Guy Bergeron
Les Productions D’Oz: 11 pages
This Canadian guitarist /composer has here produced 5 pieces as a tribute to Bach , and the style of the music is immediately obvious that it in fact is a tribute to Bach as the sound – world they inhabit is a very clever copy of some of Bach’s musical style.
The worst thing about the pieces is the awful ‘punny’ titles!” So we begin with Bach to the Beginning, which like some of the other pieces (but not all) does not have a speed marking. It begins with two voices both moving along in a very Bachian way, occasionally reverting to 3 voices at times. Having begun in A minor, its middle section changes to the tonic major, before reverting to the home key and a slightly varied repeat of the opening section to close.
Bach Home has a crotchet speed of 76 a minute and is set in the slightly unusual key of Gm. Again there are two voices, constantly on the move, and in the middle section, three voices harmonised in a rather imaginative way, and still sounding very Bach – like.
Bach Through Time is a flowing quaver – ridden E minor, which feels like it should be played at a fast pace, although again, no speed marking is given. There are many opportunities for hammer – ons and pull – offs here and, except for one or two very small occasions, the piece is entirely made up of quavers in at last one of the voices throughout. This is quite a work – out (as Bach on the guitar is anyway!) and always keeps your attention as it is cleverly imagined.
I’ll be Bach Soon is set at 108 crotchets a minute and again is mostly written in quavers, so is another piece always on the move. This time the main characteristic is the almost constant use of different strings in a quaver run, to give a laisser vibrer effect. Again this is a lovely piece of writing and loads of fun to play, although it is far from easy!
Bach to the |End is the final piece, again with no speed marking but the steadier crotchet writing makes it seem a slower, stately piece, speed – wise. This time there are 3 voices most often (occasionally two) and the main effect here is to keep all the voices sounding to their full value, which is not as easy as it might first appear.
I loved this set of pieces (except for the titles!) and found them melodic, at times study – like in their design, and yet interesting as pieces from start to finish, and would definitely recommend them as a fine book of pieces for the moderate players amongst you.
Chris Dumigan
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