Let’s Play Together - Classical

"[...] Carmen is in fact the habanera. The tune is shared between guitars one and two but give me that tango bass-line any day - it's so cheeky; first and second position for all and a crowd-pleaser. Bach's Menuet is the familiar 'Anna Magdelana' minuet in G; the repeats have been decorated or doctored (according to your preference) with a few extra notes. There is a descant above the tune, near to the end, where Guitar One goes up to IX position, but each part in turn has a crack at the melody and the bass and (compared to the original) a new inner part. Nice enough, but I prefer it as a duet. Recuerdos de la Alhambra is an ambitious target. No, the trio doesn't play one note of the tremolo in turn. The tremolo is relegated to a quarter speed p-i-m-i-m-i arpeggio playing most of the expected thumb notes in the original. It's topped with a sustained melody and countermelody, usually a third apart. It's remarkably faithful, but without that Signature tremolo I'm not sure that many in a school concert audience would even recognise it. Tanz de Neusidler, by comparison is fast (four-notes-a-second) but really effective, with changes in dynamic and timbre making it a real piece of 'music' and fun too. The Barber of Seville is as rumbustious as you'd expect but some of us just see Bugs Bunny. But like a cartoon chase, there's plenty of changing direction and everyone has their moment in the spotlight. Schumann's March of the Soldiers is a great study in articulation and precise time keeping and it's nicely under the fingers so that the performance aspects can be studied and enhanced easily. Gounod's Funeral March of a Marionette - famously now associated with Alfred Hitchcock - is a great piece for changing dynamics rapidly and concisely. [...]"

Derek Hasted (Classical Guitar Magazine)