Guitarist David Russell Returns to San Francisco

Guitarist David Russell (courtesy of SFP)

Last night guitarist David Russell returned to Herbst Theatre, resuming his regular visits for concerts hosted jointly by the San Francisco Performances (SFP) Guitar Series and the Dynamite Guitars series curated by the OMNI Foundation for the Performing Arts. Russell “rode out” the COVID-19 pandemic by preparing videos of his performances, the most memorable of which was a program of performances in three different twelfth-century churches, all of which are located along the Camino de Santiago, the path of pilgrimage to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. SFP made that video available through its Front Row Travels series, and it can be seen through the above hyperlink to the series home page.

Last night’s program was very much a journey of discovery. As usual, Russell combined music written for guitar with arrangements suitable to that instrument’s expressiveness. Indeed, Scott Cmiel’s program notes included an amusing anecdote about the composer Isaac Albéniz, whose catalog consisted primarily of music for solo piano. HIs contemporary, Francisco Tárrega was probably the first to transcribe selections of that piano music for guitar. After hearing some of those transcriptions, Albéniz claimed that his “music had found its rightful home” (Cmiel’s words).

Russell selected three Albéniz compositions. The “central” offering was the “Malagueña” from the Opus 165 collection España. It was framed on either side by movements from Opus 47, the first Suite española, beginning with “Granada” and concluding with “Asturias.” The title “Malagueña” refers to the Spanish city of Málaga; and it tends to be more frequently associated with the piano music of another composer, Ernesto Lecuona, whose version was elevated to “pop standards.” What is interesting is that both composers drew upon not only a common underlying rhythmic pattern but also a thematic idiom or two.

“Asturias” has become a popular favorite among guitar recitalists. For that matter, Albéniz liked it so much that he “transplanted” it into a second suite. It became the second movement of his Opus 71 Recuerdos de Viaje (travel memories), where it was given the title “Leyenda” (legend).

Russell provided his own transcriptions of keyboard music by two Baroque composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Johann Kuhnau. The Scarlatti selections were two consecutive entries in Ralph Kirkpatrick’s catalog, which may have been intended to be performed together as a “mini-suite.” Both are in the key of D major, the Cantabile K. 490 and the Allegro K. 491.

Less familiar were the two Kuhnau partitas in A major and D major, respectively. Both of these had the same structure, a Preludium followed by four dance movements: Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue. Those that know Kuhnau at all probably know him as Johann Sebastian Bach’s predecessor at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. However, both of the suites are clearly those of a distinctive voice; and the D major Gigue even showed some rather bold signs of what would later become Fifties Rock!

The program was framed by two extended compositions. The opening selection was Fernando Sor’s Opus 54, entitled simply “Morceau de Concert” (concert piece). The program concluded with a three-movement sonatina that Jorge Morel dedicated to Russell. Taken as a whole, Russell’s performance was an engaging journey, even if he said almost nothing about the two encores he took!