segovia’s special magic emerges
like a blazing beacon. His record-
ings reveal a more intense level of
preparation, more refined quali-
ties of sonority, a unique shaping
of phrases, and constant striv-
ings towards perfection. But it
was Segovia’s overall under-
standing of the aesthetics of
music and mastery of technical
resources marshalled in service
of a supremely poetic imagina-
tion, which elevated him beyond
any competitor in this early
phase of 20th century develop-
ment. In certain wayward
rhythms and timings, similarities
between players can be observed
- this was a characteristic of gui-
tar styles of the period. Segovia’s
domination of every aspect of the
instrument is what establishes
him as a ‘great’ player, able to
transform the musical landscape
and influence all that followed.
By the time the new movement
arrived (the glorious revolution of
Bream, Williams, Yepes, Diaz,
etc,) it was not possible to com-
pare like with like - subsequent
interpretative considerations
being radically at odds with the
concepts of earlier recitalists, ini-
tiating substantially different
approaches to performance,
repertoire and the reading of
musical texts. The situation
became slightly confused histori-
cally because of Segovia’s
longevity as a recitalist, going on
for decades after his style had
become representative of a
bygone epoch, the era of
Pachmann, Kreisler, Landowska
and Casals. But when the playing
of Segovia is juxtaposed (as in
these recordings) with that of his
contemporaries the nature of his
excellence shines out. It was that
which stimulated later genera-
tions rather than the aspirations
and abilities of so many less
capable colleagues.
It is not possible to understand
the intricacies of guitar history,
or the essential greatness of
Segovia’s art without some
awareness of what was going on
in those early decades of the 20th
century. Thus ‘Legendary
Treasures’, as the series is
called, should be the prescribed
listening of younger players who
wish to understand the legacy of
the 20th century classical guitar
and how we arrived where we are
today.
Graham Wade
47

CLASSICAL GUITAR METHOD
GRADE 1 by Stanley Yates
Published by Mel Bay
Publications. MB21548DVD.
This DVD has been released to be
studied alongside the book of the
same name. Although the book
does have a CD supplied with it,
this DVD serves a most useful pur-
pose letting the student actually
see demonstrations of hand posi-
tions, chord placement, tone pro-
duction, etc.
Stanley Yates presents the pro-
gramme very informally (open neck
shirt, jeans and trainers) sitting in
front of a black backdrop. In the
introductory talk he does seem
very slightly ill at ease, not making
much eye contact with the viewer
but as things progress over the
next 1 hour and 45 minutes he set-
tles down and one begins to quick-
ly warm to his friendly and relaxed
personality. Although it is obvious
that he has prompt notes out of
camera and he has a set series of
subjects to discuss, his presenta-
tion appears almost ad lib and
unscripted resulting in a very
genial mood as if you are in the
same room together.
Subjects covered include pos-
ture, warm up exercises, using a
metronome, tuning, chords,
strumming, thumb technique,
integrating thumb with fingers,
chord swopping, fingernail advice,
arpeggios, daily exercises and
many others.
Between topics Stanley Yates
plays small extracts from the gui-
tar repertoire (presumably to
encourage the student) and finish-
es off by discussing and perform-
ing the larger repertoire at the con-
clusion of Book 1 of this series. At
nearly £10.00 for the printed book
and almost £14.00 for this DVD, it
could appear to be rather an
expensive treat to purchase both
items, but considering that the
student is most likely to be work-
ing through this method for sever-
al months, the initial outlay for
both products seems well worth
the initial outlay although to be
fair, I have not actually seen the
book so cannot comment on its
merits.
Mel Bay Productions have done
their usual high class presentation
here; the DVD is well filmed, clear
48
acoustics and the occasional
split-screen and close-ups work
wonderfully well. I thoroughly
enjoyed Yates’s approach to this
subject and anyone taking up the
guitar, especially for those study-
ing without a teacher, would be
recommended to consider this
‘package’.
Steve Marsh
AROUND THE WORLD
Uros Dojcinovic
Mel Bay MB21668DVD
It’s now more than ten years since
I last saw the Serbian guitarist /
composer Uros Dojcinovic in per-
son. So it was pleasing to note from
the cover shot on this 2008 release
that he still has one of those won-
derful faces that somehow manage
to look permanently surprised.
As seasoned viewers of concert
DVDs will know, a convention has
emerged whereby the performer
initiates proceedings by formally
acknowledging an unseen audi-
ence. But this one differs from
many insofar as it claims to be a
genuine live recording, the cam-
eras and microphones having
eavesdropped on a performance
Dojcinovic gave in Belgrade during
the summer of 2004. Hidden
behind what look like the flood-
lights from a top-of-the-range
Subbuteo gift set, Dojcinovic’s pub-
lic are only permitted to show their
appreciation at the start and finish
of his 53 minute innings.
In the meantime, he presents a
pleasant and undemanding
sequence of ethnically-driven
miniatures. Half the programme
is of Eastern-European origin,
and few of the items are widely
known. In fact, hardly anything
on the track listing is likely to
ring any immediate bells, at least
not until you discover that Aires
Nacionales Espanoles, jointly
attributed to Tárrèga and Arcas,
is a reheated version of the Gran
Jota with a few bars of rasgueado
thrown in and the customary
finale omitted.
Elsewhere, the mood is decidedly
understated. As tends to be the
case with Dojcinovic’s original
compositions and arrangements,
there’s much crossing of hands
and tinkling of harmonics. But I’m
afraid I found the experience as a
DVDs
whole agreeable but rather soporif-
ic. The sense of cosy predictability
is further enhanced by an ongoing
series of cross-fades to pictures of
people dressed in national cos-
tume.
The one isolated and welcome
exception is the splendid Eskimo
Dance by Piotr Panin, which had
all the makings of an international
hit when it first came out but
somehow never got there and is
now all but forgotten. So it was
great to hear it so vividly revived
here, but did we really need that
shot of three guys paddling around
in kayaks?
A modest but original offering
that would have been of greater
interest as an audio CD with print-
ed programme notes.
Paul Fowles
STORIES OF LOVE –
The Birth of Bossa Nova
Directed by Paulo Thiago
Producers, Vitoria Producoes
Duration 1hr 45mins approx.
Warner Vision International
5144280632
As 50th anniversaries go, this
summer release will have aficiona-
dos salivating and could well con-
vert those who may have been
indifferent to the gentle, swaying
and undeniably cool music that
carries the name Bossa Nova.
If the sound of The Girl from
Ipanema being played on a
Bontempi electric organ is your
experience and expectation of what
Bossa Nova is then prepare to have
your notions somewhat rearranged.
The main narrators in the docu-
mentary are Carlos L yra and
Roberto Menescal; two utterly styl-
ish gentlemen, who show that
growing older and greyer means
not losing that swing. Their ami-
able banter and lovely guitar play-
ing takes us from the earliest days
and nights when students would
gather and jam. But these were no
garage-band rock-and-roll gather-
ings, but sophisticated soirees with
middle class kids trying out new
harmonies and developing styles of
rhythmic accompaniment never
heard before; it’s fascinating to
hear the subtle differences of play-
ing styles.
Copacabana and the beach
lifestyle run hand in hand with the
Classical Guitar Magazine
birth of Bossa Nova where early
creators like Johnny Alf, who is
still going strong, produced a
sound that was hypnotically
rhythmic but had a witty lyrical
quality that lifted it above mere
‘pop’ music. Brazilian music is a
constantly developing entity and
one hears rumblings from the
30s; Ary Barroso’s harmonies,
Pixinguinha’s rhythms. It is more
samba than jazz for instance
although jazz had a strong influ-
ence on almost everything;
Anibal Augusto Sardinha or
‘Garoto’ as he is more familiarly
known was a guitarist and com-
poser who directly influenced
Bossa luminaries such as L yra
and Menescal and of course João
Gilberto.
It is wonderful to hear Billy
Blanco reminiscing and singing,
likewise João Donato’s wonderful
Bossa Nova piano playing; his
tune Amazonas was lifted by
Peter Allen and his camp compo-
sition I go to Rio and similarly
Barry Manilow’s travesty pas-
tiche Copacabana.
Space does not permit a list of
the fantastic array of artists who
appear on the disc and generous
bonus tracks. Needles to say that
‘Tom’ Jobim features and there
are wonderful renditions of his
songs by his son Paulo, who
bears an uncanny resemblance
to Alain Delon.
It is the way the story unfolds
that makes this documentary
special; apocryphal, half-heard
stories are cleared up, such as
where the term Bossa Nova came
from, and one comes away from
the experience wanting to hear
much more of the artists.
Not just highly recommended
but one of those essential pur-
chases.
Tim Panting
FABIO ZANON -
CLASSIC GUITAR SOLOS
Mel Bay Publications.
MB97280DVD
Presented as a no-frills, no fuss
programme, this DVD from Mel
Bay’s ‘Guitar Masters Live’ series,
does what it says on the tin -
here is a world-class virtuoso
guitarist playing superb music in
a sublime manner. The direction
- or lack of it - is simply reduced
to three shots: face full on look-
ing straight into the camera as
the player introduces the music,
and, when in performance, either
Classical Guitar Magazine
body full on from the front or
from the player’s left hand side.
This simplicity of approach is
very much more preferable than
the ‘clever’ and supposedly arty
shots one encounters in many
other presentations where the
director has the viewer looking
from eccentric and unnatural
angles at the player’s fingertips,
legs, nostrils, etc. We’re not talk-
ing ‘Fellini’ here, thank goodness
for that; the viewer/listener can
just enjoy the music for its own
sake and watch a performance as
if viewing from the audience in
an auditorium - except more
closely.
As stated on the front of the
box, this is a ‘live’ performance
with seemingly no editing and
the very occasional slight
‘muffed’ note (these are few and
far between it has to be said) has
been kept in, a fact which goes a
long way in the appeal of this
project; one really does get the
effect of a live recital, an impres-
sion which is often lacking in
‘perfect’, often edited, recordings.
The programme is a striking
assemblage of styles and moods,
with music ranging from Zanon’s
transcription of Bach’s four -
movement solo violin work, the
Sonata in A minor BWV1003 and
the almost frivolous fantasia on
themes from Donizett’s opera
‘Lucia de Lammermoor’ by Mertz,
through to the Brazilian compos-
er Alexandre de Faria’s remark-
able ‘meditation on death’
Prelude - Eyes of a Recollection
written for Fabio Zanon.
Sandwiched in between Zanon
gives remarkable performances
of the beautiful Old Song by
Oscar Lorenzo Ferandez, the
highly charged Appassionata by
Ronaldo Miranda, and three of
Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas,
numbers 11, 144 and 391.
Throughout, Zanon states his
case with absolute authority,
seemingly utilising his complete
arsenal of technique and musi-
cianship and exuding a complete
understanding of the stylistic
requirements for each piece. His
articulation and subtle nuances
of dynamics in the phrasing of
these works raise the music to
even greater heights.
Both the picture quality and
sound reproduction are com-
mendable and watching and lis-
tening to this astonishing musi-
cian at the peak of his powers
makes for a very enjoyable 70-
minutes’ worth of entertainment.
Given that this programme
contains virtuoso performances
of music of the absolute highest
quality, Zanon’s first words on
the DVD: “Hello, I’m Fabio
Zanon and I’m going to play
some nice pieces for you.” - goes
to show that not only is he an
absolute master of ‘all things
guitar’, he has also conquered
the tricky art of the grand
understatement.
Steve Marsh
GUITAR MASTERS LIVE
Jorge Morel
Mel Bay Publications.
MB97213DVD
Originally planned as a series of
video releases in the 1990’s
under the title ‘Artist Series’, this
DVD comes from that particular
collection which presented some
of the finest players shown per-
forming in a live performance sit-
uation in warts-and-all recitals
(although we’re only talking the
odd freckle here and there in sev-
eral of the programmes).
The Argentinian guitar virtuoso
Jorge Morel introduces and per-
forms nine Latin American guitar
solos made up of mostly his own
compositions and arrangements,
the exceptions being two works
by Agustin Barrios, Julia Florida
and Danza Paraguaya and one
by Morel’s former guitar teacher
Pablo Escovar, the captivating
Chopi. The rest of the programme
features some of this performer’s
most engaging original composi-
tions: Choro, Pampero, Danza
Brasilera, Bossa en Re and
Rapsodia del Sur and his excel-
lent celebrated arrangement of
Bustamente’s classic piece
Misionera.
Listening, and watching Morel
in this performance, one really
comes to appreciate just how
clever a tunesmith and maestro
of rhythmic intricacies he is; this
is guitar music of the highest cal-
ibre and deservingly, has become
part of the standard repertoire
for the instrument.
This DVD is a must if you wish
to see one of the legends of the
guitar performing in his own
inimitable style. The sound qual-
ity and general direction is very
good and Jorge Morel’s brief
introductions to each piece are
clear and informative.
Steve Marsh
49
 COMPOSERS: WHO NEEDS THEM?
– Composers and the Community
A Report by THÉRÈSE WASSILY SABA
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies CBE - Master of the Queen's Music.
ON WEDNESDAY 8 October 2008 The
Worshipful Company of Musicians, in associa-
tion with The British Academy of Composers
and Songwriters, presented a conference under
the title of Composers: Who Needs Them? –
Composers and the Community. There were a
number of guest speakers including Sir Peter
Maxwell Davies CBE – Master of the Queen’s
Music, and there was a very full audience in
attendance with a good number of distin-
guished composers there as well.
The conference, which was aimed at politicians,
civil servants, broadcasters, journalists, profes-
sional musicians, educationalists and of course
composers, was introduced by Leslie East, Master
of The Musicians Company. This was followed by
the Chair of the Conference, Prof. Gavin
Henderson CBE, who was Principal of Trinity
College of Music, London, for many years and is
presently Principal of the Central School of Speech
and Drama. Gavin Henderson jokingly announced
his view that ‘as a trumpet player, the world would
be a better place if it were run by trumpet players!’
On a more serious note, he believes that as musi-
cians, it is ‘a time to examine our values, and see
what we can bring to the world to cheer it up.’
The question of whether we need composers
may seem ridiculous but the discussion
50
brought up many issues with regard to the
relationship between composers and their audi-
ences, composers and performers, and most
emotionally debated, the relationship between
composers and critics. There were a number of
discussion panels. The first was presented with
the question: ‘Why do we need more New
Music?’ Louise de Winter, Director of the
National Campaign for the Arts, thought it an
odd question, but said that the only way to
answer was to say that the arts need to replen-
ish themselves all the time. We were fortunate
to have some leading critics on the panel, such
as Richard Morrison, chief music critic from
The Times newspaper, who seemed to think
that composers in general had alienated their
audiences by being too self-indulgent over
recent years and are now paying the price for it.
He also believes that the ‘restoration attempt to
put music back into schools over the last 4–5
years has been too little and too late.’ Professor
Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at the
University of Kent, was also disturbed by The
Music Manifesto, which is a government-support-
ed campaign to improve young people’s music
education in the United Kingdom. He thinks it is
about a lot of things, but not about music: ‘it is
music deconstructed without totality of cultural
Classical Guitar Magazine
experience.’ He felt that there has
been no attempt to develop taste,
and so was ‘pessimistic from a soci-
ological point of view and by the
status music has in our own soci-
ety’. Peter Kingston of The
Guardian newspaper, who has con-
vened and organised The
Guardian/BBC Proms Young
Composers’ Competition which has
managed to survive a decade with
an impressive list of young and
junior winners, was more opti-
mistic.
Richard Morris of the ABRSM
(Associated Board of the Royal
Schools of Music) made the point
that the government ‘has got it dia-
metrically wrong. Everyone here
would argue that every child needs
music education in school. The Gavin Henderson.
government has decided that every-
one should be a performer, so you get 25 trum- the visual art world and the contemporary
peters in a room together.’ (Gavin Henderson, music world. He contrasted the approach of the
interjecting, thinks that sounded like a very Tate Modern Art Gallery in London with con-
good idea!) Richard Morris believes that chil- temporary composers’ ‘reticence to embrace the
dren need to be taught music appreciation. wider world’. He believes that the ‘Tate Modern
Peter Kingston understands that there has been is a huge success story. The contemporary arts
a push on composers in schools, but he finds are easy to grasp but by and large contempo-
the notion that there is too much playing in rary music isn’t like that yet.’ He also considers
schools is not right. David Stoll, a former Chair that, ‘there is an unwillingness by young com-
of the British Academy of Composers & posers to communicate their message directly.’
Songwriters, described music as educational, Composer, Judith Bingham, addressing her
whether you were in education or not. He feels comments to the critic Richard Morrison said,
that guiding people into listening is crucial for ‘You can’t compare music to the visual arts. You
society in everything it does. ‘Investing in music cannot ‘own’ music. ‘This is an issue she comes
is a very small investment for a very big return.’ across when she is commissioned by people to
Music in education was not the only item on write a piece of music for them; they ask her
the agenda – or something like that!, there was whether they will ‘own’ the piece and she must
also a presentation of a number of works pro- explain that that is not possible.
duced by school students, with filmed record- Contributing to a discussion which asked: Who
ings of recent educational projects education, are we writing music for?, the composer Sally
presented by Lynne Plowman who has been Beamish believes that there is a relatively small
working as a composer in residence in sec- proportion of people who want to listen to music
ondary schools. The difficulty of the current sit- and be intellectually challenged by it. She said that
uation for composers was highlighted by the we must think about this if we want our music to
shocking news that the London Mozart Players, be commercially viable and relevant. Frank Furedi,
who are well-known for commissioning a lot of however, does not think that it is the job of the
new works and doing a lot of work in schools, composer to divide themselves. Composers, he
have had their funding cut. Other valuable says, have to create their own audience and this is
observations from Lynne Plowman’s experience what distinguishes New Music from conventional
of working in schools is that she believes chil- music which already has an audience. Richard
dren are all using computer notation software Morrison added that he is ‘pleased to see the
at the beginning of the composition process younger composers go to new venues and find new
instead of at the end. audiences.’ Agreeing with this Frank Furedi said
Gavin Henderson commented that the 20th that new music has to think about its renewal,
century has turned music into a commodity, so and he doesn’t think that new music is comfort-
ironically the advance has created a heritage able in Wigmore Hall. Practical points were also
culture because you had a collectable experi- raised by composers Debbie Wiseman, Graham
ence. He continued, ‘Visual art doesn’t have the Fitkin and Errollyn Wallen, who work in quite dif-
recording industry; to experience a new play, ferent fields of composition.
you have to go to see the play.’ Richard Some topics came very close to the bone for
Morrison is intrigued by the contrast between me, particularly when the discussion moved

Classical Guitar Magazine 51

 This is the first book to present a detailed account of the
le
Availab musical achievements of Julian Bream. In a wide-ranging
now celebration of his artistry the book offers essential per-
spectives on vital elements of twentieth century guitar his-
tory and reveals how Julian Bream succeeded in establish- The Art of
The Art of M ing the instrument as a uniquely expressive force on the
JULIAN BREAM
L I A N BREA contemporary scene.
JU b y
As well as his phenomenal success in inspiring com-
M WADE posers such as Britten, Tippett, Walton, Arnold, Berkeley,
GRAHA Henze, Brouwer, Takemitsu, etc., to write for the guitar,
Bream is also renowned as the twentieth century’s greatest
lutenist and a passionate advocate of Elizabethan music.

Julian Bream’s influence is apparent in every area of the classical guitar repertoire. He transcribed
Baroque works by Scarlatti, Buxtehude, Cimarosa, etc., and is acknowledged as one of the great inter-
preters of the music of J.S. Bach. He revitalised awareness of the early nineteenth century works of Sor,
Giuliani, and Aguado, while bringing to the public the music of Spain from the sixteenth century to the
present day and breathing new fire into Latin American music by composers such as Villa-Lobos, Ponce
and Brouwer.

Bream, over the years, revolutionised the guitar concerto, inspiring new works in this genre at the
same time as performing the perennial favourites. Through concerts with Peter Pears, George Malcolm,
Peggy Ashcroft, John Williams, and the Julian Bream Consort, he demonstrated his unique versatility,
offering new interpretations of both early and contemporary music. by
This broad canvas is represented here in terms of Bream’s concerts, recordings, and editions. The GRAHAM
book also includes many photos, a comprehensive list of his musical publications, a discography, and a WADE
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52 Classical Guitar Magazine

towards the role of the music critic. Richard
Morrison said that music criticism is of value ‘as
long as it triggers a reaction’. He believes that, ‘if
it is not written about in the press, then there is
not the recognition to say that it is happening.’
Frank Furedi thinks music critics are no longer
taken seriously but he thinks they are essential.
Carol Barratt, speaking of a recent première of a
work by her husband the Welsh composer Karl
Jenkins, who has attracted huge audiences
through his many works such as Adiemus, com-
mented that although the 3,000 people in the
audience gave the work a standing ovation, the
critics canned it.
The composer Sarah Rodgers said, ‘We desper-
ately need people to play the music that we have
been writing for the past 30 years and that don’t
get repeat performances.’ On the topic of the dif-
ficulty of programming contemporary music
Nicholas Riddle, Managing Director of Peters
Edition Ltd and a member of the Council of the
Royal Philharmonic Society, relayed a conversa-
tion he had had with a concert organiser for one
of the major London orchestras. If the organiser
programmed Beethoven’s Symphony No.9, he
could fill the concert hall; but if he just men-
tioned that a contemporary piece will also be on
the programme, he would lose 30 per cent of his
audience. Fortunately, he noted, the annual BBC
Proms concerts are an exception to this because
they have an established tradition of program-
ming new works and premières.
standards is perceived as a threat, then we are
already in a disaster area.’ In case it might have
appeared that he was attacking teachers, he
explained, ‘I have discussed dumbing-down in
politics, religion and art, rather than in music or
music education. This was purposeful, as I do not
wish to tread on colleagues’ toes, but, by implica-
tion, I hope my gist is clear.’ It was a powerful and
inspiring speech from someone who has dedicat-
ed his life to being a composer in the community.
This very successful conference was organised
by Leslie East on behalf of the Professional
Musicians Advisory Panel of The Worshipful
Company of Musicians and was devised in col-
laboration with the British Academy of
Composers & Songwriters. There were many
more ideas and quotes that I could have extract-
ed from my endless pages of notes, however,
hopefully I have provided you with some of the
ideas and arguments facing music and musicians
in the 21st century that were discussed. The
whole session was recorded and is being collated
for presentation to various government bodies
and arts councils in the hope of positive action.
The Worshipful Company of Musicians
website: www.wcom.org.uk
British Guitar Makers

DAVID MERRIN
The Keynote Speech was given by Sir Peter
Maxwell Davies. He said, ‘Over the last decades,
since Thatcher, every commodity, including cul- FINE CLASSICAL GUITARS
ture, not only has to be approachable, but, above AND RESTORATION.
all, have a measurable market, or commercial “ High quality concert guitars” Graham Devine
value, and must be demonstrably accessible to www.davidmerringuitars.com 01234 711821
the largest spread of public.’ He continued,
‘Politics has dumbed itself down to almost below
the horizon, with the public given no credit for
intelligence or intellect, while, ironically, ever
fewer people trouble to vote, such is the disillu-
sion and disgust. Could there be warnings for our
profession here?’
Education was on Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’
agenda as well: ‘Many have commented on the
dumbing-down of education, on the standardisa-
tion of teaching, on policies of inclusion which
result in the promotion of the ordinary and the
exclusion of the exceptional.’ Further, he said,
‘This attitude, where the lowest common denom-
inator is the rule, where nothing music be chal-
lenging, where blandness is all-pervasive, where
students at all levels must feel good, confident,
and at all costs never be allowed to imagine they
could ever, if they don’t work, be considered a
failure, - is all well and good, except that in my
experience young people respond to challenge. If
as teacher or educator you expect the lowest
standards, this is what you will get. If as teacher
you are not trained properly, so that a student
who responds with something beyond the lowest
Classical Guitar Magazine 53
 VIEWS FROM EVERYWHERE
FRANCE

THIS SUMMER I had the opportu-

nity to enjoy another excellent gui-
tar summer school in the
enchanting Château de Ligoure,
set in its own parkland in the
Limousin countryside, near
Limoges. The guitar course, one of
the oldest in Europe, was founded
in 1977 by Carel Harms and for
the last 20 years was directed by
Jean-Marc Roulet and Raymond
Giraud.
In August, 2008, Eleftheria

PHOTOS: THÉRÈSE WASSILY SABA

Kotzia took over the direction of
the summer school, known as a
‘stage’ in French. Twenty partici-
pants from France, England,
Algeria and Japan gathered for
ten days of stimulating guitar
playing. This included individual
guitar lessons every other day at
the appropriate level for each Jean-Pierre Billet (guitar) and Antoine Billet (cello).
person, as well as courses in
ensemble and orchestral playing. Eleftheria The setting was idyllic. The three-storey Château
(Ellie), who teaches at the Royal Welsh College de Ligoure is a fine nineteenth-century house,
of Music, and Jean-Pierre Billet, Guitar standing in its own parkland. The reception rooms
Professor at the Conservatoire National in the part of the chateau where the courses were
Regional of Clermont-Ferrant, provided a high held, offered a faded fin-de-siècle elegance, which
standard of tuition in the different fields. The added greatly to the unique atmosphere of this
level of playing ability varied from accomplished course. The accommodation was rustic in a
players to relative newcomers to the guitar. The charming French way and the cost of the full ten-
atmosphere was very friendly, supportive and day course was extremely reasonable.
fun. Eleftheria’s delightful sunny personality, pro-
There were a series of evening concerts, Nuits fessionalism and her established teaching meth-
de la Guitare, during the course. Ellie played fiery ods, and Jean-Pierre’s impressive depth of musi-
Mediterranean and Greek music which was a cal knowledge and dry sense of humour, made
delight. Jean-Pierre Billet and Antoine Billet, his them a very effective team. I have now attended
son, played romantic guitar and cello duo music, two courses at Ligoure and can highly recom-
and Jean-Marc Roulet performed a programme of mend the experience. After ten days there was a
Spanish music in duo with the singer, Ann distinct feeling of having made progress. The
Elizabeth Petit. The end-of-course student con- atmosphere created by Ellie and Jean-Pierre
cert on the final evening gave all course partici- made everyone feel part of an extended family.
pants a chance to perform the prepared reper- There will be another course next July – from 22
toire under concert conditions to a local audi- July until 1 August 2009. I shall certainly be reg-
ence. istering again. Oh, and I forgot to mention the
I was fascinated by an excellent Lecture Recital delicious, organic French country cuisine which
given by Jean-Pierre, in which he outlined the formed a most important part of the pleasures at
history of guitar music and displayed examples the ‘stage’.
of ancient tablature, followed by a performance Allix Cotton
of some early music, first on his baroque guitar
and then on his original nineteenth-century gui- LONDON
tar. Also most helpful was the informal student
concert (Open Platform) – everyone took part. It IN NOVEMBER 2008 there were a number of
happened to be the night of the full moon, so a events held under the auspices of the London
moon-gazing session followed at midnight out- Guitar Festival, including a Tribute to Julian
side on the lawns. We were fortunate enough to Bream – to celebrate his 75th birthday year, by
witness a dramatically clear partial eclipse of the students at Guildhall School of Music and Drama,
moon which added a unique aspect to the festiv- London, who played a selection of pieces from the
ities. repertoire inspired by Julian Bream. Ahmed
54 Classical Guitar Magazine
 recording and has featured it on
Queen’s own website. At this
solo recital Carlos Bonell also
gave the première of his own
composition Canciones.
Thérèse Wassily Saba

ITALY

THE TRAIN from Rome rolled

into the darkened station and
there, high above me twinkled
the lights of the famous abbey at
Monte Cassino. The Cassino
Guitar Festival had been putting
on concerts since 19 October
2008 and the second weekend in
Carlos Bonell, Robert Brightmore and David Miller. December marked the culmina-
tion of the events with five fine
Dickinson opened the evening with a performance concerts including Grigory Novikov (Russia),
of William Walton’s Five Bagatelles. Matt Juan Carlos Laguna (Mexico) and Aniello
Robinson on the guitar supported the tenor Desiderio who was on home ground. The festival
Michael Bradley very well in their performance of is organised by Alessandro Minci and Massimo
Songs from the Chinese by Benjamin Britten. Delle Cese and the whole series of concerts ends
Guitarist Maria Camahort performed Benjamin with a competition. Thirteen entrants were whit-
Britten’s Folksongs for High Voice & Guitar with tled down to four finalists: Lore Raus (Belgium)
the very animated tenor Ed Lee, and Jørgen came first and Fabio Caputo (Italy) came second;
Skogmo gave a very delicate interpretation of Alberto Melchiorre (Italy) third and Daria
Hans Werner Henze’s Drei Tentos followed by a Fedotova (Italy) was fourth; the jury being
rich and focused performance of Sonatina, Op 51 Alessandro, Massimo, Luigi Colozzo and myself,
by Lennox Berkeley. The guitar and lute depart- Neil Smith. Events such as these are superb
ments at Guildhall , headed by Robert meeting places and Luigi told me about another
Brightmore and David Miller respectively, work in course at Gaeta on the coast not far from Cassino
close association with one another, and guitarists – a summer course whereas Cassino takes place
are strongly encouraged to study for a time on in the winter. Interested players may wish to
early instruments where they also learn to access the websites of both of these Italian cours-
accompany in early music ensembles. The theor- es. Cassino is www.noteclassiche.it for a course
bo features prominently in this chamber music in the mountains and www.esachordon.org will
role. Oskar Werninge accompanied the counter- access the Gaeta site which has some stunning
tenor Jake Arditti on the theorbo for Three Songs beach and coastal scenery.
by Henry Purcell. They were three very beautiful Neil Smith
and contrasting songs and one
could not help but be impressed
by the wonderful sounds that
Werninge produced on the theor-
bo. This Guildhall concert opened
the London International Guitar
Festival, which continued with
España! A celebration of music for
guitar and keyboard at the Royal
College of Music. Another special
concert in the Festival was Carlos
Bonell’s solo recital at the Gustav
Tucker Hall, University College
London where he premièred
pieces from his latest recording
Queen: solo guitar rhapsodies,
arranged for solo guitar by Carlos
Bonell and David Young. Carlos
Bonell has been very pleased with
the response to the recording, in
particular that of Brian May from Cassino Finalists (from left) Alberto Melchiorre, Lore Raus, Daria Fedotova
Queen, who has praised the and Fabio Caputo.
Classical Guitar Magazine 55
 GRUPPETTO
CLASSICAL music doesn’t really exist, says
Alex Ross, music critic of the New Yorker and
author of a new book, The Rest Is Noise:
Listening to the Twentieth Century. His reason
is that the musical spectrum is too vast to jus-
tify the word ‘classical’. He talks about a range
that encompasses the medieval chant of
Hildegard of Bingen, Vivaldi’s Baroque concer-
tos, Wagner’s lengthy music dramas, the elec-
tronic experiments of John Cage, Steve
Reich’s African-influenced Drumming and very
much more. The only word to describe it is
‘music’. ‘Classical’ is a word used mainly by
those who have formed the impression that
there are only two kinds of music - their kind,
and everything else. There never was a time
when so much music and of so many different
kinds was available to so many people. It
means that even Pop music, with its domi-
nance over the commercial market, is ulti-
mately a minority interest. Join the club.
‘TO ME, folk music is dead music.’ This aston-
ishing statement was made by a radio presen-
ter in a programme about the richly varied
music of Cuba. To him, music had to come
from living people, preferably people who had
suffered and were suffering. Not for him the
formal music of the music academies. Contrast
this with another quotation, from a rather
more distinguished musician: ‘Folk music? All
music is folk music. I ain’t never heard of no
animal music.’ That, give or take a word or
two, was Louis Armstrong.
Surely, one of the joys of music is that it sur-
vives even if the humans who created it are
dead, sometimes long dead? It is our living
skill that can re-create it and so help us to
understand the conditions of the time and the
people that created it. Music never dies; it lies
there, sleeping, until the next performance.
Another speaker in the same programme put
forward the opinion that the Cuban govern-
ment frowned on any cultural influence from
their neighbours the United States of America.
Well, I’m sure they did - up to a point. But they
did allow Leo Brouwer to study music in the
USA, at Hartt College and at Juilliard. And
when he returned to Cuba, they welcomed the
cultural input, even though it had been
acquired in a large and largely hostile country.
It was the electric guitar that the sons of the
revolution frowned on, no doubt for the same
kind of rigid ideological reasoning that led
Mao’s China to ban the classical guitar. Both
restrictions have been relaxed, thankfully,
with conspicuous success in China at least.
Perhaps it’s not necessary to say that not
once in this radio programme was Cuba’s deep
involvement in the ‘classical’ (I have to use this
56
convenient word) guitar mentioned, nor was
any reference made to the widely-held respect
for classical music in general. This was a pro-
gramme aimed at an audience that can’t see
beyond the beguiling Buena Vista Social Club.
I personally like their music, as I like the pop-
ular music of 70 years ago in the form of the
Lecuona Cuban Boys. Ernesto Lecuona was a
classically trained Cuban musician who grad-
uated from the National Conservatory of
Havana with a gold medal for interpretation
when he was only 16. The Cuban Boys, to
which group he gave his name and many of his
songs, were an irresistibly joyous combination
of high talent and even higher spirits, with a
mastery of rhythm that has not been sur-
passed since. You have the feeling that they
would have succeeded whatever the regime
they found themselves living under. There is a
YouTube recording of the extraordinary Maño
Lopez performing Oye Mi Rumba with the
band. ‘Performing’ is the only word: he covers
every aspect, singing, dancing, playing the tres
guitar not while he dances but with it held
behind his back. He even plucks the strings
with his teeth. Exhibitionist? It’s certainly an
exhibition, but it’s possible to see it as an
expression of total music making. Lopez does
everything but burn his instrument, and we
had to wait for Jimi Hendrix before that par-
ticular piece of nihilism could be witnessed in
a public performance.
The Lecuona Cuban Boys were part of the
structure that eventually produced the Buena
Vista Social Club, which intrigued and fasci-
nated Ry Cooder so much. The same structure
also contains Ernesto Lecuona’s classical (that
word again) background and learning. Cuba’s
classical guitarists today are well aware of this
bonding element, and it is a pity that the radio
programme’s producers could not have been
too.
WITHOUT being too rigorous about it,
Classical Guitar has generally preferred the
word ‘rendering’ to the word ‘rendition’ to
describe a performance of music, considering
it to be American usage only. However, I dis-
covered the word rendition in an English
review published in 1906. So it’s been around
for at least 103 years, longer than one would
have thought, though it lost some respectabil-
ity recently, when it came to mean removing
suspected terrorists to a remote country where
they could be tortured without too much dan-
ger of the details being picked up by the inter-
national media.
But ‘rendering’ can bring to mind a coat of
plaster, and is only fractionally better.
Colin Cooper
Classical Guitar Magazine
 LETTER FROM NEW YORK
By JULIA CROWE
LAST YEAR, guitarist and composer David
Leisner launched a new guitar chamber music
series in New York, Guitar Plus. The series con-
sists of three concerts: The first, performed this
past autumn, featured violinist Soovin Kim, vio-
list Hsin-Yun Huang and guitarist David Leisner
performing works by Paganini, Matiegka,
Mackey, Leisner and Piazzolla. The second,
which took place this past winter, featured
flautist Eugenia Moliner and guitarist Denis
Azabagic of the Cavatina Duo performing works
by Piazzolla, Leisner, Carlos Rafael Rivera,
Clarice Assad, Alan Thomas and François Borne.
The final concert will take place on April 28,
2009, featuring soprano Courtenay Budd, tenor
William Ferguson and guitarist David Leisner.
When asked of his intent and vision in putting
this series together, Leisner responds, ‘Guitarists
tend to concentrate mostly on the solo repertoire,
and this places us in a sort of musical ‘ghet-
to’. Without the influence of other musicians who
are more accustomed to the mainstream of
music-making, like orchestral players, chamber
musicians and singers, we cannot expect to
make major progress in the area of interpreta-
tion. At the same time, I have always felt that the
guitar chamber music repertoire is very rich; and
with the possibility of commissioning new works,
it can be richer still. For most of my playing
career I have been very active as a chamber
musician; I love the experiences this brings, and
I always learn a tremendous amount from my
chamber music partners.’
‘For several years now I have wanted to direct
a series of chamber music concerts in New York
that center on the guitar. Recently, a private
donor made this possible, or at least its begin-
nings. My intention was to make programmes
that include a variety of well-known, lesser-
known and new works. I have played in two of
the three concerts, with a guest ensemble play-
ing the third.’
Of the programming, Leisner says, ‘It is not of
interest to me merely to show off as a guitarist,
but rather to present pieces that might not be
heard otherwise - if there wasn’t a willing and
able guitarist prepared to play them. So, even if
it is a piece like, say, the Paganini Cantabile or
Tarantella, where the guitar is almost entirely in
an accompanimental role, I want them to be
heard, because the Cantabile is utterly beautiful
and the Tarantella is thrilling. Another part of
my intent for the series was for me to play with
musicians of a younger generation. The talent of
each new generation seems to become more and
more mind-boggling, and I want to team up with
that freshness. I believe the mix of generations
can bring a special liveliness to a performance.’
Classical Guitar Magazine
Cavatina Duo.
‘Every programme has at least a couple of pre-
mieres as well as some popular items,’ Leisner
says, ‘and I also make a point of featuring reper-
toire that has been unfairly neglected. The first
concert was a good example of this variety. With
two immensely gifted string players - violinist
Soovin Kim and violist Hsin-Yun Huang - I was
able to give what was the New York premiere of
the Grand Trio, op. 24 by Wenzeslaus Matiegka.’
‘It is my personal belief that Matiegka, who was
a contemporary of Beethoven, is the most
unjustly neglected composer of the 19th centu-
ry. I feel he may be the most important guitar
composer of that era, and this half-hour work in
five movements is a masterpiece of the guitar
chamber music literature. Soovin and I played
the New York premiere of Steven Mackey’s A
Final Glance, written thirty years ago,’ Leisner
says. ‘It’s a very short work and the earliest piece
he has written. It’s bristling with energy and
musical invention. We also performed the
Paganini pieces and the Piazzolla Histoire du
Tango. That same evening, Hsin-Yun gave the
premiere of my short piece for solo viola, Falling.’
‘The second concert of the series featured the
great Cavatina Duo, who put together their own
programme, which just fell naturally into my
overall scheme of things. Their programme was
highlighted by some of the pieces they have com-
missioned for their Balkan Music Project, which
they recorded for the Cedille label just a couple
of weeks later. Pieces by Alan Thomas and
Carlos Rivera were New York premieres, and
Clarice Assad’s contributions were also includ-
ed. Their astounding performances of Piazzolla’s
Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (in Sergio Assad’s
fine arrangement), Borne’s popular Carmen
Fantasy and my own work, Acrobats, completed
57
the distinguished and varied programme. They
have recorded Acrobats for the Cedille label and
performed it in almost every concert they’ve
played in the last four years.’
‘I must say that to have one’s music played
with such commitment and mastery is a rare
thrill. The final concert in late April is a vocal
music programme with the bril-
liant young singers, William
Ferguson (tenor) and Courtenay
Budd (soprano). The guitar and
voice repertoire is some of the
very best we have in the whole
of the guitar literature, and
many great programmes could
easily be assembled with this
music.’
‘Since I have such a fine tenor
in William, who consistently
sings with tremendous charac-
ter and passion, I chose to pro-
gramme Dominick Argento’s
masterpiece for voice and gui-
tar, Letters from Composers,
which includes text from letters
by seven great composers. The
piece is most often performed
with soprano, but it was origi-
nally intended for tenor and I
think that it sounds best this
way. Courtenay’s voice is a
natural fit for the popular Aria
from Bachianas Brasileiras No.
5. Also, she was one of the first
to sing Osvaldo Golijov’s stun-
ning aria, Lua Descolorida for David Leisner.
voice and piano, that was later
included in Golijov’s groundbreaking La Pasión
Segun San Marco. I recently made an arrange-
ment of it for guitar, with Osvaldo’s approval,
and this piece will receive its premiere, making a
transcendent pairing with the Villa-
Lobos. Courtenay will also play the long-overdue
New York premiere of my short song set from
1991, Heaven’s River, set to poems by the great
Hindu, Rabindranath Tagore. Bookending the
programme will be songs by Schubert and
Gershwin (in John Duarte’s clever arrange-
ments), sung by both singers.’
Leisner is looking to have another presenter
take-on the series. ‘At the moment I’m waiting to
hear from someone, and I hope that this will
carry us into the second season. It’s a little too
early to know what the programmes will be, but
the same basic ideas would generate the series,
and it’s my hope to have one or two pieces com-
missioned as well,’ he says.
‘I have the good fortune to be performing a lot
in New York this year. In addition to my own
Guitar Plus series, I have played on the Inside the
Masterpieces series at Symphony Space in
December and will perform on the Bargemusic
series in March,’ Leisner says. ‘Symphony Space
58
has had an interesting and unusual history
amongst concert halls in New York. The building
has been, at various times, a public market, ice
skating rink, boxing arena and movie theatre.
Two enterprising and musical entrepreneurs,
Isaiah Sheffer and Alan Miller, had a vision for it
to be a new cultural center on the Upper West
Side, which had been through
some bad times and was about
to undergo a major renais-
sance.’
‘In 1978 they presented their
first concert, a ‘Wall to Wall
Bach’ marathon, which lasted
from 11am to midnight, with
free admission. Since then,
Symphony Space has become
the premier cultural venue in
the neighborhood, and it has
also continued to produce many
other ‘Wall to Wall’ concerts of
Ives, Cage, Stravinsky and
more. I participated in the
recent Stravinsky and Bach
‘Wall to Wall’ concerts, and that
led to my being asked to play
the 12 Etudes of Villa-Lobos and
my own work, Vision of Orpheus,
for guitar and string quartet in
this season’s concert. I played
my piece in its New York pre-
miere a year ago with the young,
extraordinarily talented iO
String Quartet, and the
Symphony Space presenter has
requested a repeat perfor-
mance. The iO chose to complete
the programme with a performance of Arcadiana
by Thomas Adès, a work which shares some
interesting parallels with my own. It appears to
be very rare that a guitarist plays all 12 Villa-
Lobos Etudes as a set in concert. The last time it
was done, as far as I know, was in New York over
20 years ago, by Eliot Fisk. I believe that the
Etudes are wonderful pieces individually, but as
a whole it is greater than the sum of its parts and
has the gravity of a masterpiece.’
‘The Barge is located on the Brooklyn water-
front at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. It is lit-
erally a boat that was bought over thirty years
ago by violinist Olga Bloom, who envisioned it as
a ‘floating concert hall.’ She renovated it herself
and had a fireplace and huge glass window
installed behind the stage, so that the audience
has a magnificent view of the downtown
Manhattan skyline. The boat rocks gently on the
water (and sometimes not so gently, making an
interesting challenge for the performers!), and it
is one of the more extraordinary places in New
York to listen to music. Bargemusic presents
mostly chamber music, which I have participat-
ed in on a number of occasions, but this time I
have been invited to play a solo concert.’
Classical Guitar Magazine
 ‘All-in-all, this season is a delightful one for
me,’ Leisner says. ‘I played the Aranjuez Concerto
with the surprisingly fine Orchestra Iowa in both
Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. A glowing review
wrote that I am ‘one of the finest classical gui-
tarists in the world’ and ‘a true musical
artist.’ My two-week tour of the UK in late
February and early March will be followed by
concerts in Los Angeles at the Loyola Marymount
Guitar Festival and the Maui Classical Music
Festival in Hawaii.’
This past autumn Mel Bay released David
Leisner’s concert DVD, Classics and Discoveries,
featuring live unedited performances of
Matiegka Sonata, Bach Prelude, Fugue and
Allegro, two Scott Joplin Rags in his own
arrangements, his sonata, Nel Mezzo, two short
pieces by Johann Kaspar Mertz and the 12th
Etude of Villa-Lobos as an encore. This upcom-
ing spring, the Azica label will be releasing his
latest solo CD entitled Matiegka, the Beethoven
of the Guitar.
‘Thirty years ago I introduced Mertz to the gui-
tar world as one of the most significant guitar
composers of the 19th century with my debut
recording, concert performances and published
editions. I plan to do something similar for
Wenzeslaus Matiegka (1773-1830). Until now, if
guitarists know his music at all, it is generally as
the author of a trio to which Schubert added a
cello part, which is now known as the ‘Schubert’
Quartet.’
‘That trio is really not representative of
Matiegka’s best work. There are many other
chamber music works, most of them of substan-
tial length, plus plenty of solo works, including
eleven known sonatas. His work in general is full
of musical invention and exhibits an original and
masterful sense of form on a level quite far above
that of most Sor and Giuliani, in my opinion.
Although he lacks the genius of his contempo-
rary, Beethoven, Matiegka is, in my view,
Beethoven’s analogy in the guitar repertoire in
that his work is as central to the guitar of his era
as Beethoven’s work is to the piano. It is my hope
that my new CD will bring his true significance
to light.’
‘In the area of composition, I continue to be
very productive. Last summer I wrote a solo viola
piece as well as a commission for flute and gui-
tar from the superb young Arc Duo. Away is a
one-movement, 11-minute work which will be
premiered in New York in January. It is based on
the famous American sea folk song,
Shenandoah. Next summer I plan to write anoth-
er movement for the short solo viola piece, to be
premiered by the superb New York violist, Paul
Neubauer; a solo piano piece for the splendid
British pianist, Colin Stone; and I hope to hear
some positive news soon about a possible com-
mission for orchestra. If that comes through
though, I’ll have to squirrel myself away for most
of the summer!’
Classical Guitar Magazine
Letters to the Editor
Letters for publication should be kept short and to the point.
We reserve the right to edit or abbreviate as we consider neces-
sary. Please enclose a prepaid envelope if you want a reply.
I would like to clarify two points arising in the
November 2008 issue. In his interview my friend
Morgan (Szymanski) refers to our conversations about
Venezuelan music, and owing to a confusing of two
separate points, he has one emphasising the impor-
tance of the ‘off beat’. The important aspect of most
Venezuelan music is polyrhythm, which at its most
simple is based on various combinations of 3 and 2 to
the bar, of equal and independent importance and nei-
ther being an ‘off beat’ to the other – Seis por derecho
is a typical example.
Also – one of the CD reviews referred to my ‘incom-
plete’ recording of Valses Poéticos (Granados): but that
was in 1967 and I recorded it complete in 1991 (Iberia
- SONY CLASSICAL).
JOHN WILLIAMS
London
Concerning Playera by Quintin Esquembre, mentioned
favourably in Paul Fowles’s review of Duo Orpheo’s
concert (CG Jan 2009 p.51 3rd column), Mr Fowles
mentions a disc by Erling Møldrup (El
Delirio; Classico; CLASSCD473). Actually, Wolfgang
Lendle recorded Vals Brillante, also by Esquembre
(Carmen fantasy; Acoustic Music Records 319.1282.2)
which was also favourably reviewed,
by Chris Dumigan, in CG Oct 2003 p.45. Is this the
beginning of a trend?
ENRIQUE ROBICHAUD
Québec, Canada
I read with interest the article in your September issue
by Stefan Hackl and I just thought I would point out
some date errors in the article. The dates of birth and
death of Ferdinand Pelzer (1801-1860) and the birth of
his daughter Madame Pratten (1821) appear to have
been taken from Bone in The Guitar and Mandolin
1954, a wonderfully informative but sometimes inac-
curate volume. I can draw your attention to a small ad
placed in the Times October 17 1862:
No 11 ALBANY STREET, Regent’s Park - Mr PELZER
continues to INSTRUCT teachers and amateurs in
GUITAR PLAYING, Singing, and the Theory and
Science of Music.
He died not long after, on 12 July 1864, and was
buried in St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green,
London on 15 July 1864. The age then given was 63,
which would confirm a birth date of 1801.
The birth date of Madame Pratten is uncertain. The
date of 1821 was presumably traced from the age of 74
inscribed on her headstone in Brompton Cemetery,
London, where she was buried in 1895. (Button in The
Guitar in England 1800-1924 1989 on page 113 incor-
rectly quotes the headstone age as reading 71.)
Interestingly however the Register of Burials at the
cemetery written with information from the death cer-
tificate gives her age as 70, which could give a birth
date of 1825. This would tie in with a review in The
Musical Magazine March 1835 commenting that she
was a fine performer then at nine years of age.
I was curious to know what dates the much-herald-
ed Grove on line would give. Madame Pratten is men-
tioned in the article on the Guitar but the authors do
not risk giving dates. Her husband Robert the flautist
gets two mentions: in the article on Boosey and
Hawkes his dates are given as 1814-1862. The authors
might have done well to refer to the first edition, A
Dictionary of Music and Musicians ed Sir George Grove,
vol.3 1883; here an article on Pratten written by Sir
George himself gives dates 1824-1868. It is very possi-
ble that Sir George was personally acquainted with
Madame Pratten.
SARAH CLARKE
Tring
59
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Ian K. Woolway, ALCM, 2 Nursery Road,
Chelmsford, Essex CM2 9PJ. Tel: (01245) 358 131.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Marguerite Pettit, LGSM, LTCL, 46 Courtenay
Street, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 4LR. Tel: (01242)
583 408.
HERTFORDSHIRE
Tom Parsons, ALCM, 67 Regent Street, Watford,
Herts, WD2 5AT. Tel: (01923) 245 559.
Neil Simon, 20 Bull Stag Green, Hatfield, Herts, AL9
5DE. Tel: (01707) 267 511.
IRELAND
Alec O’Leary, B.Mus. M.Mus., Kilkenny, Ireland
Tel. 087 234 6256.
KENT
Roy Chilton Music, 15 Hawkhurst Way, West
Wickham, Kent BR4 9PE. Tel: (020 8777 6414).
roy@roychiltonmusic.co.uk
LANCASHIRE
Chris Dumigan, 14 Rochester Road, Davyhulme,
Manchester M41 0RL. Tel: (0161) 747 3851.
Paul Fowles, BA, LLCM, A.Mus.TCL,
c/o Manchester Guitar Circle, Flixton House,
Flixton Road, Manchester M41 5GJ.
Email: guitarcircle@hotmail.com
Voicemail: 07831-416358
Website: www.guitarcircle.co.uk
Stephen Henshaw, CT,FVCM LVCM (Hons) AVCM
(Hons) 72-74 Topping Street, Blackpool FY1 3A0. Tel:
(01253) 751 450.
60
Mark Houghton, ALCM, 29 Alcester Road, West
Derby, Liverpool L12 9EA. Tel: 0779 0174465.
e-mail: wmh@liverpool.ac.uk
Sebastian Karstad, 13 Delaine Road, Withington,
Manchester M20 4QP. Tel: 07749 340505.
e-mail: seb_karstad@hotmail.com
Rory Russell, 24 Ladysmith Road, Didsbury,
Manchester M20 6HL.
Tel: 07766 58 37 37.
rory@roryrussell.co.uk
Neil Smith, FLCM, 177 Lee Lane, Horwich, Bolton,
Lancs. BL6 7JD. Tel: (01204) 468 945.
www.guitaristuk.com
Paul Twine, LRSM, CTABRSM, 75 Chelsfield Grove,
Manchester, M21 7BD. Tel: (0161) 881 1484.
Email: paul@innovation-music.com
Website: www.innovation-music.com
LEICESTERSHIRE
Roger Coombs, 97 Frederick Street, Loughborough,
Leicestershire, LE11 3BH. Tel: 01509 263542.
Christopher Susans, “Wavertree” 26 Burton Road,
Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicester LE65 2LL. Tel:
(01530) 416564.
Alan Thomas, guitarist, teacher, and composer.
Tel: 07905 035444.
e-mail: info@alanthomas-guitar.com
Web: www.alanthomas-guitar.com
LONDON
Petros Andreou, LLCM, ALCM, 20 Pollard Road,
Whetstone, London N20 0UB. Tel: (0208) 368 6717.
Mr. C. Bonell, info@carlosbonell.com
Robert Boyle, 417A Finchley Road, London, NW3
6HJ. Tel: 0207 4357438.
Hubert de Camillis, 53 Gondar Gardens, West
Hampstead, London NW6 1EP Tel: (0207) 794 1892.
Steve Dell, Flat J, 10 Sutherland Road, West Ealing,
London W13. Tel: 020 8621 1394.
Guy Depreux, Flat 8, Allingham Court, Haverstock
Hill, Belsize Park, London NW3 2AH. Tel: (0207) 435
7203.
Colin Downs, Hon A.R A M, 50, Holly Park Road,
London N11 3HD. Tel: 020 8361 3192. mobile:
07760107386
email- ham.co@virgin.net
Mohie Elsayed, Mohie Elsayed, 31 Cascades
Court, 13-19 Hartfield Crescent, Wimbledon, LON-
DON, SW19 3RL. Tel: 020 87155574
email guitar@m-elsayed.co.uk
www.m-elsayed.co.uk
Richard Hand, ARAM, DipRAM, LRAM, 61 Balcombe
Street, Marylebone, London NW1 6ND. Tel/Fax:
(0207) 724 3806.
Eleftheria Kotzia, 56 Fernwood, Albert Drive,
Southfields, London SW19 6LR. Tel: (0208) 785 4054.
e-mail: ellie@eleftheria.info
Tony Rath, 27 Brunswick Street, London E17 9NB
Tel: 0208 521 4340.
Thérèse Saba, 9 Methuen Park, Muswell Hill, London
N10 2JR. Tel/Fax: (0208) 442 1489.
e-mail: 106665.3500@compuserve.com
Timothy Walker, Hon ARAH, 16A Algernon Road,
London. NW6 6PU. Tel: 0207 624 7937
e-mail: alitim@amamserve.net
Spanish Guitar Centre, 36 Cranbourn Street,
WC2H 7AD. Tel: (0207) 240 0754.
MIDDLESEX
Dale Harris, BA(hon) MA PhD, 82 Squires Bridge
Road, Shepperton, Middx, TW17 0QA, Tel: 07941
582194.
Philip John Lee, Flamenco guitar tuition – all lev-
els, 46 Fir Road, Hanworth, Middlesex TW13 6UJ.
Tel: (020) 8755 0528.
e-mail: pjl.flamenco@virgin.net
NORFOLK
J.E. Crisp, BA DipMus ALCM, Thetford, Norfolk
Tel: (01842) 752 697.
Bob Parslow, BA(Hons) Music, LGSM, Springfield
Cottage, 72 Gloucester Street, Norwich NR2 2DY.
Tel: (01603) 620 261.
Bob@parslowguitar.freeserve.co.uk
NORTHANTS
Peter Nuttall, MA (Oxon), 48 Hillside Crescent,
Nether Heyford, Northampton NN7 3LS. Tel:
(01327) 341 133.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
Catherine Dickinson, Post Graduate RNCM,
FLCM, LLCM SMTC, Spanish Guitar Centre, 44
Nottingham Road, New Basford, Nottingham. Tel:
Nottingham (0115) 962 2709.
OXFORDSHIRE
Raymond Burley, 'Ty Fynnon', 4 Yew Tree Mews,
Church St., Ducklington, Oxon OX29 7UQ Tel:
(01993) 700332
email: mailto:raymond@burley21.fsnet.co.uk
Brian J. Penny, ALCM, Classical Guitar Services,
The Studio, 68 Evenlode, Banbury, Oxon OX16
9PF. Tel: (01295) 271900.
e-mail classicalguitarservices@btconnect.com
www.classicalguitarservices.co.uk
John Whitworth, MA. D.Phil, 25 Bickerton Road,
Oxford OX3 7LT. Tel: (01865) 761 273.
e-mail: info@holleymusic.co.uk
SCOTLAND
Lindsay Cargill, BA Hons. 77 Gairn Road,
Aberdeen AB10 6AP. Tel: (01224) 584 906
e-mail: LCARGILL@compuserve.com
Matthew McAllister Bmus (Honours) RSAMD, Flat
3/2, 96 Great George Street, Glasgow, Scotland
G12 8RY. TEL:0141 339 4296
email: info@matthewmcallister.com
Website: www.matthewmcallister.com
Graeme Scott, Mmus RSAMD, 63 Sannox Drive,
Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland ML1 3PX
Tel: 07944 089015.
email: info@graemescott.com
website: www.graemescott.com
SOMERSET
Brian Sharman, Chancel View, Church Street,
Wiveliscombe, Taunton, Somerset TA4 2LT. Tel:
(01984) 623 132.
SURREY
Patrick Burke Guitar Studio, 92a High Street,
Carshalton, Surrey SM5 3AE Tel: 0208 6697052.
e-mail: kitaramusic@yahoo.com
Mr Roland Chadwick, 60a High Street, Haslemere,
Surrey GU27 2LA.
Stephen Goss, BA (Hons), PhD, LRAM, Hon ARAM,
specialist areas include composition, contemporary
music, and ensemble work. Parkers Lodge, Rectory
Place, Portsmouth Road, Guildford, Surrey GU2
4DG. Tel: (01483) 456177.
e-mail: s.goss@surrey.ac.uk
Fiona Harrison, MM, GRSM, Dip RCM, 14 Westlees
Close, North Holmwood, Dorking, Surrey RH5 4TN. Tel:
(01306) 882 323.
Milica Ilic. Richmond, Surrey, TW10 6DU.
Email: info@milicailic.com
Grahame Klippel, MPhil ARCM, 60 Pemberton
Road, East Molesey, Surrey KT8 9LH. Tel: 020 8941
0810.
e-mail: grahame.klippel@btinternet.com
Myer Rosen, BA (Hons), LTCL, PGCE, Knowsley, 7
Ash Grove, Guildford, Surrey GU2 8UT. Tel: (01483)
35852.
e-mail: myer@rosen.force9.co.uk
SUSSEX
Vic Ellis, 172 Springfield Road, Brighton BN1 6DG
01273 558 217.
Linda Kelsall-Barnett, BA (Hons) LRAM, 3 The
Rummers, Brandy Hole Lane, Chichester, West
Sussex PO19 5RT. Tel: (01243) 784 442.
Registry of Guitar Tutors, Registry Mews, 11-13
Wilton Road, Bexhill, E. Sussex TN40 1HY. Tel:
(01424) 222222.
www.RegistryOfGuitarTutors.com
TEESSIDE
Stephen Munro, B.A. 12 Zetland Terrace, Saltburn by
the Sea, Cleveland TS12 1BS. Tel: (01287) 203437.
TYNE & WEAR
John Ferguson, LTCL, “Glenburn”, 4 Burn Road,
Blaydon Burn, Tyne & Wear NE21 6EA. Tel: (0191) 414
7469.
WALES
Jonathan N. Richards, LTCL, Ground Floor Flat,
12 Hawarden Road, Colwyn Bay, Conwy, North
Wales LL29 8NA. Tel: 01492 539589 Mobile:
07717224098.
Christopher Williams, 75 Heather Crescent, Sketty
Park Estate, Sketty, Swansea, Wales, SA2 8HS. Tel:
01792 207 861.
Timothy Tate, BMus MMus, 33 Egerston Rd,
Canton, Cardiff, CF5 1RF Tel:07799 691 504.
tim_c_tate@hotmail.com
www.theguitarcircle.com/ttate.aspx
WILTSHIRE
Harry Drabble, LTCL Sycamores Back Lane,
Marlborough, Wilts SN8 1JJ. Tel: (01672) 513 699.
John and Cobie Mills, 1 Fairways, Dilton Marsh,
Westbury BA13 3RU.
WORCESTERSHIRE
Jon Godfrey, ALCM, 68 North Malvern Road,
Malvern. Worcester WR14 4LX Tel: (01684) 893 414.
Rod Willmott, Guitarist & Lutenist, May
Willmott, Guitarist & Teacher, L.R.A.M. 2
Pitmaston Road, St. John’s, Worcester WR2 4HY
Tel: (01905) 427 026.
www.rodwillmott.com
ARGENTINA
Prof. Juan Gallino - Classical guitar - Tango gui-
tar. Buenos Aires - Coghlan.
www.juangallino.com.ar
e mail: jlg@guitarristas.com
Classical Guitar Magazine
www.bocaccio-gallino.com
Director of www.guitarristas.com
BELGIUM
Alexis Blumberg, ARCM, Hessenstraatje 20/C1.1,
2000 Antwerpen. Tel: +32 (0)3 227 01 31. Mobile:
+32 (0)475 63 07 71.
e-mail: alexis.blumberg@pandora.be
Norbert Leclerq, 12 Bld, de la Woluwe (B135), 1932
Woluwe St Etienne.
BRAZIL
Jonatas Batista Neto, Rua Bela Cintra, 359 Apt. 95,
Sao Paulo-SP. Brazil 01415-000. Tel/Fax (5511) 3231-
2690.
e-mail: jonatasneto@terra.com.br
BULGARIA
Ekaterina Vasseva-Ikonomova, BA in classical gui-
tar, 14 years of teaching experience P.O.box 5 / 27
Skobelev Blvd. BG-1463 Sofia, Bulgaria +359 88
6441994. kate_vasseva@hotmail.com
CANADA
Mariette Stephenson, BA (Mus )ARCT, Cambridge,
Ontario, Canada.
Mariette.Stephenson@sympatico.ca
CHINA
Morgan S.S. Velautham, PO Box 38 Taipa, Macau,
S.A.R. of China. Tel: 853-557223.
e-mail: <morgan@macau.ctm.net>
DENMARK
Arnie Brown, Møllevej 8, Møgeltønder, 6270 Tønder,
Denmark. Tel: 74 738343.
Karen Dusgaard Nielsen, Infanterivej, 42D, 8900,
Randers, Denmark. Tel: 86 40 31 24.
FRANCE
Claudette Coinel, 25 Traverse Pitance,
Mourepiane, 13016, Marseille.
Lorraine Eastwood, 26 Rue St. Jacques,
Grenoble 38000, France. Telephone: (0033) 476
508025.
Email: lorraine.eastwood@gmail.com
James Wilson, 6 Rue Marguerin, 75014 Paris. Tel: (1)
43 35 14 03.
GERMANY
Charles De Burgh, ALCM, LLCM, LTCL,
Ruedigerstrasse 30 70469 Stuttgart, Germany.
Jörg Gauchel, Diplom-Musiklehrer, Annettenstraße
13, D-53175 Bonn Tel: +49 228 384736.
e-mail: joerg.gauchel@t-online.de
GREECE
Dimitris Karvelis, Voreadi 20, 71409 Heraklion,
Crete, Greece.
Classical Guitar Societies Directory
Berkshire Guitar Society, Richard Butters, 10
The Dell, Woodlands Park, Maidenhead, Berks, SL6
3NS.
Website: http://www.berkshireguitarsociety.org.uk
Birmingham - Classical Guitar - See web page on
Yahoo Groups or contact Paul Grant 07760 175
626. Small informal meetings on a monthly basis.
Blackburn Classical Guitar Society. Jack
Wilkinson, 82 Queen Street, Great Harwood, Lanc's
BB6 7AL. Tel (01254) 889555
E mail: jackwilkinson@lineone.net
<mailto:jackwilkinson@lineone.net>
Brighton Classical Guitar. Small informal group
meets every 4th Thursday. Details: Jim Westbrook
01273 746192.
Bridge Guitar Circle. Meets Central Library, Albion
Street, Hull. Full details from Secretary Sue Jones,
34 Rockford Avenue, Hull. Tel: (01482) 75684.
Bristol Guitar Society, meets 2nd Thursday of the
month 8pm at The Pierian Centre,Portland
Square,Bristol. Contact David Evans Tel.(0117)
9567251 or Tony Lewis(0117) 9734070.
www.bristolguitarsociety.org
British BMG Federation. Secretary: Sandra
Woodruff, 104 Tower Road North, Warmley, Bristol
BS30 8XN.
E mail: sandra.woodruff@virgin.net
Website: www.banjomandolinguitar.org/>
Bromley Guitar Society Denis Stockton-
02087774887 Kent.
www.bromleyguitarsociety.org.uk
Cambridge Classical Guitar Society. Meets first
Thursday in the month. For information please tele-
phone Tim Christmas (01223) 565552.
Canterbury Guitar Society. For further informa-
tion ring John Kemp on (01227) 265 503.
e-mail: j.kemp@btopenworld.com
Cambridge Guitar Orchestra, Contact Tony
Ainsworth (Chairman) via www.cgo.org.uk or
tony.ainsworth1@btopenworld.com. We are a per-
forming ensemble and rehearse every two weeks or
so on Sundays during term time on the outskirts of
Cambridge. We will always welcome intermediate or
advanced players.
Chester Guitar Circle. Meets 1st Wed/Month at
Chester Deaf Centre, Southview Road, Chester. Sec:
Steve Smith, 16 Daleside Chester, CH2 1EP.
Classical Guitar Magazine
ITALY
Giuseppe Caputo, Via Girolamo Santacroce 13,
Naples 80129, Italy. Tel: 081 5785069.
Antonio De Innocentis, Via Dei Vecchi Pini, Coop.
Smeraldo, 81023 Falciano-Caserta, Italy. Tel/Fax:
(823) 471 713.
ISRAEL
Sonia Michelson, c/o Elisheva Levin, Yishuv Ofra.
D.N. Mizrach Benyamin. Israel 90627.
smichelson@earthlink.net
JERSEY
Robert Ozard, ARCM, 49 La Grande Pouclee,
Richmond Road, St. Helier, Jersey JEZ 3GX, Tel:
01534 768 727.
MALTA
Charlotte Smith, L.L.C.M. (TD), L.Mus. V.C.M.,
A.L.C.M., A.Mus. L.S.M, “Sentosa” 7, Carmelo
Bugeja Street, Dingli DGL 1152, MALTA. Tel:
(0356)21450496 Mobile: (0356)79450496.
email: joesmith@maltanet.net
MEXICO
Juan Gaspar, Classical Guitar performer, compos-
er and maestro at the Puebla Conservatory of
Music, 5 Norte 201-6, Puebla, Mexico. Telephone:
(222) 232-4202.
e-mail: jg68mailbox-music@yahoo.com.mx
www.juangaspar.com
NORWAY
Trond Davidsen, Klarinetten 12, 3033 Drammen,
Norway. Tel: 0047 32 886 286.
POLAND
Krzysztof Pelech, Bzowa 35/13, 53-224 Wroclaw,
Poland.
e-mail: gitara@post.pl
www.pelech.art.pl
PORTUGAL
Jorge Pires, Tel: +351965109150
E-mail: jorgepires.cb@gmail.com
SERBIA (SR Yugoslavia)
Uros Dojcinovic, Guitar Studio Solunska 12, 11000
Beograd. Tel/Fax (011) 180-587.
SINGAPORE
Thomas Liauw, M.A., B.A (Hons), LTCL, ALSD, PO
● Our Teacher’s Column is updated Bi-monthly starting February, April, June issue etc.
When sending alterations or additions please state: country, county, full name,
qualifications, address and telephone number in this order. If changing areas, state old
county address so this can easily be deleted.
e-mail: chestguitar@aol.com
Web site: http://www.members.aol.com/chestguitar-
circ
Chesterfield Guitar Circle. Contact Peter Swaby
(Secretary), Yellow Grove House, Moor Lane,
Youlgrave, Bakewell, Derbyshire DE45 1US Tel:
(01629) 636 165.
Derby Classical Guitar Society.
Contact: Nigel Harris, 9 Glamis Close, Oakwood,
Derby, DE21 2QJ. Tel: (01332) 664 425.
e-mail: derbycgs@gmail.com
website: www.derbycgs.org.uk
Dorset Guitar Society. Meetings on 3rd Sunday in
month at Kinson Community Centre, Pelhams
Park, Milham Lane, Kinson. Sec: Margaret
Tredwell. Tel: (01425) 613 739.
Durham University Guitar Society. C/o Dunelm
House, New Elvet, Durham. Sec: Elaine Young, Van
Mildert College, Durham. Visiting tutor: Peter
Batchelar.
Ealing Guitar Society. Meets 1st Sunday each
month at St Matthew’s Church Hall, North
Common Road, Ealing W5 at 7.30p.m.
Correspondence: Steve Dell, Flat J, 10 Sutherland
Road, West Ealing, London W13 0DT Tel: 0208 621
1394.
www.ealing-guitar-society.co.uk
Enfield Classical Guitar Society. Sec: Mrs J
Warwick, 43 Morley Hill, Enfield, Middlesex EN2
0BL.
e-mail: RButch3325@aol.comenfield_classical_guitar@hotmail.com
Website: http://members.lycos.co.uk/enfield_guitar/
Farnham, Surrey. Mozart Guitar Players. Meet
every Tuesday during term time. Musical Director
Myer Rosen, Knowsley, 7 Ash Grove, Guildford GU2
5UT. Tel: (01483) 35852.
Federation of Guitar Societies UK, A group of
Societies mainly in the South of England that co-ordi-
nate together through a
Website. www.FederationofGuitarSocieties.org.uk
Annual meeting and Concert in June
E-mail guitar@martinshaw.plus.com
Fretful Federation Plucked Orchestra;
Brighton. Orchestra of mandolins, mandolas,
mandocellos, guitars and mandobass. New mem-
bers welcome. Ian 07939368874.
Grand Canyon Guitar Society, LTD, Flagstaff,
Box 0596, Marine Parade, Singapore 914404. Tel (65)
6344 3671 Tel (65) 6344 3615.
e-mail: thomas@tomas-music.com
website: www.tomas-music.com
SOUTH AFRICA
A.M. Ludwig, P.O. Box 2340, Halfway House 1685,
South Africa. Tel: (011) 314 1802.
e-mail: ludwig4u@icon.co.za
SPAIN
Clive Davies, Classical / Fingerstylist; Performer,
Composer and Teacher for over thirty years. Offers
‘Guitar innovation- broad outlook- workshop holi-
days‘ in Montefrio, Granada, Spain. Apartado de
Correos 22, 18270 Montefrio, Granada , Spain. Tel.
+34 685 201 265.
email; clive.sue@avired.com
mailto:clive.sue@avired.com>
www.clivedavies.eu
USA
Mariano Aguirre, Mannes College of Music, New
York Guitar Seminar-Coordinator, 150 West 85th
Street, New York, NY 10024 USA
marianoaguirre@verizon.net
Jeffrey Ashton, MAT Mus, BA Mus, 204 SE 63rd
Ave, Portland, OR 97215. Tel: (503) 235 1062.
Lyster Bass, 4154 Arrayo Dr. Snellville, Ga.30039,
USA. (Tel) 770-972-7178
Emai: lysterbass@comcast.net
William Buonocore, Guitar Dept. Co-ordinator,
The Boston Conservatory, 8 The Fenway, Boston,
MA 02215. Tel: (617) 536 6340. Fax: (617) 536
3176.
wbuonocore@bostonconservatory.edu
Maud Laforest, Plano, TX.
e-mail: alix@maudlaforest.com
web site: www.maudlaforest.com
Ronald Louis Fernandez, Flamenco and
Portuguese guitar., P. O. Box 5153, Irvine,
California, 92616. Tel: 949-856-1537.
website: www.fernandezmusic.com.
e-mail: ron@fernandezmusic.com
David Grimes, 8701 Bellmead Drive, Huntington
Beach, California 92646, USA.
Arizona 928.213.0752. Craig Yarbrough, Executive
Director.
www.CanyonGuitar.org <http://
www.canyonguitar.org/>
Greenwood Classical Guitar Club. An informal
group. Meets every Friday 7.30-8.30pm at the
Greenwood Centre, School Road, Hampton Hill,
Middlesex. Contact Martin Shaw (0208 891 6889) or
turn up at the Centre.
Hastings & Rother Classical Guitar Society, we
meet at 8pm on the 3rd Wednesday of every month
at The Beacon below St Mary’s Terrace, West Hill,
Hastings. Contact Richard Butler 01424 465 414 or
via the
website http://www.hrcgs.org.uk
Hampshire Area Guitar Orchestra. Meets fort-
nightly and has vacancies for intermediate and
advanced ensemble players. Ring Derek Hasted 023
9247 9200 or email: dir@hago.org.uk
Haverhill Classical Guitar Society. Details: Colin
Shulman (01440) 705 371.
Hertfordshire Guitar Orchestra. Meets twice
monthly and is always looking for good ensemble
players. Details from Tom Parsons on Tel: (01923)
245 559 or
www.hertfordshireguitarorchestra.com
Highland Classical Guitar Society. C/o Roger
Niven, ‘Iona’, High Street, Avoch, Rosshire. Tel:
Fortrose 21012.
Hounslow Guitar Society. Hounslow Music Service,
De Brome Building, Boundaries Road, Feltham TW13
5DT.
Lauderdale Guitar Society. Meets at Lauderdale
House, Highgate Hill. Details from 63 Marlborough
Mansions, Cannon Hill, London NW6 1JS. Tel:
(0171) 794 9108.
Leeds Guitar Society. Sec: Matthew Hill, 1
Grosvenor Terrace, Leeds LS6 2DY. Tel: (0113) 785
341.
Classical Guitar Society of East London.
Informal meetings last saturday each month at
3pm. Contact Maria Sentivani on Tel: 020 507
8299 for details.
The Lute Society. Sec: Chris Goodwin, Southside
Cottage, Brook Hill, Albury, Guildford, Surrey,
GU5 9DJ. Tel: (01483) 202 159 Fax: (01483)
203088.
61
Manchester Acoustic Guitar meets on the 3rd
Tuesday of every month at the Urmston Cricket
and Lawn Tennis Club, Moorside Rd, Urmston. All
acoustic and classical guitar styles welcomed.
Open mike, workshops, special recitals. All you
need is an interest in the guitar, not necessarily to
be able to play. For details contact: Chris, tel.
0161 747 3851.
www.manchesteracousticguitar.com
Manchester Guitar Circle, (Est. 1946).
Informal evenings on the first Thursday of
every month at Flixton House, Flixton Road
(opposite Rothiemay Road), Manchester
M41 5GJ. Visitors always welcome.
Contact: Paul Fowles.
Email: guitarcircle@hotmail.com
Voicemail: 07831-416358
Website: www.guitarcircle.co.uk
Midlands Fretted Orchestra meets fortnightly on
Thursdays 7.30pm, at St. Mary’s Hall, St. Mary’s
Road, Bearwood Smethwick, B67 5Dh. Contact:
Danielle Saxon Reeves 01384 893 987
e-mail: daniellesaxonreeves@yahoo.co.uk
www.m-f-o.co.uk
Newent Guitar Society. Sec: Keith Sandall, Holts
House, Holts Road, Newent, Gloucestershire GL18
1BT. Tel: (01531) 820 436.
North Bucks Guitar Club. Meets 3rd Sunday of
the month. Information from Kevin Cook. Tel:
(01296) 427 836.
www.northbucksguitarclub.org.uk
Classical Guitar Society for Northern Ireland .
Meets on the first Sunday of the month at the
Ulster College of Music, Belfast. Contact Keith
Thompson (028) 90703311.
Email: secretary_CGSNI@lycos.co.uk
Website:www.cgsni.org
The Northumbria Guitar Society.
Correspondence to: Pete Boothby, Engine Cottage,
Accomb, Hexham NE46 4RL. Tel: (01434) 600 340.
North Devon Guitar Society. Meets third
Tuesday of month in Barnstaple. Contact Terry
Bourne at North Lodge, Filleigh, Near Barnstaple,
North Devon EX32 ORE. Tel: (01271) 74529.
North East Scotland Classical Guitar Society
meets the third Wednesday of every month at
Queen’s Cross Church, Aberdeen. Contact Peter
Stock (chairman) on 01467 642729,
e-mail: info@nescgs.co.uk
www.nescgs.co.uk www.nescgs.co.uk
North Wales Guitar Circle, Meets the 2nd Tuesday
of every month at 7.45pm at The Anglesey Arms,
Menai Bridge, Anglesey. Contact Jane or Dave
Sinnett 01407 831480.
e-mail: davesinnett@btinternet.com
website: www.northwalesguitarcircle.co.uk
Nottingham Classical Guitar Society. Contact:
Ian Jones. Tel: 0115 923 1038
Email: IanJones66@yahoo.co.uk
Old Malthouse Music Society. Knight Street,
Sawbridgeworth. Tel: Bishop’s (01279) 726625.
Pena Flamenca de Hull. Sec: Ron Burbela, 40
Warton Avenue, Beverley, E. Yorks, HU17 0JB.
Tel: (01482) 863 553. Meetings 1st Sunday of
month, 8.00pm, Blue Bell, Hull.
Pena Flamenca de Londres. Sec: Ron le Voi, Flat
6, 45/53 Myddelton Square, London EC1R 1YD.
Pendon Guitar Society. Peter Li, 15 King Henry
Mews, Harrow-on-the-Hill, HA2 0JS (020) 8423
3202.
Putney Guitar Society. Sec. Chris Blade, 18
Gwendwr Road, West Kensington, London W14
9BG. Tel: (0171) 603 1820.
Richmond Guitar Society meets every 4th
Sunday of each month 7-9 pm @ Richmond Parish
Rooms, Church Walk, Richmond upon
Thames,Surrey Details 0208 891 6889
Saddleworth Classical Guitar Society. Ring
Hazel and Colin Davies. Tel: (01457) 875 378.
Southampton Classical Guitar Society. Meets
last Wednesday of every month at 7:45pm. Contact
Wayne Lines. Tel: 01329 310792.
wwv.scgs-guitar.org.uk
South Lincolnshire Guitar Society and
Orchestra. Meetings are fortnightly on Tuesdays at
Central School, Grantham. Contact Peter
Constable, The Elms, 3 Sleaford Road, Ruskington,
Lincs, NG34 9BP. Tel: (01526) 834 120.
South Wales Guitar Society. Chairperson: Kate
Williams, 18 Westbourne Crescent, Whitchurch,
Cardiff. Tel: (01222) 626 826.
Surrey Guitar Society, 2nd Wednesday monthly
at Tanyard Hall Gomshall 8pm. Contact: George
Swallow (01306) 886 196.
Swansea CG Circle. Keith Morris, 3 Dulais Grove,
Derwin Fawr, Sketty, Swansea, Glamorgan. Tel:
(01792) 202576
Warwickshire Spanish Guitar Society. Peter
Pettifor, 73 Lodge Road, Sratford-upon-Avon CV37
9DN Tel: (01789) 263 697
e-mail: peter.pettifor@ntlworld.com
Wealden Guitar Society. Meets at the Friends
Meeting House, Grosvenor Park,Tunbridge Wells
on the 2nd Wednesday of each month...nice hall,
62
great accoustics,supportive members.Contact
Marcia Burton on 01892 534631 or Richard
Frenkel on 0207 233 9076’.
West Sussex Guitar Club. The Regis School of
Music, 46 Sudley Road, Bognor Regis, West Sussex,
PO21 1ER. (01243) 866 462.
www.westsussexguitar.com
Windsor Classical Guitar Society. An informal
group who enjoy playing together at 7.30pm first and
third Wednesday of each month at the Windsor Arts
Centre. Tel: (01753) 859 421.
The Wirksworth Classical Guitar Group. Contact:
Jonathan Priestley, 5 Cooks Yard, West End,
Wirksworth, Derbyshire. Tel: (01629) 825 129.
Worcester Classical Guitar Society: A per-
forming society of Junior and Senior
orchestras and ensembles. We meet regu-
larly during term time. Contact: Andrew
Filer. Tel: 0121 445 3345.
E-mail: worcesterguitar@hotmail.co.uk
ARGENTINA
Musical Centre ‘Franz Liszt’. Directresses: Ana M.
Polinori and Mariana Vlaho, Montevideo 967 (1019),
Buenos Aires.
AUSTRALIA
Classical Guitar Society of South Australia.
Lincoln Brady, 19 Emerson Drive, Morphett-Vale,
Adelaide, SA 5162, Australia. Tel: (08) 832 51052.
The Classical Guitar Society Sydney. P.O. Box
829, Bondi Junction. N.S.W. 1355 Australia. Tel: (02)
9453 3113.
BULGARIA
Classical Guitar Association (CGA). PO Box 879,
40900 Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
BRAZIL
BRAVIO - Associacao Brasiliense de Violao
- QI 25 bl. L apt. 501 - Cond. Sgto Wolff -
Guara 2 - Brasilia - DF - 71060-250 Tel +55
(61) 3567 6589 / 9968 5528 -
www.bravio.blogspot.com - SINGAPORE
bravio@gmail.com
Géris Lopes Consalter (Fernando Sor Guitar
Association). Rodovia BR 116 No. 12500, b. São
Ciro ‘brasdiesel’, CAXIAS DO SUL-RS 95055-180.
CANADA
The Halifax Guitar Society. 6199 Chebucto Road,
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3L 1KY (902) 423-
6995
ecormier@hotmail.com
Vancouver Guitar Concert Association. 1807
Collingwood St, Vancouver, B.C., V6R 3KA.
COSTA RICA
Asociacion Guitarristica Costaricense. Apartado
373-1009, San José, Costa Rica. Tel: 21-44-53.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Classical Guitar Society. The Czech Music Society,
Vladislav Blaha, Renneska 25 639 00 Brno. Czech
Republic. Tel. – Fax: 00420 – 543 242 407.
DENMARK
The Danish Guitar Society. c/o Jeff Duckett,
Karlemosevej 7, 4.tv., 4600 Koege, Denmark.
Web: www.danskguitarselskab.dk
E-mail: post@danskguitarselskab.dk
EGYPT
Cairo Classical Guitar Society. President: Sherif S.
El-Salhy, 7 Abdel-Hamid Said St, Apt. 22, Maarouf,
Cairo 11111, Egypt. Tel: +202 5758097. Fax: +202
3414168 (BISC).
FINLAND
Helsinki Guitar Society. President: Jussi-Pekka
Rannanmäki. Vanha Sotilastie 3, 00850 Helsinki,
Finland.
GERMANY
Kultur u. Gitarre. Dietmar Kunzler, MittelstraBe
69a, 66126 Saarbrücken, Germany. Meetings held
first Sunday of each month at Bistro Stadthalle
Dillingen/Saar, 10.30 am.
HONG KONG
Hong Kong Guitar Information Alliance. G/F 14
Nanking Street, Yaumatei, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tel:
(852) 2780 4864. Fax: (852) 2770 5520.
IRELAND
Cork Classical Guitar Circle. Established in 1960.
Meets last Wednesday of month at Cork Arts Society
Rooms. Sec and Treasurer: Laurence Egar, Herbert
Park, Cork. Tel: (021) 504832.
Dublin Classical Guitar Society meets last
Thursday of each month at Booterstown Parish
Centre, Booterstown Ave., Blackrock.
email: dublinguitarcircle@yahoo.co.uk
ISRAEL
The Guitar Society of Israel. The Rubin Museum,
Bialik St. 14. Tel-Aviv 65241, Israel.
ITALY
Florence Guitar Association. Via del Bargellino 15,
50014 Fiesole, Firenze, Italy. Phone 055/597012.
JAPAN
International Guitar Orchestra Association.
143-14 Fujisawa, Fujisawa-shi Kanagawa-ken,
251-0052 Japan. Tel: +81-466-23-8338. Fax: +81-
466-23-9337.
Japan Federation of Guitarists is the only official
corporation authorized by the Ministry of Education
in Japan since 1966, for the aim of contribution to
the culture by the study and spread of guitar music.
Akira Ugajin, Secretary General, Japan Federation of
Guitarists
Wada Bldg.5F 6-14-4 Shimbashi, Minano-ku, Tokyo,
Japan. Tel. 81-3-3438-1819 Fax. 81-3-3438-1899.
e-mailto:jfg@guitarists.or.jp
website: www.guitarists.or.jp
MALAYSIA
Alor Setar Classical Guitar Club. Chairman: Chan
Kok Peng, 29 Taman Sultan Abdul Halim 05300 Alor
Setar, Kedah, Maylasia.
Kota Kinabalu Guitar Society. Sec: Lawrence
Chong. HSE. No. D47, Lorong Raja Udang 2A,
Taman Kingfisher, 88400, Kota Kingbalu, Saba,
Malaysia.
PERU
Centro de la Guitarra / Intermusica, Jr. Carabaya
421, Lima 01, Peru, telfs. 461-4670, 933-1599, Fax
336-6442,
Email:intermusica@rocketmail.com
POLAND
‘Gitariada’, ul Gdynska 5/g/16, 80-340 Gdansk,
Poland. Tel: (058) 57-80-83.
Wroclaw Guitar Society, BOX 1063, 50-131
Wroclaw, Poland
e-mail: wtg@op.pl
www.gitara.wroclaw.pl
SERBIA (SR Yugoslavia)
Yugoslav Association of Classical Guitarists
(Guitar Art Festival) Bosko Radojkovic, director;
address: Bul.Kralja Aleksandra 530, 11000
Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro; tel: +381 64
1407583, fax: +381 11 2623853.
e-maill: guitart@yubc.net
<mailto:guitart@yubc.net
www.gaf.co.yu <http://www.gaf.co.yu
Yugoslav Guitar Society. Uros Dojcinovic,
Foundation Solunska 12, 11000 Beograd.
Tel/Fax (011) 180-587.
Tomas Music Consultants Pte Ltd. 01-97 Roxy
Square II, 50 East Coast Road, Singapore
428769. Tel (65) 6344 3671 Tel (65) 6344 3615.
e-mail: enquiries@tomas-music.com
website: www.tomas-music.com
SWEDEN
The Swedish Guitar and Lute Society.
Established in 1968. Sec: Erik Möllerström,
Postbox 24038, S-104 50, Stockholm, Sweden.
Tel: +46 8 660 13 74 and +46 8 1059 82.
Summer courses each year at Ingesund, Arvika
end July. Four reviews published annually
(Gitarr och Luta).
TURKEY
Izmir Guitar Club. Kibris Sehitleri CAD. No.
138/1, D.301 Alsancak, Izmir. Tel: (90 232) 464
5287.
USA
Austin Classical Guitar Society. PO Box 49704,
Austin, TX 78765, USA.
The Columbus Guitar Society. 120 E.
Northwood Ave, Columbus, OH 43201, USA.
The Connecticut Classical Guitar Society. P.O.
Box 1528, Hartford, CT. 06144-1528.
Classical Guitar Society of Western Carolinas.
Roger A. Cope, President, 300 North Main St,
Hendersonville, NC 28792-4900, USA. Tel: 704
693 7666. Fax: 704 692 2630.
Denver Classical Guitar Society. Patrick M.
‘Rick’ Keller, Director. 1601 Ivanhoe, Denver, Co.
80220. 303-321-5690.
Guitar Houston. 4149 Bellaire Blvd., 229
Houston, TX 77025 USA (713) 665-2712
www.neosoft.com/~guitar/index.htm
Long Island Classical Guitar Society LICGS c/o
Dennis Rief, 182 Parkside Ave, Miller Place, NY
11764, Phone: 631-821-5270
licgs@licgs.us <mailto:licgs@licgs.us>
www.licgs.us <http://www.licgs.us/>
Miami Classical Guitar Society. PO Box 0725,
Miami, Florida 33265-0725 (305) 386-3103.
Carlos Molina, President.
The Milwaukee Classical Guitar Society, Ltd.
1522 East Kane Place, Milwaukee, Wiscousin
53202 (414) 765 9398.
New Jersey Classical Guitar Society. President:
George Schindler, 267 South Street, N.
Providence N. J., 07974.
New York City Classical Guitar Society, John
Olson, President, P. O. Box 1691, New York, NY
10101.
www.nyccgs.com
president@nyccgs.com
Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society, 2038
Sansom St. Philadelphia, PA 19103
215.567.2972
http://www.PhillyGuitar.org.
The Utah Classical Guitar Society. Roy
Johnson, Director, 1121 E. 200 So. Salt Lake
City, Utah 84102, USA. Tel: 801-364-7431.
Washington Guitar Society. C/o President: John
Rodgers, 4500 Connecticut Ave., NW a605
Washington, DC 20008 usa.
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