Pavan

This piece marked “moderato” and “misterioso” has a very moody, enigmatic feel to its harmonies that I found entirely gripping from the first note. With the 6th tuned down to D. and ostensibly in D minor it begins on a pedal of A and via a rather circuitous route only makes it to a D minor at bar 13, so the effect is immediately of tonal lurches that are fascinating to encounter, A little motto of one bar’s length keeps returning at salient points to mark the way through the piece, which is certainly playable by most people who are only moderate guitarists, except for the final couple of bars where a fortissimo run through a two handed approach on the fingerboard similar to that style used by certain acoustic steel players, makes the ending tricky but really effective. I really enjoyed this piece: it was a little different, not too difficult to play and had a nicely balanced character to it through its three-minutes-or-so of length. Nice piece.

Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)