Search - David Tanenbaum :: David Tanenbaum: Estudios - Carcassi, Sor & Brouwer

Top quality teaching material

woodzo | Scotland | 11/21/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I believe James Terrell misses the point: this disc is INTENDED for guitar students and speaking as a guitar teacher of 30 years standing I believe it serves it`s purpose admirably.

These are reference, not concert, performances, but always growing the music from the score, making clear the composer`s intentions in an impressively musical fashion.

Often, concert performances are so idiosyncratic and so far from the printed score that although fun to listen to they are confusing for the student and sometimes even just plain wrong .

Here, however eveything is clear, so that a student can copy and then grow his own concert performance from them.

Tanenbaum is not shouting "Look at me folks, how fast is this!" but saying "Let`s try to figure out what the composer intended".

I highly recommend these discs to all students, especially those working without a teacher. Also check out the accompanying books, one for each composer.

My only regret is that I didn`t have access to material like this when I was starting out 40 years ago."

Concise beauty

Redgecko | USA | 03/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These pieces are essential for the guitar student, and, are beautiful to listen to even if you're not a student but simply a guitar lover. I find delight in their short duration, with the pieces averaging about 1.5 minutes in length with a maximum of about 3 minutes. Tanenbaum does not take any repeats, which contribute to their brevity. The pieces are not merely student pieces and professional guitarists sometimes play the pieces as encores. Sor #3, #17, #19 and Carcassi #19 are concert masterpieces in the hands of Christopher Parkening, as are Sor #2 and Carcassi #3 when played by Liona Boyd. Segovia recorded all of the Sor studies, and he used some of them as encore pieces, but only about 4 of them ever made it to CD. Tilman Hoppstock recorded 12 of the Brouwer studies, and in his hands, they don't sound like student pieces. I have Williams's rendition of Sor's studies on tape and think that his interpretations are almost as straight as Tanenbaum's. It's too bad that they never made it to CD.



The artistic interpretation that Boyd and Parkening are noted for are all but absent in Tanenbaum's interpretations. The unadorned beauty with which he plays them allows the student to focus on the essential nature of the piece without unnecessarily complicating matters. Artist interpretation should come later after the piece is mastered.



If you're a student, I recommend buying the three study manuals that are available, one for each of the three composers. They are filled with insights and performance tips that make learning the pieces easier and more enjoyable.

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