Guitarist's First Steps, vol. 2

Kiselev continues this series of volumes with increasingly descriptive titles for these ten longer and more technically demanding pieces. Each between one and two pages in length, the pieces require a playing level around the grade three mark with a wide range of musical ideas. The Land of the Cold Lakes is modal in feel and maintains an even quaver rhythm throughout, with the theme stated effectively in natural harmonics at the close. Dawn in the Mountains is highly effective with a songlike melody line harmonised in the middle section with major and minor seventh chords; The Circus has Cane is in a similar vein, but Russian Princess in the Captivity of Baty-Khan (great title) is contrasting and lends itself to delicate playing of its melancholy phrases. Other pieces which stand out here are the evocative Spring Stream (p, i, m repeated texture) and The King's Armour Bearer, which has a stately feel and a middle section with short effective bass runs. «Wrong« notes characterise the humorous Dancing Master and Hippopotamus. Some useful and attractive material here, notable for its accessible melodic lines which could prove popular with many students up to grade five level.
Linda Kelsall-Barnett (Classical Guitar Magazine)