Angenendt Guitar Duo Plays Isaac Albéniz

This morning the OMNI on-Location video series, curated by the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts, released its latest installment. Less than six minutes in duration, the video, which has been uploaded to its own YouTube Web page, presents an arrangement for two guitars of “Mallorca,” the Opus 202 composed by Isaac Albéniz originally for solo piano. The guitarists are the husband-and-wife duo of Tristan and Martina Angenendt, who perform as the Angenendt Guitar Duo. For this performance both of them played guitars built by Kazuo Sato.

Overhead drone shot of Angenendt playing before one of the castle walls (screen shot from the video being discussed)

It is worth noting that both of the performers contributed to the production of this video. Tristan was responsible for the audio, no small matter, since the duo was performing outdoors in front of the ruins of a twelfth-century castle. Martina’s video production made it a point to provide the listener with a tour of those ruins, enhanced on at least one occasion by footage captured from a drone managed by Johannes Mayr. The YouTube Web page includes a brief historical account of the history behind those ruins, initially a castle built in 1150 in Burgruine Losenstein (in Upper Austria). It was originally built not only to defend against invaders but also as protection for the prominent transportation route along the Enns River.

No information was provided regarding the arrangement for the performance. It is not out of the question that the members of this duo were playing by ear, having agreed in advance to some basic set of “ground rules.” When the video is not exploring the castle, one can easily observe the finger work of both of them to appreciate the origins of their arrangement.

Finally, it is important to remind readers that there is no charge for admission to the aforementioned YouTube Web page. The production of these videos relies on support by the viewers. A Web page has been created for processing contributions, and any visits made prior to the streaming itself will be most welcome.