Welcome to
Bruckner for Guitar
Bruckner symphonies for guitar? Not really, or perhaps not yet. Although Bruckner is best known for his large orchestral and choral works, there are still plenty of small-scale masterpieces to choose from. It is a fact nevertheless that he is one of major composers whose works practically have not been arranged for guitar so far. Perhaps they should not be played on the guitar? On the other hand, if you can play Dowland, Bach and Chopin on the guitar, why not Bruckner?
It must be conceded that some attempts have already been made to play Bruckner's music on the guitar as related in my second blog here. Successful attempts? I do not think that I can make an impartial judgment here because the aim of this website is present my own arrangements. The first of these can be listened to on the Music page, to which I am going to add new recordings soon.
Why Bruckner?
Anton Bruckner’s greatness is shown not only in his symphonies, masses and other large-scale works. It is also found in shorter pieces, such as minor sacred works, motets (such as Ave Maria, Locus iste, Christus factus est, Virga Jesse, Vexilla regis and many others), secular choral works (e.g. Am Grabe, Trösterin Musik), works for the organ (Postlude, Perger Prelude).
Bruckner’s music is worth exploring and performing because it is a successful synthesis of qualities which are normally hard to reconcile: religious and romantic, archaic and modern, with rich harmony based on elaborate counterpoint and simple and direct themes in highly complex structures. Most of his motets and other works are undisputable masterpieces.
Why the guitar?
So far Bruckner's music has been arranged for the organ as well as brass and other ensembles. Guitar arrangements make it possible to experience these valuable pieces in another medium. Whereas the guitar is suitable for polyphonic works, with certain limitations, it has a distinct advantage as each string has a unique timbre and a range of pitches partly overlapping the neighboring strings, often making it possible to assign a string or a pair of strings to a particular voice in a choir. In numerous places, harmonics, which tend to be longer and more sonorous, may be employed to add novel timbres and sound effects.
I believe that these arrangements make great guitar pieces, which can enrich the repertoire in a significant way with high-quality works, for concert, education and individual enjoyment. In a way, they bridge a gap in the guitar repertoire as representative instances of music which is both romantic without being sentimental, thoroughly polyphonic and with rich, extended harmony. Playing them on the guitar will emphasize certain melodic and harmonic elements which may be heard differently in performances of the original compositions.
So the project aims is to show this remarkable music in a new light and to enlarge the guitar repertoire with new valuable arrangements.
I believe this website may be especially interesting to two groups of music lovers:
- Bruckner lovers who are willing to find out how his music may fare when arranged for guitar (hoping they will recognize the arrangements as real Bruckner music)
- guitar music lovers and guitarists willing to listen and play new exciting and challenging pieces (hoping they will recognize the arrangements as good guitar music).
Why now?
This website was launched around 4 September 2024, the bicentenary of Bruckner's birth.
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.
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.
