Europa 2000

Norbert Leclercq, guitarist and composer (b. 1944) presently living in Brussels, has written various works for solo guitar, guitar duets, guitar quartets, and pedagogical works on playing in position. His solo guitar piece «Europe 2000,« composed in 1999, was dedicated to Alirio Diaz. The music starts with a Ritmico section based on a characteristic short theme constructed in scale-wise quaver movements, in a fast commontime measure. After this follows a two-four time Espressivo part in which we find characteristic groups of sextuplets placed against the bars with 8th-note duplets and 16th-note quadruplets. The third part is Tempo primo in which we come back to a varied first section, with the theme about a second lower. The composer's tendency toward a plain, and more monotonous rhythmic structure, and the same attitude towards the harmonization, gives us a special feeling of a mechanical music happening, very united, stable and somehow rough-released of any extra passions. Europa 2000 is certainly something new for the guitar repertory.
(Uros Dojcinovic Belgrade, Soundboard Fall 2000)

Marked Ritmico and with a tempo of 144 crotchets a minute, this work begins with a declamatory four note chord. It then leads into a running quaver passage. A return of the first idea leads to a new version of the continuation before a new idea consisting of an Eb minor chord interwoven with a clashing bass line. This in turn leads into a cantabile repeat of the foregoing idea, which is extensively developed over the next 20 bars or so. A contrasting espressivo section slackens the pace somewhat before a varied recapitulation of the first section occurs. Nothing is exactly the same as before, but is recognisable as a variation of it. A considerable climax ensues before a brief run down the fingerboard and a slightly inconclusive Em chord in its first inversion brings the work to an end.
The work is certainly for the more advanced player and is quite approachable harmonically speaking with a relatively engaging four or five minutes' duration.
(Chris Dumigan, Classical Guitar, 11/2000)