For Guitar

There is no doubt that the lute played an important role in Bach's oeuvre: he composed and arranged works for solo lute throughout his career, moreover, the lute's particular sonority enriched several of his orchestral scores, too. His lute suites are currently often performed by guitarists on six-string guitar, that is one of the biggest technical and musical challenges. During his career each significant guitar player works tirelessly to make his own arrangement and experimenting his playing version and particular tuning.Andras Csaki is an outstanding guitarist and "he always chooses expression over showing off" (Kenneth Keaton, American Record Guide, 2011).

The three Suites recorded on this CD (BWV 1007, BWV 1008 and BWV 1010) were transcribed for guitar by the performers themselves, following a practice customary for Bach and absolutely familiar to him (the Fifth Suite for cello has come down to us in two versions, one for cello and one for lute: we are not sure which came first). One should therefore recognise the full aesthetic legitimacy of the guitar transcription of these compositions, a practice, moreover, that has now been established for decades. This procedure is ultimately legitimised by the primacy, in Bach’s language, of the harmonic and contrapuntal dimension over their sonic realisation, a primacy that led Ferruccio Busoni, for whom the concept of “transcription” occupies a position of absolute centrality in his aesthetic thought, to transcribe for piano not only numerous compositions for organ by Thomaskantor, but also the Chaconne from the Second Partita in D minor for solo violin. With specific regard to the guitar, one cannot fail to mention the name of Andrés Segovia, who transcribed for his instrument and recorded in 1946 the highly famous Chaconne.

The name of Astor Piazzolla is fatally linked to the Tango, although his artistic parable is much more complex than it appears to a superficial look. Many encounters influenced his musical life. Thanks to the great pianist Arthur Rubinstein, he became a pupil of Alberto Ginastera, whom Piazzolla kept acknowledging as the greatest Argentinian composer of his century. After this educational experience and that in the orchestra of Annibal Troilo, Piazzolla encountered European music through Nadia Boulanger with whom he studied. He then began an experimentation of his own, becoming – as he said in the Sixties – a vanguardista of the tango.

An Exciting New Approach to Learning Guitar without Theory. 3 Speed Jam Tracks and TAB supplied for each Guitar Lesson.

Rossini Hayward, one of the most creative guitarists of his generation, has written a sequence of Christmas carol arrangements that range across the centuries and over continents. These beautiful pieces respect the original carols while bringing to them ingenious new features. Seven of the arrangements involve overdubbing by Hayward himself with voice, percussive effects or guitar, adding new colours, but showing that he always ‘understands the charm and power of simplicity’.

Rossini Hayward, one of the most creative guitarists of his generation, has written a sequence of Christmas carol arrangements that range across the centuries and over continents.

Around 1800 Vienna was, alongside Paris, one of the European centres for guitar performance. The instrument was well suited for the idiom of Viennese classicism and ideal for domestic music-making and it was promoted by figures such as the virtuoso Mauro Giuliani and the composer/publisher Anton Diabelli.