Couperin: Passacaglia – Kevin Gallagher
A Fleta! Just add a Segovia arrangement, natural nails, Kevin, and stir. Yields five minutes of old-school poetry.. 🙂
Bach – Toccata and Fugue in Dm – Philip Hii
Philip Hii’s arrangement and performance of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is a milestone achievement in the history of the classical guitar. Barriers were broken.
Impressed by the musical judgment behind the creation of this arrangement, fascinated by the rare powers of technical execution I was hearing, and thankful that Philip Hii had pulled it all together and put it out there, I listened to this recording many times when it first came out back in the ’90s. (Listen to the brilliant samples.)
Later, I bought the sheet music and tried to play the arrangement, but it was beyond me. I almost couldn’t believe that anyone could play it.
Today, from a link on Philip Hii’s website (pronounced “hee,” by the way), I discovered this video on YouTube. What a treat for me!
Seeing is believing.. 🙂
Nikita Koshkin – Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp Minor
Koshkin’s latest cycle continues to unfold. His wife Asya Selyutina continues on the guitar.
Nikita Koshkin – Prelude and Fugue in A major
Nikita Koshkin and Asya Selyutina again. Beautiful stuff. This is what we need. Kudos to filmmaker Roman Gurochkin, too.
Nikita Koshkin – Prelude and Fugue in A minor, played by Asya Selyutina
Nikita Koshkin says,
“The score of the complete cycle will be published in Germany by Editions Margaux (Berlin). But only after the premiere recording will be out. The recording is now in preparation. I hope that Asya will do everything as fast as possible, but the material is very heavy and difficult. It needs a lot of work. So, please, wait.”
While we wait, we have this from filmmaker Roman Gurochkin. I like the sound here better than on some of his others I’ve posted. I hear not just the guitar, but the room, too. There is some distance, some dimension, but without sacrificing intimacy.
Filomena Moretti – Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Filomena Moretti performs Recuerdos de la Alhambra, by Francisco Tarrega.
Yamashita – Song of Compostela
This is how good it can be.
Agustin Barrios – Las Abejas – on a Charango!
Charango virtuoso Federico Tarazona plays Las Abejas (The Bees), by Agustin Barrios.
Baroque Ornamentation on Guitar
Guitarist Nataly Makovskaya performs Ground in C-minor by William Croft (1678 – 1727), an English composer and organist. Richard Yates has transcribed into standard notation the ornaments as performed on this video. He provides the score on his website (free).
Richard points out that this piece was previously attributed to Henry Purcell.