ISBN 9781513459370. 8.75x11.75 inches.

Choro is a popular instrumental-music tradition flourishing in Brazil and around the world. It preceded, influenced, and in turn was influenced by samba and bossa nova. Its repertory is vast, including thousands of choros composed by all manner of string, wind, keyboard, and percussion playersin addition to the guitar classics by Joao Pernambuco and Heitor Villa-Lobos.This landmark publication gives guitarists access to this seemingly endless repertory, empowering its readers to turn a choro written for any instrument into a convincing and idiomatic solo guitar arrangement. This process is taught through examples provided by Dr. Stephen Guerra, a versatile guitarist/composer intimately familiar with both classical and Brazilian guitar (violao brasileiro) as well as the choro idiom. This book is intended for both students of Brazilian guitar and classical guitarists seeking to add choros to their repertory and play them authentically. It includes: Original solo arrangements plus lead sheets and online recordings of 10 choros for the intermediate to advanced classic guitarist.Biographical and performance notes regarding the selected composers and compositions.Insightful suggestions for further reading, listening, and study. Extensive endnotes explaining arrangement choices, notation practice and influences. Dr. Guerra focuses on classics from the pioneering generation of choro composers culminating in the artistry of Joao Pernambuco, Pixinguinha, and Heitor Villa-Lobos; among others, these include compositions by choro pianists Chiquinha Gonzaga and Ernesto Nazareth, samba singer-composer Noel Rosa, choro bandleaders Joaquim Calado and Anacleto de Medeiros, and Brazils early flute virtuoso, Patapio Silva.Includes access to online audio.

ISBN 9781619118249.

Johann Sebastian Bach most likely composed the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue during his stay in Kothen between 1717 and 1723. Originally written for the harpsichord, the work was duly recognized as a masterpiece within its own era.Nestor Ausqui has taken extraordinary measures in creating a guitar transcription of this monumental piece. The fundamental tonality of D minor was retained to preserve the workas sonority, and the 6th string of the guitar had to be lowered to D to expand the guitaras range and adhere to the original key.The articulation of the piece often requires the use of the slur technique to maintain and enhance the legato effect in the melodic line. As the guitar has a more percussive character than the harpsichord, various inconveniences occur in the management or execution of the legato, but the transcriber has done his best to preserve the character of the original piece.Ausqui admits that the most arduous task was the fingering of the piece. He had to familiarize himself with Bachas intentions and avoid shortcuts and aberrations which would have depleted the original harmonies and melodies. In the process, he discovered that utilization of the open strings can subtly enhance the balance of right and left-hand duties to achieve the timbre the original score mandates.Written in standard notation only, with each line of music forming only one measure, this piece is meant for the classical guitarist willing to accept an interpretive challenge to reap enormous musical benefits.