Classique! "An enjoyable international tour of guitar music" (Guitar Foundation of America) Recently featured on "Inside Classical Guitar", the weekly radio show from the St. Louis Classical Guitar Society. This album spans the repertoire of the modern guitar from its beginnings at the turn of the twentieth century to today's generation of active guitarist-composers, many of whom have been key figures in its development. The common thread is the expression of native cultural traditions and the fusion of ethnic styles from Spain, North America, and Latin America. Reviews: “Over the last half-century, Canada has become well-known for producing several outstanding classical guitarists...One such guitarist is Vincea McClelland, who for more than twenty years has been dazzling audiences in countless countries around the globe. Her most recent disc, "Classique!", is a selection of works from Spain, North America, and South America. Interestingly, McClelland not only showcases how the music contrasts from one region to the next, she also reveals the vast varieties of compositions within each individual region. McClelland's well-tempered musical voice ensures that her interpretations are an ideal combination of mature sophistication and soul-moving energy. She unabashedly utilizes her distinctive color palette to guide the listener through rich, sonorous melodies, as well as bright, fast paced dances. Meanwhile, her distinctive quick attack on the treble strings is perfectly suited for the many compositions which feature rhythmic bursts and sudden flourishes. In this recording, McClelland has shown that despite all of her previous accomplishments, she has much more music yet to share with the world.” © Timothy Smith, Minor7th.com "This CD contains a nice variety of styles, with interesting repertoire mixing the familiar (Turina's Soleares) and the not-so-often-recorded (Llobet's gracefully played Leonesa). Regino Sainz de la Maza's Zapateado is played with lively, energetic phrasing, pressing ahead with buoyant energy...Particularly notable is Canadian Patrick Kearney's Collage, a rhapsodic piece which juxtaposes sections of rich, spacious arpeggios, folk/jazz strumming, crystalline harmonics, modern counterpoint, romantic lyricism, delicate and precise soprano filigree, all performed by Vincea McClelland in a dynamic, intelligent manner which holds the piece together. This piece confirms without a doubt that we are listening to an experienced, solid musician. The substantial Collage is preceded by Andrew York's Faire, played with a very comfortable feel with clean passagework, followed by David Qualey's Latin/jazz Santa Cruz for a very satisfying set of pieces from North America...The recording quality is pristine, with extreme clarity adding to the generally clean performance...The booklet is first-rate, artistically presented with informative text." Soundboard Magazine Vol. 34 (Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America) Album notes by Vincea McClelland (excerpts): Music from Spain: The Spanish guitarist, composer and arranger Miguel Llobet was born in Barcelona in 1878. During his active career he did much to establish the classical guitar on the international concert stage. A student and disciple of the Spanish master Francisco Tárrega, Llobet gave his first public appearance in Valencia in 1901 and went on to tour throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States. Two folksong settings, Leonesa from the province of Léon and El Noi de la Mare, a traditional Christmas lullaby from Catalonia, are taken from a collection entitled Canciones Populares. Eduardo Sainz de la Maza was the younger brother of the well-known Spanish concert guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza and he dedicated many works to him. Both brothers composed in a style strongly influenced by the folk music of Spain. The Habanera is a dance which originated in Havana, Cuba and appeared in Spain in the nineteenth century where it became associated with the flamenco style of dancing. The Zapateado is another traditional flamenco dance the rhythm of which is marked by the stamping of the heels: zapato is Spanish for “shoe”. Joaquín Turina was born in Seville, the capital of Andalusia, and much of his work is infused with the stylistic elements of traditional Andalusian music. Turina composed several works for guitar dedicated to the great Spanish guitarist Andrès Segovia. Soleares is taken from a two-movement work composed in 1932 entitled Homenaje a Tárrega. It features the unmistakable rhythmic and modal character of flamenco music and the Andalusian style. Joaquin Rodrigo's vast output includes many important pieces for the guitar. Tiento Antiguo was first performed in 1942 by Regino Sainz de la Maza and is a tribute to the Spanish vihuelists of the sixteenth century. With its polyphonic writing and hints at improvisation it is an effective evocation of the Renaissance vihuela (the Spanish equivalent of the lute). The beautiful Junto al Generalife takes us to the fourteenth-century gardens of the Generalife next to the famous Alhambra palace overlooking Granada. Composed in 1959, it is one of a series of five pieces entitled Por los campos de España, each inspired by a different region or landscape of Spain. Music from North America: Andrew York is one of today's most innovative composers for guitar. His compositions have been recorded by major artists and his discography includes numerous recordings with the Grammy-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. Faire, composed in 1993, is one of his most appealing classical guitar solos with its fresh, improvisational style cleverly combining subtle folk/jazz influences with an atmosphere reminiscent of the Renaissance lute. Equally accessible is the music of Californian-born David Qualey, a fingerstyle guitarist and Grammy-nominated composer and recording artist. Santa Cruz is one of his most popular compositions with its cheerful folk style and upbeat rhythm. Patrick Kearney is a prize-winning guitarist from Montreal who studied in Paris at the Ecole Normale de Musique. Collage, composed in the fall of 2001, was his first composition for solo guitar and was inspired by the sound of his newly acquired Simon Marty guitar from Australia. Music from Latin America: The multi-talented guitarist, composer and conductor Leo Brouwer was born in Havana in 1939. His unique and impressive range goes from the avant-garde to folk-influenced music in a wide variety of instrumental formations. Un Dia de Noviembre ("A Day in November") was composed in 1967 for a Cuban-produced film and has become one of Brouwer's most performed pieces. Zapateo (which literally means "shoe tapping") is based on a popular Cuban folk-song and features a style which combines Afro-Caribbean rhythms with European dance-forms and harmonies. Heitor Villa-Lobos, generally recognized as Brazil’s greatest and most prolific composer, was a champion of his country's multi-culturalism and often used imitations of the sounds of the jungle and its fauna, and ethnic elements such as the Amerindian nose-flute. The tradition lives on in the artistry of award-winning composer Celso Machado. A percussionist and vocalist as well as a brilliant guitarist, Machado was born into a family of musicians in Ribeirão Preto near São Paulo in 1953. In concert his inventive and colourful performances feature rhythms and timbres from diverse cultural origins such as China and Africa as well as from his native Brazil. Imagens do Nordeste ("Images of the Northeast") is taken from an album of popular Brazilian music for two guitars and was inspired by the drylands of the Brazilian Northeast. Jaime Mirtenbaum Zenamon was born in La Paz, Bolivia and raised in Brazil. An international concert guitarist as well as a prize-winning composer, he taught for many years in Berlin before returning to live in Curitiba, Brazil. Zenamon's rich multi-cultural background is reflected in his music. Introducción y Forreando Caprichoso is dedicated to the Uruguyan guitarist Baltazar Benítez. The two movements of contrasting style are quintessentially Brazilian, using spirited rhythms alongside soulful melodies. The forró, one of Brazil's most popular dance-forms, has elements in common with the samba, the baião and the xote. Saudade is an exclusively Brazilian word evoking bitter-sweet nostalgia and introspective melancholy, characteristics which can be applied to both of the following pieces. Saudades de Márcia was composed by the legendary Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell whose full name was Roberto Baden Powell de Aquino. A key figure in the jazz-bossa nova movement, Baden Powell was a highly gifted instrumentalist and composer who bridged the gap between classical artistry and popular warmth and whose repertoire spanned all the idioms of Brazilian popular music. Luiz Bonfá's famous song Manha de Carnaval ("Morning of the Carnival") is a worthy addition to this series of contrasting pieces by four of Brazil’s most universally admired guitarist-composers. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Bonfá studied classical guitar as a child with Isaías Sávio. He was an exponent of the lyrical and melancholy samba-canção style, along with Antônio Carlos Jobim and other contemporaries, that led to the more subdued bossa nova style in the 1950s and 60s. He composed Manha de Carnaval in 1959 for Marcel Camus' legendary film Orfeu Negro ("Black Orpheus"). The arrangement used here is by the American guitarist Brian Hodel. © CODA Productions