Music for Guitars

Latest News...

I am delighted to announce that my arrangement of Three Folks Songs from Op. 66 by Grieg is in the process of publication by esg music. This format allows players of a range of abilities (from about grade 2 to about grade 5-6) to play together making it ideal for summer schools, teachers, festivals and courses. 

New Arrangement for Guitar Quartet

Three Breton Folk Songs

Inspired by a family holiday to Brittany this summer, I have created an arrangement of three beautiful Breton Folk Songs for four guitars. You can hear and download a recording for free by clicking here and selecting Three Breton Folk Songs from the play list.

You can also download a free sample of the score by clicking here.

The arrangement includes a full 14-page score, wire bound, and a set of parts for individual players with full fingering. The standard is for more experienced guitarists. The set is priced at just £5 plus P&P. Please go to my on line shop to order. If you are a teacher, college, school or guitar society, please feel free to email me and I can forward you copies with an invoice.

My special thanks go to Fernando Aguera, Rossini Bartolotti-Hayward and Rachel Buckley for their energy and beautiful playing, when they joined me in recording the Three Breton Folk Songs.

About the songs:

Song 1: Al labousig er c'hoad (The Little Bird in the Wood): The song tells of a small bird which sits on the shoulder of a young man each morning, and advises him not to marry a widow with a heavy heart.

 Song 2:An intañ vez kozh (The Old Widow): The song tells of a young man who courts and old widow. She encourages him with her wealth and finery, but he eventually changes his mind and decides to wait for a younger girl to come along saying (somewhat harshly) "I'd prefer to be obliged to rock a baby all night than listen to an old widow in a rocking chair by the fire".

Song 3: O! Ma Dan-me D'an Arme (Oh! If I Go to the Army): This song is about a man who leaves his sweetheart in the care of his brother-in-law to join the army. The latter makes her work in the fields and gets rid of her finery. When he returns after eight years, he hears her sing and asks what she has done to have learnt to sing with such beauty.

SPECIAL OFFER

I am offering the music to Three Breton Folk Songs FREE to music societies, teachers or schools ordering more than four copies of my workbook Reading Jazz Chords, a Guide for Classical Guitarists. Postage & packing will also be free! To take advantage of this offer, please email me . I will happily send the books and music to you with an invoice.

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ICEBREAKDANCE

Icebreakdance: is a work for a minimum of four guitars, but can be performed by a greater number of players. It is specially written for a mixed-ability ensemble, making it particularly appropriate for Guitar Societies, Summer Schools and Music Schools.

The piece challenges the players as musicians rather than just guitarists. It is in the repertoire of, and dedicated to, The Cambridge Guitar Orchestra, directed by Peter Rueffer of the Pro Arte Trio.

 Dan has recorded all the parts of Icebreakdance himself in a studio so that players have the chance to hear a performance by a fellow guitarist, rather than a computer-generated imitation. You can hear the piece by clicking here and going to Icebreakdance on the play list. The recording can be downloaded.

Icebreakdance is published by Cadenza Music . The edition has a full score and parts. Guitar 1 can be played on a requinto guitar and a suitably transposed part is included. The full demo recording is available on CD by contacting me.Here's what leading players have written about Icebreakdance:

"This work is inventive and written with craft and clarity" - Stephen Kenyon. To learn more about Stephen, please visit Jacaranda Music.

"An intriguing and highly original composition - a worthwhile undertaking for any competant ensemble" - Peter Rueffer - Director Dillington Guitar Summer School/Festival and Musical director of the The Cambridge Guitar Orchestra.

JAZZ SUITE FOR FOUR GUITARS

Jazz Suite for Four Guitars: is a quartet written for advanced players making it suitable for Music students, Summer Schools and Professional players. It is in four movements. Brief excerpts of all four movements, recorded by the composer can be heard by clicking on the player below. A full recording is available by contacting the composer by email.

(Play to hear excerpts of Jazz Suite for Four Guitars)

The Suite is designed around the principle of the Baroque Suite - four stylistically contrasting yet unified movements. The first is a Jazz Fugue, and is a homage to Bernstein, the second, a Jazz Waltz, the third a Ballad and finally a flamboyant Tango. This piece presently under audition by Cadenza Music, but interested players should contact Dan at present.

PRELUDE, SONATA AND POSTLUDE

Prelude, Sonata and Postlude for Flute and Guitar: is dedicated to Almer Imanovic, a fine Bosnian guitarist based in the US, and his partner, Jessica Pierce http://www.almanova.us/. They perform the work as a regular part of their repertoire and a professional recording is planned for the near future. Almer and Jessica have been courteous enough to provide me with a demo home recording for this website, and it has also been recorded by James Smith and Lucy Bebbington. To hear a sample, please click on the player below. This work is presently being auditioned for publication by Cadenza Music. Interested players should contact me at present.

(Play to hear excerpts of

Prelude, Postlude and Sonata for Flute and Guitar)

LIVING WATER

Living Water: is a new work for flute and guitar in one movement. It is for professional players or graduate level students. I am thrilled that the work recieved its premiere at the Bolivar Hall in London recently. My thanks go to Lucy Bebbington and James Smith who played it so beautifully. The piece is in a minimalist style and is a single-movement Sonata with a slow introduction and coda. Please do contact me if you are interested in hearing the piece or performing it.

 Arrangements for Guitar Duo

My arrangements for Classical Guitar are published by Corda Music . 

 These are Satie's Gymnopédies, (all three, not just the famous one!) and a set of Baroque Suites by Henry Purcell. The Gymnopédies are designed to use the full range of the guitars and to retain Satie's original chord voicing, making them suitable for concert performance. The Purcell Suites have extensive performance practice notes and were transcribed from a facsimile copy of A Choice Collection of Lessons for Harpsichord and Spinnet, published by his widow after his early and untimely death. The catalogue numbers for Corda are:

Trois Gymnopédies by Erik Satie: Corda catalogue no: CMP 212

Two Suites by Henry Purcell: Corda catalogue no: CMP 213

You can hear excerpts of these arrangements by visiting The Campanella Duo page.

Compositions for Theatre and Outdoor Puppetry