Reviews

NUANCES AND IMAGINATION 

Iduna Muziehuitgeverij V.O.F. 35pp (nowadays published by d’OZ).This is a collection of 16 intermediate pieces that in the words of the Preface ‘offer a range of different musical atmospheres’. They are widely diverse in both music and their technical requirements and yet are written with accessibility in mind.

With this I absolutely agree. The first thing that strikes you about all the pieces is an almost folky element to the harmonies. I then realised that the writer has often used modal harmonies in a most individual way so that they constantly s\ound fresh and individual. An initial strangeness in their writing gives way quickly to the feeling that you are playing something compellingly individual that grabs you musically. There are literally no second-rate pieces here but really outstanding ones include Shades, with its second section that I couldn’t get out of my head; the almost robotic Trip to Mechanism I; the warmly emotive The End of A Sunny Sunday; the wonderfully oriental sound of The Geisha that absolutely refuses to include any hackneyed ‘oriental’ intervals yet sounds perfectly right and correct and the delightfully quirky Twisted Logic.

I cannot stress enough I enjoyed this fabulous book, which is full of wonderful music. Any decent player will get such a lot from it that it should be on all our shelves. 

Chris Dumigan – Classical Guitar (USA) 

NEW DIFFERENT MOODS

Muziekuitgeverij Iduna V.O.F.

This Dutch composer always writes good, interesting and effective material and the latest bunch of 16 short, yet quite substantial works is no exception.

They are varied in style and content, yet all have a lack of the obvious or hackneyed phrase and harmony, as they manage to sound fresh and new; just unusual enough to keep your interest.

They range from the tongue-in-cheek Tangolito, to the almost folk-like A Quiet Afternoon, or the almost enigmatically harmonised Morning Dew. They tend to be of moderate difficulty although some of the difficulty factor stems from the occasional unusual chord shape or group of notes that can catch you by surprise but then again they are some of the delights in playing these pieces, for you really don’t know what you are going to find.

This is a fine set, with much to enjoy, and if you do not know this man’s music, take a flyer and give them a go, for you will almost certainly not be disappointed.

Classical Guitar  – October 2013

Chris Dumigan – Classical Guitar (USA) 

THE MYSTERIOUS GUITAR for solo guitar by Eugène den Hoed.

The Dutch guitarist Eugène den Hoed (once a member of the symphonic popgroup ‘Bonfire’) is a prolific composer of guitar music and, according to what little knowledge I can gleam from a small bit of research, has the admirable ambition to write contemporary music aimed specifically at the intermediate player. From the evidence of this new edition under review and several others reviewed recently, he is achieving this project in quite a successful manner. The Mysterious Guitar is subtitled A Modern Suite for Guitar and has altogether nine movements. Each movement has a descriptive title and most of them to the expectations conjured by the name, hence The Woods So Dark has an ominous presence: The Stratosphere gives an ‘other-worldly’ impression; Mysterious Journey is… just that (shades of the Swiss composer, Frank Martin in this movement) and so on. Eugène den Hoed obtains many of the effects by utilising one of the guitar’s most useful features, the campanella: this overlapping of notes seems a particular characteristic of this composer and one he uses to good effect. As stated earlier, Eugène den Hoed has recently set out to compose student guitar pieces in a ‘modern’ mode without becoming too avant-garde and with The Mysterious Guitar suite he has produced an attractive, interesting, stylish and relatively sizeable piece. For any student of around the Grades 5-6 mark wanting to try something substantial and musically adventurous, this is well worth considering.

Steve Marsh Classical Guitar

EVOCATIONS 1-6 by Eugène Den Hoed.

Muziekuitgeverij Iduna V.O.F. 24pp (nowadays published by d’OZ). Subtitled Six Impressionistic Pieces these enterprising items are graded 5-6. They are eminently accessible and yet are written in an unusually harmonised style that succeed in sounding quite original and do not rely on hackneyed guitaristic figurations so prevalent in some compositions. They do not have any sub-titles and are merely numbered 1-6 but are quite substantial in size. In general the whole set which amounts to nearly 25 minutes of music uses figurations that are eminently playable. Interesting to see and hear and yet quite individual. The music is charming and like little else that I have tried before yet isn’t modern enough to scare your granny. Nicely printed, this volume was a refreshing change from some music one gets to see and hear.

Chris Dumigan – Classical Guitar

FANTASIAS FOR GUITAR for solo guitar by Eugène den Hoed.

Muziekuitgeverij Iduna VOF 36pp. These nine fantasias are aimed around the intermediate level of difficulty; their intention is to try and augment the repertoire of contemporary guitar music and enable the student to try out and appraise ‘modern’, atonal music without having to struggle with the likes of Bennett, Henze, Martin, etc. Despite the dictionairy definition of a Fantasia being a compositlon structured according to the composer’s fancy, these nine pieces are actually written in a stricter form than that implies and are quite accessible both to the ear and from a technical viewpoint. There is some very good writing contained within these pieces and a brief set of three or four pieces could easily be created from this book to be included in the informal student concert or the like. Presentation is very good with clear printing and sensible fingering by the composer.

Steve Marsh – Classical Guitar

IMPRESSIONATAS for solo guitar by Eugène den Hoed.

Muziekuitgeverij Iduna VOF 26pp. This compilation of grades 3-4 pieces are in a similar vein to the same composer’s Guitar Reflections, where a collection of studies, sixteen in this book, are presented to the student to improve not only their repertoire but also various guitar techniques such as arpeggios, slurs, scales, phrasing, high positions, etc. From a personal viewpoint I found these pieces a little more attractive than the ones contained in the afore mentioned book. They contain some nice melodic lines, interesting harmonies and some excellent rhythmic material for the student to get to grips with. Well worth a look at.

Steve Marsh – Classical Guitar

EVOCATIONS 7- 12 by Eugène den Hoed.

Muziekuitgeverij Iduna V.O.F. 28pp (nowadays published by d’OZ). Book 2 of these ‘Six Impressionistic Pieces for Guitar’ as they are subtitled, are all astep harder than the Book 1 (See separate review) The composer grades them as 6—7, and like Book 1 they are composed in a modern – impressionistic idiom with each evocation having its own characteristics in structure, tempo and harmonies. Yet again this book, like its companion reveals some surprisingly adventurous music, completely tonal yet never obvious and each of the pieces is a wonderfully complete separate item on its own. I could see a small number of these being perfect as a suite to play in the middle of your recital. Great!

Chris Dumigan – Classical Guitar

GITAAR DUETTEN by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier.

Arranged from flute duets by Eugène den Hoed, Muziekuitgeverij Iduna v.o.f. 27pp plus CD. Eleven Baroque dances here, arranged from flute duets by the prolific French composer de Boismortier (1689-1755). They lend themselves well to transcriptiod for two guitars, and the result is effective and enjoyable, requiring a level from around grade two to grade five. The arranger consistently gives the higher part to guitar one, sometimes thinly harmonised, with the lower part taking the bulk of the harmony, often playing in two parts. The lines frequently run in parallel thirds and there is plenty of interest in each part with imitation and suggested ornamentation. Doucement , in C major, is straightforward to put together with an attractive melody. Sauteuse is lively with imitation and the two Tambourins are stylistic and mostly homophonic. The Rondeau is more challenging in its running quavers and semiquavers requiring accurate articulation from both players and I particularly liked the characterful Menuets, in C major and C minor. This very well presented volume contains a useful amount of rewarding and unusual material, suitable for intermediate duos.

Linda Kelsall-Barnett – Classical Guitar

SENSE OF STRINGS

Evocation Music Publishing, 33 pp. and 19 pp. Imaginative modern pieces have much momentum Sense of Strings is den Hoed in his most imaginative style of modern-friendly writing. Graded Level 3 to 5, they offer many contrasts. The book begins with Scherzando, a leaping allegretto in E minor that is mostly in 6/8, with the occasional 3/8 and 9/8. The main theme has an upwardly surging forward motion that has considerable momentum and is very effective. The oddly titled Mystic Bags is in a mixture of 5/8, 3/8, and 6/8, and flits backwards and 1 forwards from D minor to D major, but has i a lovely lilt to it. Burlesque is an animato E major work that sounds like its title suggests, while the final Latin Grooves is full of cheeky syncopated rhythms. The other four are as good, too.

Chris Dumigan – Classical Guitar (USA) 

14 ETUDES FOR GUITAR

The 14 Etudes are in C, D, E, F, G, A, B s major, and B minor, and are tonal, but with a elements of modality, and each piece has b a technical challenge that makes it a useful workout, as well as being an involving piece of music.          

Chris Dumigan – Classical Guitar (USA)

EVOCATIONS PART 3

Evocations part 3 (successor of Evocation part one and two) continue a fine set of pieces, again not too modern, but with some fascinating details and almost folk-like modal melodies at times.

Chris Dumigan – Classical Guitar (USA)

METAMORPHOSES FOR GUITAR 

Muziekuitgeverij Iduna. 11 pp + CD. 
Here are, to quote its subtitle, ‘Four Movements in a moderate contemporary style for grades 4 to 5’. It begins with an andante e poco rubato declamatory phrase , destined to return later. It is set around a centre of E, whilst not actually being in E minor, if you understand me. although at times it feels like EF  minor. The part-writing stvle enables the composer to flow through some rather unusual ideas whilst still feeling admirably suited to the  guitar. The first movement is generally in three voices.

Part Two is a piu mosso  and the chromatic nature of much of the material makes it seem almost like a variation of Part One, which I am almost convinced it is! Again this is largely in three voices. The hardest movement is Part Three, marked again, piumosso but this time exhibiting much more complexity in its rhythms. A sudden slowing down leads to the opening movement’s declamatory motto theme before an attacca instruction leads one into the final Part Four, where the first slow section marked lento ma non troppo occurs. This however soon leads to a Dal Segno,  taking one back to the beginning of Part Three for another turn around the hardest section, before a trip to the coda, where one is met by the motto once more.

A final thrusting flourish from Part Three the work closes on altered E minor chord. This is always very playable, if at times unusual, in its harmonic structures but nevertheless always understandable and involving. This is a more than interesting work that shows how versatile this composer is and just how good his back catalogue is. If you do not know of this man’s writings, have a look at his publisher’s website at www.eugenedenhoed.nl. and take a chance on some – they are well worth the effort.

Chris Dumigan – Classical Guitar

LA FRESCOBALDA by Girolamo Frescobaldi 

Arr. for guitar by Eugène Den Hoed. Muziekuitgeverij Iduna. 1O pp. This famous piece is the one that Segovia arranged many moons ago, and that was subsequently published in the Schott Archives. I haven’t got access to that  version now but if my memory serves me, I seem to remember that Segovia didn’t do the whole piece but left the final part out, for whatever reason. 

This version consists of the Aria with four highly contrasting variations followed  by a varied return to the Aria as a close, and immediately one feels that the work is well adapted to the guitar, and doesn’t at all feel it was written for anything else, which it of course was, that being the sign of a good arranger.

The Aria is Moderato with mostly three voices in evidence, although the odd larger chord does enter from time to time. The First Variation is marked piu mosso and the musical parts move around considerably more here. The Second Variation is an allegro and things get quite tricky here although never losing their inherent guitaristic qualities. No.3 is marked sostenuto and here there is more opportunity to show a more emotive side to the piece, whilst the final 4th variation is an allegretto. The final Aria repeat is varied from the original at the  beginning, and the whole work closes on a florid cadence leading to a close on  the tonic major. 

This is a beautiful work that belies its non-guitaristic origins and succeeds in sounding fresh and original, and if the music of the 1600s appeals then this book will be fine for the moderately advanced players amongst you. 

Chris Dumigan – Classical Guitar

GUITARISTIC SCENES PART ONE by Eugène Den Hoed.

Muziekuitgeverij Iduna. 28pp.

The music of this composer is always interesting, engrossing and wonderfully  written for the guitar. This book is no exception and consists of eleven pieces of modest difficulty and is sub-titled ‘impressions for guitar in different styles’. 

His eclectic music heralds, no doubt, from the fact that he has been immersed in both popular and classical all his life and the crossover effect of much of his music is surely the result. It begins with Malaya, in a mixture of 6/8 and 9/8 with an open, almost modal sound that is almost impossible to describe. The music effortlessly moves around, occasionally reminding one of folk guitarists and their music. Small Talk follows with a melody that stays with you and a certain flow that is a result of the wonderful guitar writing he achieves. A Minor Blue is lots of fun and is (obviously) bluesy in character but not to the extent that it is a 12-bar, being more the overall feel of the piece that creates the sound of the blues, whilst Dolly’s Waltz is delightfully bizarre, with its reliance on intervals of a second, to mimic the static or wooden doll trying to dance a waltz. 

Every one of the eleven pieces is really worth playing. I have a number of books from this composer and I have yet to find a dud in any of them. Great stuff!

Chris Dumigan – Classical Guitar (USA)

LA GUITARRA OSTINATA  by Eugène den Hoed.

Muziekuitgeverij duna, 10 pp.

Phillip Glass inspired this work of interesting patterns and shifting complexities. This man’s music is never boring, but instead is always inventive, with plenty of wonderful musical ideas, and as he is so prolific, it is surprising that more people haven’t taken his pieces into the concert hall. This latest one-movement work has a dedication to Philip Glass, and it is immediately apparent that Hoed has styled the work on some of Glass’ musical ideas. The piece has two entirely different sections, the first being a group of six eighth notes that you repeat three more times, before a new six-note pattern, which is played four times, and so on. The  patterns themselves are almost hypnotic in nature, and usually bob around in an almost random fashion, with lots of hammer-ons and pull-offs in the middle to make this a harder piece to play than it at first appears (especially at the required speed of 152 quarter notes per minute).

To give you an idea, there are 24 patterns of six notes in the opening section, all  slightly different from one another. Then, a sudden pause and a long-breathed chordal larghetto enters, with much use being made of slightly exotic and  unexpected chords. After this temporary respite, the six-note repeating figures continue for another 24 different patterns before a final return to the larghetto, this time slightly embellished from the previous version. After a final 8 bars of six-note arpeggios, the piece is over. 

This piece is certainly not easy but moderately advanced players will be able to cope with its ever shifting complexities. I found it entertaining and great for getting my fingers moving!

Chris Dumigan – Classical Guitar (USA)

MUSIC FOR FLUTE OR VIOLIN AND GUITAR by Fernando Sor. 

Muziekuitgeverij Iduna VOF. 32 pp.

The title is a little misleading in that it gives the impression that here is a  collection of music originally for this instrumentation. In fact all these pieces were originally guitar solos have been arranged as duets by Eugène Den Hoed.

The originals are from opus 2, 31, 33, 35 and Sor’s ‘Method’ and quite a few should be known to the Intermediate player. Eugène Den Hoed has kept the technical level to around Grades 3-4 and as most of these pieces are of a highly lyrical nature, this publication could be of interest to ‘amateur’ duos and teachers (for sight-reading material). 

The publication comes as score-only but the album contains no page turns and can easily be read by two players sharing a music stand.

Steve Marsh – Classical Guitar

SONATINA OSTINATO for solo guitar by Eugène den Hoed, dedicated to Leo Brouwer.

Muziekuitgeverij Iduna VOF. 16 pp. 

Eugène den Hoed used to teach at the Centrum voor de Kunsten in Bergen op Zoom and his  past studies have included ones with with South American guitarist Baltazar  Benítez. As well as studying classical guitar, he also has had strong connections with rock bands (e.g. the instrumental progressive rockgroup of the 70s, Bonfire) and has had a large number of original compositions and arrangements published by Muziekuitgeverij Iduna.

Over the past few years I seem to have reviewed number of editions of music written by Den Hoed and as far I can recollect I have never been disappointed by Sonatina Ostinato is a three-part work written in a contemporary fashion and dedicated to Leo Brouwer. The opening movement, an Allearo, is the obvious influence of the composition’s overall title, with its forward thrust of the evermoving syncopated melodic line and with its mildly caustic edge to it creating tension almost all the way through; quite an exciting beginning to the work.

A sense of serenity comes with the tranquil second movement, a short episode illustrating how to compose economically for the instrument and still retain musical interest. The animated finale brings the work to a stimulating conclusion with rapid scales and arpeggios leaping around the first twelve frets of the fingerboard to dramatic effect with just a brief few moments of serenity in the form of an interlude mid-way through.

Looking at the score, one might be forgiven for thinking that this work is much more technically difficulty than it actually is. I remember reading several years ago that Eugène den Hoed had the commendable ambition to write contemporary music aimed specifically at the Intermediate player. As this piece would be suitable for any grade 6 player seeking to extend their repertoire into the world of ‘modern’ music it seems that he is realising his ambition.

Altogether a most satisfying and welcome new addition to the repertoire.

Steve Marsh – Classical Guitar

SUITE IN E MINOR by Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello
Arranged for guitar by Eugène Den Hoed.

Muziekuitgevereij Iduna V.O.F. 11pp.

This Italian-born baroque composer’s music is not too widely known and therefore Eugène Den Hoed has done the guitar world a real service by arranging this wonderful four-movement suite for guitar. As I have recently found; not all baroque instrumental music is necessarily top-notch music but I have no qualms at all about this work which really sounds fine on our instrument and has more than a reminder of the great J.S. Bach in a good few places. 

The suite begins with an Entree with both sections having written out repeats that have been embellished the 2nd time around. Without any evidence to the contrary, I can only assume that is the original, and not Den Hoed’s variations of what could have been a straight repeat. Whatever the answer they are superbly done and the whole effect is very convincing. A modest Minuet is next. The melodies and harmonies here as in the first movement are immediately appealing and yet have plenty of body in them, and also they fit beautifully under the fingers, and feel like true guitar original works. A lilting Siciliano follows on with a couple of places where the tricky looking runs are easier to  play than they otherwise first appear. The final movement, as one might expect is a rollicking Gigue, marked ‘vivace’. It has to fly off the fingers to do it full justice, but it is a real showstopper, and any player giving it his all in a concert will no doubt reap the due rewards from the audience. This is a superb piece of music; concise yet full of emotion and depth with plenty of opportunity for the player to show off his technique too. This is a real find.

Chris Dumigan – Classical Guitar (USA)