SKU: UT.CH-397
ISBN 9790215328501. 9 x 12 inches.
Blumenlied; Freude der Kinderjahre; Frühlingslied; Der liebliche Stern; Nachtviolen; Nähe des Geliebten; Trauer der Liebe; Die Herbstnacht (Die Wehmut); Du bist die Ruh; TischliedIn the early 1960s the Venezuelan guitarist, Alirio Diaz, suggested to Duarte that, because the existing arrangements of Schubert lieder for voice and guitar were so poor, he should make some new arrangements. 20 songs were initially arranged, from 1966 onwards, and only nine of them were published by Edizioni Musicali Bèrben in 1973.The songs in the present volume selected themselves for their vocal range and only one song, Der Schatzgräber D 256, had to be excluded. I am very grateful to Amanda Cook who took on the task of adding fingerings to most of these 55-year old arrangements. There is a small ossia part in Freude der Kinderjahre, a vocal ossia in Tischlied and also one or two places where chord progressions have been changed for easier performance. Transpositions from the original keys are noted in the musical text and dynamics have been inserted where they can be corroborated. I have refrained from including an English, or any other language, translation. Singers and guitarists will have their own resources and knowledge for translating the meaning of the texts into their own language, an essential tool for the interpretation of these wonderful songs.(Christopher Duarte).
SKU: HL.1139323
ISBN 9781705183922. UPC: 196288114871.
From a short French poem by Antoine Thiollier, Stephenson uses an Oulipian process to amalgamate the words with similar sounding English words to gradually abstract the meaning behind them; the words seemingly melt into musical sounds. The hypnotic nature of the guitar writing allows this to happen almost imperceptibly with long phrases of sustained emotional atmosphere rising and falling quite naturally before the music appears to gently evaporate at the close. The way in which the two languages merge is a touching reflection of the fact that Stephenson and (Heloise) Werner, friends since childhood in Paris, both moved to the UK to study and there continued their long friendship. (Colin Alexander).
