A Guitar for All Seasons Book/CD - Allan Alexander
Bach’s “Sleepers Awake” is a piece I have always wanted to play. This popular melody is actually the accompaniment for a vocal cantata, but is more recognizable than the choral melody that it goes with. What I have done is to make an adaptation of the cantata for solo guitar.
There is a long history of arranging Catalonian Songs for guitar which was perhaps started by Miguel Llobet. I have never seen “La Mare de Deu” though, and it’s a beautiful melody which I have arranged with variations and dedicated to Amalia Ramirez. Almost all of the other of the pieces in this collection are Christmas tunes, though not very recognizable as such, so you can play these pieces all year round. From the Appalachian “Star in the East” to the spiritual “Mary had a Baby”and the Celtic “Maiden and Her Child” you will find this a collection you will keep coming back to. I have not heard a nicer hymn than “Brother James Air” and “Low how a Rose” is a timeless melody. Most pieces have variations written for them.
