By Mark Marrington. For Guitar (Classical). Parlor/Salon. 24 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications - Digital Sheet Music ISBN 9781609745578.
This anthology contains nineteen of the most popular Gilbert and Sullivan classics arranged in easily sight-readable versions for beginning to intermediate classical guitarists. All the favorites are here, ranging from sentimental ballads such as 'Little Buttercup', 'Willow, Tit-Willow' and 'There Grew a Little Flower', to more up-tempo 'patter' type pieces such as 'Oh! A Private Buffoon', 'Kind Sir You Cannot Have the Heart' and 'A Policeman's Lot'. The aim has been to provide both a useful teaching resource and a light-hearted alternative to the more 'serious' music of the classical guitar repertoire. All the pieces lend themselves extremely well to the common idiomatic textures of the classical guitar. A variety of melody and accompaniment styles are employed, including block chords, arpeggio patterns and passages of double-stopped thirds and sixths. A number of the pieces are in easy first position format, while others explore the common higher positions. The standard guitar keys are utilized (C, G, D, A, E) but there are occasional more challenging temporary modulations to 'difficult' keys, such as E flat major. There are also instances of drop-D tuning, which is often required in classical guitar playing.
