Sounds

Manuel de Falla, the Spanish composer of this piece, was evidently a big fan of guitar. Consider this quote he wrote in 1933 in the prologue to Emilio Pujol’s Guitar School method book series:

It is a marvelous instrument, as austere as it is rich in sound, and which now powerfully, now gently, takes possession of the soul. It concentrates within itself the essential values of many noble instruments of the past, and has acquired these values as a great inheritance without losing those native qualities which it owes, through its origin, to the people themselves.

Yeah, that’s heady, but it’s beautiful and I love it.

Despite his fondness for the instrument, de Falla only ever wrote a single piece of music for it—Homenaje. It is a tribute to Claude Debussy which de Falla wrote in 1920, two years after Debussy passed away. Despite it being a short and somber piece, it is packed full of exquisite textures, colors, and harmonies. It’s a true microcosm of the richness of his much larger works.

Homenaje was one of the early “serious” pieces I learned when I started learning classical guitar in earnest. This recording dates back to 2015, when I was about a year or so into my classical guitar deep dive.

The composer of this piece, Jeff Wyman, was a friend of the Boston Classical Guitar Society and a gentle, beautiful human. I got to know him through the performance parties that the BCGS organizes. These parties are gatherings of (mostly) guitarists, getting together to play for each other and share their love of the instrument and the music written for it.

At these parties, Jeff would often play this piece. I always enjoyed listening to him—he had such a graceful touch on the instrument. The ease and fluidity of his playing I both greatly admired and, if I’m being honest, envied just a bit. This piece, with its shimmering arpeggios and elegant melody, really showcased Jeff’s finesse as a player.

Jeff called it Diatribes, but its full title is Prelude: Diatribes with an Amazon Queen. I know this because I asked him for the score, which he was very happy to share with me (it was his partner, Karen, who sent it to me, as Jeff didn’t use email). When I received it, I read through it a couple of times, but I didn’t really learn it. Nonetheless, it was neat to explore the piece as an exercise, but Jeff would always play it best.

That performance party where I asked him for the score was in early 2020, just before the COVID lockdown. It ended up being the last time I saw Jeff, as he passed away all too soon in late 2024.

This performance is in Jeff’s memory. I hope I captured some of the spirit which he brought to this piece every time I heard him play it.

This performance is also available on YouTube.

This is a solo I played for a "challenge" the band Sungazer did on social media to promote their track Cool 7. They shared a backing track version of the solo section, over which they invited people to record their take on it. There were lots of really cool interpretations of this, many on unexpected or unusual instruments. I stuck with my trusty electric guitar for this.

The solo section is an F minor progression in a brisk, well, 7/4. It goes by pretty quickly, but I dig what I did with it.

For a visual, here’s this performance on Instagram.