Of course this concept is not new; 24 preludes for various instruments covering the entire major and minor keys. Probably the most distinguished composer to write in this fashion for the solo guitar was Manuel Ponce.
What is nice about this collection is that David Grimes has kept the technical criteria to a level where the playing skill required would be within the grasp of the intermediate student and this is where the attraction to this particular group of 24 pieces comes. As a teaching aid, for educating students in the process of playing out of 'safe' guitar keys for once, this new album could be very useful; it is just a pity that there Is only one example from each key but nevertheless, it is still a worthwhile project. The works themselves are not presented in 'key order', instead each relative major and minor key sit alongslde one another.
For the most part I found the music to be very attractive; entertaining, skillfully and imaginatively conceived. Each Prelude has a dedicatee such as Segovia, Ponce, Turlna, Weiss, Albeniz, Sor, LLobet, Villa-Lobos, Castelnuovo-Tedesco etc. and for a lot of the time one can see the musical connection between these names and the composition. Of particular note are the ones dedicated to Andres Segovta, John Duarte and Joaquin Turina, but there are many good ones to chose from and perhaps make a small suite of pieces for performance.
Presentation is very good. the works are sensibly fingered and each piece sits comfortably on one page.
Steve Marsh
This is an attractive set of short works somewhat reminiscent of the preludes of Manuel Ponce or Francisco Tarrega. The pieces are presented in each of the major/minor keys, and each work is "in the memory of" a celebrated guitarist or composer. The individual pieces are typically constructed on short melodic fragments. Although they are tonal in character, there are elements of chromaticism throughout many of the works. Given this, they are surprisingly easy to read. They reveal a sophisticated understanding of the strengths of the guitar and of music styles. I enthusiastically recommend this collection to performers and teachers.
M.Ca.
