LECTURE–RECITALS AND WORKSHOPS

How to Write for the Guitar
A practical talk for composers with illustrations from works of Elliott Carter, Toru Takemitsu, Hans
Werner Henze, Peter Maxwell Davies, Param Vir, Tristan Murail. Composers are encouraged to bring
examples of their own writing for guitar for performance and discussion.

Creative Imperfection: Th e Two Lute Fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach
In studying the fugues and other contrapuntal works of Bach, it is easy to believe that there is a perfect
correspondence between an idea and its treatment. Traditional techniques such as stretto, double
counterpoint at diff erent intervals and contrary motion are used as material permits – indeed, ideas
may be manufactured with these techniques in mind – and each one is used either fully or not at all.
Of course, there are many spectacular and moving examples of contrapuntal techniques being used to
their full potential, just as there are many simple fugues without these treatments; but it can be startling to realize that in many less-studied works of Bach, sophisticated techniques may be half-used, nearly used, or used with signifi cant adjustments. Bach shows what an idea is capable of and also what it is only partly capable of.

The lute works contain two fugues in a highly unusual da capo form. In this talk, I argue that the
form allows Bach to present the subject in two ways: the outer sections are simple fugues, the middle
sections present research in which the limitations of each idea – its potential for more sophisticated
treatment – is explored. In the fugue from the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, BWV 998, Bach avoids
various stretto possibilities contained in the subject to focus on the diffi culty of an answer which is
melodically and tonally satisfactory at the same time. In the Fugue from the Suite BWV 997, Bach
researches stretto and double counterpoint at the tenth.

Reading Bach’s Ideas: Th e Prelude from BWV 998
Th e paper on which this talk is based has attracted a good deal of attention and can be read at
www.egtaguitarforum.org/ExtraArticles/ReadingBach1.html

Performing Bach on the Guitar
In this talk I touch on the works for lute, solo violin and solo cello, concentrating on articulation and
rhythmic character. I shall talk about transcription of the violin works and argue that some of these
works have their own bowing style to be taken into account, focusing especially on the Partita II in D
minor and its famous Ciaccona. Th is talk might be followed by a workshop on Bach’s works with the
guitar students.

Elliott Carter’s Changes (1982)
Th is seminal guitar work exemplifi es all the features that give Carter’s middle-period style its intense
dramaticism: structural polyrhythm, stratifi cation of harmony and – perhaps most importantly – a close correspondence between the compositional material and the characteristics of the instrument
itself, expressed not only in the role of timbre and gesture, but even in the harmonic material and the
determining of form. Th e technical features of the composition are perhaps easier to pick out and
understand in this short work than in Carter’s better-known works for larger forces: I will demonstrate
the principal ones and show how the expansion of the work beyond the original plan led Carter to
abandon the underlying rhythmic scheme in one key section.
Changes is also the first in a genre (if we discount Night Fantasies for solo piano) that was to become
common in Carter’s later music: the short occasional piece for a solo instrument. Th is is a surprising
development for a composer whose mature language seems to have developed entirely at the service
of concertante oppositions, in which each instrument or group has its own strictly defi ned character. I
shall show how Carter was able to place the concertante element more in the background so as to forge
a new, ‘soloistic’ style.
I shall perform the complete work and illustrate with excerpts throughout.

Th e Guitar Music of Maurice Ohana
Recently, a leading English composer told me that he thought Ohana’s contribution to the guitar
repertoire as signifi cant as that of any twentieth-century composer. Yet his works are little known, no
doubt because his two big cycles, Si le jour paraît… and Cadran lunaire, are written for the ten-string
guitar. In this talk, I give an introduction to the sound world of a composer who described himself
as ‘a man of the South’, performing movements from the cycles and playing recordings from other
instrumental and vocal works of Ohana.

The Ten-String Guitar
Illustrations from works by Ohana, Maderna, Malloy, Keeley, Bogdanovic and Goss.

Problems in Teaching Beginners
Th e musical demands we make on beginners are oft en very diff erent from those we make on ourselves.
Phrasing, articulation and dynamics are left to a far later stage than in teaching other instruments: in
the case of articulation, remedial work is frequently needed at college level. As Richard Wright has
argued, these aspects are considered too diffi cult for beginners, not because of any inherent diffi culty
in the techniques involved, but because of huge gaps in the technical approach found in most popular
methods. In this talk, I shall suggest ways of adapting our present pedagogy to incorporate interpretive
training from the start. In doing so, I shall touch on many familiar topics: rest stroke versus free stroke, the role of the right-hand thumb, planting, and so on.