We get so much sheet music sent to us by various publishers year ’round—literally hundreds of pieces in every setting imaginable (solo guitar, multiple guitars, guitar-flute, guitar-harp, etc.)—but we don’t have the space to write about the great majority of them in our four quarterly issues each year.
So, just as we are now listing new classical guitar CD releases every other Tuesday here, we’re now going use the Tuesdays in between those to announce new print music releases. As with the CDs, these are not reviews (some will be reviewed in the magazine, but frankly most will not), but we think it’s important to at least get the word out about what’s being offered to guitarists out there. Where possible, we’ve linked the titles to the publisher’s website, and stated the degree of difficulty (if provided by the publisher or it’s obvious). —Blair Jackson
Here is a link to our previous listings from October 25 and November 8.
Mauro Giuliani
Selected Studies for Guitar Vol. 2 (solo guitar)
Ut Orpheus, 60 pp.
Edited and fingered by Lucio Matarazzo with a foreword by Angelo Gilardino, this meaty volume from the master musician (1781–1829) offers 19 studies from Op. 48, two from Op. 51, two from Op. 83, three from Op. 100, the Variazioni e Finale Op. 145, and three parts of Giulianate Op. 148. Intermediate and advanced.
Stephen Goss
Labyrinth
Doberman-Yppan, 11 pp.
Commissioned by the Guitar Foundation of America for their 2016 competition, this unusual “deliberately ambiguous score” consists of 11 musical fragments/sections which “can be played in any order,” bookended by a fixed opening and closing. “Each section makes reference to one or more composers,” including Debussy, Boulez, Bartok, Cage (sort of; it’s silence), Beethoven, Wagner, and others. Plenty of suggestions from the composer. Advanced.
Lilith Guégamian
Juste deux… quoi?
Accords (perdus) (both for four guitars)
Les Productions D’Oz, 5 pp. plus parts
An Armenian raised in France, guitarist/singer/composer Guégamian has been influenced by both of those cultures (particularly the former), as well as classical and Indian music. She dedicated Juste deux… quoi? (Only two…what?) to the guitar ensemble at the conservatoire in Villefranche-sur-Sôane,near Lyon, France, where she teaches. That piece is labelled “Vivo”; Accords (perdus) (Agreements (lost) is “Moderato.” Both are intermediate.
José Mora-Jiméniz
10 Impromtus (solo guitar)
Les Productions D’Oz, 27 pp.
According to Costa Rican composer Mora-Jiméniz, these are pieces “without a preconceived formal plan and with a free character,” each inspired by a different composer, including, Bartok, Carlevaro, Satie, Villa-Lobos, Debussy, and others. Advanced.
Below, Carlos Castro plays Improptus VI-X:
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Biancamaria Furgeri
…Di voci d’oro… (solo guitar)
Ut Orpheus, 7 pp.
Fingering by Piero Bonaguri, who writes: “This work originates with my request to the composer for a piece which could be performed in church.” Based on the Gregorian sequence Victimae Paschali Laudes, the piece “makes the most of the sonority of the guitar, and the Gregorian theme is recognizable through the chromatic changes it undergoes and through the filigree of sounds surrounding it in different ways.”
Jan Freidlin
Romancero Sonata (solo guitar)
Edition Dohr, 7 pp.
The Russia-born composer was influenced by the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca, “reflected in a very free structure, unexpected thematical passages, and the presence of many contrasting episodes with the suggestion of a plot… The guitar part is very virtuosic and covers virtually every register of the guitar.” Advanced.
Giorgio Signorile
Shirlok: 3 Pieces for Solo Guitar and Guitar Quartet
Ut Orpheus, 14 pp. plus parts
Singnorile: “What I thought was important was a work that would include a ‘comparison’ between the instruments, a dialog in which music flows between the instruments in a harmonized way, with moments of hard work and others of listening, almost to underline the friendship and the collaboration between the players.” Level: “middle difficulty.”
Various Composers
Duets for Fun: Guitars (for two guitars)
Schott, 58 pp.
Edited by the fine German guitarist Martin Hegel, this collection of 30 “easy to intermediate” duo pieces spans the Renaissance, Classical, Romantic and Modern eras, and includes big names such as da Milano, Giuliani, Sor, Carulli, and Tárrega.
Gohar Vardanyan
Crystal Harmonics for Guitar (instructional)
Mel Bay, 24 pp.
Armenian guitarist Vardanyan lays out a clear, concise method for playing natural and artificial harmonics and understanding harmonic notation. Intermediate-Advanced.
Matthew Denman
Picture on a Train (for guitar ensemble)
Les Productions D’Oz, 24 pp. plus parts
There are four different guitar parts for this musical evocation of a train story, which includes passage descriptions such as “Mist over the mountain,” “The whistle blows,” The effect of the picture on Passenger 1– Beatuy,” “A conversation about art,” etc. Intermediate.
Here’s the Metropolitan State University Denver Guitar Chamber Ensemble performing this piece a year ago:
Manuel Saumell
19 Contradanzas (for two guitars)
Editions Henry Lemoine, 39 pp.
A selection of 19 short country-dance pieces by Cuban nationalist composer/pianist Saumell (1847–1905), edited and fingered by Marc Bataïni. The pieces mix Classical and Cuban/Creole approaches.
João Luiz
Jequibau (solo guitar)
Doberman-Yppan, 6 pp.
Prolific Brazilian guitarist/composer/arranger/teacher is one-half of the popular Brasil Guitar Duo. This piece, dedicated guitarist Celil Refik Kaya, is subtitled “Samba in five.” Two other recent D-Y publications from Luiz are Batuque (“hommage à Mignone et Granieri”) and Preludio (“Xango”). All three are advanced.
Annette Kruisbrink
Robot Dance (for three guitars)
Les Productions D’Oz, 4 pp. plus parts
Dutch guitarist has composed more than 300 pieces. This one is listed as “easy” by the publisher, though it contains some effects (tapping, scratching) and requires a plectrum.