{"id":14893,"date":"2020-06-26T05:00:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T12:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=14893"},"modified":"2020-06-24T14:15:14","modified_gmt":"2020-06-24T21:15:14","slug":"segovia-a-centenary-celebration-part-ix-segovias-published-editions-1955-1958","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/segovia-a-centenary-celebration-part-ix-segovias-published-editions-1955-1958\/","title":{"rendered":"Segovia: A Centenary Celebration Part IX, Segovia\u2019s Published Editions (1955-1958)"},"content":{"rendered":"
BY GRAHAM WADE | FROM THE OCTOBER 1993 ISSUE OF CLASSICAL GUITAR<\/em><\/h5>\n

Our previous column<\/a> looked at some of the publications which involved Andr\u00e9s Segovia<\/a> as editor or dedicatee between 1945 and 1954. These days of musical harvest continued well into the next decade, laying down a remarkable diversity of works many of which are still of immense interest in the guitar repertoire today. This flow of editions is comparable with Segovia’s prolific publishing output of new works in the 1920s<\/a>. It seems appropriate therefore to continue our list of Segovia’s published works from 1955, when with undaunted energy, almost 50 years after his debut in Granada in 1909, he was the undoubted supreme master of the guitar, attaining an international reputation hitherto unparalleled in guitar history.<\/p>\n

Note: This is part 9 of a 17-part series<\/a>\u00a0from the<\/em>\u00a0Classical Guitar\u00a0archive.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Estudios\u2014Daily Studies<\/em><\/a>: Andr\u00e9s Segovia, G.A. 178, publ. Schott, London, 1955.<\/strong> These Etudes include Oraci\u00f3n<\/em> (dedicated to the soul of Manuel Ponce), Rembranza<\/em> (dedicated to Vladimir Bobri). Oraci\u00f3n<\/em> was first recorded by John Williams in December 1958 for his second album (Delyse ECB 3151, later issued on Decca 421 165-2). In the sleevenotes to the original recording, issued in 1959, John Duarte commented that \u201cthe Maestro is an accomplished composer of delicate miniatures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra<\/em><\/a> (reduction for guitar and piano): Heitor Villa-Lobos, Publ. Editions Max Eschig, Paris, 1955<\/strong>. This work, dedicated to Segovia, was written in Rio de Janeiro in 1951, and premiered by Segovia on 6 February, 1956, with the Symphony Orchestra of Houston, conducted by the composer. (What a pity that Segovia did not make a recording with Villa-Lobos conducting!)<\/p>\n

Concerning this work, Turibio Santos wrote in Heitor Villa-Lobos and the Guitar<\/em> (publ. Wise Owl Music, Ireland, 1985):<\/p>\n

…it had not been a simple route to this premiere. Arminda Villa-Lobos, the composer’s second wife, was the godmother for this Concerto, a work which Andr\u00e9s Segovia had asked for many times. But the composer had been reluctant, either through lack of time or perhaps due to lack of enthusiasm about combining guitar and orchestra. But at last Segovia received the longed-for work, only to be disappointed\u2014it turned out to be a <\/em>Fantasia Concertante, without a cadenza… Andr\u00e9s Segovia argued his case with Mindinha, who pleaded on his behalf with Villa-Lobos. After various onslaughts (with flowers and champagne at the hotel) the cadenza was ready.<\/em><\/p>\n

At the premiere it was Arminda herself who increased the number of piano markings on the orchestral parts\u2014turning <\/em>p into <\/em>pp, and <\/em>pp into <\/em>ppp. After a while Villa\u00ad-Lobos was no longer sure whether the work was really for guitar and orchestra or just for a guitar solo!<\/em><\/p>\n

The belated provision of the cadenza may explain the long delay between the Concerto’s composition and its premiere. The early popularity of the work perhaps owes more to Julian Bream than to its dedicatee. Bream discovered the work in the BBC archives and began to perform the Concerto out of sheer enthusiasm for the work’s warmth and bravura. He gave one of the first European performances on 23 June, 1957, with the Aldeburgh Festival Orchestra conducted by Charles Mackerras. His recording appeared in 1972 (RCA SB 6852). This was followed two years later by John Williams’s recording (CBS S 76369). Frederick Fuller remarks in the sleeve notes:<\/p>\n

By an odd coincidence I myself had a hand in bringing the Concerto into more general circulation by persuading Villa-Lobos in 1957 to insist that Eschig release the score so that Julian Bream could perform it for the BBC.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"sor<\/p>\n

Second Sonata, Op.25<\/em><\/a>: Fernando Sor, revised and fingered by Segovia, publ. Ricordi Americana, Buenos Aires, 1956. <\/strong>Segovia recorded the Allegro<\/em> from this Sonata<\/em> on An Andr\u00e9s Segovia Recital<\/em> (Decca DL 9633, reviewed in Gramophone<\/em>, March, 1953). Comparison with Brian Jeffery’s facsimile edition of Sor’s Complete Works for Guitar<\/em> (publ. Tecla, 1977) provides many indications of Segovia’s approach to this era of music, especially in the adding of slurs, left and right-hand fingering, stretching, movement across or along the strings, etc.<\/p>\n

If players nowadays perform this piece they are probably unlikely to choose Segovia’s edition, yet at the same time this was a most significant publication, showing the Maestro in detailed processes of editing a Sonata he seems rarely to have performed in its entirety.<\/p>\n