Kacha Metreveli
Edition Margaux: 8 pages
This piece won 1st prize in the 2019 Composers Competition of the International Guitar Festival in Austria where the theme of the composition had to be an English Waltz or a Slow Waltz. Metreveli , born in Tbilisi, Georgia, has written quite a fascinating little piece here that absolutely avoids the normal waltz rhythms for the huge majority of the time, and the piece is all the better for it.
The tuning is slightly off – kilter, with the 1st string to D, the 5th to G, and the 6th to D, and talking for many people, I would think that the 1st string to D is something that is still a little rare on the classical, but players should not be put off because it very quickly becomes part of your musical arsenal. With that tuning you might expect the piece to be in the key of G Major, and so it is!
After a Moderato introduction, theme enters in swing rhythm, where the straight pair of crotchets should be played as if there is a triplet of quavers , with the first two played as a crotchet. The rhythms are immediately making the piece flow beautifully, and are quite varied throughout, so you don’t find yourself stuck in one particular rhythm for any time at all, before you are off somewhere else. The writing is very fluid and is definitely aimed at the more advanced players although an intermediate player could definitely benefit especially if he is unfamiliar with the tuning of the piece. Harmonics abound in various parts and really add to the magic element, and everything gels very nicely so that I can definitely recommend this fine piece as one that many will enjoy playing.
Chris Dumigan