Born in Wales and now a Seattle music professor, guitarist Michael Partington played a wide variety of solo pieces at the Pavilion Theatre, whose size and acoustic is perfect for classical guitar.
Equally at home in Baroque, classical, modern and contemporary repertoires, Michael had arranged the two Scarlatti sonatas, which he played for guitar; originally they were for harpsichord.
Michael spoke briefly about each piece with some fascinating anecdotes and insights into the challenges of transposing keyboard music to guitar, and likewise the lute elegy by Sylvius Weiss, which he also played.
The recital opened with Mauro Giuliani’s Variations opus 102 and closed with Joaquin Rodrigo’s Tres Piezas Españolas, which were written for the great Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia.
Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas were probably conceived in pairs, with the first usually being more contemplative and the second more extrovert. Scarlatti spent much of his life in Spain and must often have heard the guitar. Partington told us there was much in these sonatas, K 208 and K 209, that makes them suited to the guitar.
He was able to demonstrate fully what the guitar is capable of in Six Preludes by the contemporary composer Bryan Johanson. The influences on this music range from jazz and folk to The Supremes, and Partington made his guitar toll like a bell, as well as being at times rhythmically percussive and sublimely lyrical.
He showed equal virtuosity in an elegy by the Baroque lutanist Sylvius Weiss, with much stringbending and other techniques in evidence. A fine concert.
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