Atanas Ourkouzounov
Doberman – Yppan : 8 pages
This Bulgarian composer/ performer’s guitar works are now very many indeed and they are in constant demand from players all over the world. His musical language is a result of many different inspirations and are frequently full of unusual groupings of notes, multiple dissonances and a style at times bordering on atonal, but his list of performers who have played his music, and the huge number of recordings of his works only goes to show that a vast amount of people love this style that he writes in.
This latest piece is dedicated to Kostas Tosidis, hence the title of Kostasketch, and begins with a 14 bar Rubato Lamentoso with mixtures of plucked notes, harmonic notes and several where one is instructed to rub the back of the right hand index finger across the notes , tremolo fashion, to imitate a bow. Time signatures of 2/4, 3 /4 , 4/4, 5/4, and 11/8 are used in these 14 bars, after which the speed increases, mostly written in semi- quavers and quavers , but still marked poco rubato, and 6/16, 7/16, 8/16, and 11/16 are used here in this remaining section. The music is almost completely in two voices throughout this main section, with the occasional third voice from time to time and the semi – quaver movement keeps the player on their toes throughout this, as there is no let up on the forward momentum. Various notes are marked to be tapped with the left hand to obtain the sound, but otherwise the piece continues in this very modern 2, or 3 voiced structure until the final 16 bars that return to the style, if not the actual music, of the opening, and the piece ends on a three bar ‘repeat ad lib into a fade’ instruction.
Very tricky under the fingers, exceedingly different from almost anything else you might come across, and ultra – modern throughout, this piece will appeal to any advanced players who enjoy this style of piece.
Chris Dumigan
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