🎶 Latin American Music Challenge | Week 2

Steve Price Very nice Steve. My preference would be Leo Brouwer's preludios but the Ponce preludios are also very interesting. Good work and thanks for sharing your work.

Steve Price Nicely done. Really enjoyed the Ponce Preludio Corto 3 and the Brouwer Preludio.  

Dale Needles Thanks, Dale. The Brouwer is really a nice set, and it's a stretch, but I think it's my range, so I'll be working on that for a while. 

Ron Thanks, Ron. These have been a lot of fun to work on. 

Steve Price beautifully played, Steve. Are these full pieces in themselves? I haven't ventured beyond a few etudes and Un dia de Noviembre from Brouwer myself and I haven't learned any Ponce music so far. I really love short, beautiful pieces.

Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary The Ponce is a set of six short pieces, and Brouwer is a set of three. They have some common themes, but I don't think there's anything in them that you'd be missing if you play them as standalone pieces. I'm with you on this kind of short piece. It's really interesting to see composers like these and others like Bogdanovic and Ourkouzounov can create development and movement in pieces that are just a few minutes long. 

Steve Price Really interesting, Steve. You play all of these really well. I also have difficulty with at least part of the first Ponce Prelude. None of the other recordings I have listened to have helped clarified the issues. I like the piece until the 2nd half. The chromatic phrase seems sort of throw away filler to me. The 3rd Prelude is much more successful IMHO.

The Brouwer piece is really nice. I wish he had extended it more. Perhaps as a set it will fill it out

Even though I am fairly familiar with both of these composers works, these pieces are all new to me. Thanks for sharing. 

Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. I'm still hoping to get a better understanding of the first prelude, but I figured I should get it down just in the interest of completeness. For the Brouwer, this is just one part of one of the pieces in the set, but it's followed by a typical Brouwer chromatic run that I'm trying to make sense of, so we'll see if I can get it down before the end of this. 

Steve Price I just looked up a version of the Brouwer prelude (Claudio Giuliani - the only version I could find) and it didn't start the same as your version. I then reread your intro and realized you mention it was just the middle section. I'm always amazed how much I can learn if I actually read.🙄

The concluding chromatic phrase is very curious. I like it but it does seem to appear out of nowhere. You're doing great on the piece.

Steve Price Great work, Steve. I really love your sound, very clean articulation of every single note. What type of mic do you use? I'm still trying to get better sounding recordings.

Nijwm Bwiswmuthiary Thanks a bunch, Nijwm. I'm using a pair of Rode M5 mics. Like you, I'm always trying to learn the recording part. There is so much to it. Martin had a course a while back that had a lot of helpful information, and if you haven't seen it, you should be able to find it in the forum somewhere. Also, my wife scrolls through these threads sometimes, and she heard your recording of Merlin. She said it's probably her favorite thing she's heard on Tonebase. 

Steve Price Thank you, Steve. Yeah, I have checked out some of the videos and livestreams on recording done by Martin, they're really good and helpful. Wow, that's high praise from your wife. I'm humbled by that, kindly pass on my gratitude to her. My wife isn't that much into classical music 😀, although she doesn't mind me plucking away.

Dale Needles Nice, Dale. I've always liked the conversational nature of this one between the voices. Well played. 

Dale Needles Beautifully played, Dale. Bravo for dedicating such great efforts to finish all 20. Thanks for sharing these micro etudes that aren't often played enough.

Steve Price RonNijwm Bwiswmuthiary Thanks. I really enjoy playing these Microestudios and encourage you to check them out. Maestro Carlevaro has a video of him playing and giving a lesson on the first five. Worth checking it out and the link can be found on the Carlevaro School of Guitar Forum in the resource section under the general discussion. 

Dale Needles I might have seen one on YouTube. I'll definitely recheck it.👍

Dale Needles Another stellar performance, Dale. I'm going to have to look into these studies. They are fascinating.

Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack.  Definitely worth a look and plenty to choose from.