Received a letter from Sono Luminus (www.sonoluminus.com) who have taken on the challenge of recovering the Dorian Recordings label, who seemed to go bust a year or two ago. I made one CD for Dorian, called Graysteil (http://www.dorian.com/store/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=5374) and I hope that it will become available again soon.
So, good luck to Sono Luminus! Live long and prosper...
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
updates and new instrument
I've added a new page: www.rmguitar.info/instruments.htm which will, when finished, have photos of all my instruments. Yes, I know, I have too many! Some, I hardly play at all, but find useful in my post at Queen Margaret University. Others I use all the time, mainly the Parker, the oud and the baroque guitar. And I will always have a soft spot for the so-called English Guitar (the guittar). In fact, I've been invited to perform guittar music in King's Lynn in June, Saturday 23rd. Looking forward to it.
My new oud arrived a couple of days ago, and I can't speak highly enough of it. It was made by Yildirim of www.turkishouds.com and is a GREAT oud. More details on my instruments page.
My new oud arrived a couple of days ago, and I can't speak highly enough of it. It was made by Yildirim of www.turkishouds.com and is a GREAT oud. More details on my instruments page.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
A monumental radio series has begun on the history of Scottish music. You can hear it online here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/music/scotlandsmusic/episodes/episode_00.shtml. I am delighted to have been invited to contribute. I don't know which episode (50 programmes, broadcast weekly) feature the lute in Scotland. The guide is the incomparable, Dr John Purser, composer, poet and crofter. Well worth tuning in to!
Happy New Year
A sublimely uneventful holiday period, with few distractions and plenty of time to think and play vihuela. I've uploaded the last of the tientos by Fuenllana - an old recording recently relocated - so now all eight tientos are online. I've been working on Narvaez's diferencias on 'O Gloriosa Domina', and hope to place that online someday.
Received an email from Werner Bogula, requesting permission to use one of my vihuela soundfiles for a 'lute' podcast on the intabulations of Josquin. Permission granted, of course. http://lutecast.blogspot.com/2006/11/lute-intabulations-of-josquin-desprez.html - it's not my best recording of Mille Regres, due mainly to the fact that I was playing from memory, having last played the piece about ten years previously. I was amazed that I was able to remember it, but it has long been one of my favourite pieces.
The podcast idea is an interesting one. I might consider doing one on Fuenllana, one of these days.
Been putting a lot of thought into continuo playing. I need a continuo instrument, both for my work at Queen Margaret University, and in ensemble situations such as playing with Gordon Ferries, friend and baroque-guitar colleague based in Edinburgh. Initially I thought about a theorbo in A, then a Chittarone Francese, which could be described as an archlute for guitar players: a five-course guitar with 9 or 11 diapasons. That would be great for accompanying the guitar and small French theorbo in D, but might not be loud enough for larger ensembles.
As for the theorbo: very large or relatively small? 90cms plus, or 76cms? The former would be great for ensemble work. I really would love to play a very large theorbo strung entirely in gut, but the solo repertoire would be out. I can't imagine playing Kapsberger on a 96cm theorbo! His first book is for an 11-course theorbo only - which I imagine would be a much smaller instrument, little more than a bass lute circa 75cm with added diapasons of a longer length. So, really, one needs to buy both an ensemble theorbo and a solo-repertoire theorbo, not forgetting a French theorbo in D and a Chittarone Francese - about £20,000!!! Hmm...
My baroque guitar arrives, hopefully, next weekend or early the following week. Very excited. Here it is: http://www.vihuelademano.com/guitars/flat-back/baroque_5c-guitar.htm. I plan to start with a safe repertoire: Gaspar Sanz, still my favourite bg repertoire, followed by Robert de Visee. After that, I'll start exploring the less famous composers such as Carre and Campion. Gordon wants to do the guitar duet repertoire. Should be interesting. Might try to 'recreate' Kapsberger's lost guitar music - surely varaitions on standard grounds, with diferencias taken from his theorbo and lute works. But as a Rome-based composer, would he have had his guitar strung with no diapasons, as mentioned by Sanz? He uses campanellas in his theorbo works, so he was probably using them in his guitar works as well. It's a starting point. We shall see.
Received an email from Werner Bogula, requesting permission to use one of my vihuela soundfiles for a 'lute' podcast on the intabulations of Josquin. Permission granted, of course. http://lutecast.blogspot.com/2006/11/lute-intabulations-of-josquin-desprez.html - it's not my best recording of Mille Regres, due mainly to the fact that I was playing from memory, having last played the piece about ten years previously. I was amazed that I was able to remember it, but it has long been one of my favourite pieces.
The podcast idea is an interesting one. I might consider doing one on Fuenllana, one of these days.
Been putting a lot of thought into continuo playing. I need a continuo instrument, both for my work at Queen Margaret University, and in ensemble situations such as playing with Gordon Ferries, friend and baroque-guitar colleague based in Edinburgh. Initially I thought about a theorbo in A, then a Chittarone Francese, which could be described as an archlute for guitar players: a five-course guitar with 9 or 11 diapasons. That would be great for accompanying the guitar and small French theorbo in D, but might not be loud enough for larger ensembles.
As for the theorbo: very large or relatively small? 90cms plus, or 76cms? The former would be great for ensemble work. I really would love to play a very large theorbo strung entirely in gut, but the solo repertoire would be out. I can't imagine playing Kapsberger on a 96cm theorbo! His first book is for an 11-course theorbo only - which I imagine would be a much smaller instrument, little more than a bass lute circa 75cm with added diapasons of a longer length. So, really, one needs to buy both an ensemble theorbo and a solo-repertoire theorbo, not forgetting a French theorbo in D and a Chittarone Francese - about £20,000!!! Hmm...
My baroque guitar arrives, hopefully, next weekend or early the following week. Very excited. Here it is: http://www.vihuelademano.com/guitars/flat-back/baroque_5c-guitar.htm. I plan to start with a safe repertoire: Gaspar Sanz, still my favourite bg repertoire, followed by Robert de Visee. After that, I'll start exploring the less famous composers such as Carre and Campion. Gordon wants to do the guitar duet repertoire. Should be interesting. Might try to 'recreate' Kapsberger's lost guitar music - surely varaitions on standard grounds, with diferencias taken from his theorbo and lute works. But as a Rome-based composer, would he have had his guitar strung with no diapasons, as mentioned by Sanz? He uses campanellas in his theorbo works, so he was probably using them in his guitar works as well. It's a starting point. We shall see.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Fuenllana scores
I put a call out to my friends on the vihuela discussion group http://www.mail-archive.com/vihuela%40cs.dartmouth.edu/ for my lost French intabulations of the tientos and fantasias by Fuenllana. Within a few hours I had almost all of them replaced, so they are now available for free online: http://www.rmguitar.info/vFuenllana.htm Thanks to everyone who contributed.
Now that I have some time off from my post of Musician In Residence at Queen Margaret University College in Edinburgh, I'm finding the peace of mind to return to the vihuela repertoire. I think my New Year's resolution must be not to forget my own musical activity.
Spent a gloriously peaceful two hours yesterday playing through Narvaez's 6 diferencias on the hymn, 'O Gloriosa Domina'. What a great work it is, possibly the finest in the vihuela repertoire. I have a lot of work to do on the piece to get to the point where I can relax enough to let the music breathe naturally, with each voice floating freely in its set course.
I have a baroque guitar arriving mid January, and am already having dreams of performing concerts with vihuela, baroque guitar and Sor on a 19th-century guitar. This, despite being aware of my aversion to actually seeking out concert opportunities. Narvaez, Fuenllana, Sanz and Sor - sounds good to me! Oh, how easy it is to dream up programmes - if only it were as easy to perform them. Actually, the performance is the enjoyable part, the not so enjoyable part is trying to convince concert secretaries to book you. You have to say how wonderful and entertaining you are, which can do strange things to your brain if you do it repeatedly over a decade or two. I no longer seek out concerts, and am contented enough to play to friends and family, and to record mp3 files for my website. Having said that, I might perform a lunchtime concert at QMUC this coming term. At least I kind of get on with (though not always!) the concert secretary: me!
Now that I have some time off from my post of Musician In Residence at Queen Margaret University College in Edinburgh, I'm finding the peace of mind to return to the vihuela repertoire. I think my New Year's resolution must be not to forget my own musical activity.
Spent a gloriously peaceful two hours yesterday playing through Narvaez's 6 diferencias on the hymn, 'O Gloriosa Domina'. What a great work it is, possibly the finest in the vihuela repertoire. I have a lot of work to do on the piece to get to the point where I can relax enough to let the music breathe naturally, with each voice floating freely in its set course.
I have a baroque guitar arriving mid January, and am already having dreams of performing concerts with vihuela, baroque guitar and Sor on a 19th-century guitar. This, despite being aware of my aversion to actually seeking out concert opportunities. Narvaez, Fuenllana, Sanz and Sor - sounds good to me! Oh, how easy it is to dream up programmes - if only it were as easy to perform them. Actually, the performance is the enjoyable part, the not so enjoyable part is trying to convince concert secretaries to book you. You have to say how wonderful and entertaining you are, which can do strange things to your brain if you do it repeatedly over a decade or two. I no longer seek out concerts, and am contented enough to play to friends and family, and to record mp3 files for my website. Having said that, I might perform a lunchtime concert at QMUC this coming term. At least I kind of get on with (though not always!) the concert secretary: me!
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Update
Provided a link on my vihuela page http://www.rmguitar.info/vihuela.htm to Aquila strings http://www.aquilacorde.com/indicemusicaclassicaing.htm in Italy who sponsored vihuela strings for my recordings. Many thanks to Mimmo Perufo, the enthusiastic maestro behind Aquila!
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