Laurent Meneret
Les Productions D’Oz: 15 pages
French guitarist/composer Meneret has written a number of works for guitar, a few of which I have seen before. This latest suite is set in six movements each relatively short in duration but also progressive in difficulty a little and going through a number of musical forms and styles including tango, bossa nova, and Spanish along the way
The opening Romance is an arpeggio driven idea with a pleasant melody that sometimes is in the bass and other times in the treble. It is set in Am, and nothing goes past fret 5.Soleil du Sud is very Spanish in style, relying on the Em/F chord sequence to make its effect, and comes complete with rasgueado chords of those that sequence a number of times, intermingled with a rocking two note sequence underpinned by melodic bass lines.
Manolo is a tango rhythm set in Dm/D Major and has more chords that go a little further up the fingerboard, and certainly moves around a little more than the previous two pieces.
Violeta has a number of changes in speed in the opening section, as every couple of bars there is a ritardando, a pause, and then a return to the tempo. This happens several times until a Giocoso section consisting of an off- beat rhythm accompaniment surrounded by a melody and bass line. Then the opening stop – go motion returns and the piece finishes on a final low E.
Au Clair de Lune is also in Em and has a similar set- up to the others with an arpeggio style of writing and a lower –voiced melody with a treble melody now climbing higher up the fingerboard
The final piece Un Soir D’Ete is an Espressivo piece set in Em with two, and sometimes three voices in attendance and is chord – driven to a certain extent, and again has plenty of offbeat rhythms in the accompanying chords.
The set of pieces never moves away from common chords and everything is very friendly, and definitely playable by an intermediate standard guitarist, but if the set has a failing it is that it is a little predictable and there isn’t a great deal that surprises you when you play it. However the style is friendly and pleasant to play, so there will be many of you who will enjoy this little set.
Chris Dumigan
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