Adrian Andrei
Bergmann Edition : 20 pages
It is no secret that Hungarian – born Adrian Andrei is one of my very favourite modern guitar composers, and I have numerous amounts of his pieces in my collection, as they are some of the most imaginative, and in spite of being modern in harmony and structure, nevertheless they are very approachable, entertaining to play, and satisfying in every way, as well as being completely original and sounding like no other writer’s music.
So what we find here are a set of eight diverse pieces, but all with a very ‘lonely’ sound to them, as they are unhappy, and at times distraught in their musical sounds. Even the faster pieces do not provide any moments of relaxation and happiness, far from it.
The first one is in a mixture of 6/8 and 9/8 and relies somewhat on campanella sounds of gentle clashes in this two voiced piece. After only a short 35 bars it closes on an altered A minor chord, which leads the player straight into the 2nd work that also beings in Am, and is a chordal Lento full of unexpected harmonic crunches. No3 is an Allegro Moderato and is again in A minor. Full of semi – quaver runs therefore constantly on the move, it nevertheless, as I said before, is far from happy and sounds relentless and anxious throughout. No4 is a Molto Allegro with a penchant for moving fourths and thirds, usually involving hammer-ons and pull – offs, and occasionally some glissandi.No5 is marked Tempo di Sarabanda and therefore is in 3/ 4, with a chordal beginning in three voices, followed by an ‘espressivo’ idea with minor second clashes above a new version of the opening melody. After a temporary moment of light relief with a 6/8 two voiced theme, the opening chords return for one final time. The 6th in the set is a Molto Allegro 5/8 again full of campanella runs and clashing harmonies in a mostly two voiced idea until an Adagio intervenes for a few bars, leading back to the opening 5/8 for one final time. The penultimate piece is in the style of a Barcarolle, therefore in 6/8, and is in three voices to begin with before breaking out into a constant semi- quaver melody underpinned by longer bass notes. Unexpected harmonies and more campanella style writing are again most evident, and the piece closes on the opening idea’s return. The final piece is marked Molto Pomoposo and has a motif in the form of a solo melody line that constantly occurs throughout this piece that changes musical theme and writing style consistently, but always one finds the motif, never very far away.
This is an emotive set, certainly only for a relatively decent player, but providing you can take your music serious and full of emotion, then this set will be a delight for you to play.
Chris Dumigan