Fort Worth
7:30pm, Sunday, February 12, 2012
The Scott Theater, Fort Worth

Dallas
7:30pm, Tuesday, February 14, 2012
SMU Caruth Auditorium

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Thirty years young in 2010-11, the Grammy Award-winning LAGQ is one of the most multifaceted groups in any genre. The LAGQ is comprised of four uniquely accomplished musicians bringing a new energy to the concert stage with programs ranging from Bluegrass to Bach. They consistently play to sold-out houses world-wide. Their inventive, critically acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past, while their interpretations of works from the contemporary and world-music realms continually break new ground. Programs including Latin, African, Far East, Irish, Folk and American Classics transport listeners around the world in a single concert experience. Their ‘Don Quixote’ collaboration with Firesign Theater veteran, actor Philip Proctor, continues to expand and delight audiences.

Winner of a 2005 Grammy Award, their Guitar Heroes CD released on Telarc is a brilliant follow-up to their Grammy nominated LAGQ Latin. Spin (Telarc, Spring 2006) continues their explorations of jazz and contemporary music. LAGQ Brazil (2007), including collaborations with vocalist Luciana Souza, was released to rave reviews, and their newest recording of the Rodrigo “Concierto Andaluz” and Sergio Assad’s “Interchange”, written specifically for them, was released on Telarc in Spring 2010, and quickly climbed to top spot on the Billboard charts.

John Dearman

Originally from Minneapolis, John Dearman is a versatile guitarist whose repertoire ranges from samba to bluegrass, and from flamenco to classical. He enriches the sound of the LAGQ by performing on a unique seven-string guitar with extended upper and lower registers. John is currently the Director of Guitar Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Matthew Greif

Matthew Greif is the newest member of the Quartet. In addition to being a classical guitarist, he has an extensive background playing in other styles, such as jazz, rock, flamenco, and bluegrass. Matthew's recordings include Permanent Transition, which features duo improvisations with Andrew York and Dusan Bogdanovic. Matthew was named Outstanding Graduate of the U.S.C. guitar department, where he studied with William Kanengiser, James Smith, and Scott Tennant. He also studied jazz with Joe Diorio, Mark Pratt, and Frank Potenza. Matthew has taught at several colleges and universities throughout Central and Southern California.

William Kanengiser

Acclaimed soloist, recording artist and professor at the USC Thornton School of Music, William Kanengiser is one of the few guitarists to have won the Concert Artists Guild New York Competition. His solo recordings on the GSP label display his unique approach to programming, ranging from the music of the Old World to the Caribbean to his latest disc Classical Cool, an exploration of jazz currents for classical guitar. He has earned critical acclaim for his imaginative arrangements for solo guitar and guitar quartet, and for producing two instructional videos for Hot Licks. Kanengiser may be best known as the classical guitarist in the 1986 film Crossroads.

Scott Tennant

Celebrated as a world-class performer, author and teacher, Detroit-born Scott Tennant has been concertizing since the age of twelve. Much in demand as a solo artist, Scott has recorded for Delos International and is currently completing a recording project of the complete solo guitar works of Joaquin Rodrigo for GHA, Belgium. He is the author of the best-selling book and video Pumping Nylon, a technical handbook for the classical guitarist, and the five-part series Scott Tennant's Basic Classical Guitar Method. He has taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and is now on the faculty at the USC Thornton School of Music.

PROGRAM

“Two African Pieces”
These two original compositions, often referred to as part of “African Suite”, represent LAGQ’s early excursions into world-music adaptations for guitar quartet. Created for their first recording on Sony Classical in 1998, these pieces helped to define their sound as a distinct cross-over voice in the classical music world. The first piece is Mbira, William Kanengiser’s first original composition. Named for a type of African “thumb-piano”, a larger cousin of the kalimba, Mbira is based on a Zimbabwe- groove pattern, using overlapping divisions of triple meter. It imitates the ideophonic rattle of the mbira through the use of staples lightly attached to the treble strings. Andrew York’s composition Djembe is also named for a traditional African instrument, in this case a large resonating drum. Beginning with percussion effects in imitation of the djembe, the work passes chords across the group to evoke a virtual echo-machine. A variety of permutations of rhythmic divisions of the 12/8 feel are explored, and a brief quote from Mbira precedes the return of the opening echo-like material.

This set of “Music from the Time of Cervantes” sprung out of a project LAGQ developed with the British actor/comedian John Cleese.  In March 2009, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet with Cleese premiered a one-hour presentation of excerpts from Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote de La Mancha with recitations from the book accompanied by arrangements of music that Cervantes could have heard in his lifetime. The project has been further developed over the past few seasons and continues to tour throughout the US and Canada with Firesign Theatre member Philip Proctor. Some of this rich and varied repertoire from the Spanish Renaissance was originally penned by vihuela composers, while others were scored for organ or vocal ensemble. 

Jácaras, (“No hay que decir primor”), is an anonymous canción from the 17^th century. The jácaras form was common in theatrical settings, such as entremeses, and they frequently depicted picaresque characters engaged in rowdy and lascivious behavior.  This particular setting sings the praises of a certain woman of ill repute whose beauty “se rompe el aire” (loosely, “she knocks you out”). Diferencias sobre Guárdame las vacas, by the vihuelist Luys de Narváez, is a romanesca, one of many pieces based on this popular tune (“watch my cows for me”).  Found in his important publication Los seys labors del Delphín de Música de cifra para tañer vihuela (1538), it is generally regarded as the first printed version of a variations form in music history. Martín y Coll’s Diferéncias sobre las folias is a set of variations contrasting on the famous harmonic progression, Folias de Espana, one of the most frequently-adapted musical sources in the history of composition. El Villano (“The Rustic”) is a country dance from the anthology “Flores de Música” collected by Antonio Martín y Coll, an 18^th century keyboardist and musicologist. Although published in the mid-1700s, this work features many selections that would have been extant in the early 17^th century.Chacona (“La Vida Bona”),from the Libro Segunda de Tonos y Villancicos (1624) by Juan Arañes, is one of the most celebrated early examples of the form. The chacona, which by Bach’s time had become one of the most noble and profound of all dance forms, was a suggestive and prohibited danza in 1500s Spain, almost their version of our macarena. It features the lines, “here’s to the good life, good little life: let’s do the Chacona”).Con Pavor Recordó el Moro(“The Moor recalled with anguish”) is a setting by Luys Milan of another ancient ballad.  It features the famous words “mi descanso es pelear, mis armas las duras peñas” (“combat is my rest, and my trappings hard rocks”), which is directly quoted by Don Quixote in his first scene in the inn. The set concludes with Oy comamos y bebamos, a four-voice villancico from the Cancionero Palacio written by Juan de Encina. Raucous and earthy, its opening stanza expressed the concerns of the everyday Spaniard in the 16^th century: “Hoy comamos y bebamos,y cantemos y holguemos, que mañana ayunaremos” (Today we eat and drink, and sing and make merry, for tomorrow we must fast”).

El Amor Brujo         Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)
Manuel de Falla was one of the greatest Spanish composers of the 20th century, and despite the fact that he only wrote one very brief piece for guitar, arrangements of his music have become a staple of the guitarist’s repertoire. Some of the most popular are individual movements from his ballet El Amor Brujo, scored originally for full orchestra and mezzo-soprano. About twenty years ago, I decided to attempt to arrange the entire ballet for four guitars. What is lost in orchestral color is perhaps gained in the authentic gypsy sonority of the guitar, which de Falla in some way was trying to convey in his original. Set in a gypsy camp, the story deals with Candelas, a beautiful young girl, who is being courted by Carmelo. Complicating matters, the spirit of her former lover, a soldier killed in battle, haunts her and the gypsies. The piece opens with a strong theme that represents the jealousy of the ghost. Later, we find ourselves “In the Cave” with a brooding mystery. In “The Song of Sorrowful Love,” Candelas sings of the pain of an unattainable Love. The ghost then flies into the cave and the gypsies launch into “The Dance of Terror”. Striving to rid themselves of the apparition, they join hands around the Fire, and have a séance in the gentle “Magic Circle”. They then try to exorcise the ghost in the furious “Ritual Fire Dance” which ends with insistent chords as they try to stamp the spirit out into the fire. Magic, it seems, cannot break the spell, as the ghost reappears, and Candelas sings of the fleeting nature of Love in “the Song of the Will o’ the Wisp”. It is then that she decides to use love instead of sorcery, and she persuades her friend Lucia to dance a seductive Tango (in 7/8 time) to lure the ghost way. At the end of this “Pantomime” movement, the opening theme of the ghost is just a whisper. This leaves Candelas and Carmelo free to exchange the kiss that will break the spell, as they dance a bulerías in “The Dance of the Game of Love”. In the “Finale” Candelas sings to the ghost: “I am the fire in which you are consumed; I am the sea in which you drown!” As the “Bells of Dawn” peal triumphantly, we find that love, not witchcraft, is the most powerful sorcerer.

On All Fours          Bryan Johanson (b.1951)
A professor of Guitar and Composition at Portland State University, Bryan Johanson is one of the most celebrated and prolific composers of the Pacific Northwest. He has composed widely for orchestra, instrumental concerto, chamber music and theatre works, but he is most known for his vast output of guitar music. He has written a number of major works for guitar quartet, including two pieces commissioned by LAGQ for their Grammy-winning “Guitar Heroes” CD.  On All Fours was dedicated to the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet in 1994, and while the title might evoke a body stance on one’s hands and feet, it actually refers to the auto-mechanical expression “hitting on all fours”. This is meant to describe that finely tuned condition when a car engine’s plugs and driveshaft are firing in perfect synchronicity.  Using aggressive strums, percussion and “Bartok pizzicato”, the four guitarists are meant to represent individual pistons in a four-cylinder engine, while more lyrical section describing a pleasant drive through the countryside.

The three “Post-Bop” Classics jazz arrangements celebrate a generally lesser-known form of jazz: Post-bop. Jazz is most often associated with the popular Big Band and Bebop eras of the 30's and 40's. But jazz evolution continued throughout the 20th century and indeed continues today. Starting especially in the late 1950's, jazz began assimilating myriad disparate influences. In addition to swing rhythms, African, Cuban, Brazilian, and later, Rock rhythms became part of the language. In addition to familiar diatonic chord progressions, the harmonic experience broadened to range from wild chromaticism to simple modal harmony (or maybe even no harmony, as in the case of Free Jazz). So What (1959), by Miles Davis is one of the first modal jazz tunes. It was recorded on the immensely popular album, Kind of Blue. The entire chord progression consists of only two alternating tonalities: D dorian and Eb dorian. The up-tempo LAGQ arrangement starts with an introduction in which the four guitarists trade ideas, creating a kind of pointillistic texture. Eventually, the familiar melodic riff is presented, followed by a series of solos. A kind of Minimalistic jam section ensues which eventually carries us to the restatement of the original melodic material. Blue in Green (1959), from the same Davis recording, was originally a moody ballad, featuring Bill Evans's rich pianistic touches. In the quartet arrangement, a Minimalistic intro sets up a gently percolating straight-eighth pulse. We then hear the melody, followed by solos, each featuring a different mood or voice. The arrangement winds down with a freer, almost choral-like presentation of the chord progression, an homage to the original Bill Evans outro. Giant Steps (1960), by John Coltrane, was a turning point in modern jazz. Never had a jazz tune moved so quickly through such disparate keys at such virtuosic speeds. The tune continues to this day to be a rite of passage for any serious jazz player. The LAGQ arrangement begins with, as so many jazz performances do, one instrument cryptically, sparsely announcing the changes. One by one, the others join in, picking up on melodic suggestions and passing these ideas around. The tune builds chorus by chorus, and not until the end (in somewhat of a Coltrane tradition) is the melody is finally stated.

Paisaje Cubano con Lluvia (Cuban Landscape with Rain) is a one of a number of works inspired by “Cuban Landscapes” by the vastly influential guitarist/composer Leo Brouwer.  Now celebrating his 70^th birthday, Brouwer has become revered as one of the most innovative and creative contemporary guitar composers. This piece is among his earliest works for guitar quartet, and it received its premiere recording by LAGQ in 1987. Adding to the others in the “Landscape” series (Landscape with Rumba, with Bells, with Sadness, et cetera) this particularly evocative piece is a fine example of musical/environmental sensitivity in Brouwer’s writing. It features a rather remarkable portrayal of a rainstorm on a tropical island; starting gently, it builds, as wind, rivulets of water, and finally a hailstorm pass, ultimately receding into the final drops falling of the jungle flora.