Guitar Romance CD details

 

  Guitar Romance
  by Jason Waldron and Friends

 

About the Music

Guitar Romance is a unique and important recording. Unique in that the repertoire is varied, i.e. ranging from the classical music of John Williams, Ennio Morricone and Bill Conte, amongst others. It is important because it's varied content allows it to reach a wider audience than a standard classical album.

 

Guitar Romance The music is presented in such a way as to show the guitar in its original form, i.e. the Sojo and Ponce pieces along with solo arrangements of Grainger, Bach, Falla, Schumann and Granados. Other solos include first recorded arrangements by Loewe (On the Street Where You Live) and John Williams (Theme from Schindler's List).

 

Overdubbed duets (both parts played by Jason Waldron) including Forrest Gump Theme, John Dunbar Theme, Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, and the Theme from Rocky (duet with guitarist, arranger David Boddington) provide a rich and full-textured sound. The ensembles are uniquely arranged so as to show the versatility and sustaining quality of the guitar in such pieces as The Swan and Gymnopedie No. 1 where the guitar plays the solo line normally associated with a flute, cello etc., or in the Polovtsian Dance, where one could imagine the guitar melody line normally taken by a broader melodic instrument, such as a clarinet or oboe.

 

The versatility of the guitar is best summed up in the 18th Variation on a Theme of Paganini, where the guitar takes the part normally played by piano, albeit in a different key. Guitar Romance is recorded using several guitars by the great Spanish maker, Ignacio Fleta and the associated musicians are members of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

 

 

About the Fleta guitars used on this recording

The modem concert guitar has evolved from various plucked instruments of many cultures over hundreds of years. This long history culminated in nineteenth century Spain through the genius of Antonio de Torres (1817-1892) who finally established the shape and structural design of the present day guitar. It is a testimony to Torres that some of the finest guitars built today are direct copies of instruments he made over one hundred years ago.


One maker who used Torres as inspiration was the great Barcelona Luthier, Ignacio Fleta (1897-1977). Fleta was an established violin, cello and guitar maker who, after hearing the great Andres Segovia in the 1950s, decided to concentrate almost entirely on the construction of concert guitars. Segovia and several other concert artists started using Fletas and soon his name was established alongside those of Hauser, Bouchet and Hernandez y Aguado as one of the greatest makers of the modern era.

Ignacio Fleta has been described as the 'Stradivarius of the guitar'. This description is particularly apt as Fleta borrowed many constructional ideas form his violin making background such as the arm to body dovetail joint, a radical departure from the 'Spanish' method of building the arm and body as one unit during construction. This, together with inspirational ideas for internal strutting and top thicknessing, proved instrumental in achieving the distinct Fleta sound.


In the mid 1960s Fleta, along with several other makers, began to substitute the traditional European spruce soundboard for that of American cedar, and this recording demonstrates both spruce guitars (from 1961 and 1962) and cedar (from 1972).


The 1961 and 1972 guitars, previously used by John Williams for concert and recording work, represent the zenith of these major periods of Fleta's work and are two of the finest concert guitars ever made.


Still being constructed in Barcelona by his sons Francisco and Gabriel, Fleta guitars, like Stardivarius violins and Steinway pianos, continue to be one of the first choices for concert and recording artists to this day.


Ignacio Fleta best described the exquisite sound of his guitars when he expressed that it was his aim to give the guitar a 'human' voice - a philosophy surely attained and to be enjoyed now and for generations to come.

 

Which guitars were used on which tracks?

1961 Fleta guitar: 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 18, 22, 23

1962 Fleta guitar: 8, 21

1968 Fleta guitar: 22

1972 Fleta guitar: 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13, 19, 20

 

Find out more: right arrow1961 and 1972 Fleta guitars

 

Artists

Jason Waldron - guitar (and second guitar 8, 11, 13)
Michael Milton, Margaret Blades, Danielle Jaquillard, Hilary Bruer-Jones - violins
Juris Ezergailis - viola

Jacqueline Curiel - cello
Hong Bing Zhang - double bass

Carolyn Burgess - harp
Elizabeth Hennessy - flute

Glenn Madden - trumpet
John Drake - piano

Sal Bonavita - Flamenco guitar
David Boddington - guitar, track 22


 

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