Not a jazz guitarist in any conventional sense, but an improviser of eloquence and imagination, nor strictly a classical guitarist, Ralph Towner is a category unto himself. originally a pianist, he has always sought to access on guitar the piano’s harmonic potential…
As a guitarist who specialises in solo concerts of original compositions and improvisation, I often think of myself as a raconteur of the abstract. It’s my contention that music unfolds to the listener as does a work of literature, only without the specific meanings of written or spoken words.
Each time I plant myself on stage before an audience, I proceed from the first sound to attempt to develop a musical continuity that will draw the listener into a world populated with a cast of sonic characters playing out an existence replete with all the emotions that could be suggested in a play or any work of literature.
Before a concert I choose from a list of pieces that I have composed, each of which has a unique quality that establishes a particular atmosphere that I can develop further with improvisation. I always begin with an improvised introduction to a composition, feeling out the sound of the room and the energy in the audience. An advantage of being an improvising soloist is that you are free to alter, or depart from, the form of a piece at any point if you sense that the ‘story’ needs a turn of events. In this respect, I consider myself as part of the audience, and if all is going well, I am swept along with everyone as to the shape and course the music takes.
Music, in my opinion, is a social art that combines the energies and contributions of multiple musicians and listeners. Being a soloist seems antithetical to this notion, but I feel the cultivation and imaginative use of a broad variety of musical colours and techniques invest the music with an orchestral aura that transcends the audience’s perception that it is being produced by a single player. Once the music has begun, it ceases to be a matter of how many are playing and what instruments are being played, and becomes rather a passage into a world of infinite sounds that are completely personal to each listener. The less self-conscious the audience and performer become, the better the concert. The most drastic difference for the solo player is that at the conclusion of the concert, the pleasure of discussing the concert you just played with the other musicians in the group isn’t possible. It is ironic that much of my sense of musical interaction in a solo piece has been cultivated by playing in group situations.
So far I haven’t felt any loss of fascination for the art of music. The guitar, for me, has always been an instrument with a bottomless reservoir of musical colours and possibilities. It continues to be a passport into a wondrous realm, and I am grateful for this.
– Ralph Towner, “‘Horizons Touched”
Ralph Towner
Osunbruck, Germany
May 22 & 23, 1998.
Leo Brouwer
Kleine Zaal, Concertgebouw – Amsterdam
1976-10-09 (FM)
Cuban guitarist and composer Leo Brouwer plays a solo recital in the hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The works on the program are all exemplary of Leo Brouwer. Arrangements of Baroque music, his own work and as a final piece of work for guitar and electronics. Due to an injury to his right hand in the early 1980’s, Leo Brouwer stopped performing and switched to composing full-time.
00:00 Six Lute Pieces of the Renaissance 6.55
Anonymous – Transcribed by Oscar Chilesotti
– I. Vaghe belleze et bionde treccie d’oro vedi che per ti moro.
– II. Bianco Fiore.
– III. Danza.
– IV. Gagliarda
– V. Se io m’accorgo
– VI. Saltarello
06:55 Johan Sebastian Bach 13.38
Chaconne from Violin Partita No. 2 BVW 1004
20:33 Domenico Scarlatti 24.12
Six sonatas for harpsichord
– Uknown Title
– Uknown Title
– Uknown Title
– Uknown Title
– Uknown Title
– Uknown Title
Leo Brouwer
44:43 – Parábola 6.43
51:26 – Canticum 4.30
55:54 – La espiral eterna 8.12
1:04:05 Tres piezas populares argentinas 8.12
– Astor Piazzolla – Uknown Title
– Astor Piazzolla – Uknown Title
– Astor Piazzolla – Uknown Title
1:12:16 Tres piezas populares cubanas 8.26
– Leo Brouwer – Berceuse (Cancion de Cuna)
– Uknown Title
– Uknown Title
1:20:41 Tres piezas populares brasileiras 8.42
– Uknown Title
– João Pernambuco – Sons De Carrilhoes
– Antonio Carlos Jobim – Samba de Uma Nota Só
1:29:21 Leo Brouwer 11.36
Metáfora del amor (guitar and tape)
Steve Lacy – Station/TAO, Nov. 7, 1970
