Rondo

Several issues ago, I reviewed a composition by the composer entitled “Farewell,” and hoped that there wasn’t some sort of none too-hidden message being communicated. Fortunately for all of us, it appears that Sytchev is still very much among us, and this Rondo is his most recent offering. This is a composition in which the notated rests really have to be strictly observed, a fact often not completely honored by guitarists. The texture is two-voice writing for the most part, with occasional denser chords used to make an emphasis. The melodic line spends some time dwelling in the upper parts of the fretboard, so it is imperative that the player can read fifteenth-, sixteenth-, seventeenth-fret notations clearly. Highly recommended for the Grade 3-4 player.

David Norton, Soundboard

This is a little piece with more than a hint of malicious humour in it. The opening theme rocks in thirds around an open top E, deliberately clashing constantly with it. so that the key is obscured. Then repeated with extra bass notes, it lands momentarily on an A, only to go straight off again for two more bars and land on a D. This also proves to be fleeting as a new idea lurches around in wildly different keys for eight bars only to hit a cadence in D. The use of wrong notes atop common chords is a feature of this piece, so there are no atonal bits, just unusual juxtapositions of harmonies. A new idea emerges in G only to be met with an array of seventh chords that slip and slide around, that cause the next part to begin in F# major, although this too is but momentary, as yet another theme based around the top end of the guitar enters in E major. This stays around for quite a while, until ending on a harmonic E, over which the initial theme re-emerges unchanged. This in, turn leads to one more new theme which after a while again as it quotes a theme from it, but no it is all a bluff. Off goes the new theme again only this time to land on a harmonic E. So, is this the return to the first theme, like before? Yes, it is, and we get the opening theme one more time closing as before on a cadence in D, and the piece is all over. If you like your music to be wickedly humorous and you are a decent player, for this piece is not too easy, but not devastatingly hard either, then you will probably love this little item; lots of fun.

Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)