Fernando Sor Six Etudes from op. 60

[Raintreesilence]

I've has chosen Six Etudes from op. 60 and will publish them every Monday from the 1st of July 2019. July 2019 marks the 180th anniversary of Fernando Sor's (1778-1839) death.

Fernando Sor's Introduction to the study of the guitar op. 60 is his last work for solo guitar. In this collection of 25 Etudes he masterfully combines the challenge of writing Etudes that are not too difficult for the hands yet writing them respecting the art of proper voice leading and thus developing the player's musical sensibilities.

Hope you enjoy!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp_r...XJ8Roj5tFOpEGv

[Cedar51]

Very nice! Op.60 is a great set. I used to played this stuff until I had sore fingers, Fernando Sor fingers

[Raintreesilence]

Thank you!

I agree op. 60 is a great set and he very cleverly uses the instrument to display quite beautiful musical things which are not too demanding for the hands. He tried that with other opus number such as op. 31 and 35, but the etudes always ended being pretty demanding.

For comparison, I recorded in Youtube before the whole op. 35 which Sor calls "24 very easy exercises for guitar".

They're not that easy really...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnFa...g&index=8&t=0s

[rick-slo]

Well done. Nice clear sound from the small body guitar.

[Raintreesilence]

Cheers rick-slo!

[Kerbie]

Wow, that's lovely. I look forward to hearing some more.

[bobotar]

Very nice. I've not heard these before and am looking forward to more as they come along. Also, very nice looking guitar.
Bob

[Raintreesilence]

Thanks Kerbie and Bob!

Here's another one from op. 60. With this etude Sor has written an interesting short little piece using only the first three frets of the guitar and going through three different tonalities (C-F-D minor). Since there's no tempo indication I decided to take quite a fast tempo with only one beat per bar.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft2b...FOpEGv&index=2

[Kerbie]

Outstanding! I liked that one even more than the first one. You get a remarkable tone out of the little guitar. Very well played.

By the way, I embedded your videos for you. You can see what I put between the youtube tags by just clicking "EDIT."

[Raintreesilence]

Thanks a lot Kerbie!

[Raintreesilence]

Here's another beautiful Etude by Sor which is not heard very often. In the melody line one has to take care of the rests which the composer has marked meticulously. In the repetition of the A section the score shows us how the melody is treated with nice little emblishments. This was obviously the way Sor would normally do (also by improvising) in concerts when there was a section of a piece which was repeated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDMT...v&index=4&t=0s

[Raintreesilence]

To continue my journey with Sor's op. 60 here's an Etude in B minor.
Fernando Sor used this tonality with a good success in several Etudes he wrote for the instrument. Like in this Etude, it gives a special melancholy character for the music.

https://youtu.be/UbMV4hx8MzY?list=PL...XJ8Roj5tFOpEGv

[Raintreesilence]

For the penultimate Etude in my Sor set op. 60 I've chosen a fast one in G major. Once again Sor hasn't written any tempo marking or dynamics thus leaving many possible routes for the interpreter. This time my choice was to approach the piece with perpetuum mobile style with maybe a hint of tarantella rhythm.

https://youtu.be/RErsV_ZOTbM

[Raintreesilence]

My little homage to Fernando Sor's 180th anniversary comes to an end with this elegiac Andante. Please hear this and the other 5 Studies from op. 60 on the playlist below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoYY...FOpEGv&index=6