Mars begins around an octave D idea using a detuned 6th, the open 4th and the 5th fret of the 5th resounding against one another. Add in some pull-offs to an A and some hammer-ons from a C to D and you get the basis of the first idea. Although there is interestingly no speed marking given, the music implies speed from the word go. There are a few triplet runs interspersed before a time change to 14/8 gives an added frisson to the score. For a while 4/4 and 14/8 interweave until a harmony line gradually emerges below the melody in 6ths. Then violent open Ds and As interrupt the melodic flow and now the time signatures become more varied, with 9/8, and then 11/8, 7/8, 10/8, and 16/8 all making an appearance. At bar 59 the tonal weight shifts to a modal sort of A major for a while with a new idea before the opening idea re-emerges unchanged for an almost complete restatement of the beginning. Then a sudden piano on a Bb major chord leads to a fortissimo run and a loud glissando from fret 12 on a modal D chord to finish.
This was an exciting piece with lots to say and needing a certain standard of player to do it full justice, but like its companions in this nine-movement set (if it is indeed a set) it is great fun and is utterly involving music to play.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
