Graduate recital in guitar

Includes recorded audio files in WAV and MP3 formats, 57:59 in length.The objective of this recital is to present an aesthetically balanced program representing the last two years of graduate study.\ud The first two composers on the program, although contemporaries, represent vastly divergent styles of composition. Domenico Scarlatti's Sonatas are harbingers of the Classical Era. Although written for harpsichord, they demonstrate Scarlatti???s enchantment with the guitar music of his adopted Spain. In contrast, J. S. Bach???s composition represents the culmination of the Baroque Era. This is amply demonstrated by the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro which was also composed for the harpsichord. It was a harpsichord with a difference, however, as it was strung with gut strings in order to make it sound as a lute. Thus the guitar transcriptions of both the Scarlatti Sonatas and the Bach Prelude, Fugue and Allegro are fairly close approximations of the sounds that originally inspired these works.\ud Heiter Villa Lobos and Manuel Maria Ponce, although contemporaries, also present dramatic contrasts in style. The Etudes of Villa Lobos demonstrate his characteristic wealth of melodic and color ideas, Brazilian rhythms, sliding left hand patterns on the guitar neck, and general exuberance, with little or no regard to counterpoint.\ud The Sonata Romantica, Hommage a Fr. Schubert, of Ponce, on the other hand, displays not only Ponce's characteristics, but Franz Schubert's as well. Ponce's attention to counterpoint and ability to develop large forms are evident in this work as well as his ability to write in the style of other composers while retaining his own individual sound.\ud In preparation for this program, I have worked with Professor Ronald Purcell at California State University, Northridge, as well as other master teachers such as Oscar Ghiglia, Michael Lorimer and David Grimes. I feel the level of skill and development achieved in these pieces is worthy of a graduate recital representing the culmination of a Master of Arts in Music degree