Jan Bartlema was born in 1959 in the Netherlands in Zwolle, which is where he studied with Pieter van der Staak at the conservatoire there and later with Jorge Oraison in Enschede and then finally with Milan Zclenka in Prague.
His Trois Prières (Three Prayers) show Bartlema to be a thoughtful and imaginative composer. All three me of a very fragile texture with the composer making copious use of harmonics (the second «Prayer« is written almost entirely in this fashion) and utilising one of the guitar's richest features, the campanella effect of letting notes ring over and blending in with tile following notes. This effect is never more apparent than in the final piece where an ostinato bass-like employing this technique is heard for the majority of the piece with the sparse melodic line moving above it.
These compositions are of a highly delicate nature and are perhaps best described to be of a meditative character. Perhaps not ideally suited to the formal concert platform but nevertheless very enjoyable solos to play through and savour the sounds.
The technical level is of around the grade 5-6 standard and the presentation is very good, I notice with this edition, the delightful artistry of Swiss painter Corina Sierk has once more appeared on the front cover. Excellent.
Steve Marsh (Classical Guitar Magazine)
