Luise Walker Recordings
William Jennings
John Sloan wrote:
"Speaking of tremolo, doc might be interested to hear that she plays a double tremolo (two strings at once) in her transcription of Schubert's Stanchen that is fabulous."
Yep, it's been around for quite awhile just not well known as a technique. I wouldn't begin to try and explain it.
I've heard those old recordings and recall those of Manitis de Plata
when I was a
kid, who bewildered me with all his fast runs and smoking arps.
He was one I tried to find in europe when I first visited but never ran
into.
Walker was very much a top notch guitarist. I heard her duets with Presti which are just wonderful.
doc
"
I recently ran across a series of CDs by DOREMI called
"Segovia and His Contemporaries," which consist of
side-by-side recordings of A. Segovia and other great players
from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. That is, one half of each CD
is Segovia and the other half is devoted to another player.
So far I have found 3 volumes in the series, featuring these
artists (numbers in parenthesis are original recording dates):Vol I - Segovia (1945) & Julio M. Oyanguren (1937)
Vol II - Segovia (1947) & Guillermo Gomez (1928)
Vol III - Segovia (1947) & Luise Walker (1932, 1934)If anyone hasn't heard these guitarists play, and would like
to, I want to recommend these recordings. I can't vouch for the
accuracy of the liner notes, not being enough of an expert, so I'm
not going to comment much on them. They are by Jack Silver. However,
some quotes might be approriate:"The aim of this series of reissues of early guitar recordings is to
restore a sense of the dimensions of the world of the classical
guitar as it developed earlier in the 20th century. Not only will
unjustly forgotten artists emerge from the shadows, but we will be
better able to situate Segovia's achievements by setting many of his
earliest recordings alongside his contemporaries." [This comparision,
BTW, based on what I've heard in these CDs, does not show Segovia
as a more accomplished player/musician. He definitely has his own
style, of course, but he wasn't necessarily a better player than many
of his contemporaries, is my conclusion. In fact, after listening to
these other players, Segovia's habit of sliding into notes and stopping
for a split second with a dramatic pause and iterrupting the normal flow
and rhythm of the piece, especially in Bach, is quite annoying in comparision.
One thing the liner notes say is that Segovia played a "better" repertoire
than his contemporaries as far as attracting audiences is concerned, with
larger pieces and more and better transcriptions, while his contemporaries
were still playing a more tradition (for the time) classical repertoire
- I mention this, because I'd be interested in hearing Matanya's take on this.]What I do want to talk about is the wonderful music in these CDs.
I'm starting with the Walker CD because she impressed me the most,
with her technical brilliance and musicality. Considering that these
recordings were done direct-to-disk, and the fact that she played
a lot of show pieces, it's impressive that her playing is very
clean - of course, this is exactly what you'd expect from a virtuoso,
and after hearing her playing I would say that few players of today
can play better (certainly not many of the today's highly touted
players, who shall remain nameless!).Technically, as I mentioned, she is brilliant! She has the smoothest
tremolo I've ever heard, and even Konstantine would be impressed with
the speed and clarity of her runs. Speaking of tremolo, doc might
be interested to hear that she plays a double tremolo (two strings at
once) in her transcription of Schubert's Stanchen that is fabulous.Musically, she is superb. Kent will like her playing, I'd say.
In fact, it was her musicality, not her technical brilliance, which
impressed me the most. Everything you'd expect from someone who was
obviously a musician first and a guitarist second. She is expressive,
but without the obvious affectations Segovia employed. Pure music
that will move the listener.Richard, you should hear her version of Chopin's Nocturne Op9, No.2!
Also included in Walker's portion of this CD are some ensemble pieces:
Weber's "Minuet for Guitar, Viola & Flute" and "Allegretto" & "Minuet"
from Boccherini's Guitar Quintet No.7, G.451. The liner notes say that
these tracks "are quite possibly the earliest recordings of the guitar
in a chamber setting." (Matanya?)With few exceptions, the recordings are very clean - that is, very
little noise from dirty originals, scratches, decay, etc. The bass
is a little too strong in places, where the trebles didn't record
so well, but this is slight. Overall, the sound quality is excellent.In addition to the 3 players mentioned above, the liner notes name
some other of Segovia's contemporaries who also left recordings:
Llobet, Pujol, Maria Luisa Anido, Vincente Gomez, Francisco Salinas,
Augustin Barrios, Pasquale Taraffo, and Ida Presti. Perhaps we'll
see future volumes in this series for these artists? I hope so.
(Vol III, Luise Walker, was done in 1998, so perhaps there are already
more available - I just bought all I could find in the record store
at the time).IMO, this series is long overdue!
I'll post reviews of the Oyanguren and Gomez CDs soon.
John Sloan
Klaus Heim
news:2DA1AE...@telusplanet.net...
>
> Technically, as I mentioned, she is brilliant! She has the smoothest
> tremolo I've ever heard, and even Konstantine would be impressed with
> the speed and clarity of her runs. Speaking of tremolo, doc might
> be interested to hear that she plays a double tremolo (two strings at
> once) in her transcription of Schubert's Stanchen that is fabulous.
For clarification, is this the same effect as in Yocoh's "Sakura"? With one
finger, or ima? In comparison to the Mertz transcription, does she play all
double stops as tremolo, or only the Coda?
Klaus
Matanya Ophee
>
>One thing the liner notes say is that Segovia played a "better" repertoire
>than his contemporaries as far as attracting audiences is concerned, with
>larger pieces and more and better transcriptions, while his contemporaries
>were still playing a more tradition (for the time) classical repertoire
>- I mention this, because I'd be interested in hearing Matanya's take on this.]
I don't buy this. I think the characterization is entirely unfair and
based on pat acceptance of Segovia's hype. This kind of compilation is
necessarily using the Segovia name as a selling point. Hence, the
selections of pieces by the _other_ guitarists, is an arbitrary one
made by the record producers, and consciously or not, selected to show
that after all was said and done, the el Jefe, the big Cheeze, was
still ol' porker belly Andy.
Of course some of these people played the same repertoire that Segovia
did, and even pieces that were commissioned and dedicated to him. I
once heard a story,, which I told here a few month ago, that in a
concert by Oyanguren for the New York Guitar Society in 1949, was
rudely interrupted by Segovia who was in the audience, because Julio
played something from the Segovia repertoire, but using different
fingerings.
These people also played a lot of music which Segovia never touched,
because it was not dedicated to him. Luise Walker played a lot of
music by Llobet, who was her teacher, and her recording of the
Santorsola Prelude a la Antigua was one of my most precious
possession. I lost it year ago.
>What I do want to talk about is the wonderful music in these CDs.
>I'm starting with the Walker CD because she impressed me the most,
>with her technical brilliance and musicality. Considering that these
>recordings were done direct-to-disk, and the fact that she played
>a lot of show pieces, it's impressive that her playing is very
>clean - of course, this is exactly what you'd expect from a virtuoso,
>and after hearing her playing I would say that few players of today
>can play better (certainly not many of the today's highly touted
>players, who shall remain nameless!).
Come on John. Speak up. Why nameless? The lady was good. She was very
good. She was also, late in life, a stuck up bitch. I spent a whole
week in 1982 in the town of Lienz in the Tirol part of Austria in a
guitar summer school run by that master of the absurd one Ekkard Lind.
I was invited to give some lectures there. She was there giving a
master class. Never spoke to me even once during that week and the
couple of Guten Tag I addressed to her went unanswered. Most of the
time in that place, I spent in the bar with Peter Paeffgen where I
taught the barman how to make a Negroni (1/3 Campari, 1/3 Italian
sweet vermouth, 1/3 Gin or Vodka, shaken over ice) which he promptly
re-named Cocktail Ophee and put it in the menu. What a way to get
immortalized!
>Also included in Walker's portion of this CD are some ensemble pieces:
>Weber's "Minuet for Guitar, Viola & Flute" and "Allegretto" & "Minuet"
>from Boccherini's Guitar Quintet No.7, G.451. The liner notes say that
>these tracks "are quite possibly the earliest recordings of the guitar
>in a chamber setting." (Matanya?)
Are these tracks dated? "quite possibly the earliest" is a typical CTA
(Cover Thy Ass) euphemism when the writer hasn't a clue what he is
talking about. Walker's own autobiography (Ein Leben mit de Gitarre)
does not have a discography, and there are no Louise Walker recordings
listed in the Orphee Data-base of Guitar Records. The Weber Minuet
(actually a minuet from a trio by Leonhard von Call, Op. 89) was part
of a collection of 5 LPs put out by Turnabout and which I bought brand
new in about 1968. Obviously, not a first recording, but also
obviously, not a copy from 78s but rather a post WWII recording. The
earliest recording of guitar with chamber music I know for sure, is
the recording by Alexander Ivanov-Kramskoi, with the Borodin Quartet,
of Giuliani's third concert op. 70. The LP (Monitor Records) is not
dated, but the first violinist of the Borodin, Rostislav Dubinsky,
moved to the US where he was teaching at Bloomington until his death a
couple of years ago. It was he who told me that that recording was
made in 1952. Segovia's own recording of the Castelnuovo-Tedesco
quintet dates from about the same time. I honestly do not know of any
guitar with chamber music recording made before WWII and thus, any
such claims on behalf of Walker should be taken with a grain of salt.
>With few exceptions, the recordings are very clean - that is, very
>little noise from dirty originals, scratches, decay, etc. The bass
>is a little too strong in places, where the trebles didn't record
>so well, but this is slight. Overall, the sound quality is excellent.
Which supports my suspicion that these are not reproductions of 78s.
>In addition to the 3 players mentioned above, the liner notes name
>some other of Segovia's contemporaries who also left recordings:
>Llobet, Pujol, Maria Luisa Anido, Vincente Gomez, Francisco Salinas,
>Augustin Barrios, Pasquale Taraffo, and Ida Presti.
Painfully missing for this list are the names of Luigi Mozzani,
Theresa de Rogatis and Benvenuto Terzi.
>Perhaps we'll
>see future volumes in this series for these artists? I hope so.
>(Vol III, Luise Walker, was done in 1998, so perhaps there are already
>more available - I just bought all I could find in the record store
>at the time).
I know the Oyanguren one is available. I saw it at Border's but did
not buy it. I have the original Oyanguren recordings. I also have some
6-7 LPs by Vicente Gomez, including his famous Blood and Sand sound
track which includes the first ever recording of Romanza.
Incidentally, Gomez' LPs predate those of Segovia by a couple of
years.
Matanya Ophee
Editions Orphée, Inc.,
1240 Clubview Blvd. N.
Columbus, OH, 43235-1226
Phone: 614-846-9517
Fax: 614-846-9794
Check out the Orphée Catalogue at:
http://www.orphee.com
Including the on-line guitar magazine titled: Guitar And Lute Issues
Matanya Ophee
>
>> Are these tracks dated? "quite possibly the earliest" is a typical CTA
>> (Cover Thy Ass) euphemism when the writer hasn't a clue what he is
>> talking about.
>
>Yes. Both the Weber and Boccherini are said to be from
>the "Odeon Recordings of 1932."
>
>Odeon: 0-25187 (tracks 5 & 6); 0-25327 (tracks 7 & 8);
> 0-11807 (tracks 9 & 10)
>
>Also, FWIW, the 1934 recordings on the CD are listed as being under
>the Telefunken label: A 1672 (tracks 1 & 3); a 1697 (tracks 2 & 4).
So if the sound is good, they must have done a good job on remastering
it.
>
>Some extra info given about the Weber piece:
>
>"Weber's (1786-1826) *Menuetto fur Flote, Viola und Guitarre* is
>identified on the original label [Odeon] as being from the incidental
>music to *Donna Diana*. Many years later, she re-recorded this
>work for Turnabout-Vox ..."
That's the one I have.
>> Walker's own autobiography (Ein Leben mit de Gitarre)
>> does not have a discography, and there are no Louise Walker recordings
>> listed in the Orphee Data-base of Guitar Records. The Weber Minuet
>> (actually a minuet from a trio by Leonhard von Call, Op. 89) was part
>> of a collection of 5 LPs put out by Turnabout and which I bought brand
>> new in about 1968.
>
>Yes, the re-recording mentioned above.
>
>> Obviously, not a first recording, but also
>> obviously, not a copy from 78s but rather a post WWII recording.
>
>Meaning, the Odeon recordings were not made in 1932?
No, I did not say this, isnce I did not know about the Odeon
recordings. I was referring to the Turnabout.
>
>> Incidentally, Gomez' LPs predate those of Segovia by a couple of
>> years.
>
>Do you mean Vincente or Guillermo Gomez?
Vicente.
Peter Paeffgen
John Sloan wrote:
I recently ran across a series of CDs by DOREMI called
"Segovia and His Contemporaries," which consist of
side-by-side recordings of A. Segovia and other great players
from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. That is, one half of each CD
is Segovia and the other half is devoted to another player.
So far I have found 3 volumes in the series, featuring these
artists (numbers in parenthesis are original recording dates):Vol I - Segovia (1945) & Julio M. Oyanguren (1937)
Vol II - Segovia (1947) & Guillermo Gomez (1928)
Vol III - Segovia (1947) & Luise Walker (1932, 1934)
This is a fantastic idea! Please do me the favor and mail address etc.
of DOREMI-records. I have never seen there CDs here in Europe ... or is
there any European colleague who ever heard of the company?
Has there ever been a re-issue of the first recording of the "Concierto
de Aranjuez" with Regino Sainz de la Maza? I remember seeing the three
78-records in Madrid on the exhibition "La Guitarra Espanola" (same was
in New York) ... Primera edición discográfica del Concierto
de Aranjuez de Joaquín Rodrigo, con Regino Sainz de la Maza como
solista y la Orchesta Nacional de España dirigada por Ataulfo Argenta.
Grabación de Columbia, tres discos de 78 r.p.m., 194? ... (I'm
wondering just for historical reasons, Matanya). There was a later recording
redone by RCA and this one contained the Fantasia as well, which had been
premiered 1958 - so it was a much later recording of the Concierto as well.
Peter
****************************
Peter Päffgen
Gitarre & Laute, Köln
Aachener Str. 1112a
D-50858 Köln
www.gitarre-und-laute.com
Matanya Ophee
>
>Has there ever been a re-issue of the first recording of the "Concierto de
>Aranjuez" with Regino Sainz de la Maza? I remember seeing the three 78-records in
>Madrid on the exhibition "La Guitarra Espanola" (same was in New York) ... Primera
>edición discográfica del Concierto de Aranjuez de Joaquín Rodrigo, con Regino Sainz
>de la Maza como solista y la Orchesta Nacional de España dirigada por Ataulfo
>Argenta. Grabación de Columbia, tres discos de 78 r.p.m., 194? ... (I'm wondering
>just for historical reasons, Matanya).
You can also wonder for practical reasons. I know one colleague of
ours, which you know very well, who has been looking for a _usable_
copy of that recording for years, without much success. The copy you
saw, as I understand it, is not playable.
I'll talk to you in further detail on this at the Gemaldete Haus, as
usual. (That's a restaurant Doc, in Frankfurt, where German cuisine
and beer comes together to a high degree of perfection...)
Klaus Heim
> Klaus Heim wrote:
> >
> > "John Sloan" <jsl...@telusplanet.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> > news:2DA1AE...@telusplanet.net..
> > >
> > > tremolo I've ever heard, and even Konstantine would be impressed with
> > > the speed and clarity of her runs. Speaking of tremolo, doc might
> > > be interested to hear that she plays a double tremolo (two strings at
> > > once) in her transcription of Schubert's Stanchen that is fabulous.
> >
> > For clarification, is this the same effect as in Yocoh's "Sakura"? With
one
> > finger, or ima?
>
> she's plucking the tremolo, as in pami. It doesn't sound like the
> sort of strumming you hear in the Sakura.
>
> Speaking of Walker's tremolo, she has another remarkable display of
> tremolo in a performance of Dominici's "Italienisch Fantasie" that
> I'd almost swear is a pimami tremolo. The reason I say this is because
> the tremolo is very fast and smooth, but the bass notes are slow
> (actually, she's strumming chords with the thumb while playing
> the tremolo over them) and spaced far apart, such that a pami tremolo
> would sound too slow at that tempo. I've not seen the music for
> this piece, so I can't say for sure what tremolo pattern it calls
> for, but it sure doesn't sound like a pami pattern. FWIW, her
> tremolo is so smooth in this piece that at times it sounds exactly
> like a mandoline's tremolo, as played with a pick. Very fast and light,
> giving a remarkable effect.
This would coincide with the tremolo studies in her Daily Training. The
tremolo is pimami and also pimamiamiami. Also she has a published tremolo
study Regenetude (Rain Etude). Here the tremolo is pami, but she strums
chords with the thumb. Towards the end there is tremolo on one string
(pami), while
the left hand hammers on a separate melody. Some nice ideas.
> > In comparison to the Mertz transcription, does she play all double
> > stops as tremolo, or only the Coda?
>
> I don't know.
Is the tremolo continuous throughout the whole piece or is it only inserted
in parts?
I am asking some wayward questions, not to confuse people, but because
direct questions concerning some techniques don't produce any answers (we
are all being very secretive again!). I have never seen nor heard a double
tremolo, but from my own experiments, I know some things are possible. If
they have been in use for ages, no use in me developing them again. Good
hints will tell me what I need to know.
Klaus
P.S. If you haven't played the Mertz-Schubert transcriptions yourself, take
a look at them (Chanterelle). I find them musically very delightful, though
technically difficult.
Bob Ashley
John Sloan wrote:
> Thanks, I will. I'm a fan of Mertz' music.
Well, daggummit. I knew that Ricky, Lucy's Cuban husband was a
musician/bandleader, but hadn't realized that their neighbour Ethel, her
husband Fred was into music too, let alone classical guitar.
Any episodes you know where Fred Mertz is playing?
Regards,
Rib
Matanya Ophee
>
>> P.S. If you haven't played the Mertz-Schubert transcriptions yourself, take
>> a look at them (Chanterelle). I find them musically very delightful, though
>> technically difficult.
>
>Thanks, I will. I'm a fan of Mertz' music.
So if you have access to old Soundboards (1975 or so), you will find
one issue with a facsimile of the Staendchen submitted by some airline
pilot who was living then in Concord New Hampshire.... first time in
this century a piece by Mertz published outside of Russia (where it
was published a lot before the Revolution)...
Klaus Heim
> Klaus Heim wrote:
> >
> > Is the tremolo continuous throughout the whole piece or is it only
inserted
> > in parts?
>
> piece, a brief passage enear the end.
That was my initial guess, that it would musically only fit in the Coda part
thingy.
I am still not sure if I am thinking of something totally different, when I
talk about double tremolo. I have a few ideas, one of them bases on the fact
that she was a pupil of Llobet.
Klaus
Rogluthier
always assumed Manitas de Plata did it by rapidly fluttering
maammaammaa....etc. across the top two strings, leaving p to play melody or
bass.
BTW, Klaus, I have meant to commend your fluency with English.
Roger Thurman
Thurman Guitar & Violin Repair, Inc.
900 Franklin Ave.
Kent, OH 44240
330-673-4054
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/Rogluthier/
25 years in repair, making and sales.
Martin - Fender Warranty Repair
Visa/MC Shipment on approval
Klaus Heim
"Rogluthier" <roglu...@aol.comniljunk> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:20000407120946...@ng-cn1.aol.com...
> Isn't double tremolo a flamenco effect? How is it done on classical
guitar? I
> always assumed Manitas de Plata did it by rapidly fluttering
> maammaammaa....etc. across the top two strings, leaving p to play melody
or
> bass.
I think that's it, I just do it with the usual pami, or just with i. I am
still getting it right, because you need a lot of restrictive motion in the
right hand, so as not to hit string three. Doing this on the inner strings
is virtually impossible (I stand to be corrected here.)
All this talk about tremolo, and nobody has mentioned one technique, which
seems to be very logical. Using it, you can even play a continuos tremolo,
while playing artificial harmonics. The experts will know this one, when I
say "Cum mortuis in lingua mortua".
> BTW, Klaus, I have meant to commend your fluency with English.
I do my best, thanks:-)
Klaus
John Wasak
> All this talk about tremolo, and nobody has mentioned one technique, which
> seems to be very logical. Using it, you can even play a continuos tremolo,
> while playing artificial harmonics. The experts will know this one, when I
> say "Cum mortuis in lingua mortua".
>
Aha! A cryptic clue! "With the dead in a dead language." Picture 8 from
Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition'. So? Something to do with
Yamashita's "Pictures", I suppose? I'm unfamilar with his arrangement.
Shed some light, Klaus, I'm now in the dark, as if in a Catacomb.
JW
Klaus Heim
"John Wasak" <mr...@earthlink.net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:pIoH4.3476$p4.1...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
Got it exactly right!
Yamashita uses his i or ch to play a continuous tremolo (sounds like a pick,
or better a fan). If you haven't heard the recording, it is extremely fast
and regular. Added to this he strums the chords (three, even four strings)
with the flesh of his thumb. The artificial harmonics are done by playing
the tremolo with ch, holding out i and plucking with p. Why isn't this
technique used more often? It is very difficult, you have to exclude
complimentary motion. And you need strong fingernails, as you are using both
sides of the nail.
While we are in the Catacombae, in Supulchrum Romanum there is another cool
technique. He plays a constant rasguedo, while playing the melody on the
first string.
You must look at the score (Edition Gendai Guitar). Every page has its
technical delights (e.g. the different Promenades, with their inventive use
of harmonics, rh fingering of the runs in Baba-Yaga). It is edited very
well, so that all the difficulties are readily understandable. As I said,
when I succumb to the delusion of being a good guitarist, I take this one
out.
Klaus
Matanya Ophee
>Matanya Ophee wrote:
>>
>> So if you have access to old Soundboards (1975 or so), you will find
>> one issue with a facsimile of the Staendchen submitted by some airline
>> pilot who was living then in Concord New Hampshire.... first time in
>> this century a piece by Mertz published outside of Russia (where it
>> was published a lot before the Revolution)...
>
>Yeah, but what do airline pilots know about CG? I'll bet this guy
>didn't even study music at a university! :)
Didn't even study music in high-school. Once I used to claim that I
was the best classical guitarist among airlines pilots and the best
airline pilot among guitarists. Captain Barney Burns, an old student
of Papas, and the man who left to his widow the Torres and Guadagnini
guitars I bought from her for $500.- each 10 years after his death,
soon disabused me of this idea. (I still have the Guadagnini. The
Torres is hanging on the wall of Richard Brune's office).
>Seriously, I don't have any issues of Soundboard from the mid-70s.
>You seem to have started an avalanche, judging from the number of
>Mertz pieces now available from GSP (or are most of those Russian
>editions?).
I am not sure if I can claim that. I certainly had some words with
other people who, at the time, claimed to have discovered the music of
Mertz and made a lot of promotional hay out of that, even though they
only discovered it in my library.
What happened is that one Nikolai Petrovich Makarov, the fellow who
organized the 1856 guitar competition in Brussels where Mertz got the
first prize for his Concertino, took a lot of Mertz manuscripts with
him to Russia. He, and some other Russians, then proceeded to rip
Mertz off, and to compose themselves other pieces which were
attributed to Mertz by them (Elegy, Pianto dell'Amante and others).
Most of these pieces were published in 1904-1914 in a Russian guitar
magazine, copies of which are extremely rare, even in Russia, but not
entirely unknown.
The Concertino, for example, was re-published in a guitar method by
one Ivan Kuznetsov (Kiev, 1972). An Interesting work, which has among
others, precise schematics and design drawings for an amplifier (tubes
of course) with the speaker housed in the foot stool, a movable built
in capo and other goodies. Vladimir Slavsky sent a copy of this book
to Alice Artzt at about the same time I found the Mertz pieces in the
State Library in Concord New Hampshire. Also, Leif Christensen found
the Mertz pieces in the Royal libraries of Copenhagen and Stockholm
also at about the same time or even earlier. So the idea of a Mertz
revolution, by anybody, is ridiculous.
I will stand by my claim that my submission to Soundboard predates any
other _publications_ of the music of Mertz (until someone can point me
in the direction of earlier non-Russian edition...). It was simply a
footnote in an avalanche that was already in progress...
John Wasak
>
> Yamashita uses his i or ch to play a continuous tremolo (sounds like a
pick,
> or better a fan). If you haven't heard the recording, it is extremely fast
> and regular. Added to this he strums the chords (three, even four strings)
> with the flesh of his thumb. The artificial harmonics are done by playing
> the tremolo with ch, holding out i and plucking with p. Why isn't this
> technique used more often? It is very difficult, you have to exclude
> complimentary motion. And you need strong fingernails, as you are using
both
> sides of the nail.
>
Thanks Klaus for this enlightenment about Yamashita I haven't heard this
recording but your description makes me think I would very much like to.
Unfortunately, finding any Yamashita CD's seems to be no easy task. Why
this is so, I don't really understand, especially since he's probably
recorded more classical guitar music than anyone.
JW
Marc Morin
> this is so, I don't really understand, especially since he's probably
> recorded more classical guitar music than anyone.
Many recordings are on RCA label. We know them for discontinuing a lot. I
worked as a classical department manager in a HMV Megastore for years. I tried
a lot to get Yamashita recordings, but received almost nothing. Maybe somebody
can help...
Marc
Klaus Heim
> Klaus Heim wrote:
> >
> > Yamashita uses his i or ch to play a continuous tremolo (sounds like a
> pick,
> > or better a fan). If you haven't heard the recording, it is extremely
fast
> > and regular. Added to this he strums the chords (three, even four
strings)
> > with the flesh of his thumb. The artificial harmonics are done by
playing
> > the tremolo with ch, holding out i and plucking with p. Why isn't this
> > technique used more often? It is very difficult, you have to exclude
> > complimentary motion. And you need strong fingernails, as you are using
> both
> > sides of the nail.
> >
>
> Thanks Klaus for this enlightenment about Yamashita I haven't heard this
> recording but your description makes me think I would very much like to.
> this is so, I don't really understand, especially since he's probably
> recorded more classical guitar music than anyone.
This was the first CD I ever bought. I didn't even have a CD-Player then, I
had to listen to it at a friend's house. The only other one I have by him is
his Dvorak and Stravinsky. I find the Dvorak even more spectacular, I once
tried ordering the score, but nothing happened. Just listening to it you get
so many ideas, not only in respect to technique, more so to tone color.
Thinking about this now, it did me a lot of good listening to this stuff
early on. I never had the feeling that the guitar was limited, I realized
that if you just thought enough about things, fiddled around a bit, you
could do just about anything.
Klaus