Welcome to
Bruckner for Guitar
Bruckner symphonies for guitar? If the guitar is a small orchestra, perhaps we could have small arrangements of those gigantic works like model cities or monuments that can stand on your desk? The intention behind this website is much more modest as I decided to start from motets and short choral and instrumental pieces, believing that they are valuable masterpieces in their own right. You may not share this belief, but then it is enough to listen to such motets as Ave Maria, Locus iste, Christus factus est, Virga Jesse, Vexilla regis and many others), or even less known secular choral works (e.g. Am Grabe, Trösterin Musik) or works for the organ (Postlude, Perger Prelude).
Some time ago I imagined that such works can be easily transferred onto the six-string texture and the only reason why practically nobody* had such an idea was that for most people, Bruckner’s music and guitar music are planets in different galaxies. I soon discovered though that this has been probably only one of the reasons.
*I have written "practically nobody" because actually some attempts have already been made to play Bruckner's music on the guitar - see my
second blog. Successful attempts? Success can be measured in quite a few different ways but I do not think that I can make an impartial judgment here since the aim of this website is present my own arrangements. The first of these can be listened to on the Music page.
It is worth noting that Bruckner's music has been arranged many times, mainly for the the organ as well as brass but ocassionally also for other ensembles. So perhaps it is the guitar which is an inadequate instrument for such music? (I am discussing this question in my first blog.) Considering, however, that you can play not only Dowland and Bach but also Wagner, Beethoven and Chopin on the guitar, why not Bruckner?
I can think of one important reason for playing Bruckner’s pieces on the guitar. If you play the guitar or listen to guitar music, you will agree that most of the famous works for the instrument, however great, challenging, imaginative, captivating pieces they are, tend to be sentimental, sometimes quite excessively (for example, Spanish Romance, Tarrega, Villa-Lobos, Albeniz, Granados, Lauro and many others). Bruckner’s music is remarkable in that it is thoroughly romantic in terms of harmony and expression but totally devoid of any sentimentality (a few insignificant exceptions such as early piano pieces do prove the rule here). So Bruckner guitar arrangements may open up completely new guitar soundscapes.
I have imagined that this website may interest two groups of music lovers and musicians:
- Bruckner lovers who may recognize the arrangements as real Bruckner music,
- guitar music lovers and guitarists who may recognize the arrangements as good guitar music.
Of course some, or even all of them may find otherwise. And then these two groups may be quite divergent and small in number. I also bear in mind the possibility that but for me, they could denote empty sets.
I made a great effort to launch this website around 4 September 2024, the bicentenary of Bruckner's birth, but long before I realized that this may be a project for many years to come, maybe a lifetime project.
The website is organised as follows:
Music - here you can listen to recordings grouped in several thematic playlists:
Early sacred music, Secular choral works, Middle motets, Late motets, Miscellaneous works.
About the Music - here each piece is described. This section is also cross-linked with the previous one.
Blog - here I discuss various issues related to Bruckner, guitar and the connection between the two.
- The first post Bruckner for Guitar - a Contradiction in Terms? discusses an apparent tension between the nature of Bruckner's music and the sound of classical guitar.
- The second post Virgin Territory is about arrangements of Bruckner's music for guitar until now.
- The third post Bruckner Problems at a Micro-Scale shows that problems with Bruckner's large-scale works, such as multiple versions, completions and interpretative issues, can be also found in shorter works which I have arranged for guitar.
- The fourth post Bruckner and Brevity, discusses his shortest pieces.
About me - here I reveal who I am and present some basic personal information about me and my project.
At the bottom of each page, there is a contact form and an invitation to join my mailing list so you can send me messages or be alerted to new features on this website.
