What do you think of the following video? The first time I heard anything similar was from Mavroudis and Margaritis on one of their Café del Mar CDs:
:082:
This particular guy is generally completely lifeless in his playing, and he has this obsession with transcribing various genres for classical guitar (e.g. the Beatles), as well as having lots of guitars playing together. Does that remind you of anything—five hundred bouzoukia? Where quality is lacking, quantity abounds…
The Ungrateful One is unlistenable; he’s stripped it of all vitality and hasn’t even included the beautiful two-part harmonies by Stellaki–Georgakopoulou!
On the other hand, Gül Bahar was a pleasant surprise; the rhythmic part (the bass pattern) was noteworthy. The whole piece sounded like Spanish classical guitar music, as if the influence of Arabic music from the east (Greece–Tsitsanis) were meeting the influence from the west (Spain–Albéniz).
In general, I don’t like classical guitar (let alone works transcribed for it, and thus arranged in that direction), but despite my dislike I’m not going to overlook something good, such as Elena Papandreou! Here she is in the studio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8WzwJD31tw and here in something more experimental: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVgogthxB0U
Bountounis was Papandreou’s teacher; he has dedicated pieces to her (“Elena’s Tsifteteli”), and she has recorded several of his compositions herself :). I don’t think there is a (classical) guitarist (or pianist, accordionist, etc., etc.) who doesn’t arrange music. But an arrangement that works very well as the encore at a classical concert may not tell us anything in its own right.
Guitar ensembles are created mainly for teaching purposes. Before someone ventures into the deep waters (accompanying a singer, chamber music, etc.), it is easier for them to play with other guitar-playing classmates. But unless special instruments are used (terz, requinto), the ensemble remains limited to three and a half octaves, as well as to the guitar’s timbre and techniques.
Classical players produce a particular sound, velvety and refined, which somehow doesn’t work for folk music; something harder and “dirtier” is needed, along with different expressive means. And this is not a problem with the instrument itself, the “classical guitar”: a classical violinist or clarinettist would have the exact same problem, and in that case it would still be precisely the same instrument.
there was some confusion, i didn’t word it well: i’m not talking about the instrument we call a “classical guitar” (slightly beside the point: because of the nylon strings, i don’t consider it suitable for rebetiko), but about the guitar as it is used in what we collectively call classical music here. the same applies to the piano and so on.
i know that papandreou is a student of bountounis. but they’re worlds apart… i happened to see them one after the other at a concert, and the comparison was immediate. not as a judge, but in terms of how much they moved us… another excellent duo is asimakopoulos–zoi.
i can understand a quartet in a student context or otherwise, but when we’re talking about competitive excellence with 100 (in words: one hundred) guitars at the herodion, something doesn’t add up!
They’re on a level far above mine—one I’ll never reach, nor do I intend to try. Although they don’t lift my spirits, I enjoy listening to them as I would to chamber music.
It sounds like a more formal affair too, supposedly. It’s nice as an arrangement. But forgive me, I prefer it with a bouzouki.