Voici de bonnes études en tout cas techniquement profitables, car l'intérêt musical en est moins évident - pourtant quelques trouvailles bienvenues dans la première, laissaient présager mieux du reste. Ces oeuvres emploient beaucoup d'arpèges et de campanellas qui peuvent aider à la découverte de l'instrument. Quelques autres sont en accords ou en style de mélodies accompagnées, mais l'ensemble reste cependant souvent répétitif.
Les Cahiers de la guitare (France) 3ème trimestre 1995
This set of Preludes/Etudes by Canadian guitarist/composer Claude Gagnon offers a dozen charming pieces in a quasi-impressionistic style. The "etude" side of the equation covers campanella fingerings, slurs, arpeggios, harmonics, left-hand fingerindependence, melodies against pedal points or ostimato figures and metric shifts, and the technical points are integrated ingeniously with the musical concepts.
The music itself is both ingratiating and satisfying, and any student will enjoy working out the technical challenges within such a pleasant framework. The difficulty level lies in the intremediate range, and these could easily be used as an alternative to Brouwer's "Simple Etudes". Like the Brouwer pieces, these would stand quite well in performance. I like these very much, and I recommend them with enthusiasm.
Soundboard (GFA USA) Spring 1996
David Grimes
