Pièces caractéristiques pour guitare, Op.123 (1964) by Belgian composer Jean Absil (1893-1974). Performed by Bradford Werner via YouTube. I’m trying to feature more music by modern and contemporary composers and external publishers on the site and this is a great piece to start with. I’ll be adding all ten movements to this post over the next few weeks so check back often. The sheet music is by Editions Henry Lemoine.
- Video Times and Titles
- 00:00 I. Prélude 1:56
- II. Invention 3:00
- III. Pastorale 4:25
- IV. Humoresque 5:25
- V. Valse 6:18
- VI. Cantilène 7:54
- VII. Scherzo 8:44
- VIII. Chant du soir
- 11:25 IX. Pavane
- 13:14 X. Tarentelle
Jean Absil (1893–1974) was a Belgian composer, organist, and teacher known for his modernist style blending neoclassicism with modal and polytonal techniques. A student of Paul Gilson, Absil composed symphonies, concertos, and choral works, and served as a professor at the Brussels Conservatory, influencing generations of Belgian musicians.
Jean Absil wrote a good number of guitar works primarily for Nicolas Alfonso, a prominent Belgian guitarist and pedagogue. Alfonso was one of the leading classical guitarists in Belgium during the mid-20th century and collaborated with several composers, including Absil. I suspect this work was also written for him but I haven’t found any additional information yet.
Individual Works
Pièces caractéristiques Op.123 (Pieces and Youtube Links)
- I. Prélude
- II. Invention
- III. Pastorale
- IV. Humoresque
- V. Valse
- VI. Cantilène
- VII. Scherzo
- VIII. Chant du soir
- IX. Pavane
- X. Tarentelle
This video was performed on a Marcus Dominelli classical guitar with Augustine Regal strings and a GuitarLift Ultimate support. All my gear here. Subscribe to the free membership newsletter and if you’re enjoying the site you can consider supporting it.
I was entranced by these pieces as soon as I heard your superb performances of them, and I immediately sent off for a copy! I agree totally that they are of the highest quality (I don’t find the ABA structure too off-putting in miniatures like these; though maybe in some of them a small coda would have been nice, just to wrap up, as an afterthought). Certainly the individual pieces are very varied in mood, and often surprising in their harmonic twists – and they also work beautifully as a suite, played in the published sequence – I’m sure that this is what Absil intended. I do hope people won’t be put off by negative comments: they really are great fun to play, and there’s nothing dull about them. Many thanks for bringing them to light!
Incidentally, the music was easy enough to find: I bought my copy from LMI Partitions, Marseille, (via Amazon) – very quick service and a fair price.
Great to hear all your comments. Yes, the ABA is only a comment when playing the entire set as a whole but I do like pretty much every piece in the collection.
It may be the pieces or the performance style or a combination of both but there seems little musically to distinguish the compositions. They’re quite plodding and not a little dull. Best perhaps to choose the best of the lot and leave the rest as student studies.
Well, maybe it has to do with a bit of personal preference. The compositional style is within the context of the composer and era, I find the compositions very contrasting though. The only issue I have with them as a whole is that the form of the pieces, with the exception of the 2nd work, are all A-B-A form which gets tedious as a whole. Individually though, I really like them and the character of each one.
So impressed by these pieces. I’m a big fan of Hans Haug’s Alba. Another non guitarist writing great guitar music. Thanks for posting.
Yes, I think these are, on average, much higher quality than many classical guitar works in the main repertoire. The form is almost always A-B-A which is a bit much but otherwise it’s great to have this compositional style and harmonies for the guitar at a level that is not too too difficult. When I found them I couldn’t believe they are so underplayed.
Excellent performance!