Month October 2014

Agnew & McAllister Duo play Hamnataing

Agnew & McAllister Duo plays Hamnataing by Chris Stout (Arr. by Agnew & McAllister Duo). The ever excellent McAllister on guitar with flutist Aisling Agnew playing this nice fiddle tune. Born and brought up in the Shetland Islands, Chris Stout…

Marcin Dylla plays The Sonata of Loneliness by Pēteris Vasks

Fantastic! Marcin Dylla plays The Sonata of Loneliness(1990) by Latvian Pēteris Vasks. In three movements: I-Pensieroso, II-Risoluto, III-Con dolore. Vasks early style was reminiscent of Lutosławski, Penderecki and Crumb but later works explore wide ranging influences such as folk music.…

Review: Prolog by Classical Guitar Connection

Prolog by Classical Guitar ConnectionArtist Website: classicguitarconnection.comHofa Media | auris aurea |2013 Classical Guitar Connection, based out of Germany and made up of Erik Müller (guitar, lute) Rainer Kannacher (guitar), Philipp Rospleszcz (guitar), have released their debut CD with works by…

Jarring Sounds Play Henry Purcell

Jarring Sounds with Danielle Reutter-Harrah, mezzo-soprano and Adam Cockerham, baroque guitar play “When first Amintas sued for a kiss” by Henry Purcell (1659–1695). I love the Baroque guitar strumming rather than an awkward arrangement of the keyboard score. Sounds so…

Review: Daniel Lippel – Sonata by Andrew Violette

Andrew Violette: Sonata for GuitarPlayed by Dan LippelNew Focus RecordingsRelease Date: July 8, 2014Listen to Sample or Buy at Amazonor Listen at New Focus Recoridngs Artist Website:danlippel.comandrewviolette.com This album presents one piece: an hour long Sonata for Guitar by Andrew…

Adrian Verdejo plays In a Room by Sharman

There’s a great video of my friend and trio partner Adrian Verdejo playing the beautiful piece “In a Room” by Vancouver composer Rodney Sharman. Vancouver Review Media disabled the embed codes so I can’t post it here but you can…

Eliminate the Hard Parts in Music: Editing the Score

Over at Stephen Aron Guitar Studio he talks about eliminating the hard parts and editing the score for performance. I think the main point behind this discussion is the question: what is best for the music? Now, we can’t go too…

Vintage John Williams Talks and Plays Weiss

John Williams talks about and plays Suite in F by German Baroque lutenist and composer Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750) back in 1978. The video quality isn’t great but I love seeing these rare videos where he plays repertoire I didn’t…

Scott Morris Lesson on Barring Technique

Scott Morris gives a lesson on Barring Technique (the Barre). This comes via the excellent GSI (Guitar Salon International), thanks! Their blurb: “In this lesson Scott addresses the topic of barring – when and how to bar, and also when…

Yo-Yo Ma 9 opinions on performance and career

9 opinions on performance and career by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, via The Strad. I thought the last point on performance was particularly good. Here’s a little excerpt: On performance‘Leon Fleischer put it well when he suggested that a performing musician…

Victoria Guitar Trio plays Temporal Waves by Nobles

Victoria Guitar Trio with Adrian Verdejo, Michael Dias and Bradford Werner perform Temporal Waves by Vancouver composer Jordan Nobles. As I prepare for a trio concert in Vancouver this weekend I thought I’d share one of the pieces we are playing…

New Release & Interview with Alan Rinehart

Soliloquies and Dreams (For Janice)Artist website: Alan RinehartAlbum Programme Notes and samplesNovaScribe Editions / Alan Rinehart, 2014. Buy the Album via Amazon: Soliloquies and Dreams I’ve had the plesure of meeting Canadian guitarist Alan Rinehart on a number of occasions but…