Described as a modern (Texas) take on the tarantella, the title indicates an off-kilter «rompus» is fake Latin, but «cattywampus,» an adjective meaning askew or in disarray, is now in my vocabulary and awaiting a chance to bring it out at parties! This is more than a bit tongue-in-cheek, and so are the program notes. The performance markings are in English and gloriously funny, with a section marked «murmuring,» passages marked «unsure» and «uneasy with dread,» and my favorite: «Go ail out!» Set in 6/8 and not too fast ( six notes a second) this is a feast of different textures and tone colors, with an emphasis on bold articulation and lots of rests in the accompaniment while the tarantella feel continues. But this is not the melodic tarantella-to capture the overall feel, think, «’Teddy Bears Picnic meets-horror-movie.» Though chromatic and dissonant, the technical demands are not too fierce, but will require a confident ensemble to stay tightly locked together, and quite a lot of rehearsal to keep the constant momentum from flagging. Opening in no sharps, there is a wonderfully sweet section, which appears twice, set in live sharps and using two guitars to form an arpeggio-a trick that gives a lovely and clever sustain to the repeated top note, shared as it is here, between two guitars. This piece is a (deserved) winner of the 2013 Japan Guitar Ensemble Association Composition Competition, but is not so difficult as to restrict its playing to professional ensembles.
-Derek Hasted (Classical Guitar Magazine)
