Cette série a été conçue pour les quatuors de guitaristes débutants à intermédiaires.
Un outil pédagogique indispensable!
Mark Houghton is earning a reputation as a guitarist composer of considerable might and although published under the publisher's umbrella of «Easy Music« this is a substantial work.
The short Rondellus, (the background research to which took me to an Estonian mediaeval band which covers Black Sabbath songs in Latin!) is almost like a four-part round in the Dorian mode on D, with guitar four tuned down. The three upper parts require a degree of familiarity with the seventh position, and a player with that level of technical maturity would also have the tone that makes this little movement come alive. Bare chords interweave with harmonic shafts of sunlight in a very precisely written yet curiously effortless way. This is a little gem. It is only thirty bars long, but less is more and this has a hall mark of craftsmanship.
The Jig, in 6/4, is keyed the same and sits nicely as a companion piece. It is much more lengthy and the resulting freedom has given the composer the chance to introduce some nice little touches - a bar or two in a different time signature, some three against two and some simple variations in the texture that extend the piece and make it all the more satisfying for player and listener alike. Technically this is a modest and easily understandable by a Grade Four player, but a degree of confidence is needed to tackle the decorative flourishes that a weak player might stumble over. A constant jig pulse permeates the bass, and the notation makes it clearly that sloppy ringing on is not acceptable, and rightly so. The punchy clarity downstairs is a rhythmic platform onto which to stand a variety of textures, and there are excursions into the major key too - all packaged up into a compelling and enjoyable sense of motion.
Derek Hasted (Classical Guitar Magazine)
