Giants of the Guitar - The Performers II

Happy Tuesday all.  We continue our look at the Giants of the Guitar and this week's focus on The Performers.  Some 34 years after Segovia was born, in the small town of Lorca in the Murcia region of Spain, another legend was born in humble circumstances.  Narciso Yepes' father gave him his first guitar when he was four years old, and brought the boy five miles on a donkey to and from lessons three days a week. He took his first lessons from Jesus Guevara, in Lorca. Later his family moved to Valencia when the Spanish Civil War started in 1936.

When he was 13, he was accepted to study at the Conservatorio de Valencia with the pianist and composer Vicente Asencio. Here he followed courses in harmony, composition, and performance. Yepes is credited by many with developing the A-M-I technique of playing notes with the ring (Anular), middle (Medio), and index (Indice) fingers of the right hand.[1] Guitar teachers traditionally taught their students to play by alternating the index and middle fingers, or I-M. However, since Yepes studied under teachers who were not guitarists, they pushed him to expand on the traditional technique. According to Yepes, Asencio "was a pianist who loathed the guitar because a guitarist couldn't play scales very fast and very legato, as on a piano or a violin. 'If you can't play like that,' he told me, 'you must take up another instrument.'" Through practice and improvement in his technique, Yepes could match Asencio's piano scales on the guitar. "'So,' he [Asencio] said, 'it's possible on the guitar. Now play that fast in thirds, then in chromatic thirds.'"[2] Allan Kozinn observed that, "Thanks to Mr. Asencio's goading, Mr. Yepes learned "to play music the way I want, not the way the guitar wants."[3] Similarly, the composer, violinist, and pianist George Enescu would also push Yepes to improve his technique, which also allowed him to play with greater speed.[4]

On 16 December 1947 he made his Madrid début, performing Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez with Ataúlfo Argenta conducting the Spanish National Orchestra. The overwhelming success of this performance brought him renown from critics and public alike. Soon afterwards, he began to tour with Argenta, visiting Switzerland, Italy, Germany and France. During this time he was largely responsible for the growing popularity of the Concierto de Aranjuez, and made two early recordings, both with Argenta[5] – one in mono with the Madrid Chamber Orchestra (released between 1953 and 1955),[6] and the second in stereo with the Orquesta Nacional de España (recorded in 1957 and released in 1959).[7]

Now as an established Concert and Recording Artist on the six string Classical Guitar, in the early 1960's, Yepes began working with renowned luthier Jose Ramirez III to develop a new 10 string Classical Guitar.  In 1964, when Yepes appeared in concert with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra performing Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, he debuted his new guitar.  The new 10 string Guitar with a specific tuning designed to supply sympathetic string resonance to all twelve notes of the chromatic scale, in unison with any note played on the treble strings. This was significant for two reasons:

• The endorsement of an artist of Yepes' calibre drew attention to the instrument, and demonstrated its capabilities. Starting in 1963, and for the rest of his life, Yepes used only the ten-string guitar in recording and performance.

• The availability of high-quality ten-string classical guitars from the Ramírez Company allowed and encouraged other performers to investigate the instrument.

The use of the ten-string classical guitar is similar to that of the harp guitar:

• Six-string guitar music can be played on the first six strings, but with added resonance from the extra strings. This was Yepes' original intention and the reason for the design.

• Music specifically arranged for the instrument can make use of the extra strings directly, thus:
  • Music originally written for instruments with more than six strings can be more faithfully transcribed. Music written by Bach and his contemporaries for lute is of particular interest in this regard. The bass strings can be appropriately tuned.
  • New music specifically written for the ten-string guitar can make use of the extra strings however the composer might wish.

Unlike the harp guitar, the extended-range classical guitar has a single neck and allows all strings to be fretted.  While the six-string classical guitar remains the standard and most common instrument, since 1963 ten-string guitars in similar configuration to the original Ramírez have been adopted by many classical guitarists and produced by several first-class luthiers, using both Yepes' original tuning and others.

In today's video presentation the legendary Narciso Yepes performs an 80 minute solo recital, plus 25 minutes of encores, on the ten-string guitar of his own conception, at the Teatro Real de Madrid, in 1979. This is without electronic amplification of the guitar, as Yepes always insisted, but with his improved sitting position and revolutionary right hand technique, which, together with his 10-string guitar's sympathetic resonance, optimize tone quality and projection. (The microphone seen is for the video's audio recording only, not for amplification.)  The companion piece I have chosen for my tumblr today is "Chaconne" by Johann Sebastian Bach with Yepes in concert at Carnegie Hall in 1982.  One reviewer of the Concert said:

'Guitar concerts in Carnegie Hall can be a frustrating affair. Narciso Yepes brought his 10-string invention there last Thursday, and suddenly it was not a problem hearing that instrument in that space.

'His guitar fills the hall with sound. The musician who plucks it is one of the finest in the world today. The second half of the program was devoted entirely to 20th-century works, an intriguing survey of music - for an apparently limited instrument - that was at once engrossing yet challenging. Of greatest interest were Eduardo Sainz de la Maza's ''Laberinto,'' with its jazzy undercurrent, and Leonardo Balada's supremely virtuosic, exciting ''Analogias.''

'Mr. Yepes, who appears to be not much larger than his oversize instrument, is a selfless musician, putting the music before his personality in what could serve as the ideal of any performing artist but so rarely is. One left his recital stimulated and elated, with nary a thought as to the potential limitations of the instrument, dynamically or musically.'

As always, Wikipedia is our friend and has contributed mightily to this post. 

Now the day would not be complete without a a little eye candy to wake up the libido and remind you why you like men in the first place.  This little collection of Random Hotness posted down below should do the 'trick' nicely.  If that is not enough, then head on over to my tumblr where I am sure you will be 'A-dicke-ted' to today's Hottie of the Day!  Thanks for stopping in, tun in tomorrow for another Giant of the Guitar.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!