le Cottage Aux Oiseaux

Transcription has an important place in guitar repertoire. Starting in the 1930s, it was in part thanks to the transcriptions of major composers made and played by guitarist Andres Segovia that non-guitarist composers began to write for this instrument. So it is today that the repertoire has been enriched with works by the most important composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Transcription for solo guitar has also evolved considerably since the first half of the 20th century: from a ‘melodic instrument allowing harmony,’ as Andres Segovia defined it, the guitar has become an instrument allowing polyphony. Thus, in addition to transcriptions made from works for violin, cello or lute, others have come from the piano or harpsichord. This programme illustrates in part this brief history of transcription for solo guitar, with works originally written for lute, or for harpsichord, brought together around the same instrument: the guitar.

While paying glittering homage to the animal kingdom, this programme also takes us on a journey through the centuries: the existing pieces freely inspired by birdsong, from Couperin to Ravel, are mirrored by an astonishing ‘Carnival of Animals in Peril’.Its composer, Vincent Bouchot, reminds us of the disappearance of certain species of animals - and of certain musical instruments that very nearly became extinct too.