Is there something in the water in Poland? Because recently there seem to be some spectacular guitarists coming from there. A while back I discovered Marcin Dylla who is a terrific guitarist with impeccable technique and very good taste in repertoire, but now there is a new guy named Mateusz Kowalski who is also a remarkable guitarist. Here is his Prelude to the 4th Lute Suite by Bach, a real test of both technique and musicality:
But listen to this, the Etude No. 2 by Heitor Villa-Lobos. To anyone who has struggled to master this piece, this performance is, well, terrifying:
4 comments:
okay, the tempo for that Etude 2 performance is intimidating! I love the way he uses portamento in a couple of the position shifts, though. Even at that breakneck tempo he's doing things to make it a lively idiomatic interpretation.
Dylla's the one guitarist I've heard who can get me to not hate Ginastera's Guitar Sonata while he's playing it. I mean I STILL don't like the sonata overall but Dylla's so great at understanding and conveying the piece I get how it got into the guitar repertoire in a way I didn't get hearing other guitarists playing it.
Kowalski is still quite young so there are not a lot of performances available, but I am looking forward to hearing more from him. I haven't heard Dylla's performance of the Ginastera, but I'll bet he does a good job. He is such a solid musician.
This guitarist forces the question: once you've proven you can play anything, what is worth playing? This is where the artist comes into full view, unimpeded by technical weakness, into the realm of taste and aesthetics. If it can be any way you want, how exactly do you want it?
I just learned that embedded youtube videos (such as in the article above) don't play twice but rather if clicked again lead further down the youtube algorythm. Frustrating at first, because I wanted to listen again to the Villa-Lobos etude, but instead I got Kowalski's guitar version of one of the Biber "Rosary Sonatas" (originally for violin and continuo).
Listening to the Bach Prelude after listening first to the Villa-Lobos etude, the contrast for me was that the Prelude was more interesting and satisfying musically, while the etude was technically impressive but not something I'd listen to again and again. I was so much enjoying the Bach prelude, familiar to me (probably from an old Segovia LP of my youth?), and how masterfully composed for the instrument of plucked and fretted strings...and I marveled also at how Bach (and many other composers) can so beautifully bring out the special voice of solo instruments he didn't himself play! Bryan you must have had interesting discussions with your violinist when you composed duets for guitar and violin? Did she ever say "that's not right for violin...try this instead..."?
Regarding the Biber sonata as played by Kowalski, it was very nice to hear it on guitar but I do think it is best played on violin with a positive organ (and perhaps bass viol da gamba) continuo. Different instruments have different resonances, timbres, voices...and of course the difference between plucking and bowing make such transcriptions into almost different pieces.
Thanks for these very sage observations, Will. I think that most guitarists get bamboozled by the considerable technical difficulties of the Villa-Lobos etudes and so end up giving rather mechanical performances. I think the most musical Villa-Lobos I have ever heard was by Alvaro Pierri. Here is a concert he gave and the first piece (which comes around the 14 minute mark after a lot of talking) is the Etude #4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYEEZyy5Axk&t=1018s
Actually, the two violinists I have worked with on my pieces never suggested I change anything! Either I just instinctively know how to write for violin, or I don't push the envelope technically.
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