Ronde transylvanienne

This Romanian composer has written some wonderful works for guitar; not the least his easier pieces, which betray a fertile imagination, sadly lacking in other's works. This latest piece doesn't come in the easy category but is full of his trademark musical style, including a quirkiness in the harmony work that completely catches you unaware and a natural ear for a winning melody line. This latest little rondo is in 7/8, a time signature that is common in his part of the world, occurring in his folk melodies but less common in our neck of the woods. A good deal of the time will be used here in getting the timing accurate, for he uses a rhythm of a quaver, followed by three crotchets and it is so easy to elongate the first quaver to make the piece, seemingly in 4/4, that great care should be taken. The 'rondo' element is clearly delineated with the aforementioned rhythm leading into a new idea of 12 bars of continuous quavers that hurtle around the strings before alighting on the other new idea set in the tonic major key of E. A final return to the quaver idea leads to a return to the opening idea for the final run at the main theme. This is loads of fun, quite tricky but always entertaining, and well worth anyone's time and money. Chris Dumigan

Interactive score on Guitar by Masters website:

https://www.guitarbymasters.com/bookprofile/236