Guitarist Paul Galbraith

GALBRAITH PERFORMS NOVEL TRANSCRIPTIONS IN OCCIDENTAL GUITAR RECITAL

Driving to the Occidental Center for the Arts Oct. 13 left me wondering what to expect. Housed in what appears to have been an elementary school in a previous incarnation, the performance center is essentially what was the “multi-purpose room” of the school. These spaces are usually notorious for their problematic acoustics, but the Redwood Arts Council has done an excellent job with the space and the acoustics were exceptional.

The audience was small, not more than seventy which filled the hall, and they were eagerly awaiting the appearance of guitarist Paul Galbraith. Such an intimate setting is perfect for a solo classical guitar concert.

Originally from England and now living in Basel, Mr. Galbraith is a trail blazing classical guitarist in many respects. He has developed a unique way of playing the guitar which has necessitated structural changes to the instrument itself. Mr. Galbraith holds the guitar much as a cellist would hold the cello. He has also added an endpin which is placed on a resonator box resting on the floor. The guitar itself is an eight string instrument with a low (A) and a high (a) string added to the customary six strings of the guitar. The guitar also sports “fan” bracing, where. the frets are farther apart on the bass than they are on the treble side.

That said, Mr. Galbraith is a virtuosic guitarist no matter how the guitar is held. His tone is clear and crisp, the articulation clean and rhythmically precise. His dynamic range is wide and appropriate to the dictates of the music. Technically awe inspiring and yet his technique is always in service to expression, never technique for technique’s sake.

The first part of the program consisted of Mr. Galbraith’s arrangements of compositions originally composed for piano. He opened with Haydn’s Sonata in C-Sharp Minor (Hob. XVI: 36), transposed to E Minor. The artist’s added strings allowed him to play the Sonata with little or no alterations from the original. This was followed by two pieces from Abeniz’ composition “España,” Op. 165, also arranged by Mr. Galbraith. These pieces are guitaristic in texture anyway, so playing them on the guitar feels natural and unforced. The final piece of the first half of the concert was Enrique Granados’ Valses Poeticos in the performer’s arrangement.. His transcription of these waltzes brought out textures and aspects of this familiar part of the guitar repertoire I had not heard before.

After a brief intermission during which refreshments were offered and a raffle was conducted in support of the Arts Council programs, Mr. Galbraith returned to the stage to perform Ponce’s Prelude and Twenty Variations with Fugue on La Folia de España. La Folia de España is a short eight-measure theme that has a long history in music, and is believed to have originated in the sixteenth century in Portugal. Its first publication appears in 1672 and variations on it have been composed by numerous composers from Gaspar Sanz to Ponce and Rachmaninoff. The term “folia” in Spanish is equivalent to the terms madness, folly or empty headedness in English. Ponce’s set of variations is demanding and virtuosic. Mr. Galbraith met all of its demands and played it with consummate virtuosity.

After an enthusiastic standing ovation, Galbraith played Frederico Moreno Torroba’s Burgalesa as an encore. This and Ponce's “Variations” were the only two pieces Mr. Galbraith played that were originally composed for the guitar.

It was an exceptional recital of provocative guitar music.