Many Moods of the Guitar CD Program Notes
Lynn Harting-Ware, Classical Guitar

Click here to order The Many Moods of the Guitar only at Amazon.com!
Click here to see my poem River Sky.

Many of these works were commissioned and written specifically for me.  Following the elegant Tárrega is Nakina by Peter Ware, a special work in my repertoire that I commissioned through the Ontario Arts Council.  This virtuoso showpiece has a strong blues influence and exudes a dramatic flare throughout its four movements.  The selections from Schumann's Kinderszenen are introspective in character and their expressive subtleties emerge from simplicity of form.  Titles suggest extra-musical and poetic connotations.  Music for the Waiting Angel and Sonare by composer-guitarist Richard Jordan Smoot are lyric works revealing idiomatic writing in a beautiful harmonic language. In contrast, Robert Rollin's Hassidic Dance, which I commissioned with additional support from Youngstown State University in Ohio, is a playful setting of a folksong traditionally sung at weddings asking all to put past differences aside and join in friendship.  The biting harmonies humorously symbolize conflict while interacting with the folksong theme.

     Dance, Fantasy and Ricercare are pieces I composed in memory of my grandfather, who first introduced me to the guitar.  They are written in a Renaissance style with contemporary and jazz elements.  River Sky by Kathy Henkel was composed in connection with my poem of the same title River Sky.  This evocative work has a charming clarity and freshness of form and style.  The Blue Guitar, by William Roberts, has a lineage progressing from Picasso's famous painting through Wallace Stevens' poem to David Hockney's etchings.  This collection of succinct Satiesque miniatures draws influence from popular music.  Shimmering and mirage-like, Manifestations of the Spirit by Stephen Elderkin leads us back to the Spanish character with which we began and to the closing work, Tárrega's well-known and well-loved favourite Recuerdos de la Alhambra.

Enjoy!                         - Lynn Harting-Ware

"One of Canada's most accomplished and sensitive classical guitarists is strong proof that creativity remains one of our prime renewable resources."

                    - Pauline Durichen, Kitchener-Waterloo Record

Request a selection from Americas on the CBC's Request show: 
Take Five

Click here to order The Many Moods of the Guitar only at Amazon.com!

Acoma Home: no Frames  |  Frames

e-mail: cds@acoma-co.com
Last modified September 14, 2009
© Copyright 2009 Acoma Company, All rights reserved 
AMAZON.COM is the registered trademark of Amazon.com, Inc.