The sound of longing

03/30/11 09:48
(http://www.klassa.bg/)

by Petar PLAMENOV

5 April (Tuesday), 2011

Czech Cultural Centre
Free entrance
Violet Hall, 19:00
Address: Sofia, 100 G. S. Rakovski Str.
Working time: mon-thur 10:00-17:30; fri 10:00-16:00
Phone: 02 815 54 30
Fax: 02 815 54 40
E-mail: ccsofia@czech.cz

Cast: Vladislav Petrášek and Marián Pavlas
In the program: J.S. Bach, Fernando Sor, Béla Bartók, V. Petrášek

The classical guitar is sometimes called the "Spanish guitar". The traditional classical guitar is an acoustic instrument with six strings. These strings are plucked with the fingers (not with a pick). While six is the traditional number of strings for a classical guitar, the seven-string classical guitar has been popular in Russia since the 1800s. Eight- and ten-string classical guitars also have their followings (Narciso Yepes being a notable proponent of the 10-string guitar). Even 11- and 13-string classical guitars are becoming popular these days. These "extended range" classical guitars are usually used to play lute music in the original tunings, although there is also new music being written for them.

The three basic parts of the guitar are the body, the neck, and the headstock. The body of the classical guitar is usually discussed in terms of its top, back, and sides. Traditionally, these are made from various woods. The top (or soundboard) is the "face" of the guitar. This is where we find the soundhole. It is usually made from spruce or cedar. The back and sides are usually made from denser woods such as rosewood, mahogany, or maple.

The neck of the classical guitar has two main parts: the neck itself, and the fingerboard (or fretboard), which is glued to the neck. The fingerboard is the part that has the frets (the metal wires) embedded in it. Typical woods for the neck are Spanish cedar or mahogany. For the fingerboard: rosewood or ebony. At the top of the neck we find the headstock. This is where the strings are attached to the tuners. To a greater extent than most other instruments and ensembles, it is difficult to compose music for the guitar without either proficiency in the instrument or close collaboration with a guitarist.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was one of the greatest composers of all time. His death in 1750 is generally considered to be the end of the Baroque era in music history. One of his most famous works is the Minuet in G, originally for piano or lute, and today the most frequently performed classical guitar.

Fernando Sor (1778-1839) was one of the great guitarists from the Classical era. During his lifetime the guitar experienced its first "Golden Age". The instrument as we now know it was standardized, and there was a tremendous interest in both learning the instrument and watching live virtuoso performances. Sor was prolific, writing hundreds of pieces.

Hungarian composer, pianist and collector of folk music. He was born 25th March 1881 in Nagyszentmiklos (Sinnicolau Mare, Románia). His father Bela Bartok was director of a school, his mother Paula Voit was a teacher. Both of them loved music and were amateur musicians as well. It was realised soon when Bartok was a child that he had a special musical gift: at the age of four he could play almost forty songs' melodies on the piano. In 1906 he was researching and collecting Hungarian, Slovakian peasant music and songs. He found and collected older musical elements of Hungarian folk music in Transilvania in 1907 and from 1909 Romanian, from 1913 Arabe folk music - some of them arranged for guitar and they soon became very popular.