Posts Tagged with “review”

Classical Guitar review of Omaggio

Omaggio
Frank Wallace
Gyre Music
Finding new colors in Segovia’s repertoire

This “tribute to the legacy of Segovia” (i.e., pieces associated with him) is played on a 1931 Hauser and recorded in a church, so there is plenty of natural reverb on the recording.  Wallace begins with Villa-Lobos’ first three Preludes, well-known to most, but what is unexpected is his presentation of some details in a slightly different way, which I found quite refreshing.  The Manuel de Falla Omaggio that comes next moves a little faster than a lot of interpretations and is full of power and drama. Turina’s Garrotín and Soleares are wonderfully played.  It is such a shame that Turina’s guitar oeuvre is so tiny, as these pieces are exciting and consistently entertaining.

Four pieces by Tárrega follow, all lovely miniatures, including Adelita and the famous Capricho Arabe, which receives a particularly lively and dynamic performance. The only slightly unconventional addition to the recital is a set of variations on El Noi de la Mare, so beloved in Llobet’s magnificent version.  Here, Wallace treats this lullaby to a constantly surprising set of emotions, many of them definitely not very lullaby-like.  This is Wallace’s own homage to both Llobet and Segovia.

The recital finishes with one of the finest pieces Segovia had written for him, Federico Mompou’s Suite Compostelana. Wallace’s interpretations are quite telling, as here, too, he manages to find fresh ways to play this suite.  This is altogether a wonderful album, beautifully played. – Chris Dumigan, Classical Guitar Summer 2017

Listen and Purchase

The Music of Bret Williams – CD review

Bret Williams is a funny guy. He’s friendly but edgy, likes to push the envelope in his podcast interviews. Here’s a couple of quotes from his website: “I don’t play strings not made by D’Addario. I’d rather die.” Or, “I hate Apple’s recording software, but I love the head of University of Washington’s guitar department, Michael Partington.” So this music is not what I expected. Williams’ music is sweet rather than ironic, it’s lyrical and nostalgic rather than biting and bitchy. It’s downright beautiful. Melody is king on this disc and the lovely interweaving of each line carries me through the whole CD time and again. The titles are worthy of comment: Pick That Up, Please; I Remember Dancing; and my favorite You’ll Tear Your Dress. While these come from Bret’s love of humor and irony, [that sometimes verges on vulgarity] they betray a love of the common, the mundane, the daily life of a Joe in New York City. But one who is not jaded by the need to conform to a style. Bret has created his own style. And it’s daring is to say, “I dare to love;” “I dare to laugh at myself;” “I dare to wear my heart on my sleeve.” “I dare to write beautiful music!”

This is a rare and fresh piece of work. It’s not daring in the sense of way out experimental music, dissonant harmonies or incessant repetition. But it is daring that one composer has chosen to write so much music for one unusual ensemble. And a nice one it is! With guitar, violin, clarinet and bass, Williams manages to use every instrument (except the bass) in every role he can conjure: solo, accompaniment, duets, dialogues. There is always a fresh texture and new rhythmic groove. Only the bass stays in its relatively typical role of being bass – usually plucking, or is it always, hmm, have to listen again…

I have just completed an interview with French composer Pascal Jugy who is about to release a CD of flute and ten-string guitar music and both have much in common. Both clearly love life and show that through an underlying pop/jazz feel. Through melody. I dare say Bret’s music is almost cabaret in style – a touch of the elegant Parisienne. It’s intimate and caring. It’s flirtatious. It says, “Have a seat and enjoy a glass of wine in the sunshine.”

Towards the end of the CD, I did want to hear something distraught, pissy or pissed off. A little anger, an argument, “Hey Bret, your music sucks, wanta fight?!” Or: Hey Jerk, You Spilled My Milk. But that’s just me and maybe it will come next time. I hope there is a next time, with or without spilled milk. We need more guitarists willing to join forces with other instruments and make a statement, commit to a new sound. We need more composers to care about guitar ensembles. We need to try new sounds and break away from the ordinary. This album is proof that one can do that without being weird or controversial, yet still new and relevant.

I have to end with another quote from Bret, “Why don’t you buy a CD from me? You can buy it from iTunes too, but Apple doesn’t care about me. They only care about themselves. You’ll also find me on all your favorite streaming services if you prefer to kill art in America.”  http://www.bretwilliamsmusic.com/

Do It!

Frank Wallace
www.frankwallace.com

PS – I sent this review to Bret and invited his response before publication. I thought there might be some further dialogue that could be interesting…here it is:

Holy shit Frank.

You almost made me cry in public. This is amazing. You should be writing at the Times and teaching at Juilliard. Let me know where you decide to post it. Feel free to post my response.

Bret

My response to Bret: Cluster Pluck, by Frank Wallace, from a new collection of seven short works entitled Film Scores, click on the title to read more and purchase. A free copy of Cluster Pluck and Sweet Betrayal is in the Sample PDF on that page. Keep your eyes peeled for a Movie Contest coming up this summer.

Fanfare’s David DeBoor Canfield reviews Wallace CDs Gargoyles and Elemental

WALLACE The Elements. Black Falcon. Passing in the Night. A Heavy Sleep. Sonata One — Frank Wallace (gtr) — GYRE (62:06)

WALLACE Gargoyles. Nocturne. The Coming of Arthur. White Albatross. Night Owl. New England Quartets — Mare Duo; Anne Wolf (man); Kristina Lisner (man); Melanie Hunger (man); Thomas Kolarczyk (db) — GYRE   (63:19)

I would hazard a guess that unlike most other instruments, the majority of those who have composed for the guitar have also played the instrument to one degree or the other. This is due to the difficulty of writing playable music for the instrument barring some degree of knowledge of its technical capabilities. Thus, in the first disc of the two under review here, the reader is afforded the opportunity of hearing a recital of music by the composer-performer guitarist, Frank Wallace. In this case, the composer is the equal of the performer, or vice versa, and both are very good.

Because of the tuning of the instrument (normally from bottom to top, E-A-D-G-B-E), much music for this instrument is written in guitar-friendly keys, such as E Minor or D Major. The reason is simple: Music in certain keys is easier to play, and music of extended tonality or atonality is much trickier. From the very beginning of the solo CD, Wallace proves that he is not limited to the diatonic keys involving frequent use of the open strings. The first movement of the opening work, The Elements, is entitled “Fire,” and it involves some quite complex sonorities, interspersed with chords that utilize the open strings to provide a greater resonance than is achieved through stopped notes and chords. The effect is dramatic and very evocative. The movements of this suite, which also includes “Earth,” “Air,” and “Water,” are obviously derived from the four elements of the ancient Greeks, thought to be the components of all matter. Wallace uses these “elements” in a poetic fashion to depict the creation of the world–the initial explosion, the congealing of the ground, and so forth. Whether the listener would get any of this simply from hearing the piece is beside the point. The work exudes drama, and sustains interest throughout.

A Heavy Sleep draws its inspiration from the well-known Nocturnal of Benjamin Britten, by now ensconced as a staple of the guitar repertory. Commissioned on the occasion of the 100th birthday of the composer, this work evokes the Britten’s masterpiece through its textures, gestures and harmonic language. Sounds of the night are plentiful, but the work is not soporific in its effect: I stayed awake and quite interested throughout! Black Fountain, based on the octatonic scale, and a commission by guitarist Edel Muñoz, exhibits a bit more Spanish flavor in its quasi-flamenco rhythms and chords, but retains Wallace’s distinctive compositional voice.

The Bells consists of three preludes that exhibit Wallace’s experimentation in more dissonant sonorities. The latter two pieces in the set are also based upon the letters of their respective dedicatees’ names. Sonata One, on the other hand, is described by its composer as utilizing a “romantic 12-tone style.” This work was inspired by memories that the composer had of the influential LP by Julian Bream, “20th Century Guitar Music,” a disc which contained music by Britten, Smith Brindle, Martin, and Henze. Judging by the number of copies of this LP I’ve seen as a dealer, it must have sold very well, and influenced a lot of other guitarists and composers. Two virtuosic and note-rich outer movements flank a quiet “Grave” interior movement that produces much of its effect from changes in the kind of plucking of the strings that is called for. The use of different parts of the finger, or plucking closer to, or further away from the bridge of the instrument all contribute to this variety in color. The CD concludes with a moving tribute written on the passing of Wallace’s 94-year-old father, and commemorates him by depicting his love of travel, various activities, and fondly remembered sayings. The last movement, “I’m still your pappy,” includes some very non-guitar-like sounds, which must have been produced by striking various parts of the instrument.

The second CD, entitled “Gargoyles” after one of the pieces on it, combines guitar with various numbers of mandolins. If you, the purchaser of this CD, can figure out which performers on the second CD play in which pieces (Wallace himself does not play on this disc), you either have better eyes or more patience–or both–than do I. Suffice it to say that the Mare Duo, comprised of mandolinist Annika Hinsche and guitarist Fabian Hinsche, play on the majority of the works here included. Given that the mandolin is, unlike the guitar, a rather mono-chromatic instrument (most of its music consists either of plucked single lines or tremolo on notes or chords), I was not expecting to enjoy this CD as much as the solo guitar. I was quite surprised, therefore, to find myself enjoying these works every bit as much Wallace’s solo guitar works. Indeed, the range of moods and colors he extracts from the combination of guitar and mandolin(s), with occasional recourse to a double bass, is quite astonishing. The soft tremolo passages of the mandolin in the background allow the guitar to paint upon an exquisite canvas. The louder tremolos are more akin to tremolo passages in violins or other bowed string instruments, and can and do produce palpable excitement. Then, too, Wallace finds some colors on the mandolin that I had yet to encounter. In With a Wink his Dream was Changed, for instance, he calls for his mandolin performers to employ a technique that makes the mandolin sound very much like a harpsichord with the lute stop engaged, a really interesting sound. The quick juxtaposition of single plucked notes and tremolo in Night Owl was further evidence of this composer’s imagination. There was even a quick glissando in this work, something I’ve never heard on a mandolin previously.

Part of the interest in the music on this CD is the stylistic variety that the composer uses from one piece to the next, or sometimes even within the same piece. One hears everything ranging from firm tonality in Gargoyles to mysterious sonorities in White Albatross to dramatic contrasts in The Coming of Arthur. Some of the works exhibit a sort of almost Baroque counterpoint, while others use extended chordal technique to make their effect. The variety is such that my interest never flagged for a moment during the course of the CD, a fact abetted by the consummate skill of all the performers. One hears some really virtuoso playing during the course of these two CDs.

Although these two well-recorded CDs will unquestionably appeal to collectors of music on plucked instruments, I believe that their value will also be recognized by repertory collectors generally, and on that basis can give them a firm recommendation. David DeBoor Canfield