Austin Tango

Roland Dyens has a massive and still-growing reputation as a composer who pushes guitar to its limits with music that is pleasing and effective.
Austin Tango, which British readers will unfortunately instantly think is a sub-genre of Morris Dance, is dedicated to the Austin Guitar Society, whose ranks obviously include a good number of extremely competent players.
There is a glossary of notation and a couple more symbols are explained on the score itself, though the final marking, a Bartok pizz., has no description. These interpretive marks are not onerous or complicated, and some of them are little more than reminders not to be untidy with left over notes and with squeaks.
What is complicated is simply the job of keeping all the parts together. Some of the timing is quite hard to read, but the pace is modest and there's actually more time to play the complex sequences than the amount of black ink would suggest.
But what does it sound like? Actually, it's rather glorious. The opening walking bass, which is curiously heavily fingered for something in the first position, is pizz. and slightly sinister. A subito clap from the rest of the players will get the audience's attention. The tango is dark, slightly eerie, as it positions itself on this bass motif, but the writing is all the time lush and wonderfully evocative. One can almost hear a melodeon in the background.
The central section in A major is warm and melodious and many of the parts get a chance to take a little of the limelight. And then we return to the dark opening that is enhanced with the addition of some strummed chords. At the end is the exhortation to sit motionless for three seconds.
The more I played it, the more I found it pleasingly under the fingers. It might need a conductor, at least at first, but for players who don't break into a sweat with complex rhythms, this is going to delight.
Derek Hasted (Classical Guitar Magazine)