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Today, March 29th, at seven o`clock PM, some teachers of the Guitar Salon plus some other friends are giving a concert. The organizer is the Club of Shanghai Guitar Lovers, who sponsored this concert.
Unfortunately I am in Germany. Nevertheless please come and listen to them! So you can know some important Shanghai Guitarists and you can get an impression of the Shanghai guitar scene.
Hope you will enjoy the concert!
Yesterday my friend Ye Fan was giving a great concert in the almost sold concerthall.
Last year, you remember, he was my duopartner during a gig at T8 (XinTianDi) .
I was late and exhaustet, because I took our shuttle bus after teaching the whoole afternoon and the shuttle bus was stopped by a traffic jam on the highway. And I didn`t regret that I’ve rummaged through the rush hour. Fan Ye played a wonderful concert with a wise compiled program.
He started with some very wellknown pieces of Cardoso and Villa Lobos before he took up some modern high level pieces like the Four Seasons of Piazolla. After a break he started again with a very melodic and well known piece (Leo Brower, the 11th Novembre) before he played the Ginastera pieces. And then, at the end, he had some jazz and two pieces of Sergio Assad. The encore was a tango of Roland Dyens. It was a long concert with different musically high level pieces of mostly South American music.
Ye Fan went to Vienna Austria for classical guitar studies. Since 2009 he got two Diploma (Music education and Music Performance). He finished his Master degree in University of the Arts Berne Switzerland by Elena Casoli. Since 2011 he continue to pursue a Master Specialized Music Performance(Solist Diplom) degree. FAN Ye is an active guitarist in Asia, regularly giving concerts in Shanghai, Macau, Hong Kong, Austria, Switzerland.
Shanghai is also culturally more and more developing and so the international musicians who want to settle down in Shanghai becomes more and more, too.
One of them is Luke Trimble, who has been living in Hawaii before and who is now living in Shanghai till July 2013. He currently teaches the guitar at the British School in Puxi.
At November the 7th he made a solo recital for invited guests at the Guitar Salon. Here his interesting program:
________________________________________________________
MANUEL PONCE Prelude
(1882-1948)
LEO BROUWER 8 Etudes from 20 Etudes Simples
(B. 1939)
HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS No Choro. 1, Tipico Brasiliero
(1857-1959)
BRYAN JOHANSON Spring, Op. 1
(B. 1951) I. Moderato e molto sostenuto
Adagio e cantabile
III. Allegro vivace
Johann Sebastian Bach from Partita for Solo Violin No.. 1 in B minor, BWV 1002
(1685-1750) I. Allemanda
transcribed by LUKE II TRIMBLE Corrente
III. Saraband
IV Bourree
HAROLD ARLEN Over the Rainbow
(1905-1986)
arranged by Toru Takemitsu
LOU HARRISON Serenade for Guitar
(1917-2003) I. Avalokiteshvara
II Music for Bill and Me
III. Jahla
IV Beverly’s Troubadour Piece
Augustin Barrios Mangoré Julia Florida
(1885-1944)
Most exciting for me were the relatively unknown pieces of the American composer Lou Harrison and Bryan Johanson. Lou Harrison`s piece which is composed for guitar with percussion is also played by the famous guitarist David Tannenbaum. Luke played this piece without the percussions, but that didn`t destroy its beautiness. For probably most of the audience this piece was the highlight of the evening.
Luke, who is not afraid to use the notes during his performance, told me that the Americans like to make more informell and relaxed concerts. In America it is not usual to watch a well-dressed guitarist, who is silent and lonely fighting with his program. Much more welcomed are an easy going guitarist, who is relaxed and connects with the music and the audience – and is reading part of the program from the score.
I still believe that it is ideal to remember your pieces by heart. That is, because you should use your right brain during a performance, what is mostly impossible if you are reading the partiture. But I agree with Luke, that it is much better to look in the partiture during a concert as to play with stress and anxiety.
And Luke played relaxed and connected with the music and the audience! It was a nice evening. Thank you, Luke!
Thia morning I recognized that it is very easy to make recordings with the software garageband of my ipad.
I was so faszinated of that possibility, that I ve made a small improvisation with my guitar. Wish you all a nice day!
Recently I bought a Altamira Flamenco Guitar, Modell N700f. Also this guitar is not so very expensive, I am feeling very comfortable to play it – and not only for Flamenco Style!
Altamira is a Chinese brand, but now available in other countries, too.
Here a video where I use my new Altamira guitar to perform a piece from Baden Powell: Canto do Xango:
and here on Tudou:
Organized by Altamira Guitars Barrueco will give a concert at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center Concert Hall on October 13th 2012, 19.30 o`clock. Please don`t forget to order your ticket!
A music that was in danger of never to be heard and of remain locked in a drawer.
The Sicilian musician, Giuseppe Torrisi, twenty years ago conceived his project Five Short Studies for guitar, first he wrote the first, third and part of the second.
Recently, the great guitarist Giulio Tampalini got hold these scores and something contained in these pages hit his own sensitivity; his deep conviction that give life to those notes has prompted Torrisi to complete his original project.
Five Short Studies are born from the desire to collect, edit and communicate a musical experience acquired over the years.
Soft melancholy so dear to Agustin Barrios, impetuosity of whirling motions characterizing the pages of Heitor Villa-Lobos; from the few lines of each piece shines a
bright, clean state of mind, a brief and concise description of a feeling that is not hard to be perceived by the listener.
An emotion contained in such a short and complex musical text inevitably requires an execution that can convey that message fully, despite the many technical complexities
to be resolved with a reasonable amount of risk.
Tampalini was able to surprise, highlighting every intention of the composer: the phrasing and the communicativeness of its second and fourth study, the impetus and strength
emitted by the first and third, the great virtuosity required by the fifth are masterfully rendered by acclaimed performer on this first world recording.
It happens, sometimes, that someone notices a hidden voice, understands its emotion and has a sincere enthusiasm to give it to others.
Dario Bitetti (a dear student of M° Torrisi)
Also see:
Giuseppe Torrisi’s guitarfreescores.com
Watch Five Short Studies (Cinque Studi Brevi) on Giulio Tampalini’s YouTube
The studies are soon to be published by Les Productions d’Oz
Below is Studi No. 4
This Friday, the 20th of July, the most popular Shanghai Guitarists will play Spanish Guitar Music in the Concert Hall (Xi Zang Road crossing Jingling Road).
If you are interested to know some Shanghai guitar players, please come and listen to:
Chen Hua Liang, Ren Lei, Chen Bing, He Shun Hua, She Chun Sheng, Zhao Rong, Jiang Da Min, Chun Cheng, Zhou Yi Qing and others…..
the Guitar Salon got a new poster at the entrance. Here a picture with the guitar teachers: Chen Bing, He Shun Hua and Julia
because of the summer holidays there will be a short break about two or three weeks before there are new activities in the Guitar Salon. See you then!
This Wednesday evening there was a concert again in the new Guitar Salon. Chen Hua Liang played most of all pieces Tarrega originally composed for guitar. He started with the Preludium Lagrima followed by several other particularly delicate and precious pieces like: Adelita, Pavana, Maria, Marietta, Mazurka en Sol and Polka. Then Chen Hua Liang continued with the both Vals, the Grand Jota and played also the both Algerian pieces Cappricho Arabe and Danza Mora. One of the last Tarrega pieces at this evening was Recuerdos del Alhambra.
Misses Chen – a woman who has the same name as the guitarist, but is not related to him – led us through the evening and told us a lot of interesting things about Tarrega and the music of Tarrega. That was a great idea and I think everyone was happy about this good explanations.
And Tarrega? If Tarrega would still alive and with us in the Guitar Salon, I think he would be very happy. Tarrega loved the small and familiar concerts much more than the big concert halls – like me! His music got so much respect and love from the guitarist Chen Hua Liang and probably from everybody who participated this fantastic evening. I think Tarrega would have enjoyed this concert!
