Preludio y Danza

I have often enjoyed this prolific composer's music, published by d'Oz, so I was eager to try out this new work.
Firstly it comes in a newly designed cover which is particularly attractive, portraying an almost Picasso-like guitar in reds, greens and yellows, with a vibrant blue backing. The Preludio, marked Rubato, is a brief one and a bit pager with serious overtones and a couple of meaningfully emotive climaxes at salient points. It is written in D minor with a dropped D 6th string for added depth. A coda on the dominant leads into the Danza which begins Vivace with an offbeat D pedal. Time signatures dive around a bit here, as the common time opening quickly becomes 5/4 time with the occasional 6/8 thrown in for good measure. There is much excitement portrayed in the musical themes and all goes well for a while. A repeat of the whole of the opening material leads to a section in 3/4 which is very Spanish sounding consisting as it does largely of an arpeggiated chord with the second quaver becoming a triplet of semiquavers like much of the Spanish style of folk music. After a page of the foregoing, the original theme returns and everything ends on frenetic set of D minor chords.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar)