Barrios, Miss Bimps and Milly, the Musical Dogs

We have decided that we have very musical dogs.
It isn't surprising really, since puppy hood they have grown up surrounded with all types of music.
This morning was a prime example.
Robin was practising in the music room and my faithful friends were by my side as I worked.
The music stopped, the dogs pricked their ears up, then Robin appeared, with guitar and sat down.
The dogs sat down.
Robin started to play.
He wanted to run through 'La Catedral' by Agustin Barrios, to an audience of one (which was me) and two Labradors.
Miss Bimps and Milly put their heads on their paws resigned to the fact that their morning walk was about to be delayed.

La Catedral is in three movements, Preludio, Andante Religioso and Allegre Solemne.
At the end of the fist movement I was spellbound and the dogs didn't move.
The second movement, still nothing.
At the end of the final movement both dogs got up, and did the nearest they could to clapping their paws, by wagging their tails and circling Robin as if they were rounding up a flock of sheep.
As they used to power of positive thinking to stalk their prey, Robin gave in to the pressure, put his guitar away, and took them for a walk.
But how did they know the piece had finished?
I can only assume that we have very knowledgeable and musical hounds...

Here they are, Miss Bimps:



and Milly:

'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.

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).