Les 100 de Roland Dyens - Sixties Popsong

This is a light bouncy little piece in D minor and one more of the “100”. I wonder how he found the time, energy and indeed staying power to do this huge undertaking. This has a melody largely harmonised in 6ths and is syncopated and rocky in a certain way that does imitate the old 60s style of pop song to a certain degree. After the opening theme (in 6ths) other parts, particularly bass notes gradually enter before the melody shifts higher up the fingerboard and the writing gets a little tougher to read. A good knowledge of the higher frets of the lower strings is needed here. There is some nice employment of some nice crunches in the harmonies here and there, and the whole piece closes on long chords with some judiciously placed harmonics. This is another worthy piece to add to your collection of “Dyens pieces I must buy for myself soon”. If the rest of the 100 are all like the ones I have reviewed, it's going to be a long list.

Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)