GRANADOS / COSTE / ASENCIO
HENZE / BARRIOS / RODRIGO
Guitar Music
During the second half of the nineteenth century,
composers throughout Europe sought to divest themselves of the universal
musical language of Viennese classicism. Composers began to incorporate
elements of folk-music and national culture in their compositions. In Spain,
Enrique Granados (1867-1916) was a principal exponent of the new nationalism in
music as is apparent in his Danzas Espaliolas and Goyescas. In
the Valses Poeticos the Spanish flavour is clearly in evidence, though
we also hear echoes of the Viennese waltz of Johann Strauss, who had toured Europe
with his orchestra and whose music was probably known to even such an insular
composer as Granados. Indeed the piece had been foreshadowed earlier in the
century by Weber in his Aufforderung zum Tanz which, like the Valses Poeticos
has a formal introduction leading to a smoothly connected sequence of waltzes
and ends with a coda referring to earlier themes.
Many of Granados' pieces have survived into this century
through the labour of guitarists transcribing works from the piano, as is this
case in this recording. As much as Granados' work has been ignored by modern
pianists, with the notable exception of Alicia de LarroCha, the compositions of
the nineteenth century guitarist Napoleon Coste (1805-1883) have been curiously
ignored by repertoire-hungry guitarists. The Rondeau de Concert recorded
here is just one example of the various extended concert works written by Coste
for guitar. A single movement work combining a virtuosic introduction and
rondo, the piece is similar to the concert overtures, in turn derived from the
opera overture, which enjoyed great favour during Coste's productive life. Indeed
the Rondeau de Concert, with its light-hearted melodies and buoyant
turns of phrase, betrays the influence of the opera comique in Coste's work.
The music of the Paraguayan guitarist-composer Augustin
Barrios (1885-1944) has come to the attention of guitarists through the efforts
of such artists as John Williams. The music of Barrios is typical of the
acculturation that was present in the works of Latin American composers at the
turn of the century. His compositional style shows both the influences of
European Romanticism and of the nationalistic trends that were prevalent in
Latin-American music in the latter half of the nineteenth century. His use of
forms ranges from European staples such as the mazurka and waltz to
South-American folk-music such as the Danzas Paraguayas.
Though not as conspicuously programmatic as some of his
other works, La Catedral is said to be based on a personal experience of
the composer. Though perhaps apocryphal, the story provides a colourful
backdrop to the piece. Finding solace near a quiet church in the bustling city
of Montevideo, Barrios was inspired to compose the Andante religioso,
with its chorale-like textures and plaintive harmonies. The ensuing Allegro solemne
is said to represent his return to the noisy soundscape of the city. The prelude,
initially composed as a single movement saudade in tribute to his wife,
was later added to the piece.
The German composer Hans Werner Henze (b. 1926) has
included the guitar in many of his compositions and has more recently composed
extended solo works for the guitar. The brilliant Drei Tentos are taken
from his Kammermusik 1958, which is scored for tenor, guitar and eight
other instruments. , The piece is a setting of a hymn from the eighteenth
century German poet Holderlin, a contemporary of Schiller. Holderlin's verses
are divided into sections and are accompanied by various combinations of
instruments from the ensemble. The guitar solos serve as instrumental interludes
spaced between the verses.
The Drei Tentos contain many elements of Henze's
diverse compositional traits. The first is somewhat pointillistic in the manner
of Webern. The second, with its driving rhythms, exhibits the influence of
Stravinsky and the third demonstrates the composer's penchant for using tonal
Neapolitan melodies.
Like Henze, Joaquin Rodrigo (b. 1902) does not play the
guitar but has contributed substantially to the repertoire in the twentieth
century .Most of this music features Rodrigo's characteristic use of Spanish
folk elements, such as the borrowing of dance rhythms and forms. In folk-music,
the Fandango is both a fast courtship dance in triple time or less commonly a
vocal lament. In the first two movements of Tres Piezas Espaiiolas, Rodrigo has
paired the two types by placing a slow Passacaglia with a plaintive melody
after a spirited and rhythmic Fandango. The Zapateado possesses syncopations
and cross-rhythms which suggest its relation to the foot-stamping patterns of
flamenco dancing.
The power of music to invoke human emotions has been
understood since early civilization and in fact became the predominant force in
musical thought in the seventeenth century. Music theorists of the High Baroque
went so far as to codify the compositional process, sometimes straining to
assign musical gestures and devices to specific emotions in the Doctrine of
Affections. With the five movements of Collectici Intim, the Valencian, Vicente
Asencio (1908-1979) has explored this tradition with great subtlety and
finesse. In La Serenor (Serenity) the melody lazily unfolds over a
subdued pulsing in the bass. La Joia (Joy) is an energetic dance with
percussive rhythmic figuration. La Calma (Calm) by contrast is expansive
and features an undercurrent of quiet, chime-like harmonics. In La Gaubance
(Delight), the melody undergoes free and continuous development interspersed
with rapid repeated notes and arpeggiated gestures, and from the opening, La
Frisanca (Haste) hurls towards its conclusion driven by a precipitous and
insistent arpeggio pattern.
@ 1996 Michael Bracken / Jeffrey McFadden
