John W. Duarte
Doberman- Yppan: 7 pages
Any new work by the late much respected composer John Duarte is to be welcomed. This latest pairing was published briefly in the Winter 99 issue of Les Cahiers de la Guitare, but only there
This piece is homage to Antonio Ruiz - Pipo whose own piece with the same title is one of the guitar’s most well – known and well- loved pieces. This Duarte work however manages to give homage without actually using Ruiz – Pipo’s language.
The Cancion has a dropped 6th to D, and a dropped 5th to G, and is therefore set in Gm, and begins with a rocking arpeggio underpinned by long bass notes and topped with a melody that twists and turns around its harmonies in a completely original way, for Duarte was a master of the musically unexpected in many of his works, as the cliché was never present in his writings. It is inventive, and moves all over the fingerboard eventually hitting an impressive climax, before a D.C. al Coda takes you to a harmonic driven final arpeggio in Gm. (incidentally the sign that takes you to the coda is missing but I think where it should be is obvious)
The Danza (also in the same tuning as the Cancion) is in two versions as whilst preparing this edition for publication, a second version with a different middle section made itself known, so is included too. Set in G Major this exceptionally clever and sardonic piece is bizarre and lots of fun throughout. The new section in the second version is completely different to the first version, much more chord orientated and every bit as good as it.
This is a great piece, completely up to Duarte’s standards, and any player who has a good technique with very nimble fingers, will get a lot of fun from this.
Chris Dumigan
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