Stephanie Jones just never stops to amaze me…! First, the pieces from South American, Argentine Tangos she takes on as a challenge..?!? Guys – honestly, I might have a big experience when classical guitar and transcriptions from other instruments are in question (I played on the guitar a three-voice Bach’s Fuga No 6, D minor for piano), but this cute German girl MEANS SERIOUS BUSINESS…! Astor Piazzolla, both as a composer and performer is the best and most important virtuous artist in Argentine Tangos history. His works are TERRIBLY DIFFICULT to perform on the guitar, becaause the melodies and ornaments are made of EXTREMELY WIND INSTRUMENTS LIKE CHARCTERISTICS. This transcription from bandoneon to classical guitar that Stephanie performs is by Sérgio Assad and IT IS FANTASTIC. Sergio did a great job because he is first, being a local Argentinian, and a collegue with Astor PIazzolla – VERY WELL acuainted with the musical form of the Tangos Argentino in it’s purest form. These arrangements were initially composed on an accordion like Argentinian instrument, called bandoneon. First of our problems is the very nature of the instrument’s sound, that is SO, SO different. On the guitar we just can not play their “wind crescendo” properly, because that kind of agogics just DOES NOT EXIST on the guitar. We can not amplify the sound, once that it was produced. The guitar sound has a DECAYING feature, and it is UNAVOIDABLE. So, when you encounter a note that Piazzolla was playing more and more forte…?!? What R U gonna do…? Play it rasqueo is one option, but rasqueo demends a PERFECT TIME DIVISIONS not to rupture the rhythmical base… But sometimes – it is just plain impossible. However, the performance from Stephanie Jones is so elaborated, and she is in nirvana state while playing, and that makes the entire experience of listening to her – enlightening.
However, girls may be having less strength in their hands, and fingers, and therefore less ability do perform the hard parts in some pieces. For example, where you have to stiffen your entire left hand index finger (almost to the infinity – the hardest you can) to play a certain section of some music piece… But Stephanie Jones is almost proving that theory to be completely wrong. She is making the guitar a girl’s instrument almost. She is so well aware of the leverages her little hands and fingers can make, and she takes the absolute maximum from her physical abilities. So her endless talent gets to it’s full expression…!!!
This is the “Autumn” of the four seasons Astor composed, and I think she plays all 4 of his masterpieces. Enjoy in her marvelous energy…