Category: Guitarists

Your Chance To Contribute To Guitar Trek’s New Album

Nicole NealLeave a comment

Happy Australia Day for all my Aussie readers! Yes, here in the Land Down Under we’re celebrating our national day with lamb chops and snags on the barbie, cold beers and some good Aussie music.

But in amongst the INXS, Midnight Oil, John Farnham and Jimmy Barnes, I’ll also be listening to some great Aussie classical guitar music (how could I not, really?!). And some of that great Aussie classical guitar music I’ll definitely listening to is the Aussie guitar quartet, Guitar Trek.

Guitar Trek was launched in 1987 to showcase the Guitar Family (treble, standard, baritone & bass). Canberra-based Timothy Kain is the founding member of Guitar Trek. The current line up includes Timothy Kain, Minh Le Hoang, Bradley Kunda and Matt Withers.

Matt and the rest of the guys in Guitar Trek have launched a crowd funding campaign giving you the chance to contribute directly to their latest recording. The various donation options available also give you the opportunity to score some fantastic rewards including track and album downloads, signed albums, concert tickets, lessons with one the quartet and even your own private concerts.

Check it out here: http://pozi.be/guitartrek

Guitar Trek are aiming to start recording in June and releasing a brand new recording in October this year.

Apparently, the recording will venture into new territory for the quartet with an array of shorter pieces from many different countries and corners of the repertoire. We’re also told to be prepared for a few surprises! Sounds exciting!

Donations will be used to fund 3 days at the prestigious Studio 301 in Sydney, the services of a Sound Engineer for recording, editing and mastering, packaging manufacture, APRA/AMCOS Copyright and venue hire for the launch concert.

If you’re not familiar with Guitar Trek, check out this video of them performing Aussie composer Nigel Westlake’s Sling Jaw Wrasse the fourth movement from the suite Six Fish:

Good luck guys!

Album (& Book!) Review: Danzas Puertorriqueñas – Juan F. Acosta by Hermelindo Ruiz Mestre & Friends

Nicole NealLeave a comment

If you swung by the blog last week you’ll know that I posted up a Q&A with Puerto Rican guitarist Hermelindo Ruiz Mestre.

If you missed it, click here and check it out.

Well, today I have for you a review of Hermelindo’s project, comprising a CD and accompanying sheet music book, of the music of little-known Puerto Rican composer Juan F. Acosta (1890 – 1968) – Danzas Puertorriqueñas.

As the name suggests this project presents a series of Acosta’s Puerto Rican dances, ten in all, each with a slightly different flavour. The decision to choose which of the dances to present in this project must have been a tricky one as Acosta apparently wrote 752 of them!  Without knowing any of the other pieces, mostly written as study type pieces for piano in their original form, I’d say that Hermelindo has selected well.

Each of the dances, as I said, has it’s own flavour and feel. They’re all fantastic little pieces around 3 to 4 minutes in length – a great length of piece to probably actually dance to funnily enough! And just enough to snare your interest, have you tapping your toe along, before rounding off and heading into the next tune. Seriously good Latin American melodies and dance rhythms. The sort of stuff I really love.

One of favourites on the album include album opener Ojos de ensueño. A lovely tune that leads you in oh so gently, before leading us into a wonderful dance that I defy anyone not to sway their body to (or least tap their toe!). Another top choice for me from the album is Rosarito y Luis, a lovely piece with just the slightest bittersweet melancholy flavour to it, lulling us along before launching headlong into a lively pulsating dance. And you can listen for yourself here:

My favourite track (after much deliberating and serious amount of listening!) is Bajo la sombra de un pino. It’s a little bit sultry, swaying and and dare I say, just a little bit sexy (ooh la la!). I can imagine myself in the Caribbean just sitting back listening to it!

In selecting the pieces to present on the album and the book Hermelindo says that “I noticed that the writing for this instrument is fairly simple and limited of pianistic effects. What I deducted from this was that the composer, as a teacher and conductor, always thought of these works as small studies that he could later orchestrate for other musical ensembles.”

And this is precisely what Hermelindo has done with this project, transcribing each of the ten dances as a duet for two guitars. Wonderful! I shall certainly be taking a look at a few of these (especially the Bajo la sombra de un pino) with my duet partner!

In all of this I’ve neglected to speak of Hermelindo’s playing. Well, I can confirm it’s absolutely top of the class. Hermelindo works a beautiful, full and rich tone from his 2011 Garrett Lee guitar.

An absolutely wonderful offering from a very fine player, presenting the world music that would otherwise remain buried. Bravo Hermelindo!

And don’t forget to head over Hermelindo’s website to pick up your own copy of this fantastic album and duo transcriptions: http://www.hermelindoruiz.com/2/Acosta2