Essential Compositions through history.

[Richard Spross]

Dear Friends,

I'm at a bit of a loss quite where to start when a beginning student
says " I really don't know the repertoire" meaning they haven't listened
to much but are open to suggestion. I can sketch in various ideas, but
only rudimentally and sometimes I'll start them on a historical track,
other times I'll start them from where their strength lies, and still
other times I'll start them with a graduated progression of pieces of
various difficulties.

Having used these strategies in the past, it has left me with the
question "Which pieces are really the most essential to be learned, and
heard so that the listener / classical guitar aficionado has a full and
rich experience in their life.

Since I began my interest in Classical guitar 40 years ago, most of my
teachers had taught those pieces which were close to their hearts and
had the most impact upon their lives. This resulted in a rich but uneven
education for me. In the ensuing years
I've tried to fill in some of the gaps in my own education, but the
historical research and subsequent unearthing of new compositions,,
discovery of new composers along with a torrent of new contemporary
material, has made it impossible for me to keep up.

So I'm asking you what you would consider are the essential historical
pieces that all educated classical guitarists and classical guitar
lovers ought to have heard and know in common.

Thanks for your comments.
Richard Spross

[Cesar Vega]

Richard :

I'm not an authority to list a repertory, but I think the following links
would illustrate a bit :

Favorite Classical Guitar Pieces
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~marklong/class/results_fav_pieces.htm

Pieces Played Most Often
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~marklong/class/results_3_I_play.htm

Pieces We Wish We Could Play
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~marklong/class/results_3_i_wish.htm

These are results from a little survery done by this site. It was done in
1997 and an invitation to participate was posted in this newsgroup.
I totally agree with the overall results.

I don't know if this material is widely known, so I beg your pardon if I'm
bringing old stuff here.

Regards,

"Richard Spross" <rcsp...@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:3EB9E3EE...@pacbell.net...

[David Raleigh Arnold]

There is *too much good stuff*. The more dishes there are in a buffet,
the less possible it becomes to eat of them all. You have to do it
backwards. Rejoice therein! Start eliminating things that you couldn't
have done without. DaveA

--
The biggest losers of all are the winners of an unjust war.
The wars are not over. Just the winning part is over.
Bush lied. Thousands died. dra@ http://www.openguitar.com

[Richard Spross]

Cesar Vega wrote:

Cesar,

I suppose these categories would suffice as a starting point, but what I'm
trying to drive at is as in Art there is an internationally accepted number
of Art works which are considered essential to each era, and generally agreed
upon
by the world, hence they hang or are on display in museums.

So I'm wondering about which pieces this group would acknowledge as
indispensable ART to the art form of classical guitar music, not merely what
happens to be in vogue and thus is popular.

Thanks,
Richard Spross