Kacha Metreveli : Mysteries of Space and Time – Fantasy for guitar : Bergmann

Kacha Metreveli

Bergmann Edition: 16 pages

Metreveli was born in 1969 in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia  and has here produced a very different sounding ( and looking) piece of writing ,To begin with the tuning has been altered so that string 5 is a G , and string 2 is a Bb , all the rest are the same. The piece has a number of fragmentary sections that are full of unusual sounds, and musical styles that flow quite quickly into one another. Also there are a number of techniques that may be unfamiliar to some players and so the end of the book has a page of explanation about these rare techniques.

The piece begins with a rising set of notes based on the open strings, before a short pause leads us into a pizzicato alternation of open strings 2 and 3, which begins slowly and then speeds up as it approaches the end, where it is replaced by some natural harmonics styled very imaginatively and jumping around the fingerboard in a most unexpected way. Then the use of the RH index finger to produce a kind of tambour on string 6 occurs, leading to a repeat that then continues with a pizzicato idea. More harmonics then occur and afterwards a set of tambora chords and subsequently a set of tambora chords in harmonic form.

Throughout the piece many different time signatures are used, and are constantly changing, along with the written style of the various sections. After a time the piece becomes largely a set of very small notes that move rapidly around the guitar in a multiple of different patterns, which after a considerable time lead to the coda where a final run produces the last note, a sforzando bottom E.

This is definitely not for the faint – hearted and if you don’t like your music too modern in harmony or technique, this piece may not suit. However if that doesn’t frighten you away, then this has a completely different sound to most things you will come across and is an impressive piece of writing.

Chris Dumigan