Glazunov: Méditation for Cello & Guitar/Violin & Guitar

Glazunov: Méditation for Cello & Guitar
Glazunov: Méditation for Violin & Guitar

Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) was born in Saint Petersburg, the son of a wealthy publisher. He began studying piano at the age of nine and began composing at 11. The composer Balakirev, recognized Glazunov’s talent and brought his work to the attention of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who mentored him.  Glazunov also enjoyed international acclaim. He conducted the last of the Russian Historical Concerts in Paris on 17 May 1907, and received honorary Doctor of Music degrees from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

Glazunov’s Méditation in D major, Op 32, was composed in 1891, apparently as a simple lyric piece for salon or concert hall. It was a popular recital and encore piece in the early twentieth century. The piece is a tranquil and very beautiful melodic outpouring, based throughout on the romantic theme heard at the outset, with the soloist being accompanied with exquisite harmonic restraint.

These arrangements for cello and guitar as well as violin and guitar by Gregg Nestor preserve and enhance that delicate balance.

Rimsky-Korsakov: 2 Lullabies for Violin & Guitar

2 Lullabies by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) arranged for Violin and Guitar by Gregg Nestor

In 1908 the Jewish Folk Music Society was established in St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire. Initially dedicated to the collection of folklore, the Society rapidly succeeded in creating a body of music by professional composers. Its success was formidable and organized over 154 concerts during the first five years of its activity, publishing more than 80 works of music. Among its stellar figures were composers Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev and violinists Jascha Heifetz, Efrem Zimbalist and Mischa Elman. Although it was not until the year of Rimsky-Korsakov’s death that the Jewish Folk Music Society was officially founded, his tremendous influence and personal encouragement were directly responsible for its flourishing.

The beautiful “Hebrew Love Song” (1867) is a poignant reflection of the composer’s respect for the heritage of his Jewish students at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

The “Song of India” is from the opera Sadko (1896). The opera tells the story of Sadko, who travels the world. During his years of travel he amasses a fortune, weds the daughter of the King and Queen of the Ocean and has other adventures. Upon his return, the city and Lubava rejoice.

 

Alt-Wien (Old Vienna) for Violin & Guitar by Leopold Godowsky

Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938) was a Polish-American-Lithuanian virtuoso pianist, composer, and teacher. His talent manifested itself very early, and by age five Godowsky was already composing and becoming proficient on both piano and violin. He gave his first concert at age nine, and toured throughout Lithuania and East Prussia. He was part of an influx of refugees, fleeing war and persecution in Europe, whose family originally emigrated to the United States in 1884.

In addition to a number of successful transcriptions to further the repertoire of his instrument, he also arranged numerous works for his friends Jascha Heifetz and Fritz Kreisler – adapting some of them for a duo combination violin and piano.

This work, Alt-Wien (Old Vienna) – here adapted by Gregg Nestor for violin and guitar – is a sweet and sentimental waltz, perhaps recalling the composers’ European background and an imagined reminiscence of his European exile, living in a foreign land.

New: eBooks Now Available for Satie, Ponce and Grieg

Clear Note Publications has decided to publish some of Gregg’s arrangements in eBook format ( iPad – Android – Smartphone ).  The first three eBooks below include works by Satie, Ponce and Grieg previously published in print format.

Satie: La Diva de “L’Empire”

Throughout his life, Erik Satie (1866-1925) was the foe of art that takes itself too seriously. He became very interested in French vaudeville songs and in American ragtime. The future of music, he felt, lay in the mode of simplicity – of melody rather than involved harmonies and counterpoint. Serious composers, he thought, could learn much from music-hall ditties. La Diva de “l’Empire” represents a perfect example of this. This Intermezzo Américain was composed for Paulette Darty, who was known as “The Queen of the Slow Waltz” in early 20th Century Paris. It was first performed about 1904 and subsequently published in 1919.

Grieg: Lyric Suite & Sarabande

  • I. Waltz Op. 12, No. 2
  • II. Watchman’s Song Op. 12, No. 3
  • III. Norwegian Melody Op. 12, No. 6
  • IV. National Song Op. 12, No. 8
  • V. Spring Dance Op. 33, No. 13
  • VI. Norwegian Dance Op. 47, No. 4
  • Sarabande – from the Holberg Suite

“Bach and Beethoven erected temples and churches on the heights. I only wanted to build dwellings for men in which they might feel happy, and at home.”
Edvard Grieg

Edvard Hagerup Grieg (1843-1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use and development of Norwegian folk music in his own compositions put the music of Norway in the international spectrum, as well as helping develop a national identity.

Grieg’s character and personality shine through in almost all his published compositions. Nowhere are they more vividly evident than in his Lyric Pieces. Six of these exquisite jewels have been set for solo guitar as a short suite, but can be played as separate pieces in concert.

A Sarabande from the “Holberg Suite” has also been included in this edition as a stand-alone work.

Ponce: Prelude and Fugue

“To sum up, your work is what has the most value for me and for all the musicians who hear it…”
– Andres Segovia, in a letter to Ponce (1929)

Manuel Maria Ponce (1882-1948, b. Fresnillo, Zacatecas) is undoubtedly Mexico’s most beloved composer. He was the first to give Mexican music both a national identity and an international stature – he put Mexico on the musical map. Ponce successfully bridged the three worlds of folk, popular and classical music – a rare achievement among composers. The variety of his compositional styles reflects his extended periods of study in Europe as well as his devotion to Mexican music and culture. Although he was a pianist, Ponce became best-known for his numerous guitar works, written for his close friend Andres Segovia. His piano output of over ninety pieces spans his entire career, and includes early salon-style character pieces, neo-Baroque preludes and fugues, nationalistic rhapsodies, and French Impressionist/neo-Classic works.

In 1925, eager to immerse himself in French compositional styles, Ponce arrived in Paris to study with composer Paul Dukas (1865-1935).There, Ponce met other influential Latin-American and European composers and performers such as Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999), and most significantly, Andrés Segovia (1893-1987).

Although Ponce had met Segovia after a concert in Mexico in 1923, it was during the years in Paris that their friendship deepened. Segovia encouraged Ponce to compose guitar music, which he did in abundance. Although the Prelude and Fugue for the Left Hand Alone was initially composed as a commission for the left-handed pianist Paul Wittgenstein (who also commissioned Ravel’s famous Concerto for Piano, left hand), Ponce composed with the intention to be read both by the guitar and the piano.

The Prelude and Fugue for the Left Hand Alone was completed in 1931, the year before he returned to Mexico. Although composed in steady eighth-notes, the Prelude subtly projects the 3+3+2 rhythm so characteristic of Spanish dances. Against this rhythmic backdrop, Ponce creates a gentle, mournful lament. The French harmonic influence in this work is especially prominent in the threevoiced Fugue, reminiscent of the richly chromatic style of Cesar Franck’s Prelude, Choral and Fugue. Here, Ponce is intense, sombre, and compelling.

Guitarist Gregg Nestor gave the European radio premiere of his arrangement of the Prelude and Fugue on the BBC (London) in 1982 and its American début on December 12th, 1986 at Holy Trinity Church in Alhambra, California during the concert series sponsored by the then-named Guitar Association of Los Angeles.

Erik Satie: La Diva de “L’Empire” for Solo Guitar and Guitar with Voice

Gregg chose to arrange a delightful piece by Erik Satie: La Diva de “L’Empire” Intermezzo Américain for solo guitar as well as for guitar with voice.

Throughout his life, Erik Satie (1866-1925) was the foe of art that takes itself too seriously. He became very interested in French vaudeville songs and in American ragtime. The future of music, he felt, lay in the mode of simplicity – of melody rather than involved harmonies and counterpoint. Serious composers, he thought, could learn much from music-hall ditties. La Diva de “l’Empire” represents a perfect example of this. This Intermezzo Américain was composed for Paulette Darty, who was known as “The Queen of the Slow Waltz” in early 20th Century Paris. It was first performed about 1904 and subsequently published in 1919.            Gregg Nestor

 

Cinco Piezas Populares for Guitar Trio by Enrique Granados

Cinco Piezas Populares
Enrique Granados (1867-1916)
Arranged for three guitars by Gregg Nestor

  • Añoranza
  • Zambra
  • Zapateado
  • Moresque
  • Miel de la Alcarria

Composer Enrique Granados, along with Isaac Albéniz, brought modern Spanish music into the home of the avid music lover. Most of Granados’ works are for piano solo, and through them he created a unique style of writing for the [then] modern school of Spanish keyboard music. Many of his works have been successfully arranged for guitar and are among the all time audience favorites in the instrument’s literature.

This collection, arranged for guitar trio by Gregg Nestor, are works from the composer’s youth (circa 1890 – 1895) and strongly convey the nationalistic elements so pronounced in his elegant style. They have been organized as a suite of contrasting movements, but can successfully be played as stand alone pieces.

Cuatro Pièzas Españolas by Manuel De Falla arranged for Three Guitars

Cuatro Pièzas Españolas (1908)
by Manuel De Falla (1876-1946)
arranged for three guitars by Gregg Nestor

  • Aragonesa
  • Cubana
  • Montañesa (Paysage)
  • Andaluza

“My principal idea was to express musically the soul and the atmosphere of each of the regions indicated by their respective titles.”

Manuel de Falla

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946), is considered the most distinguished Spanish composer of the early 20th century. In his music he achieved a fusion of poetry, asceticism, and ardor that represents the spirit of Spain at its purest.

Cuatro Pièzas Españolas is considered de Falla’s first major piano work, in which he arrived at a technical command and maturity in both compositional and pianistic practices. He had begun composing them in 1906 in Madrid and completed them in Paris. They are exemplary of his development from Romantic tonality to the modalities of Spanish folk music. Furthermore, he was to absorb the influence of Debussy’s Impressionistic style and move beyond it. Through rhythm, the melodic lines, and the characteristic ornaments, he evoked the soul of Spain.

The first of these, Aragonesa, displays the energetic character of a folk theme by applying the jota rhythm in the descending triplet-figure which appears fairly often throughout the piece.

The themes of the Cubana, the second movement, are based on the guajira rhythm which combines 3/4 and 6/8 meters alternatively and simultaneously.

In commenting on the third movement, Montañesa, de Falla wrote… Its themes are a major alteration of two folk ones. I wrote this piece in Paris after returning from a stay in the north of Spain the previous winter. What an effect the atmosphere and landscape of that part of my country had on me!.. The church bells ringing in the distance, slow and sad songs, dances, and all this with a superb backdrop of imposing snow topped mountains.

The final piece Andalucia, portrays lively and virtuoso style which explores the many well-known characteristics of Andalusian music, such as flamenco dance, guitar figures, and cante-jondo.

This adaptation for guitar trio by Gregg Nestor can either be performed in its entirety or individual movements. Metronomic tempo markings are suggestions by the arranger.

Don Quichotte à Dulcinée by Maurice Ravel Arranged for Three Guitars

Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932-1933)
by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Arranged for three guitars by Gregg Nestor

  • Chanson romanesque
  • Chanson épique
  • Chanson à boire

“Let no one think it was by chance that he made his entrance into music by way of Spain… I recognize Spain in every part of Ravel – what he was and what he did. His art, still more decidedly, is the French tongue touched with a Spanish accent.”

André Saures

Ravel’s setting of contemporary French writer Paul Morand’s Don Quichotte inspired poetry came at the very end of his creative life, and only upon a commission from the Austrian filmmaker G.W. Pabst for a film he was making on Don Quichotte. Pabst was plainly not devoted to Ravel’s work, however; – when Ravel was slow in producing the specified scores, Pabst readily accepted music from Jacques Ibert instead. The result of this aborted collaboration, Ravel’s set of three songs entitled Don Quichotte à Dulcinée ended up being his last completed work.

Ravel based each movement on a traditional Spanish dance: “Chanson romanesque” is a quajira, which alternates bars of 3/4 and 6/8. Although “Chanson épique” is hymnlike, introduced with a low spiritual chorale, it too is a dance: the 5/4 Basque zortzico. Its naturally languid rhythm is here extrapolated to a state of reverent suspension, as Don Quichotte invokes the medieval patrons Saint Michael and Saint George as witnesses to the purity of his love for Dulcinea.

Don Quichotte is human after all, and he boisterously comes back down to earth in the final movement, called, inevitably “Chanson à boire”. Underlying this “Drinking Song” is the quick accented 3/4 of the jota.

Suite from “The Magic Opal” by Isaac Albéniz Arranged for Guitar Trio and Guitar Quartet

Suite from “The Magic Opal” (1892) (for guitar trio)
Suite from “The Magic Opal” (1892) (for guitar quartet)
by Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)
. Arranged for guitar trio and guitar quartet by Gregg Nestor

  • Prelude
  • Intermezzo
  • Ballet

Isaac Albéniz’s (1860-1909) name immediately conjures up his piano masterpiece Iberia and various works that have met their success in fine transcriptions for guitar and that are a staple of the repertoire for the instrument. But sprinkled through his tremendously active career as a composer and piano virtuoso, ensemble musician, conductor, impresario and piano teacher are his operas and operettas, written during his stay in London from 1890 until late 1893.

The music revolves around an opal ring that has the power to cause anyone touching it to fall in love with the person wearing it. Although the story takes place in Greece, the music does not stray far from the composer’s love of Andalucía, and displays Spanish rhythms and melodic influences.

This suite, comprised of three instrumental pieces from the operetta have been arranged for guitar trio and guitar quartet by Gregg Nestor. Together, these movements mirror in microcosm the development of his unique voice and style in masterworks that were to come and that tie him as a major musical icon in the Spanish Nationalist style.

The trio guitar arrangement was commissioned, premiered and recorded by The Great Neck Guitar Trio (Matthew Rohde, Adam Levin and Scott Borg).

Poema en forma de canciones by Joaquín Turina Arranged For Three Guitars

Poema en forma de canciones Op. 19 (1918)
Arranged For Three Guitars by Gregg Nestor

  • Dedicatoria
  • Nunca olvida…
  • Cantares
  • Los dos miedos
  • Las locas por amor

My music is the expression of the feeling of a true Sevillian who did not know Seville until he left it … yet, it is necessary for the artist to move away to get to know his country, just as it is for the painter who takes some steps backwards to be able to take in the complete picture.

Joaquín Turina

Joaquín Turina’s successful synthesis of the early-twentieth-century French School and Andalusian folklore, embodied in the classical genres of chamber music, was no small feat. As a Spanish composer seeking to express his national identity through chamber music, he had very few precedents to emulate. Falla and Albéniz advised Turina to embrace his heritage as an Andalusian musician. Albéniz is reported to have said: You must base your art on Spanish popular song, on Andalusian music, because you are from Seville.In later years Turina would recall this conversation saying: Those words were decisive for me, [and] they are a piece of advice that I have tried to follow throughout my career.

The result of this encounter with Albéniz and Falla was an outpouring of music that established Turina as one of the outstanding Spanish composers of the early twentieth century. Nearly all of his works bore allusions to Spain, and more specifically to Andalusia.