John W.Duarte
Ut Orpheus: 12 pages
Here is another recent publication by one of Britain’s finest guitar composers, and a piece that was never published previously, which as always with this writer is a huge surprise. Written in 1984 as a birthday present for guitarist Isabel Siewers’ then 34 year old daughter, and performed by her first in 1985 at the Wigmore Hall, it seems the piece then languished in his file, until now.
Set in four very different movements, but all with a Latinesque tang to them, and all with that very individual harmonic world that you often find with his writing, and, so take for example the first movement, which is a Con Moto in E minor. It is very rhythmically diverse with plenty of ‘wrong’ notes right from the outset, including an E minor 7 rising arpeggio, but with a Bb instead of a B natural, which is then repeated in other keys all full of clashing minor seconds, and all very much in his style.
There is a slower Cantando section which is less angular than the opening but after 12 bars, the first tempo returns, this time developing into new areas. A final return to the second idea, leads to the coda where the opening phrases enter once more and lead to a quiet arpeggiated coda on an altered Em chord.
The Cancion De Cuna that is the second movement is fascinating in that its 18 bars are entirely in natural harmonics often in pairs or trios of notes and as a result very melodic , but definitely not too easy to play!
The 3rd Movement Isabel (Milonga) is in an offbeat 2/4 time in A Major. It is short and melodic and usually in 2 or 3 voices throughout.
The final Danza Negra has a multitude of percussive elements, all ten of which are carefully explained in the Glossary at the front of the book. The element is definitely one of rhythm here and the music almost takes second place, but when you do play the themes they are, similarly to the first movement, very angular in harmony and require great care to play them successfully. The piece moreover has an unusual time signature of 6/8, 9/8, 3 / 4, and is full of rasgueado chords interspersed with the percussion but certainly is an exciting play and no doubt an equally exciting listen if programmed into a concert.
Therefore this ‘new’ piece is a lot of fun, very individual and would require a very good player to do it properly but certainly if anyone likes this man’s music then this one definitely doesn’t disappoint.
Chris Dumigan
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