Tom Chalko (guitar) with Mount Best Cyber-Orchestra

Online Concert 7 June 2020, 10 am AEST (Melbourne time zone)

https://mtbest.net/guitar_concert.html

PROGRAMTom Chalko (1951-)What Words Cannot SayI composed this piece in 2018, early in the morningon my granddaughter's birthday. By the evening, ithas become a birthday present ...

Tom Chalko (1951-)Somnium PaceIn Latin “Somnium Pace” means “Dream of Peace”.Thoughts of endless wars, conflicts and othertroubles on Earth have bothered me for some timeand lead to a nagging question: “what can I really doabout it while living here in the mountains? Onenight in 2018, I was woken up at 2am with an idea:compose music! And another idea of two contrastingmelodies fighting one another - only to reach aconclusion of peace and harmony at the end. I spentthe rest of the night playing guitar until the piecetook shape.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)Mandolin Concerto RV532: Andante Vivaldi's music was very popular, when he was alive.Vivaldi's contemporary, Johann Sebastian Bach(1685-1750) is known to have copied Vivaldi musicby hand to advance his composition skills. AfterVivaldi died, his music got forgotten for about twocenturies and now only a small number of hiscompositions, such as Four Seasons, enjoypopularity. Andante from Mandolin ConcertoRV532 is one of the “hidden gems” among Vivaldicompositions. While other movements of theConcerto RV532 engage many instruments,including organs, contrasting Andante is composedfor two mandolins with basso continuo and standsout because of its striking simplicity and beauty.

I have arranged Andante for guitar, violin and bassocontinuo on the basis of Vivaldi handwrittenmanuscript.

Stanley Myers (1930-1993)Cavatina (guitar and orchestra) Originally a movie sound track - Cavatina hasbecome the best-known composition of StanleyMyers.

Famous guitarist John Williams, arranged Cavatinafor solo guitar and helped it to become famous. I willplay Cavatina with Mt Best Cyber Orchestra.

Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909)Recuerdas de la Alhambra Alhambra is an Arabicpalace in Grenada, Spain,built in 12th century. Even by21st century standards, thegrandiose architecturaldesign of Alhambra isimpressive.

For seven centuries after Arabs were displaced fromSpain – Alhambra palace suffered from looting andneglect. Squatters lived there and lit open fires onpalace floors. The smoke made the palace interiorgreyish-black and sad.

The fact that Alhambra is still impressive today afterseven centuries of neglect is astonishing and is atribute to Arabic architects, engineers andmathematicians of 12th century.

Recuerdas de la Alhambra translates to “Memoriesfrom Alhambra” - and is one of the most famousTarrega compositions. The music reflects Tarrega'sown impressions of Alhambra - it is stunninglybeautiful and... sad at the same time.

Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909)Capricio ArabeFamous Spanish guitarist and composer FranciscoTarrega was impressed and inspired by the richArabic cultural heritage in Spain. A shining evidenceof this inspiration is his famous “Capricho Árabe”.

Dilermando Reis (1916-1977)Eterna Saudade Dilermando Reis was afamous Brazilianguitarist and composerwho did not write sheetmusic, but recordeddozens of long-playrecords containing hiscompositions. “EternaSaudade” is a piecefrom his 1963 album “Gotas de Lágrima” (TearDrops). I will play my version of this recording.

”Saudade” is a portuguese word for a feeling that isquite difficult to translate to other languages in oneword. One can translate “Eterna Saudade” title as“Eternal longing for lost happiness”.

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)Prelude 28 op 20Fryderyk Chopin, a famouspiano composer, held guitar inhigh regard. He is known tohave said: “Nothing is morebeautiful that sound of guitar,except possibly two...”.Bobrowicz, Tarrega, Barrios,Oberbek and others publishednumerous transcriptions ofChopin piano compositions for guitar solo. I willplay my own transcription of Chopin's Prelude 28op 20

Vladimir Vavilov (1925-1973) Ave MariaVladimir Vavilov was aRussian guitarist andcomposer, graduate ofLeningrad (now St.Petersburg) conservatory ofmusic in the class of guitar andthe class of composition.Vavilov had a habit not to signhis own compositions with hisown name and insteadpublished them as “anonymous” or attributed themto fictitious historical figures.

During the communist rule in Russia this strategymeant that Vavilov religious compositions wereactually performed and recorded in Russia.

Ave Maria is one such composition. Vavilov himselfpublished and recorded his “anonymous” Ave Mariaaria with Russian Melodia label in 1970. Later

recordings and performances of Ave Maria by IrinaArkhipova in 1987 made this aria famousworldwide.

Guitar versions of Ave Maria appear to have existedin 7-string Russian guitar repertoire. In late 20th

century Polish guitarist Jan Oberbek found one suchversion and asked professor of composition andcontrapunctus Stanislaw Mronski to help him towrite a performance solo piece for 6-string guitar.

Vavilov's Ave Maria is commonly mis-attributed toCaccini, but research reveals no link betweenCaccini and Ave Maria music.

Joaquin Malats (1872-1912)Serenata Espanola

Welcome to Catalonia.Joaquin Malats was aCatalan pianist andcomposer. He studied atBarcelona and Parisconservatory, winningprizes.

Serenata Espanola is hisbest-known and mostpopular composition.Originally composed as Sexteto – for piano andstrings, Serenata Espanola gained popularity whenMalats himself performed it (and even recorded it ona wax cylinder) as a piano-solo piece. The Serenatabecame so popular in Spain that Tarrega madetranscription of it for guitar solo.

Tarrega's transcription in turn became so popularworldwide that piano version of Serenata hasbecome practically unknown today.

I have retrieved the originally published Sexteto ofSerenata from the library in Barcelona and replacedpiano with guitar in the score. I had to “complete”Tarrega transcription to fill fragments that Tarregamissed so that guitar part became fully compatiblewith the original Malats idea of Sexteto.