BCGS Staff - Boston Classical Guitar Society

Volume 24, No. 2 – PDF Newsletter

Contents

Letter to Members ........................................2BCGS Members’ Journal ..............................3Palmer Boundless Guitar Review..................4Passion for the Guitar ..................................6Board Member Letters..................................9BCGS Artist Series Photos ....................10-12

BCGS StaffExecutive DirectorJ. Oscar [email protected] DirectorCharles Ewing [email protected] of Directors PresidentDaniel [email protected] Small [email protected] Ward [email protected] [email protected] DirectorBrad Stone [email protected] Bester [email protected] Party CoordinatorJ. Oscar [email protected] ConductorRobert Bekkers [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] England Conservatory of Music FacultyJerome Mouffe [email protected] College of Music FacultyKim Perlak [email protected] Library Series CuratorGeorge Ward [email protected]

BOSTON CLASSICAL GUITAR SOCIETYnewsletter

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BCGS Newsletter Volume 24, Number 2

Letter to MembersDear BCGS members, during these times wehave lots of opportunities to reflect, and ourpast comes back to us. Our dreams change.As we limit our ramblings on this earth, andour contacts with its inhabitants we are leftwith self and those few so close to us whosefate we commit to make our own. This stateof being is hard to understand. To be so close,yet so far away. We seek to connect with

those in our lives, present and past, who hold special places in ourhearts. The restrictions of our reality force us to look at thecontinuum of our life, and assess, question, project. The uncertaintyof everything weighs on our minds making the decisions of dailylife less certain. It is the great leveling which has forced us all toexperience that which some bear in normal times – the prisoner, thecritically ill, the homeless, the lonely in old age. We must also meetthe basic needs of life, we must eat, shelter, stay safe. Where doesthis leave us on Maslow’s hierarchy. Whereas many of us have hadthe good fortune to exist mainly in levels four or five, now we findourselves preoccupied in all five levels at various times of the day.

Our BCGS 2019/20 season had been racing along with stellarartists concerts, sensational parties, supreme community concerts,and spectacular festivals. In February we were on our final sprintcrossing our New England Guitar Ensemble Festival and headedtoward our grand finale closing with David Russell, but then,everything stopped. And, we are having to re-order our lives.

Like many, I find myself coping via the magic of our moderncommunications technology. Indeed, it is a blessing that we haveinfinite information at our fingertips, and the immediate ability toconnect via image and voice with our loved ones. Last year oursociety webmaster, Michael Bester, introduced us to ZOOM forbetter board communication. Now this is a major pillar of my dailylife. On ZOOM I teach my physics students, Leslie and I share withour son in San Francisco and daughter in Denver, we reconnectwith family members, and we have ZOOM cocktail parties withour friends. I started my career, long ago, working for Bell

Telephone Laboratories in the field of digital communications. Iremember in the 1980’s reading John Naisbitt’s popular book,“Megatrends” in which he stated that—the world’s economieswould center primarily on information. In the mid 80’s I had adifficult time imagining that. What is this information “stuff”; youcan’t eat it, you can’t wear it, you can’t live in it, you can’t drive it… well, here we are. The virtual world is sustaining us, andbringing us our food via Instacart, our goods via Amazon, ourentertainment via Netflix, and our loved ones via ZOOM,Facebook, and Instagram.

I feel the highest form of information is art – poetry, music, objectsof art, and (particularly dear) guitars. In the words of Rainer MariaRilke: “…most experiences are unsayable, they happen in a spacethat no word has ever entered, and more unsayable than all otherthings are works of art, those mysterious existences, whose lifeendures beside our own small, transitory life.”

We are fortunate to have the art of the guitar. In our BCGS familywe have created many wonderful relationships among ourmembers. We look forward to being a part of what sustains yourhumanity during these isolated times, and at a future time when wewill all celebrate by shedding this virtual cocoon and beingtogether again. For now, we hope you enjoy the content in thisnewsletter and our photo gallery from recent events. Keep an eyeout for upcoming virtual events, such as ZOOM performanceparties, and special web page and Facebook content. We thank allof you for your continued support.

Spring is here, and soon the outdoors will be full of green, colorfulflowers, sweet smells, warm breezes, and sunshine. Of this we canbe thankful. My friends, I hope this note finds you and your lovedones well, and that your anxieties are bearable.

God bless and take care.

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Dear Members, we are happy to introduce a new venuefor you and resource for the global guitar community atlarge. On Friday April 10, 2020 we unveiled our ownBCGS Member’s Journal on our website. Check out thepremier, fun educational articles from our long-standing member Steve Rapson.There is such a wealth of knowledge and wisdom in ourSociety. We look forward to many of you taking thisopportunity to share your passion with the World. Iwould love to know a bit about your perspective, and Iknow that many others feel the same.

GoalTo provide members with a forum to share their love ofthe guitar and everything about it

What A page on our website where we will place articleswritten by members, and which can be viewed by anyoneaccessing our website. Some of these articles may begood candidates to include in our annual paper newsletterContent Any tasteful topic related to guitar (with focus on theclassical guitar) — music, composers, pedagogy, tech-nique, performance, instruments, strings, lutherie, artists,concerts, historical topics, composition, ensembleplaying, etc, etc. The sky is the limit.

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BCGS Newsletterwww.bostonguitar.org

https://bostonguitar.org/journal/

BCGS Member’s Journal Criteria The requirements will be that it focus on aspects of theguitar, be of reasonably good quality, and have nonegative critical or contentious content. The goal is toallow members to share their understanding and per-spective with the goal of providing benefits to others andbuilding community. This is not intended to be a “blog”,rather a “low key” journal to enhance the value of thesociety to the members and the broader guitarcommunity.ProcessEmail Mark Small [email protected] with yourproposal. He will review the article to determine if itmeets the requirements and request any needed edits. Thegoal here is not to strive for perfect journalistic excellence,but simply a reasonable level of quality, and no negative/contentious content. Once an article has been approved, itwill go to our webmaster – Michael Bester for publishing.

The Future Who knows where this might lead. Perhaps particularlygood articles could be presented by the author at one ofour festivals, or perhaps a special society gathering tofocus on discussion and presentations. Perhaps one daythe BCGS will sponsor “The New England Journal ofthe Guitar” – NEJG. Sky’s the limit.

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Reprinted with Permission

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by Mark Small

For years I’ve been touched by the beauty of thechorale “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden,” whichappears in three different harmonizations inBach’s towering sacred masterpiece, St.Matthew Passion. I recently decided totranscribe these chorales for solo guitar tolearn more about Bach’s thinking and togain access to this transcendent music. Ihope you will give this a read even thoughmusic in four parts is always a challenge forsolo guitar. Condensing a polyphonictexture into one staff is not a simple task, butI’ve tried to make this transcription asidiomatic as possible without losing the music’sessence. That meant occasionally dropping a voice atplaces where including it made the fingering just toohard. Don’t give up on the whole piece when youencounter tough passages in the first harmonization.This one is actually the hardest of the three with some

quirky voicings (see beat one, bar 2), and a cadence inbar 15 that’s a handful. If you find it too much of astruggle, skip directly to bar 33. This last harmonizationfalls quite readily under the hands and is really lovely.The second setting (bars 17-32) is a bit more complex

than the third, but quite manageable. Bach’schromaticism in bars 25-32 is sublime.Perhaps playing the easier parts first willdraw you in and you will want to investigatethe treasures hidden in the first. Due to thecurrent circumstances, there will be no liveperformances of this amazing oratorioduring Easter week. So many of us havedifferent beliefs or maybe don’t subscribe toany faith tradition, but we feel somethingfrom Bach’s music in its original form or in

transcriptions. As guitarists currently sequestered in ourhomes this season, I hope playing this little offeringmay give you a glimmer of the deep spirituality thatundergirds all of Bach’s music.

—Mark Small(Sheet music appears on the following pages)

Passion for the Guitar

J. S. Bach 1685-1750

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©2020

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There are so many things to hate about Covid-19;Sickness, death, fear, isolation, financial challenges/problems/disasters, anger, uncertainty etc. I hopeI’ve learned from these unwelcome challenges.

I’ve never been so aware of the heroism ofordinary people. From the doctors, nurses,technicians, and EMTs who care for the sick to

the grocery clerks we are surrounded by people who risk their healthto provide us with essentials. Their resilience and strength areinspiring. I have a new respect for my fellow humans.

Covid-19 has been a brutal reminder of the omnipresent, but oftenignored, uncertainty of every aspect of life. We are seduced to live asif things as we know will continue and our lives will go on. Theseweeks are my first glimpse of the fear and uncertainty people mustexperience with the onset of a major war. Who will live and who willdie? What will happen to me? to mine? What will the world be liketomorrow? When will this be over? Will it ever be over? How can welive with such uncertainty staring us starkly in the face? We are forcedto live the words of Winston Churchill: “When you are going throughhell, just keep going.”

I fear for my health and life and for that of my loved ones, especiallymy wife, who has more risk factors, and my daughter, her wife and82-year-old mother-in-law who live in Manhattan. I worry about howto care for my grandson in DC should his parents get sick or die. I canbe overwhelmed to think of the suffering that has already and willcontinue to come from Covid-19. However, I am lucky in so manyways. My family and I are well. I know personally of no one who isseriously ill. I won’t face economic devastation although I will pay afinancial price, perhaps significant, for this epidemic. I have myfamily, my friends, my music and my guitar to sooth my soul and fillmy time. I spend more time with my beloved wife. I enjoy the Zoomreading times we do with my young grandson. I was cheered by thetimely arrival of my lovely new Azaret short-scale guitar. (Alas, I stilldon’t play like Angel Romero. What a surprise!) I am not lonelyalthough I do experience cabin fever. I continue my wonderful guitarlessons with Berit Strong via Zoom. I eat better because we havemore time to plan and cook. These are the things that are going well.I am reminded of the Yiddish proverb “Even with bad luck you needsome good luck.” I guess I’ve enjoyed some of that.

Be well, be patient, and revel in your affection for the classical guitar.

Rocco BombardieriTreasurer, Boston Classical Guitar Society

Board Member Letters

I walk a lot in the early morning. We have abeautiful, state of the art soccer field here inWeymouth about a quarter of a mile from myhome and three times around the perimeterwith my newly adopted pup Wendy equals amile. Earlier is better because there aren’tmany walkers these days. When we do cross

paths we steer clear and most times just wave or say hello but wewonder if either of us is a carrier. The term “hello, how are you?”is not so casual anymore.Needless to say it’s an uncertain time for everyone and with all thecancellations and strong recommendations to stay home we’reforced to be more creative with our indoor time. I work inpublishing so working at home is an option for me. Once a week Iteleconference with my fellow employees to keep projects movingahead—and I like it— I’m tired of looking terrible on Zoom! Sobeing at home is the right thing to do but the usual chores can takeyou just so far. Fortunately we all share another outlet and that’splaying music on the guitar. I use this time to practice and followartists on YouTube. If a melody captures my interest the nextlogical step is a web-search for the sheet music. The following is a brief update on the local cancellation process ofthe Hingham Library Series and the April performance for theWestford PCA Guitar Series.

The Hingham Sunday Sounds series is of course cancelled but notbefore we considered another more spacious venue back whensocial distancing (every other seat empty) looked like a safealternative. But as the seriousness of the COVID-19 virus tookhold town governments of Hingham and Weymouth took charge.All non-essential services were closed. With this news andcoordination with the library directors we cancelled the SundaySounds concerts effective March through June —the end of theseries. We also cancelled the final guitar performance this monthfor the Westford PCA Series featuring The Great Necks Trio. This was a great disappointment for everyone involved becausethese popular, well-attended performances provide an importantopportunity for BCGS members and students to make music andinteract with appreciative audiences. We are anxious to return andwill keep you informed. September is the tentative start date for the2020-21 series at both venues. Final note: The Board of Directors is working hard to keepmembers up to date on society matters and to provide new andinteresting connections to the music and each other. Pleasefrequent the bostonguitar.org website, stay safe and I’ll close withthis quote which greets visitors at the Musical Instrument Museumin Phoenix, AZ. “Music is the language of the soul” George Ward, Newsletter and Library Series Curator

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BCGS Artist Series Concert Featuring Matt Palmer

Matt Palmer in Concert

BGO Players Aashna Jain, Jim Davison, Scott Hacker

Charles Ewing with Matt Palmer

Farook SiddiqueJan Roll-Mederos, Michael Bester Larry & Karen Spencer

Ewan Armstrong, Jerome Mouffe, Oscar Azaret

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New England Guitar Ensembles Festival (NEGEF) and Performance Party

Berklee Faculty Abigail Aronson & Berta Rojas

Concert Time: Robert Bekkers and the NEGEF Guitar Orchestra

Dan Acsadi Conducts

Ewan Armstrong

George Ward, Bill Glenn

Irina Kulikova in Concert

Jeffrey Aach

Jimmy Lanzillota

Practice Session, Robert Bekkers at the Helm


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January Performance Party Hosted by Michael Bester

Amanda Roeder, Michael Bester Anna Borges & Bill Ward Celeste McClain, Terence Hegarty

Celeste McClain, Larry Spencer Doug Danforth Frank Papineau & Michael Bester

Jeff Wyman, Jeffrey Aach, Leslie Azaret Michael Bester & Chris Ruth

Mike Tomases, John McClainRobert Bekkers Anna Borges & Oscar Azaret

Merle Bombardieri & Anna Borges

Documents

BCGS Staff - Boston Classical Guitar Society