Week 2: Sleeps a Song in all things! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the second week of "The Romantic Era" challenge!
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Who is your favorite romantic lyricist?
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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Here is a nice little Mazurka by the Argentine guitarist/composer from the Romantic period, Juan Alais (1884 - 1914). As I mentioned during the Latin American Challenge, Alais' is considered one of the first Argentine composers who wrote for the classical guitar. This Mazurka, which he entitled Emma, is part of a dance suite which also included the Vals that I posted last month.
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Dale Needles Great contribution, Dale! I love the hidden gems.
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Dale Needles This is a charming piece, Dale. It almost has a folk music character. Sorry for the slow response. I got Covid and have been laid out with cold symptoms- nothing serious but laid out nonetheless.
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Jack Stewart So sorry to hear about you getting covid. It has been 8 days since we were together so I think I am clear. Take care and rest.
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Jack Stewart I agree a charming little piece and fun to read through. Probably mostly interesting due to it being from an obscure Argentine composer.
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Dale Needles This piece made my body move. I was struggling with my next piece and upset about the result, but your music made me feel relaxed, thanks for sharing!
One more thing, the Microestuidios just arrived at my place yesterday, thanks again for your suggestion.
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Wai Thanks. If you like the Alais' Mazurka and would like a copy of it along with his Vals, which I posted last month, let me know and I would be happy to email them to you. You can contact me directly at [email protected]. Both the Mazurka and the Vals are from the same dance suite by Alais and make a nice pairing. Also, both were edited and fingered by Carlevaro. Also, glad you got Carlevaro's Microestudios. They are a nice set of studies, not necessarily progressive so play around with them and find a few that you like. I try to work on five or so at a time and then rotate them out as I explore others.
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Dale Needles Like said Eric, thank you for this gem! Through the challenges, I'm discovering so great music from the La Plata region with you, thank you for your generosity, and for this beautiful performance.
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Dale Needles I am happy to learn about the compositions, you brought into my consciece-and beautiful playing, a joy to listen to.
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Mertz - Op 13 An Malvina (May 14)
I can now play it from memory. I'd like to say that I sat down and did the hard work of memorizing it, using some sort of method. The truth is it just happened simply by playing it a lot. With some pieces, that works for me. With others, not so much.
It should probably go faster, but when I go faster I make more mistakes and have more memory lapses. Maybe with more time ...
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Eric Phillips Bravo, Eric! That was beautiful and the music came out naturally from your hands. I always think that playing from memory is a whole new level of playing because you can really focus on the music itself.
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Eric Phillips Just beautiful Eric - you are embedding this in hand & heart with clarity and emotion. Love it.
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Eric Phillips That was beautifully done, Eric. I certainly did not get a sense that it was too slow.
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Eric Phillips Bravo!
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Eric Phillips how beautiful! you dive always so deep in the literature!
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Eric Phillips super!
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Spent some time working on Cantabile #3 from Fernando Sor's Six Bagatelles, Op. 43. This is a real gem and hoping to learn it well.
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Rick Lord So good! Sor has long been my favorite composer for the guitar, and this piece is such a fine example of his ability. A simple and beautiful melody, and then such graceful voice leading underneath it. When you play, your technique becomes invisible, and the beauty of the composition is all I hear.
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Rick Lord That was as nice a rendition of this piece as I have heard, Rick. As Eric, mentioned, your technique completely dissolves into the musical expression. Beautiful.
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Rick Lord Great performance, Rick! Thank you! Like says Jack, your musical expression is perfect. Bravíssimo!
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Rick Lord yes, its beautiful, sounds really Sor
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Stefanie Mosburger-Dalz Thanks for listening and sharing some Sor!
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Julia Florida - May 16
Did worked on it and a little less mistakes compared to last week. Couple of wrong notes and the harmonics are especially shakey. Hopefully will have time to work on it this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3FgCvgdVtY
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don Beautiful. I have never heard of this one, really romantic and guitaristic.
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Wai Thanks! Yes according to story, he wrote this for his student whom he was trying to court. The beginning in some ways sounded as him he was serenading her.
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Sor Op 6 no 11
Learnt this quite sometime back but never really work on it, been something that I just pick up the guitar and play while waiting for emails, or watching TV. So this is really the first time that I critically look at it, and there are some parts especially the last section that can be improved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G4dvaEKg04
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
