The construction of the piece is deliberately simple, and this quartet is going to go down well with children - something fun, futuristic and with a great framework on which to hang imagery to help with the dynamics and articulation. Even so, it's going to need practise and hard work, but mainly in learning the short bursts of natural harmonics which are always hard to read because of their counter-intuitive positionings. The semiquavers, which are always repeated notes (so it's only a one-hand problem), are given to all the players except Guitar Three so a degree of good timekeeping is needed across the forces. Guitar Three has some double stopping, but the composer has indicated that this can be done by divisi playing. There's musical interest for all here, and there's a very definite constant march pulse that permeates all the bars and a simple motif that moves about the parts. As a teaching piece, it has nice touches - few harmonics, a single pizzicato note, some gentle dissonances, a mix of note-lengths. a chance to blend apoyando and tirando, thumb and fingers. It has a couple of right hand fingerings that I'd change, so it has discussion points too. As a concert piece, it has a story and it's going to engage players and audience alike. The need to count and play semiquavers and two-and-a-half-beat notes will mean that a little more musical maturity is needed than the technical demands might suggest, but I think that if the players want to play the piece, it will work with Grade 1-2 players. And I think they will want to play it!
Derek Hasted (Classical Guitar Magazine)
