Joop Klein Goldewijk : Three Pieces for Guitar : Bergmann

Joop Klein Goldewijk

Bergmann Edition : 16 pages

Goldewijk is a Dutch guitarist/composer (and also a painter).Here he has written a set of three pieces for our instrument that are moderately difficult, but not too much so. They are melodic and have, mostly a pattern that you will recognise.

The Road is the first one, a three pager, set in 4/4 at 140 crotchets a minute, and having mostly a quaver rhythm with a crotchet usually at beat 4.After that the rhythm of the six quavers is very similar to the rhythm of , say, Streets of London by Ralph McTell. That doesn’t negate from the fact that this is nice piece of writing that is immediately friendly and, in one or two places, does keep you on your toes as there are parts that take you a little by surprise!

For Johann Sebastian is next, and is set as a Moderate Common Time piece in C Major. It has two voices, with the main theme often walking in quavers, whilst the second lower voice is usually longer notes, crotchets or at times minims, and does have elements of  JS Bach in portions of it.

The final piece Un Peu Melancolique is the slowest of the three at 85 crotchets of 3 / 4 time, and in G Major. There is an instruction to play it with a capo on fret 2, but if you don’t have one, it doesn’t matter because it is written at normal tuning level. Moreover there are a couple of slightly difficult parts here that might task the less – talented players, but nothing that a bit of preparation wouldn’t cure!

So all in all, this is a friendly, melodic and interestingly written set of pieces that will go down well with many of you!

Chrvis Dumigan