Gareth Koch, now is in mid-forties, is
one of Australia’s foremost guitarists,
not only in the classical field but also,
among other things, a brilliant flamenco
player. He is also a founding member of
the highly successful group Saffire: The
Australian Guitar Quartet, to which whose
second CD I gave a very enthusiastic
review less than a year ago. This
is however my first encounter with Mr
Koch as a solo guitarist, and very positive
it is. This box, selling at little more
than a full-price CD, contains four discs,
all of them previously released and the
programming is genuinely interesting,
to say the least. The main reason for
wanting to review this set, apart from
a general liking for guitar music, was
the inclusion of Carl Orff’s Carmina
Burana, arranged for solo guitar,
which seemed thought-provoking but weird.
It turned out, though, to be not as weird
as I had expected and I shall try to be
more explicit on this within a few paragraphs.
Browsing through the heading of this review
one easily notices two main preferences
with Gareth Koch: medieval music and music
from Spain. There are also a number of
traditional Celtic and Australian songs
and ballads, but they are just the exception
to prove the rule.
"She Moved through the Fair"
contains Celtic and Australian ballads
plus Dances from Spain, which Gareth Koch
in his notes states are original compositions
written in the flamenco genre, but at
least the very first piece, Lavender
and Gossip, has a main theme that
can be tracked down to at least 1840 but
probably is older than that. A musical
dentist in Barcelona seems to be the oldest
known originator. In 1941 guitarist Vincente
Gomèz played this music in the
Tyrone Power movie Blood and Sand
and had the year before published the
piece in the US as Gipsy Theme Music.
The French director René Clément
made Jeux interdit in 1951 and
then asked Narciso Yepes to compile the
music, where this tune again appeared
– composed by Yepes - and was later recorded
by Miriam Makeba as Forbidden Games.
In Sweden guitarist Roland Bengtsson recorded
it in 1961, entitled Romance d’amour
and according to the record label composed
by Gomèz. In 1966 the melody become
a hit in Sweden with a text by "poet
laureate" Bo Setterlind and sung
by Lill Lindfors, Du är den ende
(You are the only one). There are recordings
by both Yepes and Göran Söllscher.
I have had the opportunity to listen to
several of these versions and there are
small rhythmical differences but in the
main it’s the same tune and that Gareth
Koch treats it as a Rumba flamenca only
shows that the possibilities for variation
are inexhaustible. Generally he catches
the Spanish atmosphere admirably and often
uses the body of the instument for percussive
effects. There are other influences as
well, as in Bargaining with the Goathead
(track 2), which is a Moorish dance with
Arabic flavour, dating back to the 15th
century. Among the Celtic and Australian
ballads there are several that are catchily
beautiful in all their simplicity, try
the short O the Springtime it Brings
on the Shearing (track 9) or tracks
20 and 21, Sally Gardens and Ballad,
pensively and utterly beautifully played
and coming as calm relaxation after some
of the foregoing rhythmic activity, but
far from being wall-paper music they are
so exquisitely performed, and arranged,
that they make you sit up and prick your
ears out of sheer delight. Among the gems
the often symcopated Van Diemen Suite
(tracks 11 – 14) should also be mentioned.
Over all clever programming makes it easy
to play the the disc straight through
without any feeling of monotony, since
the groups of pieces – and the individual
pieces within the groups – are so nicely
contrasted. At the same time the fact
that everything is composed and/or arranged
by Gareth Koch creates a strong sense
of unity.
When it comes to the second disc, Carl
Orff’s Carmina Burana, I was initially
sceptical, to say the least, about "translating"
this music from the large choral and orchestral
forces that it was conceived for into
one of the most intimate of musical media:
the guitar. The strange thing is that
it works more often than not. The dynamic
contrasts are of course reduced, compared
to Orff’s original intensions, but Gareth
Koch has a wide dynamic range for a guitarist,
and if we move the whole dynamic spectrum
a bit downwards, so to speak, he covers
very much of the terrace dynamics that
Orff very clearly builds the music around.
It goes without saying that the overwhelming,
almost physically tangible impression
a large chorus and a full-size orchestra
can make are nowhere within reach of a
solo-guitar, but he manages very well
to "orchestrate" the guitar
and finds lots of appropriate colours.
Track 6, Floret silva, is a good
example, where he also uses tremolo and
drum effects. As a whole the orchestral
colours are not crucial in this work,
which also exists in an "original"
version for soloists, chorus, two pianos
and four percussionists. I have heard
that version and the difference between
this one and the full orchestra version
is marginal when it comes to colours.
For readers who are interested there is
a BIS recording of that "chamber"
version, and very good it is too.
Gareth Koch has a rhythmic drive that
makes this rather simple and four-square
music live and O Fortuna, the beginning
and the end of the whole work, is really
powerful, more so at the end when one
has got used to the concept.
It has to be mentioned
that there are several omissions from
the complete score; around 1/3 is actually
missing and I think Koch is right about
cutting for instance the lament of the
roasted swan, which probably wouldn’t
make much of an impression on the guitar.
In the Spring section Ecce
gratum is missing and In the
Tavern is represented solely by
the last piece: In taberna quando
sumus. Of the nine pieces in The
Court of Love only four are played
and Blansiflor et Helena is also
missing. As some kind of compensation
he plays two Trouvère-songs from
the 13th century, one of
them being from Adam de la Halle’s Jeu
de Robin et de Marion.
Even though I was just
as sceptical as Gareth Koch presumes
in his booklet essay – before I started
listening – in the end I was deeply
impressed: by the playing first and
foremost, but also by the arrangements
and the fact that it works so well on
the guitar. It takes some time getting
used to and it can never express the
full scope of a "standard"
performance, but it is a fascinating
alternative that I will certainly return
to.
"The Fragrance
of Paradise" takes as its starting
point some myths and legends of the
Middle Ages. Gareth Koch has also had
a browse through some of the around
1400 trouvère melodies that have
survived to the present day and the
documentation lists these sources: "Based
on ...". But he is also careful
to point out that he has no intention
to recreate the actual sound of the
12th and 13th
centuries: "Only the ingredients
are medieval – the recipes and method
are original." He tries to – and
manages very well – to create a medieval
athmosphere and he often tunes his instrument
unconventionally to give an impression
of ancient times. He also frequently
uses percussive sounds but, as he also
points out, they are actually always
played on the guitar with different
techniques. As before he is good at
building a programme that is always
full of variety: there are lively pieces,
even wildly dissonant ones, but also
hushed and meditative melodies. Another
fascinating issue!
The "España!"
disc takes us back to Spain, although
his compatriot Richard Charlton’s Afterthoughts
(tracks 3 – 6) is only "second-hand
Spanish", where he has "attempted
to capture some of the character traits
of the composers mentioned". Inspired
by Torroba, Debussy, Falla and Ponce
they could be labelled pastiches, but
they are finely crafted pieces with
nothing in them to suggest that they
were written as recently as 1994. This
is certainly music written for the guitar;
much of the rest is, as far as I can
see, arrangements, probably by Koch
himself, although the booklet texts
gives no information about that. The
Albéniz and Granados pieces are
definitely piano music, but the playing
of them (tracks 1, 2 and 7) is so enormously
vital, almost frantic, that one doesn’t
miss the piano. Contributing to this
almost larger than life feeling is possibly
that he plays them on a custom-built
eight-string guitar.
On seven tracks (9
– 15) he is joined by cellist Herwig
Tachezi, who is a fine player with a
smooth, silken tone. One of the highlights
is Albéniz’s Córdoba
(track 10) one of the longest pieces
on this disc, while Granados’ Spanish
Dance No. 5 (track 11) is surprisingly
slow and inward.
Joaquín Nin’s
Seguida Española (tracks
12 – 15) was a pleasant acquaintance,
and in so far as the combination cello
and guitar appears very often in recital,
both the second and fourth movements
would be ideal encores. The Rodrigo
Adagio, aranged for solo guitar,
works well without the orchestra and
to round of this entertaining recital
Gareth Koch plays Villa-Lobos’s Prelude
No. 4, which indeed is originally
conceived for guitar.
One could regret that
there is little in the booklet text
about the actual music; instead we get
a very interesting essay about the development
of the guitar, which is compensation
enough.
I hope I have made
it clear that I have enjoyed this box
very much and I am convinced that it
will appeal to many listeners, guitar
lovers or just "normal" music
lovers. At the price nobody will regret
buying this set – and there is no need
to play it straight through at one sitting,
as poor reviewers sometimes (have to)
do. Strongly recommended.
Göran Forsling
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ABC
CLASSICS 476 7496 [56:41 + 42:42 + 60:19 +
69:07] 
