Week 2: Vienna in 19th !
Welcome to the Main Thread for the second week of the "Around the 19th Century Guitar World" challenge!
Vienna was a hub for all classical music in the 19th century. Home to Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, among others, the classical guitar was alive and well in the 19th century. In Vienna in the 19th century classical guitar composers were heavily influenced by orchestral composers and had relationships with them; Giuliani played cello in the premiere of Beethoven’s 7th symphony and Mertz arranged Schubert’s Songs for Piano and Voice on guitar.
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And I had been preparing this very beautiful romanza by Mertz. I will keep trying to get a more refined recording. The ending is , though easy at first sight, always spoiling the result. Would a 19th century guitar help me out with those stretched chords?
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I noticed the sound was not what I intended. So I made a new recording, ms,ing duteore my laptop camera was connected with the focusrite input. my interpretation is not really different or any better. But the sound is…
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David Krupka well... could be the scale or the spacing depending on one's hand or habits? I'm personally more confortable with a shorter scale than a narrower neck, that said in any case I prefer the usual for both, probably too much years of playing that way
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joosje you're right Joosje the sound is by far better and we can then enjoy even more the subtleties of your beautiful playing.
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Another couple of "beginner" pieces from the Duncan book. Don't have them quite up to the tempo marked in the book, but hey...
Every piece has a little something new to teach me.
I really enjoyed the Siciliana piece by Carulli. Definitely makes me feel like I'm in a Gondola boat when playing it.
One thing I've come to notice about my playing by watching my videos is that I tend to play closer to the bridge, making my overall tone a bit brighter than I'd like at times. I think I'm going to try to be more aware of that - maybe incorporating a bit more tonal variety.
I also noticed that I really have to ease off on that repeated G note in the harmony of the Andantino! Holy smokes!
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Steve Pederson I liked those both, Steve! I particularly like the first one. Do you know the opus number?
Your home position does seem a bit close to the bridge. Maybe shifting it a couple inches toward the fingerboard would be a good idea. Your tone is very nice, though.
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Eric Phillips Thanks! I don't know what opus number, as it just gives the title in my book. I'll attach a copy of it if you'd like. I wrote my own fingerings in over some of the others per my own liking.
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Steve Pederson Those were very nice, Steve. Very well played. BTW, if you are using carbon treble strings, they tend to be brighter than nylon.
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Jack Stewart Thanks Jack! I am using Hannabach Silver 200 strings (Medium-High tension), the trebles being, according to their website, "precision round Nylon in professional quality."
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Steve Pederson Thanks, Steve. I'll put that in my files. I notice it's Carcassi, not Carulli.
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Steve Pederson very nicely played. Beautiful piecesI like your phrasing and direction. Your colors will come out more effectively, indeed, if your righthand moves more freely between soundboard and bridge.
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Steve Pederson very well played Steve! I personally prefer a general brighter tone as it eases stacking multiple timbers at the same time. In the Andantino, as you can hear your melody pops out naturally without reststoke or other emphasis as its timber is brighter (like a oboe) compared to the middle open G that sounds more mellow (like a violin). As you have noticed by yourself the Open G is a bit louder since you naturally make an accent on it (your i finger), try to move the accent to the melody musically as opposed to mechanically using «a finger» (mostly your a finger in this case).
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So many great submissions are already here, I will come back and enjoy listening to them.
Giuliani from Le Papillon Op.50 No.13 Allegro
I would also like to share this short study by Giuliani I learned around 2 years ago and I think it improved my right hand a lot as it has a challenging arpeggios for beginners at first but once someone develop more finger independence it is becoming easier.
It was also a good study for the thump and experimenting how to produce different tones.
This version is little different from the one shared by Hannah but it remains almost the same.
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SULTAN BAMUKHIER Well played, Sultan. There is a delicate refinement in your performance.
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SULTAN BAMUKHIER wonderful! Good control . Yes, it’s a beautiful study and great for a friendly warming up - especially for the thumb and finding the balance between bass and arpeggios
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SULTAN BAMUKHIER Well done, Sultan!
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Giuliani Op 73 No 9 with a clearer dynamic plan
I've decided to set the Matiegka aside for now. Trying to get it up to a decent speed was just getting me stressed and frustrated, and I wasn't enjoying the music.
So I decided to go back to a piece I played earlier. Hannah gave me some feedback, suggesting that I give it more of a dynamic plan. So that's what I have tried to do here. I'm not sure if I have succeeded.
Also, just for fun, I thought I'd try something new and use a picture in the video, so you all don't have to look at me. I chose a painting that, I think, has the character of the music.
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Eric Phillips That was great, Eric I don't remember your previous version (and I got tired scrolling for it), but this was very effective This seems an unusual piece for Giuliani. I always have him pegged as a flashy musically simplistic showboat, but I am continually having to re-assess
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Jack Stewart Me too. I basically listened to recordings of Giuliani by David Starobin and picked a few that I liked and that did not seem too difficult. This is nothing showy. It is simple, but in an elegant (not boring) way.
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Eric Phillips soo beautiful, Eric. This dynamic range is wonderful. Great recording sound, too. I adore the dramatic feel of the piece, the way you play it
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joosje Thank you so much, Joosje!
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Eric Phillips Very well played with effective use of dynamics, Eric. To my mind, though, it doesn’t quite have the character of a bagatelle (as I understand the term) at this tempo. Personally, I would aim for a lighter, ‘scherzo’-like feeling. Perhaps this could be achieved by ‘tightening up’ the dotted eighth rhythm a little. (I think we guitarists (I definitely include myself here) - tend to allow the dotted figure to become a triplet - maybe because so many of us had the shuffle rhythm drilled into our brains as youngsters.) Having said that, I realize that David Starobin (who is a real specialist in this repertoire) takes it at a tempo similar to yours. And I generally love his playing! Oh well, I’m used to being the contrarian in the room - I hope you find some use in hearing a different perspective.
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David Krupka Thank you, David. I always appreciate your thoughts, as they are very well-informed. Although I’ve heard the term “bagatelle” used before, I really know nothing about its particular character. I’ll give your suggestion a try to see if I like it.
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Eric Phillips this is indeed a huge improvement over the other great version you previously did
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Blaise Laflamme Thank you, Blaise!
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So much Giuliani this week. I thought I didn’t appreciate his style, but I found out how creative a composer he really was.
I worked on his Haendel variations some time ago and decided to refresh it a bit for the occasion.. It gives again a different view on Giuliani’s compositional inventiveness. This opus 107 reflects the classicist style of his predecessors. Maybe, if I can find the time, I’ll record the two more lyrical, operatic variations.
