Hotel Mark

Here is a guitar video offering, from the legendary Flamenco guitarist Sabicas, playing his Arabian Dance. I can only marvel at his techniques…I love Arabian music, full of the spices of the east, great improvising music. If anyone knows where the score to this piece is available, please let me know.

Tags: Sabicas, Arabian Dance

Finally, here is a performance of Albeniz “Asturias”, or Leyenda, within the spirit of the original concept.

This piece has been, for me, totally ruined by guitarists. A major problem is, due to the endearing nature of the piece, many amateur guitarists tackle the piece too early in their studies. They see the piece as a technical masterpiece, and “if only” they can master this one, not only will their friends be in awe, but their technique will be elevated to the Heavens. The result more often than not, is a hacked, butchered rendition of the piece, never mind the quality, feel the width. Yes, I myself fell into this category. After all, it takes one to know one….

Not only amateur guitarists are to blame. Even many guitar greats treat this piece as a virtuoso workout, giving little or no credence to the music or Albeniz intentions. So many forget the piece is a DANCE. Here is Wulfin Lieske playing the piece, accompanied by a Flamenco dancer. Finally for me, the enigma of Asturias Leyenda is solved, I can see the piece, albeit only the first part, in it’s true colours…

Here is a post for guitarists, two free scores. The first one is the theme from the film “Bilitis”, written by Francis Lai, which I arranged for solo guitar myself, some while ago. Obscure film, but the music score  by Lai (of “Love Story” fame) was excellent. I thought it might suit guitar, so here it is. Guitarists please feel free to download it.

 The second one is quite an easy piece called Noches de Este (Nights of the East) composer anon, but arranged by Len Williams (guitarist John’s Father, and founder of the Spanish guitar centre)  Although technically very simple, full of exotic  eastern flavour. Mind you, here in the West some of us think of the Orient as “exotic”, perhaps they feel the same was about the West! Anyway, here is the score, quite battered, but readable. Incidently, the markings on the socre are not mine, but sometimes of interest how other people read the music!

This is a response to Harleyblues who did a brilliant post on Beatles videos, with blogger dedications. The Beatles music will live on forever, in many styles. Here is Peo Kindgren playing his arrangement of George Harrison’s “Something”, one of the most beautiful songs ever written in my view.

For this video I am indebted to Per Olov Kindgren for his beautiful composition “Before Silence” he plays here. John Williams says of the guitar, “The beauty of the guitar is the dying away of the note”… This piece strikes at that very essence of the classical guitar beauty. I am pleased to welcome Peo to my site in an interview in my pages section.

Carlos Perez, from Chile, playing Variations on Sobre El Punto Guanacasteco, taken from his DVD Guitarra Clásica”. This was shared by Carlos on Youtube, reproduced here. Here is link to Carlos website; http://carlosperez.cl/ Enjoy!

If you’ve seen the film “The Mission” and perhaps became curious about the Indian tribe depicted in the film, the Guarani, who made such beautiful music…

Photo by Lakerae of flickr.

I made a page on this site about Agustin Barrios Mangore, one of the most famous descendents of the Guarani race. I have always been fascinated by the guitar works of this man, whose colourful exotic rhythms are often interspersed with romantic melodies, evoking emotions of merriment, and yearning lament.

It’s sometimes a sad thing that a number of guitar commentators seem to denigrate those who wrote for guitar, such as Sor, Guliani, Barrios, Coste, citing them as inferior composers to likes of Beethoven, Bach and Rachmaninov. This because they wrote for guitar and not much else (or nothing else) Yet, I never hear Harpsichord players denigrate Scarlatti, in the light of Bach, for example. The works of both men are there to be enjoyed.

Why then, is there this self destruct element among guitarists? Snobbery perhaps? Or is it as I suspect, WOULD be guitarists, the critics, who pick on names like Barrios, claiming that, simply because he only wrote for guitar, he is “inferior” to likes of Villa Lobos, who was prolific in orchestral terms. Perhaps it is because the solo guitar reportoire is cut off from other instruments that makes some people cynically rebuke those who wrote soley for guitar, the snide inference often being that these composers had in Segovia’s words, “not the proper training in music”.

If Segovia felt like that I sometimes wonder why he did not do more to attempt to commission the likes of Rachmaninov, Ravel, to write for guitar, instead of courting only his compatriots such as Morreno Torroba, Turina, and friends like Tedesco, Tasman for example. These symphonic composers wrote many fine additions to our reportoire, but in terms of “great composers” most will place them far below Ravel and Rachmaninov. In this way, Segovia was perhaps as “guilty” as those he accuses others of being, that is overlooking the musical greats, in favour of persuing guitaristic elements.

I think all those who made contributions deserve to be heard, and on an equal footing. I’ve heard Julian Bream play Sor right before playing Bach, and Sor was not disgraced in any way. My pages on this site is intended to celebrate the works of those who wrote for guitar, who’s dedication to the instrument created an enrichment to the reportoire, and inspired new composers to take up the pen for the instrument.

I have mentioned before I have played my guitar in Hotels, Restaurants, Foyers ect, mostly for “background” music..Here is my unofficial guide to restaurant playing, including some of the, er well, shall we say, pitfalls

The Starter course…This is where it can often be noisy, with diners coming in, sitting down, mingling with the waiters/waitresses. In fact, it can get so as you can’t hear yourself tune up, which is less of an inconvenience in as much as IF you are out of tune no one can hear well enough to notice! I used to think of this as my “Deve Ser Amor” time. Okay, this great little Bossa Nova piece by Baden Powell may not be qualified as my “cock up piece” but when I was learning it I was apprehensive to play it in public, because of the tricky little parts which might go drasticly wrong! But in the high volume moments I was more bold to play the more “dangerous” pieces, i.e. those I know less well! And the term “Deve Ser Amor time” stuck!

So, on to the main course..This is where things get quiet, and some people actually listen to the music. Time to bring on the romantic tearjerkers. By this time, I hope to have warmed up, and hopefully settled down. So I play my most requested piece “Memories of the Alhambra“. I am sure this piece is the best known of all guitar works, to non guitarists. As well as this misty eyed masterpiece, out comes the “standards” Cavatina, Romanza, and some Beatles songs I arranged, And I Love Her, If I Fell.

I find the guitar in these circumstances should not be too obtrusive, so that people can “tap in and out of” in and around their conversations. I like to play also some Albeniz, “Granada”, “Capricho Catalan” and “Mallorca”. This should take us to the desserts, which, IF I’m in the mood to pull it off, a little Scott Joplin can go down well, and pieces more dance like.

Now we come to the hazards of restaurant playing. What would you say is the main thing to beware of? …Brass bands practicing outside the window?? Well, that is a SLIGHT problem, I’ll admit, but not quite the most dangerous (yes it has happened to me). Cables, such as from amplifiers? That may well be serious if a luckless waiter, or worse still, a diner fell over it! But no..I find the thing to be most beware of is..Drumroll…The Electric fan!

  Yes, this innoculous little device, so welcome when playing in the heat can cause mayhem with any music on the stand. IF the music blows off the stand, and goes underneath a table, well, what do you do? Crawl under the table, attempting to explain you are ONLY looking for your errant sheet music Either that, or a quick calculation while you’re playing what pieces do I know well enough to play from memory, so as to leave the music in the case? That’s even MORE dangerous you know!

It appears there’s a lot more to music making in restaurants than the actual playing…

The guitar compositions of Agustin Barrios Mangore must be the most coveted of all classical guitarist composers. Following the composers death in San Salvador his music died with him, because there was only 10 pieces he ever bothered to publish. In answer to a question why did he not publish his works for guitar, Barrios is said to have replied something akin to; “What’s the point, hardly anyone else can play my music”. This, at that time, was true. One who certainly did have the technique was Andres Segovia, and the subject of Segovia’s antipathy for Barrios  is a complex issue which I will leave to a later post.

Barrios had the roots of his music steeped in Folklore, and indeed was quoted as saying; “One cannot be a guitarist if he has not bathed in the fountain of culture”. Though he did in fact compose in many styles, Baroque, Classical, Dance, many of his pieces were based upon the local, exotic rythyms, yet often tinged with lament. As in, happy, then sad emotions. Many times his works were autobiographical, detailed from his colourful life as a travelling musician.

Barrios was the first ever guitarist to make records, dating from around 1908, and it was from thes