{"id":6549,"date":"2017-05-17T13:58:03","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T20:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=6549"},"modified":"2017-05-23T12:02:33","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T19:02:33","slug":"eight-by-assad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/eight-by-assad\/","title":{"rendered":"Dissonant, Dazzling, and Melodic: Eight S\u00e9rgio Assad Pieces that Showcase the Composer&#8217;s Range"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6 class=\"p1\">From the Summer 2017 issue of <em>Classical Guitar<\/em> | BY BLAIR JACKSON<\/h6>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Below are eight pieces by <strong>S\u00e9rgio Assad<\/strong> that give some sense of the range of his compositions, from angular, dissonant flights to searing, deeply felt melodies, unusual harmonies, interesting textural juxtapositions, and dazzling virtuoso passages. In some cases, we\u2019ve included some remarks from the original <i>CG<\/i> reviews of the pieces, and from current remarks by <i>CG<\/i> writers and others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rVd31ZZ2KSA?rel=0\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">1. Tr\u00eas Cenas Brasileiras<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"s2\"><strong> (1984), played by Kupinski Guitar Duo<\/strong><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s2\">The \u201cThree Brazilian Scenes\u201d was the first of his original pieces to be played in Brazil by the Assad Duo. This exciting and virtuosic work, writes Jo\u00e3o Paulo Figueir\u00f4a Da Cruz in his 2008 annotated bibliography of Assad\u2019s work, \u201crequires a great amount of energy, synchronism between both guitars, and great lyricism. Assad states that when these pieces were conceived, he was very influenced by a repertoire of jazz and rock music that he used to listen to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ru77kIqJiSs?rel=0\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong><span class=\"s1\">2. Aquarelle<\/span> (1986),\u00a0G\u00e9rard Abiton<\/strong><br \/>\nThis three-movement work, which was a compulsory piece in the 2002 GFA, is still perhaps his most famous work. \u201cHis wife at that time liked to paint aquarelles, drawings utilizing transparent watercolors and blended hues, and the spread of the colors on the canvas fascinated him. Following the same idea, he started the guitar solo with a three-note motif\u2026suggesting that the notes continue to ring one over the other as they spread throughout the score using augmentations and fragmentations.\u201d<i> \u2014Eduardo Minozzi Costa, U. of Arizona dissertation, 2012<\/i>. <i>CG<\/i> writer Chris Dumigan lauds its \u201cDebussyan whole tones and very French-sounding harmonies in many places.\u201d The middle movement, \u201c<span class=\"s2\"><b>Valseana<\/b><\/span>,\u201d is often performed alone.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nBmnsz-QlIY?rel=0\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong><span class=\"s1\">3. Fantasia<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Carioca<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"s2\"><strong> (1994), Dimitris Kotronakis<\/strong><br \/>\nWritten the year Assad\u2019s first wife died, this is a \u201cvirtuosic \u2018showpiece\u2019 split into several segments of varying moods\u2026pyrotechnic arpeggios, exciting rhythmic sections, abrupt mood swings from joyous to melancholic\u2026\u201d <i>\u2014Steve Marsh 11\/05<\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/X4WhTpNR5do?rel=0\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong><span class=\"s1\">4. Farewell<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"s2\"><strong> (1994), Ana Vidovic<br \/>\n<\/strong>The best known of 22 short, diverse pieces Assad wrote\u2014mostly for two guitars\u2014called <i>Suite \u2018Summer Garden\u2019<\/i> for the the Japanese film <i>Natsu No Iwa<\/i>. Steve Marsh calls it \u201can exquisite composition\u2026 I always find the melody line, albeit so simple, very moving\u2014whether the solo version or the duet one.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FjBhmFDRQI8?rel=0\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong><span class=\"s1\">5. Three Greek Letters<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"s2\"><strong> (2000), Antigoni Goni<br \/>\n<\/strong>\u00a0According to Assad, the three movements\u2014\u201cPi,\u201d \u201cPsi,\u201d and \u201cSigma\u201d\u2014\u201care not based in Greek traditional music [but] they are my personal homage to the great Greek culture and civilization.\u201d Each of the three has its own dominant mood or feeling, from the flowing consonance of \u201cPi\u201d to the darker and more abstract \u201cSigma.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N9G4uEFD6Xc?rel=0\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong>6. Seis Brevidades <span class=\"s1\">(2009), Marc Teicholz<br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong>Assad said, \u201cThe <i>Seis Brevidades <\/i>were written partially in Chicago and partially in Paris during 2008 and dedicated to my dear brother, Odair Assad. They were not conceived with related musical material, each being very different in character and based in different sources of Latin American music. The whole set is unified as they reflect very loose and brief moments of a journey through a single day. Although they were not written on the same day they were inspired during or by specific times of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0nX-zsrk02M?rel=0\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong>7. Sandy\u2019S Portrait<span class=\"s1\"> (2012), David Russell<br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"s2\">Beautiful three-movement work in memory of Sandy Bolton, a guitar-advocate associated with the University of Arizona, premiered by David Russell. The concluding <b>\u201cToccata\u201d<\/b> movement is one of Assad\u2019s most-played pieces. <\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2B6sLLb8rSk?rel=0\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">8. Suite Brasileira No.3 <\/span>(2014), Thomas Viloteau<\/strong><br \/>\nCommissioned by and dedicated to Thomas Viloteau, this wonderfully modern and energetic five-part work, Assad says, \u201cblends forms of cultural expression [dance, folkloric song, martial arts rhythms] of a specific region of Brazil\u2014the Northeast, involving part of the state of Bahia, the great state of Pernambuco, and some of Alagoas and Rio Grande do Norte.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the Summer 2017 issue of Classical Guitar | BY BLAIR JACKSON Below are eight pieces by S\u00e9rgio Assad that give some sense of the range of his compositions, from angular, dissonant flights to searing, deeply felt melodies, unusual harmonies, interesting textural juxtapositions, and dazzling virtuoso passages. In some cases, we\u2019ve included some remarks from the original CG reviews of the pieces, and from current remarks by CG writers and others.\u00a0 1. Tr\u00eas Cenas Brasileiras (1984), played by Kupinski Guitar [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/sergio-assad-compositions-classical-guitar-david-russel-duo-assad-marc-teicholz-ana-vidovic.png?fit=750%2C420&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}