Lunchtime Chamber Concert - Robin Hill

If you are in Yorkshire then I know the perfect place for you to be on Wednesday 13th January at 12.30pm, Dewsbury Town Hall.
As regular readers are all too aware, it isn't often that Robin performs in the UK, so this is an excellent opportunity!

Although only an hour long, as is traditional for lunchtime recitals, it is certainly an eventful hour.
The programme features, amongst many others, Tarrega, Llobet, Dilermando Reis, Albeniz, J.S.Bach, Villa-Lobos and, of course, Hill.

Robin has performed at Dewsbury Town Hall a number of times before. Here is the post I wrote after the 2007 concert, 'Fasten Your Seat belts - Robin Hill Live in Dewsbury'.

As Kirklees Council have said in their advertising, "Robin's concerts at the Town Hall have been so popular that we felt we just had to have him back!"
For contact and venue details visit here.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Woody Allen

The film, 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona', which was written and directed by Woody Allen, won a Golden Globe Award in 2008.
Now, Penelope Cruz has been nominated for an Oscar, as best supporting actress.

The film is about two young American women, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) who spend a summer in Spain, and meet the flamboyant artist, Juan Antonio, (Javier Bardem).
Penelope Cruz plays the beautiful, yet insane, ex-wife of Javier Bardem.

But the reason I am discussing 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' here, is the music.

The title song, 'Barcelona', which was written and recorded by 'Giulia y los Tellarini', (at the time a little known Spanish band), were shocked when approached by Woody Allen's team.
Rumour has it that the girlfriend of one of the band members sent a copy of their CD to Allen's hotel.
On hearing it, Allen realised it was just the sound he wanted, and attempted to make contact.
After initial attempts to reach the band though MySpace, (they thought it was a joke), eventually a deal was done.

But it is the soundtrack to the rest of the film which particularly interests me.
Paco de Lucia performs, 'Entre Dos Aguas', Juan Serrano plays, 'Gorrion' and 'Entre Olas'.
Those two performers alone are enough to make me want to see the film, but with interpretations of 'El Noi de la Mare' (Trad. Arr. Llobet), 'Granada' (Isaac Albeniz) and 'Asturias' (Isaac Albeniz) it seems hard to resist.

You can of course hear Robin's version of some of these tracks on 'Virtuoso'.

A film set in Spain should incorporate this fabulous music.
I know of at least one guitarist that will be watching simply to hear the guitar being played in a major film!

Track 8 - 'Arrival' - Felix Mendelssohn

I must be a romantic at heart as this is one of my favourite pieces.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) composed 8 cycles of 'Lieder ohne Worte' (Songs Without Words) from 1830 onwards.
This one was written in 1843 and features a lyrical, predominant quaver rhythm on top of a rhythm triplet accompaniment, which creates an effective cross-rhythm.

Mendelssohn's 'Songs Without Words' remain his most famous solo piano compositions, and this piece was arranged for two guitars by Miguel Llobet.

Mendelssohn was born into a wealthy and notable Jewish family, and was the grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.
Felix's sister, Fanny, was also an accomplished pianist and composer but was not encouraged to pursue music as a career as it was not considered a proper occupation for a woman at this time. She did however have six of her early songs published under Felix's name.
To read about the life of Felix Mendelssohn you can read more here, or, here.

I always enjoy the emotional charge inherent in this music and hope that other listeners are equally entranced. So enjoy Felix Mendelssohn's 'Song Without Words No.1,Op.62'.

Cars (Fiesta), Boats (1st Concert) and Trains (Honegger)

It has been rather a strange weekend. Email contact has been minimal due to extortionate costs, and 'phone calls intermittent, so I'll pass on as much as I can, given limited information.

Robin gave his first concert on Saturday and played a lovely programme which was very well received.
Here's an example of some of the pieces he played:

Malaguena - (Trad. Arr. Hill)

Six Renaissance Lute Pieces - (Arr.Chilesotti revised Hill)
(Andante - Bianco fiore - Danza - Galiarda - Se Lo M'Accorgo - Saterello)

Three Tarrega pieces

El Noy de la Mare (Trad.Arr.Llobet)

Three Pieces by Dilermando Reis
(Conversa da Baiana - Si Ela Perguntar - Xodo da Baiana)

La Paloma (Iradier - Arr.Tarrega)

Zapateado -Sabicas

Some of these can be heard on 'Virtuoso', so follow the link if you want to have a listen.

I've been amused over the last few days by the number of people finding this site with searches, 'Ford Fiesta how to buy', and 'How to repair n/s front wing fiesta'.
I only hope that whoever has had an accident in their Fiesta, gained some comfort from listening to Robin's piece, 'Fiesta de Xabia', and weren't too disappointed at the lack of car repair information!

Also, today would have been Arthur Honegger's birthday, so I'm going to go off and listen to 'Pacific 231' in his honour.

Robin Hill plays 'El Noy de la Mare' by Miguel Llobet

The classical guitarist and composer Miguel Llobet (1878-1938) started to learn the instrument at the age of 11, and later studied with one of the fathers of modern guitar technique, Francisco Tarrega.
From the 1900's Llobet was in constant demand for recitals and toured extensively in Europe and North and South America.

Whilst in Buenos Aires Llobet formed a guitar duo with Maria Luisa Anido and, for this ensemble, he arranged numerous classical and romantic works.
Llobet's solo transcriptions and arrangements, were a landmark in guitar writing, showing his great understanding of the guitar's capabilities.

He was well respected by other musicians and in fact Falla's tribute to Debussy, 'Homenaje', was composed for Llobet.

Llobet is considered by some to be the teacher of Segovia, however, this has proved quite controversial, and debate continues today.
But Segovia himself frequently mentions Llobet in his autobiography, referring to him as a friend, but also, describing sessions when Llobet taught Segovia, amongst others, pieces, phrase by phrase, as he hadn't yet comitted them to manuscript.
Segovia was still a young man at this stage and I feel sure he must have picked up many practical aspects of Llobet's technique as well as merely learning the notes.


By the end of his career, Llobet had produced more than 100 works for the guitar.
Today you can hear, 'El Noy de la Mare' (The Mother's child/Our lady's child), track 11, which is a traditional Catalan Christmas carol, arranged by Llobet.
This has long been a favourite of guitarists, and Segovia used to frequently perform it as an encore.
Robin has also been performing it for some time and it's beautiful melody never fails to move audiences.

From the QM2 to 'Around the World and Bach'

We were up at 5.30 this morning, and I must say, it was delightful. The sun was shining and the birds singing. The taxi driver must have thought I was some sort of mad woman, as I babbled on about the glorious day, whilst we waited for Robin to say goodbye to dogs and children, in no particular order.
The novelty had worn off by about 8.30, when I was sure it must be nearly lunchtime.

Robin only had a short flight down to Gatwick, and son number two had kindly lent him his favourite book, 'The Gruffalo', to read whilst away.
The last time I saw it, it was sandwiched between, 'El Noi de la Mare', arranged by Llobet, and 'Un Dia de Noviembre', Leo Brouwer.

He has now arrived in Southampton and has settled into his room on board the QM2. Robin will be performing two guitar concerts, Thursday and Saturday, so he has time to relax, (I don't think so), prepare, (more likely).

David Juritz, the violinist and leader of the London Mozart Players, is about to undertake an interesting project.
He's busking his way around the world, to find out more, and to follow his progress, visit, 'Round the World and Bach'. He's due to leave on the 9th of June, so log in and see what it's all about. It's worth looking at his own web page just to hear some incredible playing!

One Down One to Go

At last I have some musical news to report.
Robin did the first of two concerts last night, and despite his borrowed suit and shoes, managed to give an excellent performance.

It was a 40 minute recital and here's what he played:


Malaguena - (Trad. Arr. Hill)

Six Renaissance Lute Pieces - (Arr. Chilesotti revised Hill)
(Andante - Bianco fiore - Danza - Gagliarda - Se lo M'Accorgo - Salterello

Capricho Arabe - Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Tarrega)

El Noi de la Mare - (Trad. Arr. Llobet)

La Paloma - (Iradier - Arr. Tarrega)

Three Pieces - Dilermando Reis
(Conversa da Baiana - Si Ela Perguntar - Xodo da Baiana)


It went very well and later in the evening an Italian lady tapped him on the shoulder and gave him the thumbs up sign. I think she was referring to the performance rather than his attire.
Today Robin was able to take a break from guitar practice and go ashore in Bonaire, just off the coast of Venezuela, to stock up on a few more essentials.
He even found that one of the Officers on board has the same Apple computer and he very kindly let Robin recharge.
Still working on the mobile 'phone...