Christmas presents!

A couple of music-related presents worth mentioning: a 78rpm recording by Andres Segovia, and an edition of Sanz's works by Jerry Willard.

About four months ago I bought an old reconditioned gramophone - a basic 'picnic' model. I've been picking up some great recordings by Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian and Glen Miller. I love the sound of these old recordings - VERY different to their digital counterparts, leaving me with the belief that sound reproduction hasn't got better, it has just got different. Charlie Christian, especially, sounds so much more alive through a 78. And yesterday my wife gifted me with a recording of Segovia. One side has the first movement of Torroba's Sonatina, the other side has a Gavotte by 'Bach'. Man, what a player! It's easy to imagine hearing Segovia for the first time - his technique was phenomenal for the time, and although fashions have changed, his baroque interpretation is not as way out as I remember. Very enjoyable.

The Willard edition is a mixed bag. I'm very happy to have an English transcription of the text, but I had to search hard to find who did it. Apparently not Willard. In fact, despite Willard's name being all over the place, it seems to have been translated by Marko Miletich. In fact, it may be that the entire musical contents, as well as the text, was translated by Miletich, but edited by Willard.

My interest is in the translation of the text. The main impression is how didactic the text is. Sanz is not saying 'here are pieces for you to learn', but 'here are a few examples on which to model your own variations and compositions' - BIG DIFFERENCE! How many classical guitarists will use the book in this way? In fact, how many baroque guitarists will use it this way? I'd like to say I would, but Sanz's differencias are very beautiful.

The transcription completely ignores Sanz's tuning instructions, so simple descending scales become a series of displaced octaves. It's like trying to quickly ride a bicycle down a heavily-cobbled road. Willard's arrangements for classical guitar iron-out the bumps so that a downward scale appears as a downward scale - but without the campanella effect. I'm even more of a mind that classical guitarists should avoid this repertoire all together, it really is so idiomatic. Some players like David Russell can make lute and harpsichord music sound great on a modern classical guitar, but so much of the unique nature of the baroque guitar gets lost in transference to the moder guitar.

I hope to have a new baroque guitar in two or three weeks time...