New Williams piece, "Rounds" for guitar, to be premiered today [UPDATE: Studio recording released September 11 2015]

[Incanus 5,713]

Speaking of annoying noises musicians make Glen Gould's whimpering and humming is a bit distracting.

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

Glen Gould's whimpering and humming is a bit distracting.

No way, it's inseparable from the music!

[A24 4,327]

So the more noise the merrier? Not for me. I have several classical guitar CDs in my collection but none of them contain that much friction (as if our ladies man is wearing the wrong shirt) or breathing.

[Incanus 5,713]

Glen Gould's whimpering and humming is a bit distracting.

No way, it's inseparable from the music!

To each his own I guess.

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

Glen Gould's whimpering and humming is a bit distracting.

No way, it's inseparable from the music!

To each his own I guess.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, let's agree to disagree! At the end of the day, it's different strokes for different folks I guess. All's well that ends well, you can bet your bottom dollar!

[Incanus 5,713]

Glen Gould's whimpering and humming is a bit distracting.

No way, it's inseparable from the music!

To each his own I guess.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, let's agree to disagree! At the end of the day, it's different strokes for different folks I guess. All's well that ends well, you can bet your bottom dollar!

I say potato, you say potatoe, let's call the whole thing off!

[A24 4,327]

No need to quote everything, guys. It makes things looked cluttered.

Alex - the new and improved Jay

[nightscape94 965]

A little bit of the movement friction is okay, but it shouldn't overwhelm. It's like some recordings of certain bassoon concerti where the sound of the pads clicking loudly is a distraction. Enough byproduct noise to make me appreciate the acoustical and practical nature of the instrument, performer, or environment, but not so much that I can't focus on the music.

I remember passing on a set of well-reviewed Beethoven Cello Sonatas because the cellist's breathing was obnoxiously loud based on the samples.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Howard's Duplicity is hard for me to focus on because of the heavy breathing from the musicians.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Worse then Images?

[Jilal 569]

Samples all the way, then.

[Jay 37,322]

Here are links to where you can check out this album on the various digital media platforms:

iTunes AAC: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/americano/id1015867297

Amazon MP3: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0152CAURI/jwfancom-20

Google Play MP3: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Pablo_Villegas_Americano?id=Bjtxahfzmd7aaao3vocvi3zbfoq

qobuz LOSSLESS: http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/americano-pablo-villegas/0093046764913

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3TVHDS4WRtLks6XC5ct7E5

[Thor 7,478]

I haven't downloaded the track on iTunes yet (I will), but can any of you music-savvy people tell me how this version differs from the one in the Vimeo video (that most of us ripped the audio from a few years ago)?

[Jay 37,322]

Well that was a live performance and this is a studio recording - right?

[Thor 7,478]

I'm not sure how "live" the Vimeo recording was. It was definitely rehearsed and maybe edited too. But still -- I'm curious if there are any radical performance differences that amateurs like me can't discern by merely listening.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Of course it's rehearsed.

[nightscape94 965]

I listened to the Williams piece on Spotify, as well as some other tracks for the sake of comparing. The sound is not good. I agree that the breathing is a bit loud, but it's the timbre of the guitar that I don't like. It isn't natural sounding. It almost sounds like an electric classical guitar, which I know it wouldn't be. It may have been mic'd too close, or perhaps too close to the sound hole and they destroyed it during the EQ process. No idea.

On the piece itself, Williams has done a great job composing for the instrument. He seems to have a great understanding of position, technique, and making it challenging, especially since the guitar is a self-accompanying instrument and is not easy to compose for.

[Miguel Andrade 1,262]

I'm not sure how "live" the Vimeo recording was. It was definitely rehearsed and maybe edited too. But still -- I'm curious if there are any radical performance differences that amateurs like me can't discern by merely listening.

Assuming that the Vimeo video you refer to is the one from the RTVE show, yes, this is a different recording. According to the booklet, the whole album was recorded in New York's Westchester studios in March 25-27 of 2014.

By the way, you can find yet another performance, by another player here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP_tphBxiBU

I listened to the Williams piece on Spotify, as well as some other tracks for the sake of comparing. The sound is not good. I agree that the breathing is a bit loud, but it's the timbre of the guitar that I don't like. It isn't natural sounding. It almost sounds like an electric classical guitar, which I know it wouldn't be. It may have been mic'd too close, or perhaps too close to the sound hole and they destroyed it during the EQ process. No idea.

Villegas used a Luthier Matthias Dammann guitar from 2007 -- whatever that means... my brother, a professional classical guitar player might be able to enlighten me on that. Might that be the reason for the sound? So far I only listened to the album either on spotify on my tablet (with a crappier sound) or the actual CD on the computer, and the later does show off some timbre side of the guitar that I'm not too fond of... I will listen to it properly on my stereo system later on though. But other than that, I love the performances and the breathing does not bother me a bit.

[nightscape94 965]

Yeah, the performance itself is great.

[Incanus 5,713]

Got my copy of the CD yesterday. Hats off to Harmonia Mundi for so regularly spotlighting John Williams' music and actually premiering several of his pieces, the celebratory brass pieces Fanfare for Prince Philip (Aloft...To the Royal Masthead), Fanfare for a Festive Occasion, Conversations for piano and now Rounds for guitar.

On the whole the album is what Villegas promises in the liner notes, a musical journey through the Americas, North and South, mixing popular and "serious" pieces for an entertaining programme (even for a person who is not a huge guitar aficionado such as me). The 57 minute running time is perfect for a solo instrument album so as not to overstay its welcome no matter how much variety there is in the music itself.

John Williams' work stands definitely apart as the most academic of the album but that is not to say it is without purely emotional appeal. It is an engaging piece that really employs the various capabilities of the instrument in those 6 minutes of its running time and even has time to develop a tender theme along the way. Again it feels like Williams (and Villegas) say a lot with those pauses in the piece, where each note and spaces between them speak equally. I really look forward to delving into the piece and the album further.

[Miguel Andrade 1,262]

I agree. Not much a fan of the guitar (despite my brother being a guitar player) but this CD has been playing quite a lot on this end...

[artguy360 1,843]

Sorry to bump an old thread but my appreciation for Rounds has grown and grown over the years. I think I've listened to at least 5 different performances of the piece and the variations really helped me understand what I love about the piece. Some people perform Rounds as an almost technical exercise almost emphasizing how the piece kind of takes the classical guitar through it's paces. Some perform it as an almost pizzicato performance where the whole thing just sounds very plucky. Others seem to pay more attention to the pauses and cadence of the music, almost like a off-beat rhythmic performances. But others play it for the melody, a short sweet melody that reappears several times. Then Rounds is more of a short musical narrative than anything else and that's the quality I enjoy most about it.