Hailed by The New York Times as Fresh Hot and Headed for Fame The Newman and Oltman Guitar Duo explores the farthest reaches of the ensemble literature performing and recording the premieres of many new works.As theensemble-in-residence at New York's Mannes College of Music the duos concert tours have taken them to forty-nine states as well as to Asia Europe South America Canada and the Caribbean. Newman and Oltman have collaboratedwith such diverse artists as mezzo soprano Frederica von Stade and folk singer Sally Rogers violinist Arnold Steinhardt and fiddler Jay Ungar Celtic artist Seamus Egan and the Lark and TurtleIsland String Quartets. The duo'sten critical praised recordings for MusicMasters/BMG and Sheffield Lab Audiophile reveal the extraordinary stylistic and cultural breadth of their repertoire.For this artist series video Newman and Oltman perform eightAlbeniz masterpieces: the complete original Suite espanola (Grandad Sevilla Cuba Cataluna) Tango Rumores de la Caleta (Malaguena) Prelude (Asturias/Leyenda) from Cantos de Espana and the hauntily beautiful Asturie. Themusic for all of the pieces preformed here is available from Mel Bay Publications as well as with additional selections on the Music Masters BMG CD: Cantos de Espana/Songs of Spain.

Par BARTOK BELA. Like so many famous virtuosic works, Bartók’s Sonata for Solo Violin was said, by its commissioner, Yehudi Menuhin, at first sight, to be unplayable! Of course, Menuhin soon changed his opinion, later describing the work as the most important composition for solo violin since Bach. The original work used the full array of violin techniques such as stopped harmonics, left-hand pizzicato and quarter tones. These demands gave arranger, Christophe Dejour, much pause for thought when preparing this arrangement, not least in how to produce quarter tones on the guitar! Fortunately, both Bartók and Menuhin came to his rescue here. Menuhin had had problems playing these at speed and Bartók agreed that they were only for “colour” and accepted an alternative version Menuhin presented to him. The Sonata also contains several compositional techniques that are highly appropriate for the guitar such as chord progressions, contrapuntal motion and rhythmic sharpness, allowing Dejour to produce an arrangement that requires great skill to play, just as the original violin version demanded of Yehudi Menuhin./ Répertoire / Guitare