Patrik Kleemola plays 12 Études op. 6 by Fernando Sor

00: 00 Étude No. 1 in D major
01:35 Étude No. 2 in A major
02:42 Étude No. 3 in E major
04:14 Étude No. 4 in G major
05:58 Étude No. 5 in C major
08:35 Étude No. 6 in A major
10:29 Étude No. 7 in D major
13:09 Étude No. 8 in C major
15:12 Étude No. 9 in D minor
18:11 Étude No. 10 in C major
21:25 Étude No. 11 in E minor
24:49 Étude No. 12 in A major

“All the salons are talking about a Spaniard named Sor who plays the most difficult pieces on the guitar and who plays the various parts himself alone: nothing can equal the correctness, the brilliance and the precision of his playing; those who have the privilege to hear him can be sure of experiencing both surprise and pleasure.”
The Paris newspaper La Quotidienne 15th November 1814.

Fernando Sor's 12 Études op. 6 (originally titled Studio for the Spanish Guitar without the opus number and published in two sets) was the first set of studies for guitar Sor ever published. This work (dedicated to his pupils) was published around 1815 in London soon after Sor arrived in the capital from Paris and in which he would stay until the autumn of 1822. This period was probably the most successful one of his entire career with the tremendous success of the ballet Cendrillon and other ballet works. His new set of arietts for voice and piano were very popular and compared to the appearance of a new novel by Sir Walter Scott, and indeed during this London period he published more vocal music than guitar music. His imitation of Crescentini's (famous Italian soprano castrato) singing was highly praised as documented in the English newspapers at the time and indeed besides being the most famous performer and teacher on the guitar, Sor became a sought-after singing teacher in London.

Today the most played works from Sor's oeuvre are probably his studies for guitar, which he wrote more than a hundred. He himself called these studies/lessons/exercises/progressive pieces depending on the planned difficulty level of the pieces. Sor as a guitar composer was ahead of his time with his uncompromising approach to the musical content with proper voice leading writing. This “correct” way of writing Sor felt was necessary in developing a student's musical ear as he reflected in his Méthode pour la guitare (Paris, 1830). To write even a simple study for guitar in two separate contrapuntal voices quickly becomes unreachable for beginners (as every guitar teacher knows). So the guitar-composers of the early 19th century in general favoured open string bass lines, with melodic lines and virtuosic arpeggios/passage work in the other voice(s). Sor felt that this kind of writing for the instrument kept the guitar as a secondary instrument, as often despised by music critics.

A side effect of this uncompromising approach to the instrument is that Sor's “easy pieces for students” are far from easy. I think that the more Sor taught, the more he knew how to write in the “correct manner” within reasonable challenges for a beginner. His last opus for solo guitar, the 25 lessons op. 60, is a very good example of this. His first attempt in the genre, the 12 Études op. 6, is in comparison a pretty fearless package and provides challenges even for an advanced player (not that these were designed for beginners, but dedicated to his own pupils, however). Many of these Études from op. 6 are familiar ones for the guitar students and not least since the famous 20th-century Segovia edition of 20 Studies by Sor includes eight Études from op. 6.

In recent years I've been approaching Sor's works following his own principles he has demonstrated in his Méthode. Sor's technique was revolutionary when it comes to the left hand, whereas his right hand technique was somewhat old-fashioned with the avoidance of the annular finger. Working on the Études op. 6 has been an interesting journey to see how my right hand technique, as a player of music also from the 20th and 21st century, relates to Sor's own peculiar technique. For the sound quality it has been useful for me to utilize the annular a bit more than Sor would have and this has to do with playing with nails (Sor famously didn't use nails). So when it comes to the right hand, I'm rather following the approach of Dionisio Aguado, Sor's rival and friend who did play with nails but on Sor's suggestion didn't use nail on the thumb.

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Guitar: A copy of Fabricatore (c. 1813) by Gioachino Giussani
Microphones: Stereo pair of DPA 4011a Cardioid microphones
Audio interface: Prism Sound Atlas
Videocameras: Canon EOS 200D
Lights: Ledgo LG-E268C
Location: Marttilan kirkko

Produced by Patrik Kleemola

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