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 now use the Tuesdays in between those to announce new print music releases. As with the CDs, these are not reviews per se (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 or some other outlet where it can be purchased, 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, November 8, November 22, December 6, December 20, January 3, January 17, January 31, February 14, February 28, March 14, March 28, April 11, April 25, May 9.
Mauro Godoy-Villalobos
Un café con Astor
Universal Edition, 12 pp.
A Santiago, Chile–born composer/musician who studied guitar in Milan and has been living in Stockholm for a number of years, Mauro Godoy-Villalobos (his website hyphenates the name, the sheet music does not) here pays tribute to Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla with a fairly complex but appealing piece that shows clear traces of the Argentinian composer’s oeuvre, both rhythmically and melodically. The slower middle section is quite haunting. Godoy-Villalobos has also written many pieces for other instruments, including piano and a variety of chamber groupings. Can it really be a coincidence that his first and last names are famous guitar composers? This piece is advanced.
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Below, Duo Pace Poli Cappelli, to whom the piece is dedicated, perform it:
Nejc Kuhar
Adieu Roland!
Les Productions d’Oz, 12 pp.
After growing up in Slovenia, Nejc Kuhar moved to Vienna, where he earned his master’s in guitar (under Alvaro Pierri) and also studied composition (with Dr. Reiner Bishof and professor Christian Minkowitsch). He teaches guitar in Vienna and in Frankfurt, Germany, and has won numerous prizes in his still-young career. This new piece is, as the title implies, Kuhar’s homage to the late, great Roland Dyens, who once lauded Kuhar’s compositions for their “strong personality”—much like Dyens’ own! Advanced. (Sorry, we have no audio/video sample to share.)
Paul-Erik Söderkvist
Sundays
Les Productions d’Oz, 4 pp.
Sensitive, charming, and highly melodic intermediate-level piece from Finnish guitarist/composer (and instructor at the Raseborg Music Institute on the beautiful southern coast of Finland). Watch him play it below: