Richard Jernigan -> RE: A quick primer on Double top soundboards (Dec. 20 2019 7:58:44)
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ORIGINAL: Echi Let me say that Smallman is known for his lattice bracing guitar, which, while very modern, are quite different from the double top guitars made Dammann. I should have pointed this out in my previous post. The only concert artist who comes to mind, whom I have heard in person playing a sandwich top instrument, was Jason Vieaux. He played a Gernot Wagner. The piece I remember most vividly was Benjamin Britten's "Nocturnal." For those not familiar with it, the piece is a set of variations on "Come Heavy Sleep" by John Dowland, the great composer and lute player of the late 16th-early 17th centuries. Britten wrote the piece for Julian Bream. The form of the piece is a little unusual. Instead of first stating the theme, then folllowing it with variations, instead the variations come first. They begin softly, in somewhat halting rhythm, and 20th century harmony. The variations increase in complexity and, if I may say so, 20th century angst. At the end Dowland's great song emerges with simplicity, serene repose, and deep melancholy. It often brings me nearly to tears. Vieaux's performance was a masterpiece, on as high a level as Bream's. The main characteristic of the guitar which I remember was its dynamic range. There are no blazing fortissimos in Britten's piece, but I had never heard so many audible gradations between pianissimo and forte. The use of these gradations in clarifying counterpoint fascinated me. I was sitting on the front row, maybe 15 feet from Vieaux. At a gathering after the concert I said to him that his was the only peformance of the piece I had ever heard that was as great as Bream's. RNJ
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