A Guitar Concert

I recently had the opportunity to attend a concert put on by guitarist Jon Sharp and singer Rebecca Fromherz. They performed a variety of wonderful pieces, and I’ve put together a list of some of my favorites from the concert:

Sunday Morning Overcast by Andrew York (1958)

This calm, cheerful piece paints the image of a lazy Sunday morning. The syncopated folk-like melody can be heard with the accompaniment as a three-part counterpoint.

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)

Prelude No. 1

Villa-Lobos also titled his Prelude No. 1 “Lyrical Melody: Hommage to the Brazilian Country Dweller”. The cello-like melody is played in the low registers of the guitar with an ostinato-like chordal accompaniment, and it’s just beautiful.

Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5

Originally written for solo soprano and a cello orchestra, Villa-Lobos later arranged this piece for soprano and guitar. The piece describes the sunset through both the lyrics and the music. Listen for the mixture of Baroque counterpoint with Brazilian musical ideas.

Here’s an English translation of the words:

Evening, a rosy, translucent cloud, slowly crosses the drowsy, beautiful firmament!

The moon gently rises into infinity, adorning the evening, like a sweet maiden dreamily getting ready, making herself beautiful, desiring her soul to be beautiful.

She calls to the heavens, the earth, to all of Nature.

She silences the birds’ melancholy laments, and the sea reflects all her treasures…

Softly the moon awakens, a cruel yearning which laughs and weeps!

Evening, a rosy, translucent cloud, slowly crosses the drowsy, beautiful firmament!

Suite del Recuerdo (Suite of Memories) by José Luis Merlin (1952)

The composer said about this piece:

“This is an homage to memories, my memories.  To the collective memories of my people living in nostalgia, tormented, anguished, happy and hopeful. Memories from the country, in San Luis, with all the smells and sounds from the country.  It is like looking inside yourself in very profound silence.  Memories of afternoons with grandparents, aunts and uncles, parents, brothers, sisters, cousins. All enjoying each other, sharing our feelings and playing guitar, sitting in the back yard drinking wine, under the vines. Lots of them are not here anymore. They are in my memories.”

I love how much emotion is packed into this piece. Each movement is a memory, and each memory tells its own story.