Peter Rist
Bergmann: 12 pages
Peter Rist, a name new to me, is a Canadian guitarist and composer, born in Toronto, who discovered the classical guitar in his twenties and developed a love of Renaissance and Baroque music and of the Vihuela, Lute and Theorbo .He now writes solely for the classical guitar, and describes his compositions as 21st-century descendants of the Renaissance and Baroque traditions.
This five – movement suite is very optimistic in attitude, all the movements written in Major keys and with very interesting part – writing , but built almost entirely around the common chords of the key in question,
So the opening movement Through The Olive Groves to Capalbio is marked Gradevole (Pleasant) and is set in A Major, but to give an example of Rist’s writing style, the chord sequences he uses here are based on A, D, and E Major chords, with an occasional Bm , and F#m .Yes, the writing is always moving and varied in approach , but there are no chords used that are more complex throughout, which gives the opening movement an almost child – like feel to it.
Swallows over the Aldobrandeschi Tower is next. It is set as an Allegro in D Major in two voices with again a heavy reliance on the standard chords in that key ( D, A, A7, E and G) .It is a pleasant piece but the lack of any modulations or variety in the music does , for me at least, colour my response a little.
The final three movements, Moonlight Over Capalbio’s Walls ( in E Major), Looking Out Over the Maremma (In D Major), and Down to the Sea, (in D Major) , continue in the same style, very friendly, intermediate in difficulty, and with a warm feeling throughout, but with too much similarity of the harmonic work for me, and maybe for other players too. However you may feel quite different about the whole suite, as there are many parts of it that are fun to play, an everything is very tonal and well – written , so if you are interested in it, why not give it a try?
Chris Dumigan
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