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About the Music
Guitar Romance is a
unique and important recording. Unique in
that the repertoire is varied, i.e. ranging
from the classical music of John Williams,
Ennio Morricone and Bill Conte, amongst
others. It is important because it's varied
content allows it to reach a wider audience
than a standard classical album.
 The music is
presented in such a way as to show the
guitar in its original form, i.e. the
Sojo and Ponce pieces along with solo
arrangements of Grainger, Bach, Falla,
Schumann and Granados. Other solos
include first recorded arrangements by
Loewe (On the Street Where You
Live) and John Williams
(Theme from Schindler's
List).
Overdubbed duets (both
parts played by Jason Waldron) including
Forrest Gump Theme,
John Dunbar Theme,
Intermezzo from Cavalleria
Rusticana, and the Theme from
Rocky (duet with guitarist,
arranger David Boddington) provide a rich
and full-textured sound. The ensembles are
uniquely arranged so as to show the
versatility and sustaining quality of the
guitar in such pieces as The
Swan and Gymnopedie No.
1 where the guitar plays the solo
line normally associated with a flute,
cello etc., or in the Polovtsian
Dance, where one could imagine the
guitar melody line normally taken by a
broader melodic instrument, such as a
clarinet or oboe.
The versatility of the
guitar is best summed up in the
18th Variation on a Theme of
Paganini, where the guitar takes
the part normally played by piano, albeit
in a different key. Guitar
Romance is recorded using several
guitars by the great Spanish maker, Ignacio
Fleta and the associated musicians are
members of the Adelaide Symphony
Orchestra.
About the Fleta
guitars used on this
recording
The modem concert guitar has evolved
from various plucked instruments of many
cultures over hundreds of years. This long
history culminated in nineteenth century
Spain through the genius of Antonio de
Torres (1817-1892) who finally established
the shape and structural design of the
present day guitar. It is a testimony to
Torres that some of the finest guitars
built today are direct copies of
instruments he made over one hundred years
ago.
One maker who used Torres as inspiration
was the great Barcelona Luthier, Ignacio
Fleta (1897-1977). Fleta was an established
violin, cello and guitar maker who, after
hearing the great Andres Segovia in the
1950s, decided to concentrate almost
entirely on the construction of concert
guitars. Segovia and several other concert
artists started using Fletas and soon his
name was established alongside those of
Hauser, Bouchet and Hernandez y Aguado as
one of the greatest makers of the modern
era.
Ignacio Fleta has been described as the
'Stradivarius of the guitar'. This
description is particularly apt as Fleta
borrowed many constructional ideas form his
violin making background such as the arm to
body dovetail joint, a radical departure
from the 'Spanish' method of building the
arm and body as one unit during
construction. This, together with
inspirational ideas for internal strutting
and top thicknessing, proved instrumental
in achieving the distinct Fleta sound.
In the mid 1960s Fleta, along with several
other makers, began to substitute the
traditional European spruce soundboard for
that of American cedar, and this recording
demonstrates both spruce guitars (from 1961
and 1962) and cedar (from 1972).
The 1961 and 1972 guitars, previously used
by John Williams for concert and recording
work, represent the zenith of these major
periods of Fleta's work and are two of the
finest concert guitars ever made.
Still being constructed in Barcelona by his
sons Francisco and Gabriel, Fleta guitars,
like Stardivarius violins and Steinway
pianos, continue to be one of the first
choices for concert and recording artists
to this day.
Ignacio Fleta best described the exquisite
sound of his guitars when he expressed that
it was his aim to give the guitar a 'human'
voice - a philosophy surely attained and to
be enjoyed now and for generations to
come.
Which
guitars were used on which
tracks?
1961 Fleta guitar: 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11,
18, 22, 23
1962 Fleta guitar: 8, 21
1968 Fleta guitar: 22
1972 Fleta guitar: 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 11,
13, 19, 20
Find out more:
 1961 and 1972
Fleta guitars
Artists
Jason Waldron -
guitar (and
second guitar 8,
11, 13)
Michael Milton, Margaret Blades, Danielle
Jaquillard, Hilary Bruer-Jones -
violins
Juris Ezergailis -
viola
Jacqueline Curiel -
cello
Hong
Bing Zhang - double
bass
Carolyn Burgess -
harp
Elizabeth Hennessy -
flute
Glenn Madden -
trumpet
John
Drake - piano
Sal Bonavita - Flamenco
guitar
David Boddington -
guitar,
track 22
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