Rumba Noema

I'm becoming rather a fan of Thierry Tisserand - his music is so inviting and accessible. This is rhythmically a little more demanding than some of his works, although for someone with a natural sense of rhythm and the ability to play ahead of or behind the beat. it's not hard. I can see issues in a large ensemble where bending the beat« might lead to a general untidiness, but a large ensemble would also provide the security of a well-defined beat to stay with, and would, I have no doubt, give a solid sound. Based around a 3+3+2 rhythm, there is a lot of black on the page, but that's good - writing in short notes allows the beaming to define the principal beats so much more clearly than if the piece were written in longer notes. Set against this rhythm, the top parts supply intervening notes, including periods playing completely on the off-beat, which some guitarists seem to find curiously tricky. Set in D minor, the chord changes are straightforward but the melody is catchy and rhythmic. There is some very «guitaristic« writing using ligados onto the open top string that give a very full sound over some pizzicato and satisfyingly chromatic chords. The centre section is much slower - the chords here are gloriously smoochy and jazzy.
The final section has a few rhythmic tricks up its sleeve. The number of notes tied over the barlines increases and these are bringing the beat forward. rather than omitting it.; tricky for the novice, perhaps. Occasional triplets add a twist in the tail. The score is well fingered, with string numbers rather than positions indicating where to attack the neck.
With a few double stops. I'd put the level of fingercontortion at about Grade 5-7 across the parts. Players who have reached those heights on purely classical repertoire will find the rhythm quite foreign (pardon the pun). Those who are confident with the maxim that barlines are the place to get to at the right time will enjoy captivating rhythms set to sophisticated harmony.
Derek Hasted (Classical Guitar Magazine)