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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I don't know why I don't have more time to be more active in these challenges but I did some hasty recording last night just on my phone. The first one is a minuet and trio by Matiegka which I have tried to resurrect- not played it for a while
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Derek Very nice, Derek. Matiegka is someone I am just becoming acquainted with, though I have never played any of his works. Thanks for introducing us to another of his pieces.
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Derek Great! I had never heard of Matiegka until a couple months ago. Thanks so much for introducing me to some of his music here!
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Derek really nice Derek. I like your choice of pieces and you play them very elegantly. The sound of your phone recording is so good.
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Derek nice Derek! This is a really sweet and playful piece. Thanks for sharing it!
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This is a piece by Carulli which I started learning last week but didn't get round to posting it. Alla Pollaca. Not sure what opus it is. It's from a collection called An Hour of The Guitar vol 3
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Derek Great start on this, Derek. That's a nice piece and quite challenging. Edson Lopez has it as Op. 241, No. 41.
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Derek Good job, Derek!
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And Giuliani. Study Op 48 no 5.
I'll keep working on these pieces!
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Derek Well played, Derek! It looks daunting but sounds amazing.
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Derek Nicely done, Derek. That looks like quite a workout for the right hand.
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Derek Well done! I have this piece in one of my books, but I just can't get the arpeggio going at the speed you have here. It's much more boring at a slow tempo. You're playing it very well!
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Derek Way to go Derek! I remember having to perform this piece for my audition to get into the guitar program at the UofM. It was challenging then, and it's still challenging today! It's tough to get that arpeggio pattern smooth. Nice job.
One thing I've noticed in my own performing of it recently is how easy it is to get that string squeaking noise when changing chords. What I've discovered is helpful is lifting just the finger that is on the fourth string. (That's the squeaky one.) If I leave my other fingers down on the second and third strings, it can still be legato.
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Op. 39, No.17, No.12 & No.11 - Anton Diabelli
I found these 3 pieces in my Classical Book (Chanterelle 2112), Wiki said Anton Diabelli was 100% Austrian, so I thought these 3 pieces matched the theme of this week. (I know very little about classical guitar history, so I have to check it every time
) Among these 3 pieces, I liked Scherzo (No.17) the most, it sounded playful and was fun to play. I have never played music like that, I didn't know if I played it correctly, but even if I played it wrong, it's still fun to play.
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Wai Great,Wai. You are continuing your tradition of beautifully presented pieces.
I don't know how you guys do it. It generally takes me weeks to work a piece up to a minimum level of performance. Well done.
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Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. I chose only beginner-level pieces, that's why I could record them in a comparatively short time.
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Wai Great job, Wai! I love that you are choosing lesser known composers. I think I've only played one piece by Diabelli (from an anthology like yours). I like all three of these, but I think my favorite is No. 12 Temp di Menuetto.
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Wai wow. This is so wonderful. Very nice interpretation, Wai. And great sound I was never really fond of Diabelli, but you served him with this submission. Very nice!
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Eric Phillips joosje Thanks for listening, Eric and joosje. I am looking for pieces for next week but found that my "Classical Book" doesn't have Italian music.
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Wai Wonderful work and beautiful to boot! I felt like I was in the Alps of Austria with these pieces. Thanks for bringing Diabelli to the party!
On a technical note, I was noticing with several of the single-note runs that you use your index finger repeatedly instead of alternate picking. This is something that I'm highly sensitive to, as I have been working very diligently on that in my own technique. I don't mean to "pick" on you, just thought it might be helpful.
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Steve Pederson Thanks for listening, Steve. Ha, yes, I know what you said. Actually, I didn't know that I played those passages with only the "i" finger when I was recording, but when I watched my own video, I was shocked and didn't believe that I played that way.
I will pay more attention next time. 
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Wai don't beat yourself up over it. I've noticed somethings about my playing after watching the videos that I want to change as well. It's a great practice to record yourself! What a great thing that we live in a generation that has cell phones where we can easily record ourselves and watch it back immediately. Sor never had that opportunity!
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Mertz - Selected Practice Pieces from School for the Guitar
Mertz published a method book called Schüle für die Guitare, and at the end are fifteen Practice Pieces (Übungsstücke) that are quite nice. I made a video with my five favorites. I also used this as an opportunity to try some new things with my video editing. Nothing too fancy, just some text.
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Eric Phillips this is so really Mertz. Beautiful playing. So lyrical , romantic, but not too sweet. Well done. Great Mertz introduction.
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Eric Phillips After listening to your beautiful performance, I think Metz became one of my favorite composers.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
