Three Spanish Guitars concert

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Three Spanish Guitars performed by Frank Wallace
a vibrant and sensual experience of rare guitars in the hands of a master; music by Sor, Aguado, Tárrega, de Falla, Turina, Mompou and Wallace

Available now through 2017 – Please write for more information with our Contact form or to “wallacecomposer(at)gmail.com” Download program.

“The concert by Frank Wallace was a veritable tour de force“ – Tom Kerstens, Classical Guitar (London)

Wallace with Gutierrez

Concert offering
It is extraordinary to hear a powerful and refined performer playing on exceptional historical instruments he knows intimately. Frank Wallace, a prolific composer of solos, chamber music and song, here shows that “…he can match the musicality of any player out there…virtuosic but always in a musically convincing way.” [This is Classical Guitar]. Three exquisite historical guitars from Wallace’s personal collection are featured in music appropriate for each: Sor, Aguado, Tárrega, de Falla, Turina and Mompou. Wallace has played these instruments by Manuel Gutierrez, Sevilla, 1854; Manuel Ramirez, Madrid, c. 1910; and Ignacio Fleta, Barcelona, 1964 for over 20 years on his most popular recordings on the Gyre label. Known for his “elegant virtuosity” (Classics Today), Frank Wallace tours internationally as a soloist and with mezzo-soprano Nancy Knowles and records for Gyre.

The Grand Legacy lecture/demonstration
An in-depth discussion of the history of the Spanish guitar, its construction and repertoire.

Please click on tabs above for detailed program info, biography, video and audio.

Copyright ©2015 Frank A. Wallace
Photography and design by Nancy Knowles; All rights reserved.
Frank Wallace is supported in part by a grant from the NH State Council on the Arts.

PHOTOS
Hi res photos are available at Flickr Frank Wallace Performance and many more casual shots for the web are at Flickr Albums

Videos of works included in Three Spanish Guitars.

The actual guitars used in the live performance.

Three Spanish Guitars is available now through 2017 – Please write for more information with our Contact form or to “info (at) gyremusic.com”

Coming

Three Spanish Guitars is available now through summer 2017 – Please write for more information with our Contact form or to “gyre.arts (at) gmail.com”

Download 2016-Three Spanish Guitars II.

Manuel Gutierrez, 1854, Sevilla
Good Winds for Dionisio (2001) – Frank A. Wallace, b. 1952
Fandango Variations, op. 16 – Dionisio Aguado, 1784-1849

Manuel Ramirez, c. 1910, Madrid
Preludes 1 and 3 – Heitor Vila-Lobos, 1887-1959
Omaggio – Manuel de Falla, 1876-1946
Homenaje a Tárrega, op. 69 (1932) – Joaquín Turina, 1882-1949
Garrotín
Soleares

intermission

Ignacio Fleta, 1964, Barcelona
Suite Compostelana (1962) – Federico Mompou, 1893-1987
Prelude
Coral
Cuna
Recitativo
Canción
Muñeira

Anoushka – Frank Wallace, b. 1952
Black Falcon (2013)

From West Side Story – Leonard Bernstein, 1918-1990 (arr. F. Wallace)
Something’s Coming
America

Played on original instruments: Manuel Gutierrez, Sevilla, 1854; Manuel Ramirez, Madrid, c. 1910; Ignacio Fleta, Barcelona, 1964

Three Spanish Guitars is available now through 2017 – Please write for more information with our Contact form or to “gyre.arts (at) gmail.com”

“…a true master of his instrument…His dynamic range is impressive, and his gradations of tone, constantly singing line, and sensitive musicianship confirm his ‘elegant virtuosity’ (www.classicstoday.com)” – Robert Schulslaper, Fanfare

“Wallace plays his own works with inspiration, determination, and a wealth of creativity…he can match the musicality of any player out there…” — This is classical guitar

BIOGRAPHY Frank Wallace, composer, guitarist, baritone; b. November 22, 1952

On stage, Wallace is known for his “elegant virtuosity” (Classics Today) on the guitar, vihuela and lute and is a master of self-accompanied song. He tours internationally, performing music from the 16th – 21st century both as a soloist and with mezzo-soprano Nancy Knowles as Duo LiveOak. He has performed at the Taxco International Guitar Festival, Guitar Foundation of America, Festival Ramon Noble, New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes, the Holland Festival, Regensburg Festival, Música en Compostela, Boston Early Music Festival, Barcelona Festival, International Guitar Festival of Arequipa, the Festival of Spanish Song of Granada, and more.

Wallace is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in guitar performance and is self-taught as a composer. He moved to the East Coast immediately after graduation in 1974. Since 1986 he has received enormous inspiration from his family and their residence in a 1789 farmhouse in rural New Hampshire. American Record Guide calls Wallace’s compositions “exciting, unpredictable, and fresh”. Fanfare magazine has dubbed him a composer with “an authentic expressive voice” and a “high standard of musical interest” who performs with “flawless technical proficiency”. Frank Oteri of NewMusicBox.org calls it “contemporary musical emancipation”. Wallace’s works showcase the classical guitar in solo and ensemble, as well as in chamber works with voice, flute, violin, viola, cello, oboe, bassoon, English horn, mandolin, and piano. His compositional style has many influences, from Medieval and Renaissance to blues, jazz, minimalism and modern atonalism. Great passion and a sense of humor infuse both his compositions and his performances.

Frank Wallace founded and directed for four years the Boston Classical Guitar Society’s Festival 21, a celebration of all that is new in 21st century classical guitar. He also served a two-year term as artistic director of the Society. In New York City Wallace founded and co-directed the Second Sundays Classical Guitar Series in conjunction with the NYC Classical Guitar Society and Roger Smith Arts. He has taught at the New England Conservatory, Plymouth State College, Emmanuel College, Keene State College and Franklin Pierce College and has a B.M. from San Francisco Conservatory.

In 2014 Frank Wallace wrote a one hour chamber suite for the 50th anniversary of the Hartt School of Music’s Guitar Department. He has also written for Juan Carlos Laguna, Pablo Garibay, Edel Muñoz, ChromaDuo, the Jugend Zupf Orchestra of Germany, Mare Duo, Marek Pasiezcny, Ciraldo Duo, Olson / De Cari Duo, the Providence Mandolin Orchestra and more. He has recorded for Gyre, Titanic, Centaur, and Musical Heritage Society, which re-released a number of LiveOak and Frank Wallace recordings in 2008. His compositions are published by Gyre Music and have been featured in Guitar Review, Soundboard, Fingerstyle Magazine, and The LSA Quarterly.

Wallace’s complete recordings and compositions are available at www.gyremusic.com, a site rich with information and samples of sheet music and audio.

“…a composer with a distinct voice…” Soundboard

Three Spanish Guitars is available now through 2017 – Please write for more information with our Contact form or to “gyre.arts (at) gmail.com”

NOTES 
These older guitars are vibrant musical powerhouses, both poetic and expressive. With tones infinitely more complex and haunting than those of newer guitars, they are important for their vast palette of sound. Frank Wallace shines as he reveals the depth and exquisite subtlety hidden within these rare instruments. Drawing from a variety of traditional composers (Aguado, Giuliani, Mertz, Tárrega, de Falla) to highlight each guitar’s unique sound and history, and including two of his own highly-praised compositions, Wallace’s concert is a stunning tour de force which will leave an impression on seasoned musicians and casual listeners alike.

In the mid-late 19th century, the vibrant Sevilla school of guitar building centered on one street, the Calle de la Cerrajería, where at #32 renowned builder Antonio Torres Jurado did his most creative work from 1856-1869. Arriving in 1845, he lived in Sevilla for almost a quarter century. Before opening his own shop in 1854, Torres worked up to five years in the shop of Manuel Gutiérrez Martínez (1773-1857) at #36 Calle de la Cerrajería. Since Torres and Gutiérrez were close friends, one assumes Gutiérrez shared his knowledge and skills with the younger Torres. The oldest guitar on this album, an 1854 Gutiérrez built the year Torres made his first known guitar, is remarkably similar to an 1857 Torres guitar (FE 07) in the Yale University Musical Instruments Collection. The resemblance between the two instruments is stunning. They are alike in size, shape and lightness of construction. Both have three-piece backs, five radial struts, a v-shaped shaft splice, and an almost identical headstock, in a shape reminiscent of bull’s horns. The two luthiers clearly used similar techniques to refine the tops. With different woods for the back and sides, their sound is remarkably similar: rich, dark, full and complex. Since Torres built this guitar in the older, smaller style of Gutiérrez the year the elder luthier died, one wonders if he built it in honor of his friend.

Manuel de Soto y Solares (1839-1906) took over Gutiérrez’ former shop at #36 (renumbered as #4) in 1868 then moved to #7 in 1875. From a distinguished family of Sevilla guitar builders (his father, both grandfathers, his brother, his children and grandchildren), he is credited with developing the tablao guitar for the burgeoning flamenco market, with its shallow depth, cypress back and sides, and domed top and back. My Soto y Solares (not featured in the concert but available exclusively on the Four Extraordinary Spanish Guitars album) is a superb example, showing the influence of Torres, whose instruments were fast becoming famous. It was exhibited at the 2000–2001 Boston Museum of Fine Arts’ Dangerous Curves: Art of the Guitar Exhibition.

Manuel Ramírez(1864-1916) changed guitar history when the young Andrés Segovia walked into his Madrid shop asking to rent a guitar. The 1912 instrument that he gifted him became Segovia’s principal instrument until 1937, when he began concertizing on a 1937 Hauser I. Both instruments are now at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The influence of Manuel Ramírez’ exquisite Torres-inspired instruments still resonates today, with good reason. Santos Hernández*, Domingo Esteso, and Enrique García among other great builders all worked in his shop.

The instruments of Ignacio Fleta (1897-1977) were made famous by many twentieth century virtuosos, including Segovia and John Williams. Like Madrid’s Manuel Ramírez, Fleta in Barcelona had the opportunity to repair many Torres guitars. By the late 1950s Fleta was pioneering his own style of guitar building, veering away from his earlier lighter Torres construction to satisfy his clientele, who were performing in large halls. His early training and building was in violins, cellos, and bass viols. No wonder his guitars have such a soul-stirring sustain. In an interview shortly before his death, he spoke of the pivotal influence of Torres on his work.

*Santos Hernández built the Segovia 1912 Ramírez

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Post Date April 5, 2015

Clusters | guitar solos by Frank A. Wallace

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Clusters
by Frank A. Wallace
for guitar solo
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Duration: 8 minutes; 4 pages

Written: March, 2015 for Adam Levin

Difficulty level: advanced, stretches and high chords

Instrumentation: solo guitar

World premiere:

Recording:

All Gyre compositions are ASCAP
Copyright ©2015 Frank A. Wallace
Cover photography by Frank Wallace; design by Nancy Knowles
All rights reserved.
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The Dedicatee

Adam Levin’s playing is superb—no technical difficulties, lovely tone, wide range of dynamics and articulation. …I can’t imagine them played with more conviction, expression, and sheer joy.

Kenneth Keaton
American Record Guide, September 2013

I met Adam in Boston through mutual friends and endeavors while I was the Director of the Boston Classical Guitar Society and Festival 21, an annual festival of new music. Unfortunately for me, Adam left on a Fulbright Scholarship to Madrid and we never had him on the festival. While there he commissioned 30 works for solo guitar from Spanish composers. He has since become a premiere advocate of new music for guitar with several CDs and many collaborations. I am humbled by his energy, focus, power and sumptuous guitar playing. It is with this in mind that I dedicate Clusters to Adam.

Adam’s Biography [excerpt]

Adam Levin has been praised by renowned American guitarist, Eliot Fisk, as a “virtuoso guitarist and a true 21st century renaissance man with the élan, intelligence, charm, tenacity and conviction to change the world.” Levin has performed across the United States and Europe at renowned venues such as Chicago’s Pick Staiger, James Lumber Performing Arts and Mayne Stage concert halls, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, and Jordan Hall, the Palazzo Chigi Saracini in Italy, Berlin’s Universität für Musik und darstellende Künst, Barcelona’s Auditorio Axa, and in Madrid at the Fundación Juan March, Palacio de Godoy, BBVA Palacio del Marqués de Salamanca, and Sala Manuel de Falla. Levin has appeared on a variety of prestigious music series, including Madrid’s Sociedad Española de Guitarra, Conciertos en Palacios and Festival Clásicos en Verano, Valencia’s Amigos de la Guitarra, Boston GuitarFest, L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and Festival Pro Música e Cultura in St.Moritz, France.

From 2008-2011, Levin was honored as a Fulbright Scholar as well as grant awards from the Program for Cultural Cooperation Fellowship (promoting cultural understanding between Spain and the United States) and the Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship, to research contemporary Spanish guitar repertoire in Madrid, Spain. His three-year residency resulted in a major collaboration with 30 Spanish composers spanning four generations, who each wrote works commissioned by and dedicated to Levin. In 2012, production began on a four volume encyclopedic recording project with Naxos and companion publication Brotons y Mercadal Edicions Musicals, to document these pieces. The first recording in the series, 21st Century Spanish Guitar, Volume 1, was released by Naxos in 2013 to rave reviews, garnering accolades from Classical Guitar Magazine, Soundboard, American Record Guide, and both Recording of the Month and Recording of the Year awards from MusicWeb International, where critic Brian Reinhart wrote, “These composers could not have asked for a better, more thoughtful and dedicated guitarist to premiere their works… one of the most exciting guitar series of the century so far.” For his promotion, interpretation and performance of Spanish music, he was nominated for the 2011 Trujamán Prize, in which only three guitarists worldwide are selected annually.

Tone clusters are a phenomenon apart from most solo guitar repertoire. The nature of the guitar is such that it is difficult to find true clusters that are possible to play on one instrument. The challenge crossed my mind and I set out to discover how to finger and musically coordinate multiple clusters, or stacks of notes only a half or whole step apart, often inverting to sevenths.

In this exploration I realized what I believe I already knew, close and intense dissonance does not have to seem ugly or be played that way. Even in romantic music, it is often the mildly dissonant chord that gives depth, the intensely dissonant that gives us goosebumps. In more dissonant music, the shimmer of overtones created and the natural undulation of these sounds is profoundly spiritual.

Play each piece separately or all together. Use as much variety of tone and dynamic that you can muster, the full spectrum of color of which the guitar is capable. The rhythms and arpeggio patterns from measure 1-9 in Cluster #1 can be improvised and include block chords or rasgueados.

As in all Gyre Editions, all accidentals apply only to the octave on which they appear. Harmonics are written at sounding pitch; string and fret are indicated when needed with portions of fret also shown in lower positions. Fifth harmonics may include the fingered, but not sounding, fret in ( ).

Frank Wallace
February 19, 2015
Antrim, NH

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Post Date April 4, 2015

Enfin | for percussion & guitar by Frank A. Wallace

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Enfin
by Frank A. Wallace
for percussion and guitar; PARTS INCLUDED
SUGGESTED DONATION: $15

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Instrumentation: guitar and percussion: high timbale, low timbale, high bata, high bongo, medium bata, low bongo, low bata, high bata dead stroke, super tumba bass

Duration: 10 minutes; 12 pages

Difficulty level: advanced

Written: January, 2015

Commissioned by: Marshall Willner at Harmonic Music Foundation in Washington DC.

World premiere: planned for fall of 2015 by and Frank Wallace

All Gyre compositions are ASCAP
Copyright ©2015 Frank A. Wallace
Cover photography and design by Nancy Knowles
All rights reserved.
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This is a Finale / Garritan midi file.

Enfin is a work completed in early February 2015. I met Marshall Willner when his very talented daughter, Infinity, played guitar for a competition for which I had written the set pieces. Marshall loved the music and stayed in touch. Two years later he had the occasion and funds to commission this work. Like all great clients, he made no demands on me and let my imagination run free. The result is a dramatic, improvisatory work with strong spiritual overtones, inspired by Infinity’s name and her powerful musical instincts.

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Post Date January 27, 2015

As It Could Be, a chamber suite

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As It Could Be, a chamber suite
by Frank A. Wallace
for flute, violin, viola, percussion, two alto voices, and seven guitars; PARTS INCLUDED with each individual edition.

Eight works comprise As It Could Be, a chamber suite commissioned by and dedicated to the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department and its founder/director Richard Provost on the occasion of their 50th anniversary.

AICB was created to bring together a community of musicians in the performance of a single grand piece. 12-14 musicians are needed to perform the entire work. Each section is available individually by clicking on the links below. Thanks to the Augustine Foundation for their support of this project.

1) Changes Upon the Guitar, violin, viola and seven guitars
2) A Tune Beyond, violin, viola and guitar
3) A Wisp in the Dark, guitar solo
4) So to Serenade, flute and guitar
5) Tom-tom, Pouquoi?, percussion and guitar
6) The Whirling, viola and guitar
7) Cry Among the Clouds, guitar solo
8) A World Not So Round, guitar quartet

Preview: a sample PDF of the flute serenade from As It Could Be, So to Serenade
Duration: 55 minutes
Difficulty level: Advanced
Instrumentation: flute, violin, viola, percussion, two high voices (or small women’s choir), seven guitars
Written: December 2013 to February 2014 for Hartt School Guitar Dept.
Commissioned by: the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department at the University of Hartford, CT with assistance from the Augustine Foundation
World premiere: April 12, 2014 at the Hartt School, Hartford, CT

All Gyre compositions are ASCAP
Copyright ©2014 Frank A. Wallace
Cover photography and design by Nancy Knowles
All rights reserved.
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1) Changes Upon the Guitar, violin, viola and seven guitars
2) A Tune Beyond, violin, viola and guitar written for Phenix Ensemble: Richard Provost, guitar; Anton Miller, violin; Rita Porfiris, viola
3) A Wisp in the Dark, guitar solo written for Richard Provost
4) So to Serenade, flute and guitar written for Pandora Duo: Christopher Ladd, guitar; Janet Arms, flute
5) Tom-tom, Pouquoi?, percussion and guitar written for Kaleidos: Yovianna Garcia, voice and guitar: Sayun Chang, voice and percussion
6) The Whirling, viola and guitar written for Alturas Duo Scott Hill, guitar; Carlos Boltes, viola
7) Cry Among the Clouds, guitar solo written for Christopher Ladd
8) A World Not So Round, guitar quartet written for New England Guitar Quartet: Nick Cutroneo; Jeremy Milligan; Daniel Hartington; Christopher Ladd

Composed as an addendum, Shadow of the Sun is intended to form the ending of a short Suite for solo guitar with the other two solos extracted from the complete work.
9) Suite Hartt

This is the debut performance of the work at Hartt School of Music, Hartford CT on April 12, 2014 [guitar solos are not included here]

As It Could Be was written for:
Phenix Ensemble: Richard Provost, guitar; Anton Miller, violin; Rita Porfiris, viola
Pandora Duo: Christopher Ladd, guitar; Janet Arms, flute
New England Guitar Quartet: Nick Cutroneo; Jeremy Milligan; Daniel Hartington; Christopher Ladd
Alturas Duo Scott Hill, guitar; Carlos Boltes, viola and charango
Kaleidos: Yovianna Garcia, voice and guitar: Sayun Chang, voice and percussion

A Tune Beyond was written for Phenix Ensemble: Richard Provost, guitar; Anton Miller, violin; Rita Porfiris, viola.

So to Serenade, flute and guitar, was written for Pandora Duo: Christopher Ladd, guitar; Janet Arms, flute

Tom-tom, Pouquoi? for percussion, voices and guitar was written for Kaleidos: Yovianna Garcia, voice and guitar: Sayun Chang, voice and percussion

The Whirling, viola and guitar, was written for Alturas Duo: Scott Hill, guitar; Carlos Boltes, viola

The Hartt School is the first institution in America to graduate a guitar major with a Bachelor’s Degree. Richard Provost graduated from Hartt and stayed on to start the Department himself in 1964. I am honored to have been chosen to write a major work in honor of the 50th Anniversary of that occasion. Of As It Could Be Dick writes, “We wanted this commission to leave a permanent record. Frank writes modern sounding music that has a broad appeal. His pieces are as satisfying to the audience as they are to the performing musicians. We chose Frank for this project simply because we like his music!”

As It Could Be begins with Changes Upon the Guitar, signifying past and future changes to our community as well as a reference to the ancient tradition of “change ringing” upon a set of tuned bells. Seven guitars play diatonic patterns derived from the names of the performers that create a layering of overtones that ring out from the cacophonous texture. Violin and viola join with competing melodic lines, a symbolic call to honor both this Guitar Department and it’s leader with a noble “call to worship,” as well as the changes that started 50 years ago within the guitar community that have led to this marvelous moment in time.

Eight works composed by Frank A. Wallace in winter 2014 comprise As It Could Be, a chamber suite commissioned by and dedicated to the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department and its founder/director Richard Provost on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. The project was conceived at dinner following a concert of the New England Guitar Quartet at the Hartt Festival in the summer of 2013. My interest in writing chamber music melded perfectly with Dick’s desire to plan a celebration/concert for the Anniversary. Dick suggested using The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens (a resident of Hartford, CT) as a source of lyrics for a song to include. This incredible testimony to art and its role in changing society became inspiration for the music and titles, though a song did not come forth.

The possibilities for chamber music with guitar, guitar orchestra and ensembles are only beginning to be fully realized. Thank you Dick (and all your colleagues) who brought the guitar out of the dark ages and into a brilliant new community of creativity and progress through your courage, hard work and vision. Thanks to the Augustine Foundation for their support of this project. Let us imagine a future as it could be: “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar.” [Wallace Stevens]

*Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called “changes”. Change ringing differs from many other forms of campanology (such as carillon ringing) in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody. Wikipedia

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Post Date January 20, 2015

Caracara | for solo guitar by Frank A. Wallace

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Caracara
by Frank A. Wallace
for guitar solo
SUGGESTED DONATION: $8.00

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Written: May, 2014 for Pablo Garibay and Juan Carlos Laguna

Duration: 9 minutes; 5 pages

Difficulty level: advanced

Instrumentation: solo guitar

World premiere: Juan Carlos Laguna, August 2019

Recording:

All Gyre compositions are ASCAP
Copyright ©2014 Frank A. Wallace
Cover photography and design by Nancy Knowles
All rights reserved.
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Juan Carlos Laguna, an exclusive artist for Urtext Digital Classics, is considered by international critics to be one of the most important guitarists in his country, both for his virtuoso technique and extraordinary interpreting capacity. He has been a soloist for both the principal orchestras en Mexico and foreign ones, such as; The National Symphony Orchestra, The OFUNAM, The Carlos Chavez Symphony Orchestra, The Cairo Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, The Berliner Sinphonietta, The Flint Symphony Orchestra and The Lima Philharmonic Orchestra. He has given performances on numerous occasions at some of the most important music halls in Mexico and in other countries such as: Argentina, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Peru, Germany, Italy, France, England, The Czech Republic, Japan, Egypt and The United States. His extensive discography includes commercial recordings in Mexico, France, England and Japan for Kojima Recordings, Soundspells Productions, Forlane, Auvidis and Urtext Digital Classics, as well as cinema recordings.

The Mexican guitarist Pablo Garibay has established himself as a leading force on the international classical guitar scene, with his pioneering interpretations of well-known classics and impressive performances of lesser-known masterpieces. With a repertoire that includes the great guitar concertos, notably those by Rodrigo, Vivaldi, Giuliani, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Manuel Ponce and Villa-Lobos, Pablo Garibay is particularly known for his interpretations of Latin American music, having performed premières by contemporary composers Ernesto Garcia de León, Juan Helguera, Diógenes Rivas, Mateo Barreiro, Ernesto Cordero, Rodrigo Sigal, and Tomás Barreiro. As a concerto soloist, he made his professional début with the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de Mexico and has since appeared as soloist with orchestras throughout Europe and the Americas. A winner of no fewer than sixteen international prizes, including first prizes at the International Francisco Tárrega Competition, International Julián Arcas Competition (Spain), Manuel Ponce International Guitar Competition (Mexico City), René Bartoli International Competition (Aix-en-Provence, France), JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition (Buffalo, USA), the International Guitar Competition in Aachen, and the International Guitar Competition in Gevelsberg (Germany). He is currently Guitar Professor at the UNAM’s Music Faculty in Mexico City. Pablo Garibay plays guitars made by Kamil Jaderny.

Caracara is the fifth in my series that I call Avian Series. All in the series are magnificent birds, noble and beautiful. They symbolize the grace and passion that I hope to convey in these works. They are all solo pieces in A/B form with slow rapturous beginnings that move into energetic, virtuosic sections.

The caracara is the national bird of Mexico, chosen to represent this piece because of whom it is dedicated to. The Adagio first section, Cara de la Luna, is for Pablo Garibay. I first met him in 2009 when he came to Boston to participate in my Festival 21 with a magnificent performance of new music by Mexican composers. Two years later I made my second of now four trips to Mexico to participate in Juan Carlos Laguna’s Festival de Guitarra in Taxco. The Presto second section, Cara del Sol, is dedicated to Juan Carlos, who is considered by international critics to be one of the most important guitarists in his country. Pablo is one of Juan Carlos’s exceptional students.

Caracara was written in honor of my growing friendship with both artists and for love of the soul and beauty of Mexico itself. I have been greatly inspired by both artists for their beauty of tone, power of musical presence and overall outstanding character which shines through their music and lives. Click on the dedication tab to read more about each of these phenomenal artists who both play from the soul and the heart with great precision and intelligence.

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Post Date May 4, 2014

So to Serenade | for flute & guitar by Frank A. Wallace

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So to Serenade
by Frank A. Wallace
for flute and guitar; PARTS INCLUDED
SUGGESTED DONATION: $15

Become a Patron!

Preview: a sample PDF of So to Serenade

Duration: 10 minutes; 8 pages

Difficulty level: Moderate technically

Instrumentation: flute and guitar

Written: February, 2014 for Pandora Duo

Commissioned by: the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department at the University of Hartford, CT with assistance from the Augustine Foundation

World premiere: April 12, 2014 at the Hartt School, Hartford, CT

Recording:
All Gyre compositions are ASCAP
Copyright ©2014 Frank A. Wallace
Cover photography and design by Nancy Knowles
All rights reserved.
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So to Serenade, flute and guitar, was written for Pandora Duo: Christopher Ladd, guitar; Janet Arms, flute

Award winning guitarist Christopher Ladd is rapidly becoming known throughout the country as one of the most promising young classical musicians. Praised as “… an exercise in extremes.” by Soundboard Magazine, he is highly sought after as a soloist and chamber musician. Performances of note as a soloist or as part of an ensemble include the DiMenna Center in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Viennese Opera Ball hosted by the Austrian Embassy, the historic Byrdcliffe Theater in Woodstock, NY and for former vice-president Al Gore at his residence in Washington, D.C. Most recently he has had the opportunity to work with Grammy and Academy Award winning composer John Corigliano, in a performance of his work “Troubadours” for guitar and chamber orchestra conducted by Edward Cumming. Mr. Ladd currently serves on the faculty of The Hartt School in West Hartford, Connecticut, Central Connecticut State University and the New England Music Camp in Sidney, Maine.

Flutist Janet Arms has been a member of the New York City Opera orchestra since 1988 and on the faculty of The Hartt School since 1994, where she currently holds the title of Senior Artist Teacher. Educated at Hartt and The Juilliard School, Ms. Arms was named a prizewinner of the Concert Artists International Competition while completing her Master’s at Juilliard. She was presented in her Carnegie Hall debut the following season, a high profile beginning to an extended, multi-faceted musical journey. She has performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston, at Tanglewood, and on tour, has been guest principal flutist with the St. Louis Symphony in the US and on a month-long tour throughout Europe, and stepped in as a last minute substitute with the Israel Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in a concert featuring both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman.

So to Serenade
Eight works composed by Frank A. Wallace in winter 2014 comprise As It Could Be, a chamber suite commissioned by and dedicated to the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department and its founder/director Richard Provost on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. The project was conceived at dinner following a concert of the New England Guitar Quartet at the Hartt Festival in the summer of 2013. My interest in writing chamber music melded perfectly with Dick’s desire to plan a celebration/concert for the Anniversary. Dick suggested using The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens (a resident of Hartford, CT) as a source of lyrics for a song to include. This incredible testimony to art and its role in changing society became inspiration for the music and titles, though a song did not come forth.

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Post Date May 2, 2014

Tom-tom, Pourquoi? | prepared guitar & percussion by Frank A. Wallace

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Tom-tom, Pourquoi?
by Frank A. Wallace
for prepared guitar and percussion, with two voices or melody instruments; PARTS INCLUDED
SUGGESTED DONATION: $10

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Preview: a sample PDF of sample from As It Could Be – Tom-tom, Pourquoi?

Duration: 5 minutes; 7 pages

Difficulty level: Moderate technically; guitar requires simple “preparation” of hard foam stick put in strings at 19th fret

Written: February, 2014 for Kaleidos

Commissioned by: the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department at the University of Hartford, CT with assistance from the Augustine Foundation

Instrumentation: guitar and percussion with 2 voices [low female], or small female choir, or two melody instruments:
Drums: low bata, high/low bongo, deep “tumba” [djembe or conga] Rattle: cabasa, rain stick optional
Cymbals: small splash, small gong, chinese cymbal [high] Miscellaneous: rain stick or wood blocks

World premiere: April 12, 2014 at the Hartt School 50th Anniversary Gala, Hartford, CT by Kaleidos

All Gyre compositions are ASCAP
Copyright ©2014 Frank A. Wallace
Cover photography and design by Nancy Knowles
All rights reserved.
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Tom-tom, Pouquoi? for percussion, voices and guitar was written for Kaleidos: Yovianna Garcia, voice and guitar: Sayun Chang, voice and percussion

Multi-percussionist Sayun Chang’s musical interests range from traditional and contemporary classical music to many diverse disciplines of world music. She has performed in international folk festivals throughout Turkey, Greece, Canada and Hungary. In 2011, Sayun presented the world premiere of Che-Yi Lee’s Fantasy on the love of Shiao-Guei Lake for violin and marimba in MiaoLi, Taiwan. Currently, Sayun is a doctoral student at The Hartt School, where she studies orchestral percussion with Ben Toth.

Growing up in a family of musicians, Puerto Rican guitarist Yovianna García received her Bachelor in Music degree at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico and her Masters in Music degree at The Hartt School. She is praised for her expressive and charismatic performances at the Miami International Guitar Festival, Connecticut Guitar Society, New Music Hartford contemporary music series, Primer Festival de Guitarra Clásica in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and performances throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic. Yovianna released her first solo recording “Portrait” in June 2011.

Tom-tom, Pourquoi?
Eight works composed by Frank A. Wallace in winter 2014 comprise As It Could Be, a chamber suite commissioned by and dedicated to the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department and its founder/director Richard Provost on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. The project was conceived at dinner following a concert of the New England Guitar Quartet at the Hartt Festival in the summer of 2013. My interest in writing chamber music melded perfectly with Dick’s desire to plan a celebration/concert for the Anniversary. Dick suggested using The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens (a resident of Hartford, CT) as a source of lyrics for a song to include. This incredible testimony to art and its role in changing society became inspiration for the music and titles. The possibilities for chamber music with guitar, guitar orchestra and ensembles are only beginning to be fully realized. Thank you Dick (and all your colleagues) who brought the guitar out of the dark ages and into a brilliant new community of creativity and progress through your courage, hard work and vision. Thanks to the Augustine Foundation for their support of this project. Let us imagine a future as it could be: “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar.” [Stevens]

There is also a foot controlled rattle on the right foot.

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Post Date May 2, 2014

The Whirling | for viola and guitar by Frank A. Wallace

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The Whirling
by Frank A. Wallace
for viola and guitar; PARTS INCLUDED
SUGGESTED DONATION: $10

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Duration: 7 minutes; 7 pages

Instrumentation: viola and guitar

Difficulty level: Moderate technically

Written: January, 2014 for Alturas Duo

Commissioned by: the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department at the University of Hartford, CT with assistance from the Augustine Foundation

World premiere: April 12, 2014 at the Hartt School, Hartford, CT

Recording:

The Whirling – debut at Hartt School 50th Anniversary – Alturas Duo

The Whirling, viola and guitar, was written for Alturas Duo: Scott Hill, guitar; Carlos Boltes, viola

The only group of its kind, the Alturas Duo was formed with the idea of playing South American and classical music by bringing together the unusual combination of the viola, charango and guitar, and in doing so, creating passionate music that moves at ease between the Baroque, South American folk rhythms and new pieces written especially for the Duo. They have performed in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and throughout the US and Puerto Rico including recitals at: Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, the Smithsonian Institute, the Music Mountain Chamber Music Series, La Guitarra California, and the 34th International Viola Congress. The Duo took First Prize at the 2006 New England International Chamber Music Competition, and won the 2009 CMA / ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. Finally, the Duo is a “Goodwill Ambassador” for the Chilean-American Foundation and has recently been named “Artist in Residence” for the Intake Organization whose goal is to incorporate native South American instruments in different styles of music.

The Whirling
Eight works composed by Frank A. Wallace in winter 2014 comprise As It Could Be, a chamber suite commissioned by and dedicated to the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department and its founder/director Richard Provost on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. The project was conceived at dinner following a concert of the New England Guitar Quartet at the Hartt Festival in the summer of 2013. My interest in writing chamber music melded perfectly with Dick’s desire to plan a celebration/concert for the Anniversary. Dick suggested using The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens (a resident of Hartford, CT) as a source of lyrics for a song to include. This incredible testimony to art and its role in changing society became inspiration for the music and titles. The possibilities for chamber music with guitar, guitar orchestra and ensembles are only beginning to be fully realized. Thank you Dick (and all your colleagues) who brought the guitar out of the dark ages and into a brilliant new community of creativity and progress through your courage, hard work and vision. Thanks to the Augustine Foundation for their support of this project. Let us imagine a future as it could be: “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar.” [Stevens]

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Post Date May 1, 2014

A World Not So Round | guitar quartet by Frank A. Wallace

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by Frank A. Wallace
for guitar quartet; PARTS INCLUDED
SUGGESTED DONATION: $18.00

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Duration: 10 minutes; 28 pages

Difficulty level: Moderate technically

Instrumentation: guitar quartet

Written: January, 2014 for the New England Guitar Quartet

Commissioned by: the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department at the University of Hartford, CT with assistance from the Augustine Foundation

World premiere: April 12, 2014 at the Hartt School, Hartford, CT by the New England Guitar Quartet

Recording: coming on Gyre, fall 2014

The New England Guitar Quartet at the debut of As It Could Be at the Hartt School on April 12, 2014.

A World Not So Round, guitar quartet written for New England Guitar Quartet: Nick Cutroneo; Jeremy Milligan; Daniel Hartington; Christopher Ladd
New England Guitar Quartet www.neguitarquartet.com/

The New England Guitar Quartet has been stunning audiences since their debut performance at The Hartford Women’s Composers Festival in 2012 with their dynamic virtuosity, inventive programming and artistic interpretations. The quartet delivers an eclectic mixture of fiery Latin American rhythms, exotic modalities and complex baroque counterpoint in their performances. Their concert programs bring to life both historically significant repertoire as well as newly composed works for the guitar.

Jeremy Milligan received his Bachelors degree in Classical Guitar Performance from Keene State College in 2001, where he graduated with honors and was awarded the KSC ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ award for 2001. Immediately following school he began work for Royal Caribbean Intl. as the guitarist for the ‘Enchantment of the Seas Orchestra’. Jeremy recently received his Masters Degree in Classical Performance from the prestigious Hartt School of Music in West Hartford, CT, where he studied with Richard Provost.

Not only a soloist, Nicholas Cutroneo is a highly sought after chamber musician. During his time at The Hartt School, Mr. Cutroneo was a member of the prestigious Performance 20/20 honors chamber music program. Devoted not only to standard repertoire, Mr. Cutroneo has premiered many new works for the classical guitar by Thomas Schuttenhelm, Frank Wallace, Sean Pallatroni and including a Guitar Concerto written and dedicated to him by Dan Lis.

Daniel Hartington serves as director of the Connecticut Guitar Society’s Guitar Ensemble. Under his direction, this group of amateur guitarists has performed on stage with William Kanengiser (2009) and the Mark and Beverly Davis guitar duo (2010) and presented a series of concerts throughout central Connecticut. As a teacher, Daniel maintains several studios, serving on the faculty of the Hartt Community Division at the Hartt School, Miss Porter’s School, The Music Academy of the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.

Award winning guitarist Christopher Ladd has been a prizewinner in numerous competitions including the Appalachian Guitar Festival Solo Competition, American String Teachers Association Competition and was twice a semi-finalist in the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America International Competition. He received the highly coveted Artist Diploma from The Hartt School where he studied with Richard Provost. Mr. Ladd currently serves on the faculty of The Hartt School in West Hartford, Connecticut, Central Connecticut State University and the New England Music Camp in Sidney, Maine.

A World Not So Round

The basic themes and ides for this piece were derived
from the players names.

NOTES
Eight works composed by Frank A. Wallace in winter 2014 comprise As It Could Be, a chamber suite commissioned by and dedicated to the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department and its founder/director Richard Provost on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. The project was conceived at dinner following a concert of the New England Guitar Quartet at the Hartt Festival in the summer of 2013. My interest in writing chamber music melded perfectly with Dick’s desire to plan a celebration/concert for the Anniversary. Dick suggested using The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens (a resident of Hartford, CT) as a source of lyrics for a song to include. This incredible testimony to art and its role in changing society became inspiration for the music and titles. The possibilities for chamber music with guitar, guitar orchestra and ensembles are only beginning to be fully realized. Thank you Dick (and all your colleagues) who brought the guitar out of the dark ages and into a brilliant new community of creativity and progress through your courage, hard work and vision. Thanks to the Augustine Foundation for their support of this project. Let us imagine a future as it could be: “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar.” [Stevens]

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Post Date May 1, 2014

Changes Upon the Guitar | by Frank A. Wallace

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Changes Upon the Guitar
by Frank A. Wallace
for violin, viola and seven guitars; PARTS INCLUDED
SUGGESTED DONATION: $18.00

Become a Patron!

Duration: 7 minutes; 18 pages

Difficulty level: Moderate; mostly single notes for guitars

Written: December, 2013 for Richard Provost and the Hartt School of Music

Commissioned by: the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department at the University of Hartford, CT with assistance from the Augustine Foundation

Instrumentation: violin, viola and seven guitars

World premiere: April 12, 2014 at the Hartt School, Hartford, CT; with Phenix Trio – Richard Provost, guitar; Rita Porfiris, viola; Anton Miller violin; with Christopher Ladd, Scott Hill, Yovianna Garcia, Dan Hartington, Nick Cutroneo, Jeremy Milligan

Changes Upon the Guitar
Eight works composed by Frank A. Wallace in winter 2014 comprise As It Could Be, a chamber suite commissioned by and dedicated to the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department and its founder/director Richard Provost on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. The project was conceived at dinner following a concert of the New England Guitar Quartet at the Hartt Festival in the summer of 2013. My interest in writing chamber music melded perfectly with Dick’s desire to plan a celebration/concert for the Anniversary. Dick suggested using The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens (a resident of Hartford, CT) as a source of lyrics for a song to include. This incredible testimony to art and its role in changing society became inspiration for the music and titles. The possibilities for chamber music with guitar, guitar orchestra and ensembles are only beginning to be fully realized. Thank you Dick (and all your colleagues) who brought the guitar out of the dark ages and into a brilliant new community of creativity and progress through your courage, hard work and vision. Thanks to the Augustine Foundation for their support of this project. Let us imagine a future as it could be: “Things as they are / Are changed upon the blue guitar.” [Stevens]

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Author gyremusic

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Post Date May 1, 2014