Izhar Elias guitarNetherlands Chamber Orchestra

Matangi QuartetFlorian Magnus Maier

GUITAR VIBESMUSIC FOR GUITAR AND STRINGSBROUWER · PUJOLSIERRA · MAIER

Guitar VibesThis album was created to show the versatility of the guitar. Today, as boundaries of various styles are slowly being changed and disappearing, we create new languages based on long traditions. In this role the guitar is at its best, being an instrument with roots in classical styles as well as in many folk styles of different countries. Furthermore the guitar is represented in nearly all the contemporary and popular styles. We can say that the guitar is one of the most popular instruments in the world. To celebrate the universality of the guitar I collected pieces from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Argentina and Europe. You will hear influences from classical music, avant-garde, Caribbean music, Spanish folklore, flamenco, Arabic music, blues, Argentinean tango and even trip-hop and heavy metal.

I am very happy to have been able to work with absolute world-class musicians. Each came from a different background, bringing along an open-mind and the curiosity to create new languages together. I would like to thank the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Gordan Nikolic, the Matangi Quartet, Florian Magnus Maier, Aristoteles Potamianos, Juri Kuefner and Greg Smith for their huge contribution. In addition a big thank you to Marion van den Akker for her great hospitality, for Christopher Pugmire for translating Schattenspiel (Shadow Play) into images, and to Dirk Fischer and Manuel Cooymans for the beautiful sound.

I hope you will enjoy the vibes of the 20th and 21st century guitar!© Izhar Elias

Guitar VibesMusic for guitar and stringsBrouwer · Pujol · Sierra · Maier

Leo Brouwer b.1939Tres Danzas Concertantes (live recording)1. Allegro 3’372. Andantino (quasi allegretto) 5’183. Toccata 5’06

Máximo Diego Pujol b.1957Guernica suite 4. Mujeres 2’065. El ave 3’136. El guerrero 3’197. El caballo y el toro 3’468. Mujer con niño muerto 1’599. Epílogo (o la resistencia) 4’42

Roberto Sierra b.1953Tríptico10. Tranquilo 3’2811. Rítmico 4’4412. Fluido 3’51

Florian Magnus Maier b.197313. Schattenspiel (Suite II) 16’12

Izhar Elias guitar

Florian Magnus Maier Moog Guitar (13)Juri Kuefner percussion (13) · Greg Smith drums (13)

Aristoteles Potamianos double bass (13)

Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (1-3)Matangi Quartet (4-13)

About Tres Danzas Concertantes by Leo BrouwerThis marvellous set of dances was the first piece Leo Brouwer wrote for guitar and orchestra, in 1958. When you listen to these dances, written in such a mature style, it is hard to imagine that Leo Brouwer was only 19 years old at that time. The piece is full of rhythms from his homeland Cuba, combined with elements inspired by American jazz and some more abstract complexity of European music of that time.© Izhar Elias

Máximo Diego Pujol about the Guernica suiteThe piece is inspired by the great painting by Pablo Piccasso, painted in 1937, right after the devastating bombardment of the Italians and Germans of the Basque village Guernica. The piece I composed is a suite in which each movement, except the last one, represents a different scene or aspect of the painting. The last movement is like a summary of the rest of the movements and tries to leave an open door to the future.The titles of the movements:I. Mujeres - womenII. El ave - the birdIII. El guerrero - the warriorIV. El caballo y el toro - the horse and the bullV. Mujer con niño muerto - woman with dead childVI. Epílogo (o la resistencia) - epilogue (or the resistance) It could be said that I used equivalent musical procedures as Piccasso used in the visual. Let me explain:

During the first part of the twentieth century there were two aesthetic trends, in the visual arts and in music, which have points in common. I refer to the Paris School and Neoclassicism. They developed during the inter-war period. Pablo Picasso was an important figure of the School of Paris, and developed a trend that was called

Cubism. One of the most novel features of Cubism was the multiple point of view, which consisted of observing an object from more than one point of view at the same time. For example, in Guernica, the bull in the upper left corner is being observed front and side. The head is in profile, while the eyes and nose are in front. This simultaneity of points of view has a close relation with the polytonality developed by musical Neoclassicism during the same period. Polytonality consists in the simultaneity of two tonalities present in different sound planes. The Guernica suite is based on polytonality.

Roberto Sierra about TrípticoWriting for the guitar is a great challenge for two main reasons. First, the repertoire is abundant in pieces that display a highly sophisticated idiomatic writing, and precisely because of this very fact we arrive at the second reason: it is difficult not to fall into the beaten track of salon music that seems to be the general trade mark of a great part of the repertoire. In Tríptico I wanted to achieve a type of idiomatic writing that at the same time would not be cliché-ridden. For this purpose I went in an exploration of the whole spectrum of the registers in unusual timbre combinations with the string quartet, that in certain sections of the work acquire a nocturnal character evocative of the Puerto Rican tropical nights. The ubiquitous tree frog for instance, popularly known as “coqui” is also present in the music fabric. Of great interest to me is the folk and popular music of the Caribbean which was the inspirational source of the last movement. The allusions to popular rhythms are abstracted in such a manner that their transparent textures seem to float in the air like apparitions.

Schattenspiel Originally written for Izhar Elias, Florian Magnus Maier and the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014. Commissioned by the Performing Arts Fund NL. The arrangement on this album was written for and commissioned by Amsterdam Sinfonietta.

Florian Magnus Maier about Schattenspiel (Suite II) Dedicated to my grandmother, Luise Plasa.Shadows can be powerful, deceitful things. They have no substance, yet they twist the shapes that gave birth to them; they glorify or mock them, enhance them, repulse them and seduce them. They dance with them. They are nothing, yet they can seem bigger, more real, more beautiful and more terrifying than the real thing.

Shadows feature in many aspects of this piece as a basic orchestration consideration. The cadenzas in the beginning and the end of the piece are examples of shadows, wherein the classical guitar is the protagonist, and the electric guitar its mere acoustic shadow. Then, at a certain moment, the shadow breaks loose from its maker and claims its own independent existence. The orchestra becomes another, bigger shadow to the manifesting guitars. Eventually the music spirals into a dancing spatial hologram, in which objects and their reflections become indistinguishable from each other.

The second section plays with the fascination and hypnosis of fleeting shapes, and exaggerates them into a kind of erotic veiled dance. The Arabic feel that carries the beginning of the beat is an echo from the past of the guitar as an instrument, a derivative of the Arabic lute. It also reflects the flamenco guitar, with its Arabic roots. The use of delays in both guitars sends the shadow principle into the guitars themselves. The orchestral tutti slowly crawls out of the riff introduced by frame drum and double bass battuti. Later the riff sets out to completely take over the rest of the piece. After much deception and elusion, the seductive dance takes a plunge into the grotesque. It is the philosophical aspect of shadows that interested me here;

the threat and constriction that can arise from something small, when it gets blown up into huge frightful scenarios in our imagination, or as a premonition of things that are not there but we know will be coming.

Finally, as they came, the phantoms vanish. The guitars, the frame drum and bass theme have shrunk to the most essential unit of all guitar music: the main riff.

Bringing together the vastly different worlds of the tender classical guitar, the richness of the string orchestra, and a lonely electric guitar as the only representative from outside classical music was a tough nut to crack. In terms of dynamics, but also literature, they could not be more opposite. I decided to add the drums to help the electric guitar. An electric guitarist without a drummer is lost, bereft of context, and unable to shine. With the wonderful and always impressive machine of a string orchestra and all its infinite possibilities at my disposal, I created an impromptu band behind me that shadows the world to which the electric guitar belongs. I also set out to prove one thing: that an orchestra is perfectly capable of emulating musical worlds far removed from its own, as it has always done. Thus, an echo of different music of our time is what I want to offer to symphonic repertoire.

Originally written for a large symphonic orchestra (the Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra), this is the second alternative version of Schattenspiel. In respect to Suite I, the very different chamber version for the two guitars and string quartet, this arrangement is a fairly complete rendition of the opulent original, but in a more intimate setting with fewer players.

Florian Magnus Maier (Germany) started as a classical and a Flamenco guitarist, before he studied composition with Klaas de Vries. Based in Rotterdam (Netherlands) he is now one of the leading young composers and metal guitarists. As composer, arranger and soloist he has worked with leading musicians, ensembles and orchestras from the Netherlands and abroad, such as the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tanglewood Contemporary Music Ensemble, Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble and metal legend Devin Townsend. His music has appeared in prestigious halls and on important festivals around the globe. His efforts to find a common essence in different music genres has intensified considerably in the last couple of years, resulting in the founding of international crossover ensemble The Hungry Gods. He also collaborates with film-makers, choreographers and theatre makers. For his metal bands Alkaloid, Noneuclid and Dark Fortress, he writes the music, does the vocals and plays the guitar. He won several awards such as the composition prize of the Rotterdam Conservatory, Tanglewood’s Paul Jacobs Memorial Award, the Encouragement Prize of the Amsterdam Art Foundation, a recommendation at the 2010 UNESCO Rostrum of Composers, and two nominations for the Dutch Gaudeamus Prize.

Izhar Elias (Netherlands) is one of the most sought-after specialists in early music, chamber music and new music for guitar. He has given concerts, lectures, and masterclasses, and has been the soloist in concertos with renowned orchestras, in Europe, Russia, south-east Asia, Australia and the US. Izhar has won many national and international competitions. He won the prestigious Dutch Music Prize, the highest musical award given by the Dutch government. Izhar Elias’ impressive collection of album releases has earned him worldwide critical acclaim. To name a few of his albums: Rossini’s opera Semiramide transcribed by Mauro Giuliani (guitar solo, Brilliant Classics, 93902), Hommage à Debussy (guitar solo, Brilliant Classics, 9246), Big Eye movies and music (guitar, recorder and movies, Phenom Records), Paisiello in Vienna (guitar, mandolin and

fortepiano, Brilliant Classic, 95301), Carrousel (guitar and clarinet, Sound Liaison), Sharkiya (guitar, mandolin and harpsichord, IMI).

Izhar Elias has premiered over 50 works. In addition he mixes different artistic disciplines in his collaborations with choreographers, experimental film makers and theatre directors.

The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (NKO) proudly confirms its own identity in concerts in the Concertgebouw and other important halls both in the Netherlands and abroad. The artistic director and concertmaster of the orchestra is master violinist Gordan Nikolic. The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra’s democratic working practices have created a much-appraised ensemble style that is unique and regarded as exemplary by other orchestras around the world. The NKO has created much international interest during its extended concert tours to the USA, Central and South America, Canada, Australia, Japan, China and almost every European country. The orchestra is a welcome guest at many of the world’s greatest festivals.

Whether the orchestra performs contemporary or 18th century works, its uniquely adventurous way of making music enables it to go far beyond the notes on the page and to make each piece sound new and urgently relevant.

The Matangi Quartet is a regular performer in the Dutch chamber music scene and abroad. With their impassioned playing and smart presentation, Maria-Paula Majoor, Daniel Torrico Menacho, Karsten Kleijer and Arno van der Vuurst epitomize a new generation of classical musicians. Matangi regularly participates in innovative crossover projects. These pioneering excursions beyond the borders of classical music have resulted in Matangi winning an enthusiastic new public for the string quartet. The Matangi Quartet has shared the stage with various top-class classical musicians and has been invited to perform in various national and international festivals. Matangi was awarded the prestigious Kersjes van de Groenekan Award (2002) and the third prize at the International Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition (2008). The Matangi Quartet released several albums issued by Challenge Records which all received great critical acclaim. The quartet won the Edison Audience Award 2009 and the Edison Jazz prize 2012.

1st violinGordan NikolicMaaike AartsBeverly LuntPhilip DingenenMelissa UsseryZheng Hu-GothoniBenjamin ChavrierVanessa Damanet

celloSietse-Jan WeijenbergJan Bastiaan NevenSigurgeir AgnarssonWijnand Hulst

double bassAnnette ZahnWalther van Domburg

2nd violinBas TreubLaura OomensRoosje ReumkensDimiter TchernookovSergey ArsenievSidonie Riha

violaRichard WolfeÅsdis ValdimarsdottirBerdien VrijlandSuzanne Dijkstra

Netherlands Chamber OrchestraGordan Nikolic, artistic director

Juri Kuefner (Germany) is a percussionist specialised in Latin-American music. He has performed in over 15 countries in 5 continents. As a composer he writes music for various bands, theatre and dance companies.

Greg Smith (Canada) is an internationally renowned drummer, composer and studio engineer. He is a member of the Hungry Gods, founded by Florian Magnus Maier.

Aristotelis Potamianos (Greece) is the principal double bass player of the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra in The Netherlands. He is regularly invited to work together with the Asko/Schönberg Ensemble. He is a member of the Hungry Gods, founded by Florian Magnus Maier.

Recording: 15 February 2015, Live at the Philharmonie, Haarlem (1-3); 22-23 September 2016, Valthermond (4-12); 16, 17, 21, 27 September 2016, ‘s Hertogenbosch (13), The Netherlands Producer and engineer: Dirk Fischer (1-12), Manuel Cooymans for DJC and Florian Magnus Maier (13)Assistent: Annemiek Dirkzwager (1-3)Track 13 was mixed by Manuel Cooymans and Florian Magnus Maier at DJC RecordingCover photo and photos Izhar Elias: Christopher Pugmire Photo Florian Magnus Maier: Natalia Kempin Photo Matangi Quartet: Ger Adrichemp & © 2017 Brilliant Classics