Octo_Russ

Ponce - 24 Guitar Preludes [Dieci]

Well here's a rarity, Ponce's 24 Guitar Preludes, i bought this disc in a second-hand shop in London, in my efforts to expand my Classical Guitar collection, and to try out a Composer i was unfamiliar with, he's Mexican [1882-1948].

I have loved the Classical Guitar, and feel that it's somewhat a neglected instrument, it's very much a loner of an instrument, and the main pieces composed for it are solo music, unlike say the piano, it doesn't have tons of Concertos and Chamber music composed for it, not only that, but it's harder to listen to the guitar in very long pieces or works, thus it's an instrument born for the miniature.

What a revelation these 24 Preludes are!, the whole work lasts just under 24 minutes, so a minute per prelude, only eight go over the minute mark, and the shortest prelude is 26 seconds, it is amazing to me how much of a microcosmic world you can cram into 60 seconds, and how much variety and invention each prelude can have, each one has an individuality and character unique to the others, a prelude starts, and before you know it, it's finished, Ponce's 24 Guitar Preludes are so phenomenally underrated, and fail to be recorded and listened to, which is a great shame, i must delve into more Classical Guitar music in the future.

The Preludes that really touched my heart this time were 5, 8 & 12, the one that really caught my eye was Prelude 5, in D Major, lasting just 50 seconds, but it's jam packed full of invention and character, it starts off with a lovely singing tone, created very much by the Guitarist using judicious vibrato at the beginning, about halfway through the piece the opening returns [0:22+] with more delicious vibrato, but the second half turns out different, especially towards the end as it goes down towards the bass, it's the opening which holds the magic, a breathtaking use of a few wonderful notes in just five seconds, there's no way it can compete with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, but at the same time there's possibly a consensus that 'short equals insignificant', plus the guitar is not taken so seriously, now if Ponce had written these preludes for the piano, then they might be better known, my plea is don't disregard the guitar, YouTube is filled with some very surprising miniature masterpieces.

Here's Prelude 5 being played on YouTube.