John Williams Doberman – Yppan : 7 pages   John Williams the guitarist (not the film music composer)Is the person behind this latest piece, although the tribute to Barrios , should also have told you that! He explains in the Foreword how much Barrios changed his musical life and that decided him to write this little piece in Homage. He tunes the 5 th  string to G and the 6 th  to C for this piece as it is in C major, and C minor throughout, and those open bass notes come in v

Giacomo Susani Doberman – Yppan: 3 pages   I have seen a few of this man’s pieces before and have always found them musical and pleasant to play. This latest piece is, of course, contrapuntal which can sometimes mean a little technical but not particularly pleasant to play. However he has done exactly what it says on the title, i.e. made it a poetic and musical piece of writing. It is not long, only 52 bars in length, but has two basic ideas, the first beginning with two cont

Ming – Jiu Liu Doberman – Yppan: 6 pages   This Taiwan guitarist/ composer has written many works over the years and this latest piece , named after the first metro line in Taiwan, is dedicated to Connie Sheu, who does a fine performance of this piece on YouTube. I don’t think I have ever seen a piece with more time signatures in it than this piece, which has the following, 4/4, 3/16+3/4, 3 / 4 , 4/4+1/8,6/4, 5/4, 7/4,14/16,12/16, 24/16, and finally 2/4 – a total of 11 differ

Atanas Ourkouzounov  Doberman Yppan :32 pages   This latest book by Bulgarian Ourkouzounov is a set of 15 relatively short pieces that use musical ideas that firstly are not often used in teaching material, and secondly provide an opening to this composer’s more advanced material of which there are many books available The sort of material he is writing here that rarely sees the light of day in tutor books is for example, in Septlude, that is a piece of 7/8, Dialogue Modale ,

Yorgos Nousis Doberman – Yppan : 8 pages   Here is an interesting set of pieces by this Greek player/composer/arranger. They are useful, melodic and not too difficult to play and so could be enjoyed by a multitude of players. I must say that the opening piece Danceuphoria has something in it that I have NEVER seen before in my 63 years of playing the guitar, the time signature of 27/8, that opens this piece! t is alternated with several bars of 7/8., and just in case you are

David Leisner Doberman – Yppan : 11 pages   I have seen other pieces by this composer/ performer a number of times before, and yet I do not remember any of them being quite like this piece. It is in 4 short movements but the main structure of this work is its absolutely modern sound. The first movement, Empty Your Mind ,  is completely arrhythmic in the sense that you are instructed to play the various boxed notes in whatever rhythm you feel like and to time it all with your

Patrick Roux Les Productions D’Oz: 12 pages     French –born Roux has had many works published, a few of which I have seen. This latest work is in the form of a modern tango, complete with many harmonic crunches that definitely suit the style. The opening is marked Joyeux, chantant et rythmique, and is in D Minor (dropped D 6 th  ) with an opening solo line that jumps all over the fingerboard, before becoming two voices in  an almost fugal style. There is much use of multiple

Ken Murray Les Productions D’Oz: 8 pages   Ken Murray’s compositions are many and varied and his guitar work as a performer and recording artist are superb and second to none. So a new piece from him is always something to look forward to. In spite of the cover photo of Shanghai, the piece itself is based on the Australian slang for as slingshot, and therefore the music does not have any oriental sounds to it!   Set in A Major with a Dropped D 6 th  its Con Spirito marking te

Leonardo Bravo Les Productions D’Oz: 3 pages     This folk styled piece by Argentinean guitarist Leonardo Bravo is a short but fun piece that has the time signature of 3/4 6/8, so it becomes immediately obvious that the Latin styled music is full of a mixture of the two time signatures , often in the same bar. It is also an Allegro of 160 crotchets a minute so it does really go right from the outset. At only 48 bars (with a complete repeat) it moves smartly but doesn’t stay a

Dusan Bogdanovic Doberman – Yppan : 16 pages   This Yugoslavian composer’s music is very different from any other composer’s music as anyone who has heard, or seen some of it will recognise. The first thing you notice about this four movement work is just how very complex the actual music pages look, when you first open the volume. For example on page one , which consists of 17 bars of music there are the following time signatures 2/4, 6/8, 7/8, 3 / 4, 11/16, 5/8, 7/16, 4/4,

Stephen Goss Doberman – Yppan : 15 pages   You always know that when you come across a Stephen Goss piece, it will be completely different from any other composer, and this latest piece is no different from that. The Preface tells the story of the piece in that the characters, being from the Commedia Dell ‘Arte , namely  Pierrot, Harlequin and Coliumbina are interacting with each other. Columbina is considering choosing one of them as a partner.So in this piece which is a se

Ramses Calderon Les Productions d’Oz: 12 pages   Calderon heralds from El Salvador and here are 4 pieces from his large compositional repertoire that , generally speaking , are for advanced players only. The opening piece El Colibri is perhaps the most difficult. It begins with a four bar introduction that jumps around the notes in an Em chord, but with half of the notes requiring a trill. This then leads to almost the entire remainder of the piece (33 bars, and nearly 5 page

Edwin Guevara Gutierrez Bergmann Edition: 11 pages   This composer has a very impressive musical life, too many things  to go into now but suffice it to say that they are huge and varied. The Bambuco is  a traditional Colombian music and dance genre from the Andean region, characterized by a waltz-like rhythm with roots in Spanish, indigenous, and African musical styles . It is known for its expressive melodies and intricate rhythms and that is definitely the case here with t

Francis Bebey Les Productions D’Oz: 3 pages   This short but melodic piece of writing is by a man who I first discovered through the playing and recordings of John Williams, quite a considerable time ago. The two pages about his life and his guitar work makes for fascinating reading. This little piece is in D Major with a dropped D 6 th and has a melody that returns a few times in the piece in slightly different guises as it progresses .It is generally in three voices, with

Michel Cardin Bergmann Edition : 5 pages   Michel is a well known name in the guitar fraternity and over the years he has produced lots of wonderful pieces. This one is based on a French Canadian folk song called ‘ J’ai fait une maitresse’. The piece is in E Major in 3 / 4 and is a gently flowing little piece that relies mostly on arpeggiated patterns  of a number of different styles with the melody peeping through the various arpeggios.As  long as you know your Es, As, C# mi

Milan Zelenka Bergmann Edition : 36 pages   Czech composer/guitarist Milan Zelenka has written numerous works for our instrument,...

Brian Wright Bergmann Edition: 12 pages   Kenneth Allsop of course was a famous broadcaster, and television presenter, and he died 52...

ALBENIZ ( Arr. Julian Bream – Edited by John Mills): Suite Espanola Op47 a) Granada b) Cataluna c) Sevilla d) Cadiz : Recuerdos de Viaje...

John W. Duarte Doberman – Yppan : 19 pages   This newly – published work from Duarte, hails back to 1986, and is a set of variations on...

Anything Goes; I Get a Kick Out of You; I Love Paris; In the Still of the Night; Just One of Those Things; I’ve Got You Under My Skin;...