Hotel Mark

Enjoy this lovely Bach Prelude, played by Xaranova from Youtube.

Sometimes known as Vals Romantica, this waltz is possibly my favourite piece by Agustin Barrios, and one of the guitar’s most coveted pieces for recording. It has perfect form, A,B,A,C,A, with the sad main theme recurring throughout. It’s overtly romantic charm, poetic melancholy has likened it to Chopin.

I think of this one as the “Tragic Clown” piece…Like a circus performer who is paid to do party pieces and tricks, amusing people along the way, making them laugh, but deep down he is this sad figure because he is not doing what he wants to do, creating feelings of lament and un-fulfilment. In the music, the main theme is one of yearning, in between there follows two themes, the second one is of landler like gaity, brighter, sparkling moments, but always the sad theme comes back to haunt.

Enjoy this great performence of this piece by David Russell.

I’m going through some Beatles songs, many of them have made great guitar arrangements. I will upload some of those which I like, first off, I found this on Youtube, by Gazplpn, Penny Lane.

As a blogger, I have often been asked about Technorati in particular, their confusing rating system. In essence, Technorati is one way of rating blogs. Others include Google Page Rank (PR) and  Alexa. Blog ratings are important in that it enables advertisers know how popular your website is, and you are far more likely to attract advertising revenue streams if they know people actually read your blogs!

Technorati uses two basic criteria to rate blogs. Favourites and Authority. The latter is far more important because it relates to how back links you have created to your blog. A Technorati “Authority” is what they call “blog reactions”. If you create a profile on Technorati, and have added your blogs, you will see what your Authority stat is. Below, you will see the number of “blog reactions”. This means how many other sites have linked to your blog or one of your posts. Every time you add a comment to another blog post you create an opportunity for a back link. If the blog you are commenting on is blogger powered, you get the chance to add either your google account details to get the link for your comment or your name/url. Some blogs however, employ the nofollow attribute, and your comment may not therefore count as a blog reaction. Best to use your name/url, rather than google account id.

The more blog reactions you create, or back links, the lower your Technorati score becomes, and the higher your rating. As to how many favs you get, that is people who faved your blog, the significance of that is a little unclear. Without doubt, it “looks better” if you have many faves, but maybe it’s a case of all that glitters is not gold…

In summary, the easiest way to get a better Technorati rating is to make as many comments on other peoples blogs as you can, also that increases your exposure.

Tags: Technorati  Blog Reactions

I guess nothing makes a blogger lose credibility with his/her readership more than lack of updates..Or, to put it another way, to disappear without trace Apologies for that, I’ve been pretty busy professionally, also trying to get to grips with my new found “golf technique” I guess it’s like guitar, we have to start somewhere

I’ve noted for a while now many websites, particulary blogs, are very slow loading. There’s so much on the home page of blogs these days, even with Broadband, pages take an age to load, IF they load at all…The modern concept of blogging has moved on considerably since the original idea of an online diary. A number of people use their blog to make money, an inspiration for which has to be Google, who offer free services, finances are driven by huge advertising streams. Therefore, the more content one can add to a blog, making it more popular, the more advertising revenue a blogger can sell. That’s the theory.

As to my own blog, I guess writing some posts about myself in between guitar reviews can be considered muddying the water a little, but I feel a blog without a personal input is almost the same as being faceless. After all, on my own site, I can be considered my own boss Naturally, a big talking point at present in blogging communities is the implications of the recent massive hikes in petrol and oil prices. I made a post in my other blog about that.

Anyway, I’ve some more musicians interviews coming soon, so please stick around for those. For now, a Youtube discovery, my next post is a gorgeous rendition of Schindler’s List by Cyrloud. The film Schindler’s List it took me numerous attempts to watch all the way through, very hard going indeed, I found, about the man who was set to profit from effectively “selling” jew names for labour camps, but ended up saving thousands of lives, and following his death, thousands of people went to his grave to lay flowers of gratitude. The music is heavy with emotion, very suited to guitar, and Cyrlouds interpretation is different to any other I’ve heard, so I am pleased to offer it on my site.

Recordings in the form of a DVD recital has been a welcome innovation in recent times. One such recital I recently caught up with is Carlos Perez , recorded at the beautiful Parish of Santa Filomena, in Santiago, Chile.

The theme of his recital is music from Renaissance era, across the ages to modern. The works of guitar masters of 20th century Barrios and Brouwer standing up well alongside Baroque and Renaissance masters Bach and Dowland. That Carlos Perez is a guitarist of the highest class, both technically and interpretive is evident right from the opening notes of John Dowland, who’s music is represented on this disc in the form of La Mia Barbera and the jaunty dance My Lady Hudson’s Puffe. Perez tone is warm, with clear dynamics and tasteful phrasing.

There follows the complete Bach suite BWV 1006a. It’s not exactly typical for guitarists to play entire Bach suites, in concerts or recordings, many prefer to choose one movement from one of two suites, akin to what Julian Bream calls “meringues and lollipops, instead of meat and potato’s”, meaning giving the audience the smash hits of a Bach suite instead of the suite in it’s entirety. It’s therefore lovely to hear the famous prelude and Gavotte en Rondeau played within context. Perez plays the Gavotte in particular, within context to Baroque ornamentation, as opposed to some guitaristic versions we hear of this work, with glissandi and spread chords.

Perez then plays Johann Mertz beautiful Elegy, a work of passion and brilliant arpeggio technique. Next come four traditional Chilean pieces, which Perez plays in their natural idiom, Latin rhythms sparkling with charm and buoyancy.

Cuban composer Leo Brouwer is next, his sonata featuring Fandangos y Boleros, Sarabande and Toccata. The opening of the Fandangos is so much alike to Brouwer’s “Harp of the Warrior” from El Decameron Negro suite that some might be excused for thinking it is the same piece, with it’s dreamy Harp like phrases and rhythmic motives. The Saraband contains some lovely moments of modern styled lyricism.

The final work on display here is Variations Sobre el Punto Guanacasteco by Paraguayan maestro of the guitar, Agustin Barrios, which I uploaded on this website in a previous entry, with Carlos permission. This piece is one of the most technically challenging of all Barrios works, which is saying something, I can tell you. Typical Barrios, a heady cocktail of lyrical melody interspersed with exotic rhythms. A wonderful section of the work occurs towards the end involving a questions and answering phrases with first right hand then left hand only ligado’s. The effect is stunning, and a fitting finale to a thoroughly enjoyable recital.

Tags: Carlos Perez, Classical Guitar, DVD, Recital

Another Bank Holiday Monday, and the weather has taken it’s seasonal turn for the worst.What is it I wonder with this public obsession with the need for Bank Holidays? Can they really be justified in modern life, with most people working shifts as it is, is it too much to ask that bank staff can take these days off a different times? Or has bank staff got very little to do with it, and we just want to be lazy, or simply awkward?

Overseas readers might be confused by UK’s terminology here…We call it “Bank Holiday” simply because it is a day when our Banks are officially closed, but a more accurate term might be Public Holiday.

Myself I much prefer to stick Public Holidays or Bank holidays, with it’s traditional wet weather and long traffic jams, and take the time off when I want it, or need it. Yet still media pressure is being applied here in UK for our alleged Government to add an additional Bank Holiday in October to be in line with Europe. How about being “in line with Europe” regarding fuel duty…Oops, that’s a different topic, but it does underline the need to be “in line with Europe” only when it suits them.

So, Public Holiday or otherwise, what does the future hold for Hotel Mark..I have some more interviews with classical guitarists, and later other musicians to upload, and also two more gigs to play myself Which means of course setting aside my natural tendency for laziness and actually practice my guitar a little. And being realistic for a minute, I do mean “a little”.

I downloaded some works by Per Olov Kindgren recently, these are lovely pieces to listen to, also to play. I’m also thinking about working on theme from Schindlers List, which works so well on guitar, but may be too heart wrenching for the venues I play at. Which is one way of saying it’s not an easy piece to do justice to

So, Happy Bank Holiday, or Labour Day, or PUBLIC holiday to you all

Tags: Public Holiday, Guitar, Recreation

Photo by ring1459 of flickr.

 Sorry I’ve been somewhat lax recently with updates What’s th