I. 0:00 Monologue with JSB (He gets slightly annoyed with the beast)
II. 1:57 Monologue with Claude Achille (He is poeticised by the whiteness)
III. 4:07 Monologue with Ad Schbeg (With occasional remarks by his son Aba Beg)
IV. 5:53 Monologue with Igor (The horn gets on his nerves)
Aidan Marshall plays the 1980 work for Solo Guitar by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara.
The work is in four movements with caption titles and subtitles, each one a sentimental homage to historical composers. The names of these great geniuses are etched into the score by the notation, and therefore phonically embedded into the first melodic phrase of each movement. One exception to this pattern is the final movement, whereby just two musical notes (A & G) from Igor Stravinsky's name recur in almost every phrase.
Movement 1 is a homage to J.S Bach - The leitmotiv in the bass contains the notes B.A.C. and H (from the German system - B)
The note F is also appendixed to the melody later on in this movement, possibly representing the expletive response one might utter when attempting to master Bach on the guitar.
Movement 2 is a homage to Claude Debussy - The opening notes spell C. La. (A) D. E. There is nothing even closely possible to musically represent the letter U, and Rautavaara appears to have simply omitted the letter altogether.
Movement 3 is a homage to Schoenberg & Berg - The opening phrase spells A.D S.C.H.B.E.G, and is followed in the second bar by a phrase with the notes A.B.A B.E.G
(The S in 'Schbeg' represents a #, and is coyly hidden as an Eb instead of D#).
Movement 4 is a homage to Stravinsky, and this is the most perplexing of the four riddles. There are only 2 musical notes appearing to represent the name Igor Stravinsky - A & G. Consequently this is the most mysterious and unfathomable conundrum. However, these notes do feature very prominently in the thematic opening chord which recurs extensively. The first 2 notes of the chord are A & G, and many of the following developing chords appear with altered versions of A - Ab, A#, highlighted against the open G.
The decision to play part of the 1st movement in ‘lap’ position was not an easy one to make. There are no annotations in the score to suggest it should be played this way. However, the open notes preceding and following the tapping section facilitate the position switch. In lap position, these otherwise difficult bars do become exponentially more playable.
I would also like to thank Summerfield Musical Instruments and La Bella strings for their cordial supply of strings. This performance was recorded on a set of La Bella ‘Professional Series’, high tension, silver plated strings.
Each movement was recorded live in one single take, with no studio editing or overdubbing.
II. 1:57 Monologue with Claude Achille (He is poeticised by the whiteness)
III. 4:07 Monologue with Ad Schbeg (With occasional remarks by his son Aba Beg)
IV. 5:53 Monologue with Igor (The horn gets on his nerves)
Aidan Marshall plays the 1980 work for Solo Guitar by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara.
The work is in four movements with caption titles and subtitles, each one a sentimental homage to historical composers. The names of these great geniuses are etched into the score by the notation, and therefore phonically embedded into the first melodic phrase of each movement. One exception to this pattern is the final movement, whereby just two musical notes (A & G) from Igor Stravinsky's name recur in almost every phrase.
Movement 1 is a homage to J.S Bach - The leitmotiv in the bass contains the notes B.A.C. and H (from the German system - B)
The note F is also appendixed to the melody later on in this movement, possibly representing the expletive response one might utter when attempting to master Bach on the guitar.
Movement 2 is a homage to Claude Debussy - The opening notes spell C. La. (A) D. E. There is nothing even closely possible to musically represent the letter U, and Rautavaara appears to have simply omitted the letter altogether.
Movement 3 is a homage to Schoenberg & Berg - The opening phrase spells A.D S.C.H.B.E.G, and is followed in the second bar by a phrase with the notes A.B.A B.E.G
(The S in 'Schbeg' represents a #, and is coyly hidden as an Eb instead of D#).
Movement 4 is a homage to Stravinsky, and this is the most perplexing of the four riddles. There are only 2 musical notes appearing to represent the name Igor Stravinsky - A & G. Consequently this is the most mysterious and unfathomable conundrum. However, these notes do feature very prominently in the thematic opening chord which recurs extensively. The first 2 notes of the chord are A & G, and many of the following developing chords appear with altered versions of A - Ab, A#, highlighted against the open G.
The decision to play part of the 1st movement in ‘lap’ position was not an easy one to make. There are no annotations in the score to suggest it should be played this way. However, the open notes preceding and following the tapping section facilitate the position switch. In lap position, these otherwise difficult bars do become exponentially more playable.
I would also like to thank Summerfield Musical Instruments and La Bella strings for their cordial supply of strings. This performance was recorded on a set of La Bella ‘Professional Series’, high tension, silver plated strings.
Each movement was recorded live in one single take, with no studio editing or overdubbing.
Category
🎵
Music