Baroque Guitar in Spain and The New World

I would have rated this book a "5 star" if not for that darn perfect bound binding. Sheesh. I tried stomping on the book to flatten it out so I could put it on my music stand. No go. I finally resorted to cutting the pages out of the book.That really sucks because this book has great new transcriptions of new works for classical guitar. I love playing the works from 400 years ago. I can't read the old scores those guys wrote so I must rely upon those brave souls who spend their lives in libraries in Spain trying to create readable notation out of their hand written manuscripts.That being said: this is a great book for anyone looking for new material. The level is mid-beginner to intermediate player. Quite easy to read and with excellent historical notes.If only they would spiral bind these darn music books. Hello? Mel Bay? Do you hear me???

This volume combines an extensive, informative introduction to music of the Spanish Renaissance with practical yet highly musical transcriptions for modern classical guitar. A must-own for anyone interested in this repertoire.

I was under the impression that the book had actual tablature for the pieces, but it is standard notation only except for a few facsimiles. Regrettable purchase, because they took a great idea & made it frustrating. I will be returning my copy.

ギター用の楽譜ですが、付録に15曲のファクシミリも付いています。楽器や作品に関する解説が有難いです。

ロックギターのイメージ強かった出版社でしたが、このシリーズ（他にもヴィウエラ曲集など）は内容が濃くて奏法説明や時代背景、ファクシミリまで付いてとてもお買い得です。スペインのバロックギターの時代と作曲者に絞り込み、ポピュラーなサンスを始め近年見直されているゲラウ、未出版が殆どのサンタ・クルス、膨大な作品量があるムルシアなどの良い曲をうまく集めています。まさに、おいしいとこ取りの一冊でしょう！

You might have come across Frank Koonce's indispensable edition of J S Bach's (so called) lute music. If so you will need no encouragement to buy this volume. It contains 47 superb performance editions, in staff notation, of music for 4 and 5 course baroque guitar set for the modern Spanish guitar. The composers are Gaspar Sanz, Antonio de Santa Cruz, Francisco Guerau and Santiago de Murcia. Some of the music will be familiar to the serious guitarist; some will be new.The volume successfully straddles the worlds of academic musicology and practical music making. There are chapters on the history of the instruments, tuning schemes, different tablatures, interpretation and the composers featured. There are also 42 pages of facsimiles of the original tablatures of all of the pieces.It is effectively both a library of and a tutor on, how to play early music on the guitar. Superb!Thank you Frank.B. Arthur is a professional guitarist and guitar teacher active in Northumberland UK.

Das Beste was dieses Buch betrifft ist nicht nur die gründliche Beschreibung der Barockgitarre oder die biographische Absätze über die vier Komponisten Antonio de Santa Cruz, Gaspar Sanz, Francisco Guernau und Santiago de Murcia, oder die Auswahl schöner Stücken zum Nachspielen, sondern die Kopien der originalen Musikstücke im Anhang. Während der Barockepoche wurden Musikstücke nicht mit Noten geschrieben sondern in einem Form von Tabulatur. Der Autor dieses Buch erklärt, wie diese "Tabulatur" zu entziffern ist, so dass der Leser selbst die Musikstücke interpretieren kann.

An impressive and scholarly view of the origins of this music and its performance. The transcriptions however, although extremely good and playable, are for a fairly moderate playing standard (approx UK Grade 5-6). I would have given it four stars if this had been made clear in the purchasing information.