Charles Moore, the brother of Deacon John and Sybil Kein, plays guitar with both siblings and has appeared with Kein on her CDs exploring traditional Creole and European folk songs. Here Moore puts together a program of classical guitar music which, it turns out, is his real love.
It’s an interesting program, mostly of shorter pieces, with Bach compositions opening the CD. But Moore is not content with turning out familiar Bach; his real challenge clearly is with the Sylvius Leopold Weiss composition, “Fantasie.” Weiss was a contemporary of Bach’s, and is said to have competed in improvisation with him. Weiss’s lute works are very challenging, and it is in his numerous fantasies that one gains an appreciation of their difficulty. Moore explains, “I arranged this wonderful piece to be played by repeating the middle section over again which, to the best of my knowledge, cannot be found by any other artist. Weiss was well-known for his improvisational skill, so I took the liberty of repeating the composer’s only loop-hole, which I exploited to lengthen the piece’s artistic beauty.”
The jewel in the collection is Francisco Tarrega’s piece “Memories of the Alhambra.” It’s a familiar piece of music, used in Mike Oldfield’s soundtrack for the film The Killing Fields (under the title “Étude”) and also in the film Sideways. Here Moore’s skill is evident as the melody is subtly revealed. Tarrega’s “Lagrima Prelude”—the “Tearful Prelude”— is another highlight, taken from a larger work “16 Preludes for Guitar.” As Moore explains, it “is contemplative, full of emotion, expressive, simple and complex, joyful and sad.”
Moore arranges a series of short “interludes” from Vincenzo Galilei’s pieces “Saltarello” and “Bianco Fiore,” but rather than build anticipation for what comes next, they simply interrupt the proceedings. Eliminating them and/or presenting them as standalone pieces would have made a better presentation.
Is Moore abandoning his rock ’n’ roll career? I don’t think so, but he clearly wants to be known and respected as a classical guitarist. This CD makes a good argument for acceptance and given the title Volume 1, the second volume is much anticipated.
