This piece is composed for 3-part guitar ensemble, with 3 movements planned. This first movement is ‘stolen’ from my sonata for classical guitar, which is extremely difficult as a solo piece, but manageable as an ensemble piece!

There is a reason it’s called “el Clásico” The Classic. . .

Possibly one of my most strongly structured pieces ever, this movement uses quartal harmony and a loose sonata form.  The theme is a tone-row using all twelve notes, but is organized in a very tonal way around E, making the piece very accessible to listeners. The strong syncopations and rhythmic patterns are catchy and keep the melodic material ringing in your ears.

This first movement is finished, formatted for publishing, and mockup audio files generated. The audio attached here uses the Pettinhouse Acoustic Guitar (not the classical), and is not meant to sound realistic. The Pettinhouse samples are quite good, but I did not take time to try to nuance cresendos and other musical details in the mockup. I just loaded the samples into Finale and let ’em play! I can’t wait for a live performance to hear some more musical interpretations.