Sonata Op. 5 for Violin and Guitar

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 1827) was a German composer and pianist and arguably the most famous composer of all time. He was the last great figure of the Classical era and helped pave the way for the Romantic style that followed. His compositions include 9 Symphonies 5 Piano Concertos 1 Violin Concerto 32 Piano Sonatas and 16 String Quartets. Beethoven?s Adagio from his Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor ?Pathetique? (Op. 13) is one of his most celebrated compositions. It has been arranged for the Guitar by the Spanish guitarist pianist and composer Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909). Tárrega is known for revolutionisingclassical Guitar technique and also for transcribing many keyboard works for Guitar from the great classical composers including Beethoven Mendelssohn and Chopin.

This songbook contains 15 Beethoven masterpieces arranged for solo guitar in standard notation and TAB. The arrangements in this book are carefully written for intermediate-level guitarists. Each solo combines melody and harmony in one superb fingerpicking arrangement. The book also includes an easy introduction to basic fingerstyle guitar. Songs include: Bagatelle Op. 119 No. 1 • Für Elise • Minuet in G Major • Piano Sonata No. 14 in C# Minor (?Moonlight?) Op. 27 No. 2 First Movement Theme • Ode to Joy • Piano Sonata No. 8 Op. 13 (?Pathetique?) 2nd Movement • Symphony No. 6 in F Major (?Pastoral?) First Movement Excerpt • Turkish March • Violin Concerto in D Major • and more!

The composer says: Several musical threads led to my writing this piece of music to celebrate my friend Matanya Ophee's (AKA MO) 80th birthday - a life lived with the guitar. Jelly Roll Morton once asserted: 'In fact, if you can't manage to put tinges of Spanish in your tunes, you will never be able to get the right seasoning; I call it, for jazz.' Over the last couple of years I moved back to Jelly Roll Morton's city: New Orleans, home of my adolescence and reacquainted myself with the tinges of Spanish in its rich musical heritage. One of these pieces was the Mardi Gras Mambo, an iconic song frequently played during Mardi Gras and, in David Newman's reworking of the lyrics, at the New Orleans Saints football games as the Super Bowl Mambo. Uncited sources on both Wikipedia and Essortment say the word Mambo means 'conversation with the gods' in Kikongo, the language spoken by Central African slaves taken to Cuba where it became the name for a musical form and a dance style that developed originally in Cuba in the able hands of Cachao's (Bassist Orestes Lopez) tune: Danzon Mambo. This rhythmic style became famous in the 1950's following its use in dance bands in Mexico and through New Orleans to the United States. The infectiousness of the New Orleans re-interpretation of the Mambo's ostinato bass line and the reaction of people who are readily moved to dance when they hear it spoke to me of dance and celebration. This led me to choose some of this piece's characteristics and title for this piece: Mambo for MO. As we have progressed on the instrument, some of us may have encountered the four-chord descending minor chord progression known as the Andalusian cadence: i - VII - VI - V in many different genres and guises. After all, it appears in Ray Charles' Hit the Road, Jack, the verse on Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys, Walk, Don't Run by The Ventures, Runaway by Del Shannon and in that great work arranged and embraced by the Guitar: J.S. Bach's Chaconne from the Partita in D minor for solo violin, BWV 1004. This bass line derived from a Latin American musical style as reinterpreted in New Orleans, a chord progression that evokes the Flamenco Music of Spain, and my impressions of the sinuous lines of people dancing the Second Line in the streets of New Orleans at Mardi Gras led me to this synthesis as a tribute to a man who has contributed so much in his lifelong efforts for the guitar, its history and lore on the occasion of his birthday! Happy Birthday, Matanya! Carlos Barrientos was born on June 25, 1954 in Tela, Honduras. He began his formal music studies at the National Music Conservatory in Guatemala City, Guatemala C.A. His training with Maestro Elias Barreiro, Director of Guitar Studies at Tulane University, was supplemented with Master Classes with Manuel Barrueco, Leo Brouwer, Juan Mercadal, Michael Newman, Tommy Tedesco and Carlos Barbosa-Lima. He studied composition under the tutelage of Dr. Jerry Sieg, University of New Orleans, and Dr. Roy Johnson, Florida State University. He consulted with Michael D. Martin, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Music, Albany State University, Albany, GA in the creation of a recordings library that reflects Western Art Music and American Jazz for the students at Albany State University. The New York Premiere of the First Movement of his Second Guitar Sonata was dedicated to and performed by Classical Guitarist Maestro Carlos Barbosa-Lima in 2003 at Carnegie Hall. At the request of U.S. Senator Bob Graham one of his compositions, Si Tu Te Vas (If You Go Away), was included on a recording to promote The Everglades Trail. In 2004, at the American Church in Paris, France the World Premiere of his Romance for Flute and Guitar was performed by the award-winning Serenade Duo, flutist Michelle LaPorte and guitarist Gerry Saulter. He has performed with such legendary musicians as Herbie Mann, Donald Byrd and Debbie Reynolds, led an on stage Renaissance Trio in a University of New Orleans production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and played incidental music for their production of Bertold Brecht's The Good Woman of Sichuan. He has performed Carulli's Guitar Concerto in A, Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story and Marvin Hamlish's A Chorus Line with the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and Okaloosa-Walton Community College, Niceville, FL, and with the Southern Art Music Ensemble, a Jazz/Latin Fusion Sextet, including an Honors Convocation in Atlanta for Mr. Ted Turner. He has been a guest performer with the Albany State University Jazz Ensemble at The Fletcher Henderson Jr., Macon and Atlanta Jazz Festivals, and played the banjo in the Albany State University /Albany Symphony's co-production of George Gershwin's Opera Porgy and Bess.

Par BARTOK BELA. Like so many famous virtuosic works, Bartók’s Sonata for Solo Violin was said, by its commissioner, Yehudi Menuhin, at first sight, to be unplayable! Of course, Menuhin soon changed his opinion, later describing the work as the most important composition for solo violin since Bach. The original work used the full array of violin techniques such as stopped harmonics, left-hand pizzicato and quarter tones. These demands gave arranger, Christophe Dejour, much pause for thought when preparing this arrangement, not least in how to produce quarter tones on the guitar! Fortunately, both Bartók and Menuhin came to his rescue here. Menuhin had had problems playing these at speed and Bartók agreed that they were only for “colour” and accepted an alternative version Menuhin presented to him. The Sonata also contains several compositional techniques that are highly appropriate for the guitar such as chord progressions, contrapuntal motion and rhythmic sharpness, allowing Dejour to produce an arrangement that requires great skill to play, just as the original violin version demanded of Yehudi Menuhin./ Répertoire / Guitare

Paganini was not only a famous Violin virtuoso but was also a masterful guitarist. Originally written for Violin and Guitar this Guitar solo version of the Grand Sonata captures the richness freshness and balanced structure of the original. Rhythmic and harmonic twists from the Violin part have been carefully integrated to ensure the spirit of the piece is preserved.