Pieces De Clavecin pour 2 guitares in Two volumes
Jean – Philippe Rameau, Arranged and fingered by Oscar Caceres
Les Productions D’Oz : Both with scores and separate parts Volume 1( 24,11 and 9 pages) and Volume 2 (28, 11 and 12 pages ) respectively
Reviewed 9th March 2017
Here are eighteen pieces, nine in each volume from a Baroque keyboard master arranged for two guitars by a modern master of the guitar. Rameau is not as often represented on the guitar as Bach or Handel or Vivaldi, but especially when arranged onto two guitars one finds that they are very playable and sound perfectly natural in their new guise.
One of the hardest things to get used to with Baroque music is the frequent employment of trills , mordents and other ornaments owing to the fact that they are not always quite as convenient to play on guitars as they are on the keyboard, but being an essential part of the whole sound they cannot be ignored. Rameau/Caceres employ them frequently throughout the pieces so this has to be considered important. The pieces range from the opening Venitienne with its dancing 3/8 rhythms ,an ornate Allemande set in Am, from 1724, two Gigues En Rondeau , an Am piece entitled L’Egyptienne, to one of his most famous pieces Tambourin, with its folk –like drone overtones.
These are fabulous pieces superbly arranged and really for intermediate players upwards, not that lesser talented players wouldn’t get enjoyment trying to get their fingers round them, because they would, and I could easily see a small set of them appearing in a concert as they are quite different from the normal Baroque openers one might often find.
Chris Dumigan
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