Producer: Blanten Alspaugh
Engineer: John Newton
Pre-mastering engineer: Mark Donahue
Mastering: Clear Note Studios
Design: Raymond Larrett
-On the Way by David Cullen (b. 1959) was inspired by landscapes the composer saw during a train ride through Pennsylvania. The piece is propelled by a rhythmic ostinato that continues almost throughout as tonalities change like unexpected vistas. Cullen’s evocative writing shows the influence of such guitarists as Ralph Towner, and to a lesser extent, Pat Metheny. Cullen is a faculty member at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, and has released nine of his own CDs. He performed his arrangement of “The Days of Wine and Roses” on the Grammy-winning CD entitled Henry Mancini: Pink Guitar.
-Berceuse is an arrangement by Cuban composer Leo Brouwer of a song titled “Drume Negrita” by Brower’s countryman Ernesto Grenet (1908-1981). Grenet came from a musical family, and he and his brothers Eliseo and Emilio were all successful composers. Ernesto was a drummer and a bandleader at Havana’s famed Tropicana cabaret. Brower’s arrangement comes from a pair of pieces comprising his Dos Themas Populares Cubanos. “Drume Negrita” has been recorded countless times in vocal and instrumental versions. It has enjoyed considerable popularity among classical guitarists since 1976 when Christopher Parkening recorded a version arranged by Jack Marshall titled “Afro-Cuban Lullaby.”
-La Source du Lyson op. 47 by Napoleon Coste (1805-1883) is a composition in three sections that has connections to the Doubs section of eastern France near the Swiss border where Coste was born, according to Brian Jeffery who penned the preface to the Tecla edition of this work. Jeffery cites a historic source that describes the beautiful area where the Lison River emerges from a cavern and forms a waterfall. The work’s three sections, Allegro, Andante Sostenuo, and Rondeau Villageois, are played sequentially without pause. The rondeau theme may be based on an unknown folk song or a folk-like melody composed by Coste. The final movement describes a peasant festivity in the ancient French tradition of celebrating country life in art.
-Study in b Minor Op. 35 No. 22 and Study in e Minor Op. 6 No. 11 by Spanish composer Fernando Sor (1778-1839) became staples of the guitar repertoire through the efforts of Andrés Segovia. In addition to Segovia’s recordings and concert performances of these works, both were included in his influential edition of 20 studies by Sor. A highly regarded composer of symphonies, ballets, operas, string quartets, and vocal music, Sor saw his music flourish in such cities as Madrid, Paris, London, and Moscow. His works for guitar have stood the test of time better than his compositions for other instruments, however. Sor’s many concert pieces and pedagogical works for guitar (including 121 etudes and a guitar method) make him the most prolific and significant contributor to the classical guitar repertoire of his era. The b minor and e minor studies are regarded as attractive concert pieces as well as beneficial technical exercises.
-Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909) is one of the most popular pieces in the modern guitar repertoire. The tremolo technique Tárrega employed for the melody creates the illusion of a sustained melody played above an arpeggiated figure. Tárrega penned the theme for this melancholic piece after a visit to the Alhambra, a majestic Moorish palace/fortress in Granada. Among the Alhambra’s many notable architectural features are honeycombed ceilings and archways, towers, sprawling courtyards, fountains, and gardens. Tárrega is recognized for his contributions to the development of modern guitar technique as well as for his romantic compositions and guitar transcriptions of works by Beethoven, Albeniz, Chopin, and others.
-Norwegian Landscape Op. 61 by Oslo-born composer Øistein Sommerfeldt (1919-1994) is a composition with three contrasting sections. The first is introspective and is built on folk-like melodies and dark minor-key harmonies. It leads seamlessly to a brief, aggressive section powered by an insistent E pedal in the bass that lasts barely a minute before slowing to a new tempo for the final section. The concluding segment, based on the gangar, a Norwegian walking dance, is polyrhythmic and contrapuntal in texture and features material reworked from Sommerfeldt’s Fable Suite for piano. Sommerfeldt studied composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and his catalog includes orchestral and chamber works as well as numerous songs and works for piano and other solo instruments. Guitar Solo from a Norwegian Landscape, Sommerfeldt’s only piece for guitar, received its premiere in Oslo in 1982.
-Walking on Water by Larry Cooperman (b. 1951) was inspired by a few scenarios involving water according to the composer. The first half of the piece, dark and meditative, unfolds from a chord that Cooperman alters chromatically, mixing major and minor qualities as his ideas develop. It portrays Cooperman’s impressions of a Chinese Junk floating on still waters at sunset. Momentum ebbs and flows in the work’s second section that is constructed from a series of colorful arpeggiated chords. Copperman penned the piece in Savanna, Georgia, affected he says by the sight of water perpetually bubbling up in various fountains around the city. He fitted the two sections together after seeing the lake scene in the popular movie Being There (based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski) where Peter Sellers, portraying the enigmatic character Chance the Gardner, is seen walking on water.
-Two pieces by Russian composer Piotr Panin (b. 1939) mark the mid-point and end of the album. Tartarian Danse and Dance Eskimo come from a larger suite by Panin titled Russian Sketches that depict in music the diversity of geography and cultures across the expanse of Russia. Panin was born in Moscow, and from his mother, an Eskimo, he gained an appreciation for Eskimo musical traditions. Panin’s many and varied compositions for guitar (numbering over 250) reveal his love of ethnic music sounds and styles. His works have been recorded by such esteemed guitarists as Liona Boyd and Jean-Pierre Jumez.
Program Notes - Mark Small
-Berit Strong is an acclaimed guitarist and educator from Acton, MA. She launched her performing career after taking a top prize in the 1988 Guitar Foundation of America International Competition in Akron, Ohio. Ms. Strong has given recitals throughout the United States and appeared at festivals in Hungary, Italy, Denmark, and the former Yugoslavia, and has appeared on NPR, World Service International, and SwissRadio. Ms. Strong earned her bachelor’s degree from the Hartt School of Music with honors and her master’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music with distinction in performance. She also studied in Italy for two years with Oscar Ghiglia and Ruggero Chiesa. Through her work as an associate professor at Bridgewater State College in MA, teaching in her private studio in Maynard, MA, and at Indian Hill Music Center in Littleton, MA, Ms. Strong has helped guide her students to win competitions and place in top conservatories. This CD is Ms. Strong’s debut recording for Clear Note.
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