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 Beethovenās 7th symphony and Mertz arranged Schubertās Songs for Piano and Voice on guitar.
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Schubert / Mertz Stanchen
This is a piece I presented back in the Transcription Challenge and hadn't kept it up, so I am using this challenge to revive it. It is really difficult for me to get a balanced and effective interpretation. It has its moments, I suppose, though it is tough presenting this right after Barney's wonderful Sight Reading(!) of Lob Der Thranen.
I do think this is an improvement over my original recordings earlier in the year.
I have a Giuliani piece I tried to prepare for Vienna, but it is another tricky piece for me. Maybe I can 'Grandfather it in' to the Italy week.
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Giuliani - Bagatelle Op 73 No 9 (one more time)
At the suggestion of David Krupka , I played this again, but a little faster and lighter, and with crisper dotted rhythms. David thought this might be more in keeping with Giuliani's intention, since he calls the pieces in the opus 'bagatelles'. I must say, I think I like it better, so I tip my hat in gratitude to David! Let me know what you think.
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I promised two more of Giulianiās Blacksmith variations, so here they are. Those are my preferred ones because they are a bit more theatrical and I try to play them that way. Sometimes a tiny bit over the top.? But itās more fun like that. Others might find itās not free enough. Itās a challenge to find the right balance in rubatoā¦.