Narciso Yepes, Recital with 10 Strings Classical Guitar

narciso-yepes-classical-guitar-10-stringsThe legendary Narciso Yepes performs an 80 minute solo recital, plus 25 minutes of encores, on the ten-string guitar of his own conception, at the Teatro Real de Madrid, in 1979. This is without electronic amplification of the guitar, as Yepes always insisted, but with his improved sitting position and revolutionary right hand technique, which, together with his 10-string guitar’s sympathetic resonance, optimize tone quality and projection. (The microphone seen is for the video’s audio recording only, not for amplification.)

As one reviewer wrote about another recital:

‘Guitar concerts in Carnegie Hall can be a frustrating affair. Narciso Yepes brought his 10-string invention there last Thursday, and suddenly it was not a problem hearing that instrument in that space.
‘His guitar fills the hall with sound. The musician who plucks it is one of the finest in the world today. The second half of the program was devoted entirely to 20th-century works, an intriguing survey of music – for an apparently limited instrument – that was at once engrossing yet challenging. Of greatest interest were Eduardo Sainz de la Maza’s ”Laberinto,” with its jazzy undercurrent, and Leonardo Balada’s supremely virtuosic, exciting ”Analogias.”
‘Mr. Yepes, who appears to be not much larger than his oversize instrument, is a selfless musician, putting the music before his personality in what could serve as the ideal of any performing artist but so rarely is. One left his recital stimulated and elated, with nary a thought as to the potential limitations of the instrument, dynamically or musically.’

For more information: http://www.tenstringguitar.info/

 

VIDEO: Narciso Yepes, Recital with 10 String Classical Guitar

 

 

Standard tuning of the Yepes ten-string guitar:

7=C2 [lowest string]
8=A#2 / Bb2
9=G#2 / Ab2
10=F#2 / Gb2

 

Recital Programme:

KUEHNEL (transcr. Yepes): Suite for 11-course Baroque Lute – 00:00

-Allemande 00:00
-Courante 03:38
-Sarabande 05:00
-Menuet 07:28
-Gigue 09:20

BACH (transcr. Yepes): Sarabande & Double in B minor BWV 1002 – 11:43

-Sarabande 11:43
-Double 15:26

BACH (transcr. Yepes/Enesco): Chaconne in D minor – 18:46

SOR (rev. Yepes): Fantasie Villageoise, op. 52 – 33:38

SOR (rev. Yepes): Variations sur “Marlborough s’en va-t-en guerre”, op. 28 – 42:37

PERIS: Elegia para Gisela (for 10-string guitar) – 48:29

KUCERA: Diary (Homage to Che Guevara) – 55:50

-Day of Love 55:50
-Day of Hate 58:20
-Day of Decision 01:00:27
-Day of Battle 01:02:25
-Day of Death 01:04:25

BROUWER: Tarantos (written for Narciso Yepes) – 01:08:41

VILLA-LOBOS: Etudes – 1:13:14

-Etude no. 1 – 1:13:14
-Etude no. 11 – 1:14:56
-Etude no. 12 – 1:18:32

…ENCORES:

BACARISSE (rev. Yepes): Passepied – 1:23:33

ANONYMOUS (arr. Yepes): 11th century Irish March (Brian Boru’s March) – 1:27:42

TARREGA: Recuerdos de la Alhambra – 1:33:20

GALILEI (transcr. Yepes): Saltarello – 1:38:35

RUIZ-PIPO: Danza – 1:42:02

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One comment

  1. Narciso Yepes: a very mixed performer.

    Fantastic in some works (Recuerdos de la Alhambra)…
    …but bad in other works (the Sor Etudes come to mind, which he performs akin to military goose step)

    Even the writer Steven Seidenman, while writing an appreciation on Yepes had to confess: “Yepes sometimes conveys the impression more of a scientist than a musician. His renditions may at times seem rather cold and mechanical, and while his playing is usually remarkably precise, his tone is often harsh and flat.”
    Source: http://donaldsauter.com/washington-guitar-society-02.pdf

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