Mark Houghton
Les Productions D’Oz: 10 pages
I’ve seen many of Mark Houghton’s fine pieces over the years and he rarely if ever disappoints in his writing.
This latest work written for Paulo Bellinati in his 70th year is totally Latin – inspired and is set in a very friendly key of E Major, marked Con Spirito. Like many Latin – inspired pieces it moves quickly along from one chord (often an arpeggio of some sort) to another with lots of rhythmic variety along the way, destined to keep you on your toes when trying to negotiate its tricky parts! The themes move briskly along and after a 1st and 2nd time ending the piece changes into a slightly less frenetic section where all the sharps of the key signature are cancelled. This doesn’t remain there for long however and the original key returns ,but with an entirely new set of themes ,before finally going back to the opening idea, but this time slightly varied which in turn leads to a coda that recalls one of the main ideas, before a race up the fingerboard turns into 3 definitive final chords .
This is a lovely piece that is definitely not very easy, and is more for the intermediate or advanced players amongst you. It is lots of fun, extremely well – written with many catchy melodies and interesting harmonies, and should be enjoyed by many!
Chris Dumigan
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