A Little R & B...and R
(A Little Renaissance and Baroque... and Romantic for Flute and Guitar)

The two most important Lute Song composers of the period were John Dowland and Thomas Campian, with Dowland being recognized as the absolute master not only of the musical form, but as a lutenist as well. Phillip Rosseter, also a lutenist, represents a somewhat earlier generation than Campian and Dowland, and is one of the composers recognized as instrumental in the development of the Lute Song form. Although he wrote for the instrument, William Byrd was not a lutenist, but rather, an extraordinary keyboardist, so much so that he was chapel organist to Queen Elizabeth I– no small feat for a devout Roman Catholic! His Cradle Song was originally written for voice and viols (fretted, 6-stringed, bowed instruments), with this setting done in a lute song style by Desmond Dupré.

Pavanas 4-6 complete our recording of the 6 Pavanas (the first three can be found on our Bits & Pieces CD) from Luis Milan’s method for the vihuela, El Maestro, published in Valencia in 1535. These pieces were not written with the flute in mind, but rather as solo pieces for a guitarlike instrument called the vihuela de mano. Tuned in the same manner as the lute, the vihuela also has doubled strings as does the lute. Although tuned in different keys than the modern guitar, both tunings are identical to the guitar with the exception of the 3rd string, which is tuned a half step lower than the guitar. In the Renaissance period, it was very common practice to use whatever instruments were available to perform any given piece of music. If your instrument could play the notes, that was fine. Such has been our approach with the 6 Pavanas, along with some stylistic orchestration.

(Front Cover)

(Back Cover)

Tobias Hume was the finest lyra-violist (an instrument very similar to the aforementioned viol) of the early 17th century. Professionally, he was a soldier in the Swedish and Russian armies–hence Captain Hume’s Lamentations. He was a highly prolific and creative composer, and is credited with being the first bowed-stringed composer of the period to include plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and using the wooden part of the bow to play the strings (col legno). These Lamentations are but another example of his innovation. Written for treble and bass lyra-viol, if every section was played, and every sections’ repeat sign observed, the entire piece would be close to 16 minutes long–a length for a single piece of music virtually unheard of in this period! For this recording, we have selected 5 sections which capsulize the overall harmonic and emotional shape of the entire work.

The Air from the Orchestral Suite #3 in D Major is one of J. S. Bach’s most loved works. Often referred to as the Air on the G String, it is a prime example of Bach’s utter mastery of the compositional technique of counterpoint. Indeed, the piece can be played with just the melody and bass line and every harmony that exists in the full version can clearly be heard. All of the other voices are just decoration! In arranging the three lower string parts of the orchestral original for guitar, it was necessary to invert the two inner voices. Otherwise, other than a few points where it was physically impossible to sustain notes for their entire duration and a few octave changes in the bass part, the guitar part is true to the original. And yes, for those with really good ears, the lowest string on the guitar is tuned a bit oddly– to a low C#.

Pietro Locatelli was an Italian violin virtuosso of international renown. While his dates place him squarely in the Baroque period, his music, as well as that of some of his contemporaries such as Francesco Maria Veracini and Giuseppe Tartini, really reflect the style of the pre-Classical style of the mid-eighteenth century. Absent is the intricate contrapuntal style of Bach, replaced by a more chordal harmonic structure. Locatelli is generally given credit for establishing the solo virtuoso passages in his concertos which would eventually evolve into the solo cadenza of the Classical period. The original scoring of this Sonata in G Major is flute with continuo– generally harpsichord or organ and a bass viol or cello.

In the mid to later part of the 19th century, a distinctive trend evolved in Romantic music called Nationalism. In a nutshell, French composers wanted to create music that sounded ‘French’, Spanish composers want to create music that sounded ‘Spanish’, and so on. Gabriel Fauré was one of the founders of the National Society for French Music. By training, he was an organist and studied composition with Camille Saint-Saëns. He wrote few large works–no symphonies or concertos–but many solo and chamber music works. Both the Pavane and Siciliene display one of the most important aspects of his music: exquisitely lyrical, non-virtuosic melodies.

The music of Erik Satie represents yet another direction of French Nationalism. The 3 Gymnopédies, written in 1888 when he was 22, begin to show glimpses of a French musical style, Impressionism, that would flourish in the early years of the 20th century. While Claude Debussy is generally considered the master of this style, Satie’s early works foreshadowed the re-introduction of modal harmonic elements, unresolved chords, parallel 7th and 9th chords, and parallel harmonies based upon the interval of the perfect fourth rather than major/minor thirds. Satie wrote few large works. In fact, most of his works are for piano, as were the 3 Gymnopédies, and exhibit an economy of structure in every regard, unmatched by any other composer of the period. In these transcriptions for flute and guitar, with the exception of the voicing of one chord in the second Gymnopédie, everything is precisely true to the original scores.

To A Wild Rose is, without a doubt, the best-known work of American composer, Edward MacDowell. At a time when the European musical scene was at the height of a complex, expansive musical style, American music was just beginning to establish itself as a legitimate new style. MacDowell was a pianist who lived and studied in Germany for ten years, publishing many of his first compositions there. He was the first music professor at Columbia University in New York City. After his premature death, his wife established the foundation that, to this day, continues to support the MacDowell Colony for artists of all kinds in Peterborough, NH. Many of MacDowell’s little piano pieces are ideal candidates for transcription for flute and guitar. One of the unique characteristics of his style are wide harmonic voicings–absolutely the very best consideration when considering a transcription to guitar! Unlike the one voicing change in the Satie, not a single note different from the original here.

—Reed Desrosiers

 

A Little R & B...and R
(A Little Renaissance and Baroque... and Romantic for Flute and Guitar)
$14.00 + S/H