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A piece that started out life intended for a garage rock band,
for guitar and digital delay... guitar accompanied by
computer synthesized tape…music from the five continents of the
world: Serbia, Argentina, Australia, Uganda, Cuba, Brazil and
a world premiere by one of Scotland’s finest composers. Scottish
virtuoso Simon Thacker presents one of the most exciting and
adventurous performances you will ever see or hear for classical
guitar.
The
guitar is possibly the most universal instrument in the world,
prominent in every style and genre with derivatives in every
culture. In Britain, guitar is by far the most taught instrument
at school level. How many people do you know that “play a bit of
guitar?” Yet the stylistic and sonic diversity of guitar based
music we are exposed to by television and radio is very
limited.
The
intention of this programme is, through the universal
medium of the guitar, to give to the audience something new and
ear opening but also moving and entertaining, including
beautiful Balkan melodies, densely layered polyrhythms and the
most frenetic, delirious finale in the whole repertoire, music
from every corner of the world, a concert that people will never
forget.
Every
facet of the instrument will be explored, from the
merging of Argentinean folk techniques with the European
avant-garde and use of the instrument as percussion instrument
by Alberto Ginastera to the ingenious manipulation of electronic
sounds and effects pedals by African and Australian composers.
The premiere
performance took place on April 25th 2007 at the Queens Hall, Edinburgh for
the Edinburgh Contemporary Arts Trust (ECAT), who funded the commission by Kenneth Dempster.
The Scotsman acclaimed this performance with a five star
review.
View
the programme
here |
