Shenandoah by Matthew Cochran

This technique fragments melodic material, allowing Beaser to deviate from strophic forms and instead shift textures seamlessly from tremolo and strummed chords to chorale-style, two-voice counterpoint.

-The French Periodical Le Review Musicale asked a handful of composers to contribute articles honoring the memory of Claude Debussy for the December 1920 issue. Manuel de Falla responded with both an article, “Claude Debussy et L’Espagne,” and his only guitar work Homenaje, pour le tombeau de Claude Debussy. With its persistent use of the Habanera rhythm and a quote from Debussy’s Soirée dans Grenade, Falla’s short homage represents one of the first contributions of a major twentieth century composer to the guitar’s repertoire.

-Manuel Ponce is perhaps best known for his 1912 popular song Estrellita. His contributions to the guitar are a result of a long working relationship with the great Spanish virtuoso Andres Segovia, beginning in 1923. Though four of Ponce’s guitar works employ the variations form, Theme Varie et Finale is Ponce’s only variations work that uses an original theme. His treatment of the theme progresses in virtuosity throughout the first four variations, then relaxes into impressionistic lyricism before the work’s furious finale.

-Joaquín Rodrigo’s 1961 Invocación y danza can be viewed as a response of sorts to Falla’s Homenaje, pour le tombeau de Claude Debussy. Subtitled “Homage to Manuel de Falla,” Invocación opens with a quotation from Falla’s ballet El amor brujo in harmonics, and then explores the insistent half-step motion from F to E that also permeates Falla’s guitar masterpiece. The dance section is derived from the polo, a common Flamenco form that is characterized by improvisatory vocal laments and triple meter.

-Though he was born in Spain, Julian Orbón moved to Cuba in 1937. In the mid-1940’s, he became a member of the Havana-based Grupo renovación musical, an association proponing cultural identity in the formulation of new music. In 1960 Orbón emigrated to Mexico and taught composition at the National Conservatory. He settled in the U.S. in 1964. Completed in 1951, Preludio y Danza displays a jazz-influenced harmonic language. The constantly changing meter of the dance exemplifies Orbón’s inclination for Cuban rhythms.

-Sir Malcolm Arnold’s Fantasy for Guitar Op. 107 displays the composer’s penchant for music that is centered on dance and song. The opening gesture of the work outlines a descending, three-note motive that is developed throughout the piece and returns verbatim in the “Postlude.” Two beautiful “Ariettas” appear in contrast with the eclectic other movements, including the arresting “March” in which the performer wraps one bass string around another to produce a snare drum effect.

-The Yellow Cake Review is a collection of cabaret-style pieces by Peter Maxwell-Davies that protests uranium mining in the Orkney Islands. The Orkneys have been Davies’ home since 1970. Farewell to Stromness is incidental music from the Yellow Cake cycle. The slow, walking bass line that pervades the Farewell depicts the residents of the village of Stromness having to leave their homes as a result of uranium poisoning. Davies’ efforts to eradicate the mining industry from his home have proven successful in the past years.

About the Performer

-Matthew Cochran is an active guitarist, arranger, and educator. He is a member of the Tantalus Quartet, who has been called “an important new ensemble voice for the guitar community” by John Martin of Guitart International and “electrifying…a brilliant new light in the guitar world” by Thomas Kirchoff of the Amadeus Guitar Duo. He has performed and taught master classes at many of today’s leading guitar festivals including the Guitar Foundation of America, the Iserlohn International Guitar Symposium, Acadia International Guitar Festival, and Eastman Guitar Fest.

-As a proponent of new music, Cochran has commissioned and premiered several works for guitar including pieces by Kenneth Eberhard, Gerald Garcia, and Andrew Zohn, as well as works by Joseph Michaels, Apostolos Paraskevas, and Alan Scott with the Tantalus Quartet. His popular arrangements for guitar ensembles range from folksongs and jazz standards to European masterworks, and are published by Clear Note Publications.

-A dedicated teacher, Cochran currently directs the Classical Guitar Program at Palmer Trinity School in Miami, FL. He has been adjunct guitar faculty at Bainbridge College (Bainbridge, GA) and Finger Lakes Community College (Canandaigua, NY). His major teachers have been Pablo Cohen, Nicholas Goluses and Bruce Holzman. Cochran received his Doctorate from Florida State University and Masters and Bachelors degrees from the Eastman School of Music.

Recorded in Opperman Hall, Florida State University, February 2005

Engineered by Mark Henkin at Lifeline Studios, Tallahassee, FL

Produced by StephenMattingly

Mastering and Design by Clear Note

Average Customer Review: