Alfred Feenstra
Bergmann Edition: 6 pages
Dutch – born Feenstra has been writing and performing for many years now, and here has produced a short piece in the Spanish idiom, a fact that you notice as soon as you see the speed marking of Moderato Espressivo, Tempo Di Habanera! Set in E minor, the opening theme manages to sound Spanish and original in content at the same time. The two main voices in the beginning move around quite a bit, and include some campanella fingerings on a few of the chords while they do. There is a 5/4 bar towards the end of the first page that might catch the unwary out as the rhythm is slightly unexpected. From there, the chords get more common, and unsurprisingly, we eventually find a passage of Rasgueado which then dies down and returns us to a variation of the opening theme and style. At Bar 40 we have a full repeat of the entire piece, which afterwards, leads us directly into the last 7 bars that is the coda, which closes on the opening Habanera rhythm and a final Em9 chord.
It was quite a fun piece to play, not very unique in style or harmony but rather a pleasant piece of guitar music that many moderately good players will enjoy getting their hands on.
Chris Dumigan