The Paraguayan, Barrios, and Paganini.

Once the urge to play a piece has taken hold, there really is very little one can do.
The need to understand and interpret the piece becomes all consuming.
This has to happen though.
This is how new pieces are added to the repertoire, or, revisited after many years. Also, over time, any player will find alternative fingerings or hand positions, which will alter the feel of a piece.
All this has to be taken into account.

However, all this work doesn't go unnoticed.
Yesterday I had a comment sent about a post from back in December 2007. The post was 'Robin Hill plays Agustin Barrios', and was related to the piece of music, 'Villancico de Navidad', which you can hear an extract of, here, track 16.

The comment:

"Congratulations, very good interpretation."

We were obviously delighted by this. To receive praise for your music is always very special.
Especially so in this case, as the comment originated from a huge Barrios fan, as you can see from his own site, here.

But the piece currently being worked on, is Paganini, Caprice No.24. I must say it is sounding very good.
And believe me, I'm hearing a lot of it...
For now though, you'll just have to imagine this fantastic piece, being played on guitar.
That is until Robin has recorded it...

Manuel de Falla's, 'Miller's Dance', and the Solar System.

I did get to speak to Robin last night, just prior to his concert, and asked what he was doing.
"Practising the Miller's Dance, what are you doing?"
"Oh, making a mobile of the solar system, with son number two."
"That's nice."
I didn't think he was really concentrating, so left him to his Falla, and went back to recreating the universe.

However, we did get to talk again after the concert, and it all went very well.
I'd known Robin had been apprehensive about performing Manuel de Falla's, 'Miller's Dance', from 'The Three Cornered Hat'.
For many years he has performed the piece with the Hill/Wiltschinsky Guitar Duo, and it has always been hugely popular.
So, when he decided to add it to his solo repertoire, I was looking forward to hearing the end result.
The problem was he couldn't find a suitable arrangement of it anywhere.
So he did one himself.

This was the first time Robin has performed the solo version in public, and it's always a different experience to practising it alone in your music room.
He needn't have worried though, it went very well, and the audience loved it.

Amongst other things, he also played his own 'Fiesta de Xabia', 'Two Dances' by John Dowland, Two pieces for Viheula ('Guardame Las Vacas' - Luis de Narvaez, 'Fantasia' -Alonso Mudarra), 'And I Love Her' - Paul McCartney, 'Una Limosna par el Amor de Dios' - Agustin Barrios, some Villa-Lobos and Pernambuco.

A nice programme, shame I wasn't there to hear it.
Today he should be in Grand Turk, even bigger shame I'm not there to see that, I'm awaiting further news here in the cold.

Robin Hill plays Agustin Barrios

The final track to discuss on 'Virtuoso' is track 16, 'Villancico de Navidad' , by Agustin Barrios.
I saved this one until the end to get you all in a festive mood as it is an arrangement of a Paraguayan Christmas song.

Agustin Barrios (1885-1944) was born in San Bautista de las Misiones, Paraguay, and was a guitarist and composer.
In 1910 he left Paraguay for a week of concerts in Argentina but was so successful that he was away for 14 years playing in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.
I do hope that Robin doesn't do the same thing...

By 1934 Barrios travelled to Europe where he gave concerts in Brussels, Germany and Spain, and in 1936 he returned to Latin America where he taught in the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica, San Salvador.

Barrios composed over 100 works, many attributed to obscure European composers, as he believed they would be taken more seriously.
He's not alone in this practice, somewhere out there is a piece of music played on two guitars, by the composer 'Anna Naneek'.
I'll give you a clue, my maiden name was Keenan, and so far, only one person has spotted this...

Barrios is thought to be the first classical guitarist to make a record, in 1910, and also to have played a complete Bach Suite (Lute Suite No.1).
He was quite a character and in the later stages of his career he reinvented himself as 'Nitsuga Barrios Mangore', the Paganini from the jungles of Paraguay, and appeared on stage in full South American Indian costume!

Thankfully, as Robin is from Huddersfield, I can't think of any national dress that he may choose to wear on stage, and anyway my needlework skills would probably not be up to it.

Xodo da Baiana - Dilermando Reis

'Xodo da Baiana' by Dilermando Reis is another piece on Virtuoso, track 19, with a truly South American feel.

Dilermando Reis, (1916-1977) was a Brazilian guitarist born in Sao Paulo. He studied the guitar from an early age with his father, Francisco Reis, and by the age of 15, Dilermando was already known as the best guitarist in Sao Paulo.

By 1933 Reis had moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he lived for most of his life, and was prolific in recording over 40 albums.
He enjoyed many kinds of music and recorded pieces from composers as diverse as Bach, Barrios, Tarrega and Gnatalli, among others.
However his first love was for the traditional Brazilian style of music, featuring mainly waltzes and choros full of melodic invention, syncopated rhythms and pleasing modulations.

He was equally prolific as a composer with over 100 of his own compositions, many of which have become standards of Brazilian guitar playing.

'Xodo da Baiana' is typical of his style.
The use of pizzicato in the opening section is highly effective and overall the piece combines melodic and rhythmic invention.

Announcing CD Baby's New Baby - Robin Hill's 'Virtuoso'

It is an exciting day here, and for all those people who have asked when they can download Robin's 'Virtuoso' CD, or buy a hard copy, well, now you can.

We are working in partnership with CD Baby, and as of today the entire CD, or selected tracks, can be purchased through our page, 'Robin Hill - Virtuoso'.

CD Baby are one of the largest distributors of music to Apple iTunes, Napster, and many other retailers, so over the next few weeks you will see the CD appearing in many different places.

'Virtuoso' includes many pieces from the standard classical guitar repertoire, alongside new compositions and even an Irish Jig!

Personal favourites, well, that's very difficult to say.
I do love 'Asturias' by Albeniz, and 'Eternal Dance', which is the first movement from a work for guitar and orchestra, composed by Robin himself, both are certainly at the top of my list.
But then 'Danza Brasilera', by Jorge Morel has long been a favourite of mine, as has 'Xodo da Baiana' by Dilermando Reis.

Robin's own compositions are always very popular in concert, but if you want Handel, Gaspar Sanz, Eric Satie, Agustin Barrios, Francisco Tarrega or Mauro Giuliani, then they are all there.

The best thing to do is go over to the site, have a look, and a listen, and of course, feel free to buy!

Over the coming months many more Cd's will become available and I shall update you as we go along.
But for now, enjoy...

'Stay' for lunch With The Hollies, Barrios and Dyens...

Robin had a nostalgic moment at lunchtime today.
He suddenly recalled the memory of Saturday afternoons as a child, and one day in particular.
He was a small boy, just home from a shopping spree in his local town, where he had purchased the latest hit single, 'Stay' by 'The Hollies'.
The recollection he had was one of sheer pleasure.
Playing the freshly purchased single over and over again whilst eating spaghetti bolognese, with a feeling of pure happiness!
This was November 1963.
I wish my memory for past events was so clear.
Mind you, I wasn't born then...

I'm also full of admiration for Robin's parents. Not only did they allow the repeated playing of a song whilst they sat down to eat, (his mama and papa didn't mind...), but, they also prepared a main meal in the middle of the day.

I wonder if our two boys will have any similar memories in the future?
If I take this morning as the norm, then they could well be explaining to their children that Saturday morning was swimming, followed by beans on toast, accompanied by 'La Catedral' by Agustin Barrios, or, perhaps, 'Tango en Skai' by Roland Dyens, played by Robin of course.

Dowland to Rodrigo - Guitar on the QE2

The QE2 has left Quebec and is now cruising the Gulf of St.Lawrence.
Today Robin is performing the third, and final, concert of the trip.
I thought you may like to see what he is playing, so, here is the programme:

Two Dances - John Dowland
(Melancholy Galliard - Allemande)

Two Pieces for Viheula
Guardame Las Vacas - Luis de Narvaez
Fantasia - Alonso Mudarra

Homage a Tarrega - Joaquin Turina
(Garrotin - Soleares)

Una Limosna Por el Amor de Dios - Agustin Barrios

Alegrias - Celedonio Romero

Cavatina - Stanley Myers

Two Pieces - Robin Hill
(Canzone - Fiesta)

Adagio (extract from Concierto de Aranjuez) - Joaquin Rodrigo

Alegrias - Traditional (Arr.Hill)

Robin Hill - guitar

This programme lasts for 45 minutes, but every one of those minutes, are pretty eventful!
I look forward to hearing how it went and reporting back with more news tomorrow.

Neumann microphones and the Art of the Tremelo

All is going well in the recording department.
The microphone we finally settled on is a Neumann.
The reason for this, is that it is the only microphone we have tried, which is able to capture the full natural sound of the guitar without losing any quality.
A problem we had with all the other microphones we tried, was that, although the bass strings recorded well, the treble strings had a 'metallic' sound, which wasn't doing Robin's fabulous Miguel Rodriguez guitar justice.
Not so with the Neumann.
Having reported on the testing process the other day, and all 109 takes, the final test was to shut Robin in his music room, with guitar and also freshly recorded piece, then the rest of the family stood outside, listened, and tried to identify whether it was live or recorded.
The Neumann passed the test, and the children think we've gone mad....

Robin isn't one to make life easy for himself.
His first chosen piece is, 'Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios' by Agustin Barrios, which translated means, 'An Alm for the Love of God'.
This, and 'Recuerdos de la Alhambra' by Francisco Tarrega, are probably the two most famous 'tremelo' pieces which, as well as making huge demands on the right hand, are also very tricky in the left hand.

The tremelo is one of the most difficult effects and techniques to master on the guitar, as it relies on the rapidity of execution between the thumb, anular, middle and index fingers, p,a,m,i, of the right hand, for the 'classical tremelo', and for the 'flamenco tremelo', which has five notes, the fingering is, p,i,a,m,i.

It's made all the more difficult in the aforementioned examples as they constantly change from top string to inner strings for the tremelo notes while the right hand thumb provides the arpeggiated accompaniment.
The left hand , particularly in the Barrios, has many awkward stretches and hardly ever repeats itself. The tremelo is such an impressive technique that, when Robin introduces a piece in concert, involving the tremelo, he now gives a demonstration of how it works, very slowly initially, and then, at full speed.
Audiences love it.

Fortunately Robin is well prepared.
When he wrote 'The Guitar Gymnasium', (or see my links section for Amazon UK and USA), the right hand exercises were written with the intention of developing and strengthening the independence of the right hand fingers, for just this reason, alongside the Tarrega exercises, which are also in the book.

So Robin is now able to record, listen, learn, then re-record until he is satisfied.
As Glenn Gould said, "The tape recorder is the finest teacher."

Robin Hill and the Bronte Sisters

Robin has always felt, and stresses to his students, that it is important to listen to a wide range of music played on different instruments, and not to focus solely on the guitar and its repertoire, but to draw inspiration from the other branches of the arts.
As the Paraguayan guitarist and composer Agustin Barrios said:

"One cannot become a guitarist if he has not bathed in the fountain of culture."

With this in mind, he found himself, with son number one, at The Bronte Parsonage Museum, in Haworth, West Yorkshire.

The achievements of the Bronte children are remarkable.
Charlotte wrote 'Jane Eyre', Emily, 'Wuthering Heights', Anne, 'Agnes Grey' and 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall', and brother Branwell, shared his sisters' literary gift, if not their success, but his portraits of the three sisters are in the National Portrait Gallery.
It seems incredible that so much was achieved before their untimely deaths, all before the age of 40.

To be surrounded by their personal possessions, and to soak up the atmosphere in which they worked, is truly inspirational, and stresses the importance of widening ones horizons when approaching a career in music.
The fact that Charlotte and Emily Bronte often wrote in the same room, may have fuelled their artistic tendencies, in much the same way as performing with other musicians opens you up to a 'full' musical picture, increases delight in playing, and enables you to play more effectively and musically.

Robin Hill's markings on 'La Catedral'

I have previously written about Agustin Barrios, the Paraguayan guitarist and composer, but today I found this picture.



It is 'La Catedral', (The Cathedral), and as you can see from all the markings, Robin was working on it at the time.
The piece was allegedly inspired by a visit Barrios made to the main Cathedral in Montevideo. While walking past the building he heard the music of J.S.Bach being performed on the cathedral organ. This spiritual and musical experience later provided the basis for the original 1st movement (this later became the second movement as he added a much later composed introduction).
The original second movement, still obviously inspired by the music of Bach, was, with it's moto perpetuo semiquavers, an impression of the bustling streets outside the cathedral and the temporal world.

Robin was lucky enough to be in Montevideo whilst working on this piece, and derived a great deal of inspiration from visiting the very cathedral. Robin tells me that he always now sees the interior of the cathedral in his mind's eye when he performs this work.
This picture is from the inside.



Just as a little extra snippet of information, Barrios is thought to be the first classical guitarist to have made gramophone records, in 1910, and to have played a complete Bach Suite, (Lute Suite No.1).