Lyle Sheffler’s Old First Concerts Debut

Guitarist Lyle Sheffler (from his Old First Concerts event page)

Readers may recall that, about two months ago, this site reported on a live-streamed solo recital by guitarist Lyle Sheffler, which took place as part of the Manny’s Musical Sundays concert series. Last night Sheffler gave his Old First Concerts (O1C) debut recital. About 80 minutes in duration, the program surveyed the works of composers with different nationalities. As in the past, Old First Concerts has archived the video; and it now has its own YouTube Web page.

The program began in Brazil with four explorations of the choro genre by Heitor Villa-Lobos. Sheffler began with the first of the fourteen compositions in the Chôros collection, followed by three of the movements from the Suite popular brasileira, “Mazurka-Choro,” “Schottish-Choro,” and “Chorinho.” This suite was composed while the composer was living in Paris and served up what amounted to Brazilian impressions of European dance forms. Sheffler was particularly good at giving each influence its proper due.

He then shifted over to Cuba for a selection by Leo Brouwer. The 1956 lullaby, “Canción de cuna (Berceuse),” was the first piece in Dos temas populares cubanos (two popular Cuban themes). This one was an arrangement of Emilio Grenet’s “Drume negrita,” reflecting African influences on Cuban music.

The first half of the program then concluded in Austria with a Chinese-influenced composition by Dietmar Ungerank. The composition consisted of four compositions based on the imagery of Chinese painting, the last of which, “Land Circus,” incorporated a Chinese folk melody. All of the thematic material was based on a whole-tone scale, which required alternative tuning of the guitar. The four pieces were preceded by an “overture” entitled “Intonation.” The result was an experience of sonorities that were as striking as they were subtle.

The intermission was followed by two selections evoking Moorish Spain. The first of these was Miguel Llobet’s transcription of “Córdoba,” the fourth movement from Isaac Albéniz’ Opus 232 piano suite, Chants d’Espagne (songs of Spain). This was followed by Francisco Tárrega’s solo guitar composition “Capricho árabe.”

The repertoire then shifted to three aspects of music north of the English Channel. As he had done for his Manny’s program, Sheffler arranged a sixteenth-century composition, this time John Dowland’s “My Lady Hunsdon’s Puffe.” He then revisited Peter Maxwell Davies’ “Farewell to Stromness,” which he had played at Manny’s. This time he took the time to explain the political protest behind the music. He finished the set with his take on a traditional Irish reel, “The Bucks of Oranmore.” The program then concluded in Paraguay with one of the “Danza Paraguaya” compositions by Agustín Barrios (often known as Mangoré).

While there was no audience to call for an encore, Sheffler provided one. He played a solo guitar arrangement of the “Danza del molinero (Farruca)” (dance of the miller) music from Manuel de Falla’s score for the two-act ballet The Three-Cornered Hat. All of this made for an evening that was as informative as it was affable. Following up on his Manny’s gig, Sheffler seemed much more at ease in playing for an audience that he could not see, and his explanatory remarks before the selections came across as more relaxed and prepared. O1C has an impressive history of solo guitar recitals, and last night’s performance made for an engaging addition to that history.