Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By Michael Rosewall
The guitar is one of the worlds
oldest instruments, with a long and
celebrated history that has spanned
more than four centuries and a popularity shared by lovers of both art
music and popular music styles that
reaches every corner of the globe.
Because of this remarkable staying
power and the beauty of its unique
sound, the acoustic guitaralong
with its relatives, the lute and the
vihuelahas inspired magnificent
music of composers from the Renaissance to the present day.
As a modern solo instrument, the
acoustic or Spanish guitar commands an enormous repertoire of distinctively idiomatic and often highly
virtuosic music. Though commonly
taking a secondary place to band and
orchestral instruments on our concert stages and within todays school
music programs, the variety of styles
and sheer number of pieces written
for the solo guitar make it a favorite
for both performers and audiences.
Its use in concerted music is equally
95
market today that are readily accessible to guitarists at all skill levels.
Still worried about balance and
audibility? Of course, the best composers of the genre always address
these issues through careful construction of their works. Also, the current
availability of compact and eective
amplification for acoustic guitars, as
well as technical advances in directional and contact microphones, can
help calm the conductors performance anxieties with aordable and
practical solutions.
So, the final hurdle for the choral
conductor is to become more familiar
with the literature. Distinguished and
accessible publications of many styles
can be found through a variety of
sources, and the availability of modern compositions, and new editions
of older works has increased substantially in recent years. Conductors
Title
Publisher
Oxford
National/Hal Leonard
Chester Novello
E. C. Schirmer
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Mario
96
GIA
Lorenz
E. C. Schirmer
Graetzer, Guillermo
Ricordi
Perch, Op. 28
Schott
Houkom, Alf
Walton
Laudate Dominum
Berben
E. C. Schirmer
Nobre, Marlos
Yanomami, Op. 47
Marginalia
E.C. Schirmer or
Paulus Publications
Lord Here Am I
Paulus Publications
Augsburg
Augsburg
E. C. Schirmer
E. C. Schirmer
E. C. Schirmer
E. C. Schirmer
E. C. Schirmer
E. C. Schirmer
Earthsongs
97
Misa Criolla
Navidad Nuestra
Hinshaw
Via Crucis
Associated
E. C. Schirmer
Colla Voce
Hal Leonard
O Be Joyful
Walton
Prime
Walton
Walton
He Comes, He Comes
Art Masters
Cindy
Plymouth
Hal Leonard
Oxford
A la Nanita Nana
Shawnee
G. Schirmer
Novello
Paulus Publications
Earthsongs
Terri, Salli
Consort Press
El Rorro
Colla Voce
Hal Leonard
Simple Gifts
G. Schirmer
Somerset Carol
G. Schirmer
98
Earthsongs
Bennighof, James
Oxford
Sddeutscher Verlag
Walton
Walton
G. Schirmer
Paulus Publications
E. C Schirmer
E. C. Schirmer
Earthsongs
Wedding Qawwali
(SSAA or TTBB divisi, with percussion)
Earthsongs
Alfred
Alfred
Shawnee
Earthsongs
99
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