Sunday, January 08, 2023

Steven Watson "Homage to Takemitsu" for solo guitar

a lovely homage to Toru Takemitsu written for solo guitar by Steven Watson

There are some beautiful passages where Steven plays hammer-on notes with the left hand and then uses his right hand to pluck the string behind the left hand finger at the moment the hammer-on takes place, getting F natural on the fifth string and E natural a major seventh above at the same time.  Now if you ask why on earth a guitarist would do that since E natural is available on the open first string, the answer is timbre.  The timbre is much different.  I've written a piece or two that call for behind-the-left-hand string plucking and it sounds delicate and wispy, a timbrel effect you'll never get with getting the same pitched note on an open string.  

It's a lovely work.  I happen to be a fan of Toru Takemitsu's music for guitar so I'm happy to give a link to an homage to the composer. 

POSTSCRIPT: 

Steven Watson did some guest posts at The Music Salon on Takemitsu 

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