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Albéniz Isaac, "Asturias" (TAB)
Transcription and Fingering: Renato Bellucci
Isaac Albéniz
Nationalism is the European movement that saw Enrique Granados, Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albéniz as its leading Iberian (Spanish) representatives. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was 34 years old when Albéniz was born. Tolstoi, the movies, Freud, Gandhi and the Vatican Council I were also contemporaries. His work was written for piano. Being Albéniz such a Spaniard, the guitar simply seems to be the instrument he first had in mind when composing.
He was born in Camprodon a small town just a few miles South of the French Border at the feet of the imposing Pyrenees mountains.
His music is also impregnated with some South American sounds due to the fact that when he was still a young boy, he traveled and lived in several South American countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Cuba. Between 1905 and 1908 he composes his greatest work: The Suite Iberia. Still considered the greatest Spanish contribution to the piano repertoire and, involuntarily, one of the greatest guitar collections. There is not a single guitarist in the world who does not incorporate an Albéniz piece to his repertoire.
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Asturias, Isaac Albeniz. Punta del Este, Uruguay.
Staff and Video 1
I have been asked many times by my students why I insist that the starting sequence of Bs starts with an m-i sequence and not with an i-m. I can only say this: I played both and m-i works better. It seems reasonable to think that, being Asturias almost a tremolo (p-a-m-i with the missing a leaving us with p-m-i) it is logical that we follow the same pattern going from the outside of the hand inside. Análisis: Asturias debes ser estudiada muy lentamente. Debes darle a los dedos de la mano derecha suficiente tiempo para que sientan (feel) o se planten (plant) sobre la cuerda a ser pulsada una milésima de segundo antes de pulsar la cuerda. Esta técnica es conocida en Inglés como "plant-play technique"
Video 1
Staff and Video 2
Apply a slight accent on the A at the beginning of each group in measure 1. The repetition of the 8 notes group is meant to bring new force to the retake. Análisis: Durante la ejecución debes limitar el movimiento de las manos al mínimo. Los dedos de mueven desde la raíz y una fracción de segundo antes de pulsar la cuerda, el dedo se apoya en la cuerda que va a ejecutar y detiene su vibración.
Video 2
Staff and Video 3
En el tercer pentagrama, deberás traer la muñeca hacia adelante para facilitar la ubicación del dedo 1. El dedo 3 por su parte, servirá de pivot y deberás transferir el peso de la mano inquierda a ese dedo. _________________________________________________________________________ The wrist comes forward to help finger 1 reach for the B on string 6. As you begin measure 4, you enter a beautiful harmonic progression and you must prevent the left hand from making any undesired noise with the strings as you take finger 1 from the A to the B on string #4.
Video 3
Staff and Video 4
En el traslado entre los trastes 7 y 9, debes evitar a toda costa los ruidos de arrastre sobre las cuerdas producidos por la mano izquierda. Levanta el dedo 1 del diapasón y trasládalo a la nueva posición antes de volver a bajar el dedo 1 sobre el diapas[on. ______________________________________________________________________ Be careful again for squeaks at the beginning of the last measure. The fingers are lifted from the fingerboard with the help of a push from the elbow forward. The fingers must be lifted perpendicularly to the strings so as to avoid string noise. It is the arm that takes finger 1 from one position to the next on the fingerboard. I mark with a yellow arrow the 3 notes that finger 1 will stop in its way down the fingerboard.
