Details: John W. Duarte was not only one of the
most prolific composers for the solo
classic guitar in the 20th century; he was
also concerned with the instrument in an
ensemble context. He made a lasting
contribution to the concept and musical
chemistry of the guitar quartet, a muchneglected feature until his innovations.
This area of his creative work proved
something of a goldmine for both
professional quartets and educational
settings where the guitar was taught as a
serious instrument, worthy of deep study,
and indeed for Summer Schools
worldwide. In this the composer offered
arrangements and original works of taste
and delicacy, a hitherto unprecedented
development in the expanding repertoire
of the guitar.
This fourth instalment in Brilliant Classics'
series dedicated to the vast and precious
guitar oeuvre of John W. Duarte provides a
complete survey of the composer's music for
four guitars. This sub-set of his guitar music is
in itself greatly varied in style but of
consistently superb quality. Disc one contains
music he originally composed for this
ensemble, and disc two features his
arrangements (many of them of his own
compositions) for guitar quartet.
Duarte explained that his own stylistic
eclecticism derived from improvisation, with
composition being a slower form of
improvisation benefitting from time to
reconsider and to refine the product: 'What
one hears becomes translatable into "playback" action and/or, given a knowledge of
musical theory, comprehensible. It can
provide a direct route to eclecticism - one
may adopt what one chooses into one's own
bloodstream and bypass what one feels
foreign to one's own nature. For this reason I
have never had one immediately identifiable
style and have happily lived with a wide
variety of idioms.'
