Flöte (Songs for Trio Volume I)

Already more than 25 years ago I had the idea to combine two very different musical genres, namely rock music and 'classical music'.

As a guitarist, I was already at home in these two worlds as a teenager and over the years wrote numerous songs for rock bands in which I sang and played the guitar myself.

Eight of the present ten 'Songs for Trio' are originally rock songs which I then rewrote for the instrumentation of flute, violin or viola and concert guitar. It is a selection of over sixty compositions for this chamber music instrumentation. The "Trio con spirito" has almost all of them in its repertoire and plays them regularly at public concerts.

Here, the guitar not only has the task of laying a harmonic carpet for the flute and violin, in many places it comes to the fore as a soloist itself.

Otherwise, all three instruments act as equals and form a common body of sound. I am convinced that the performing musicians will find their very own approach to my arrangements.

Table of Contents

1st) Georgia G major Duration: 8 min

2) Go West G major Duration: 4 min

3) Those Lucky Days D major Duration: 8 min

4th) Chorus Bresilienne E minor Duration: 5 min

5th) The Reaper A minor Duration: 4 min

6th) Mississippi E flat major Duration: 3 min

7th) Rondo Anatolis B minor Duration: 6 min

8th) Down C Major Duration: 5 min

9th) Tango di Vienna F minor Duration: 5 min

10th) Rambling Rose E-Major Duration: 2 min

Georgia is a ragtime player and travels through the southern states of America at the beginning of the 20th century. An adventurous train ride brings her to San Antonio,

where she meets the blues legend Robert Johnson. After many years she returns home.

Song number 2 begins a little bumpy and draggy before an ostinato bass figure lets the piece pick up speed, much in the style of the great boogie woogie pianists of the 1920s and 30s.

Two very different musical ideas compete with each other in the third song. A waltz theme in three-four time begins and is then replaced by a floating, melancholy melody in alla breve time. These ideas change several times before the waltz ends the piece.

A firework of Brazilian rhythm and joy of playing is unleashed in the fourth song. Here it is primarily the violin that comes to the fore as a soloist, in dialogue with the flute. The guitarist accentuates the chord sequences in syncopated quarter time.

"Hold on to what is coming, your purpose makes no sense, the reaper got to harvest what was seeded" Despite this sombre prologue, song number 5 sounds rather friendly and lively. The key of A minor is ideally suited here to bathe the musical landscape in a dark red light. The 'Grim Reaper' has to be played very quickly.

A small river trip on a steamboat on the Mississippi is next on the programme. Here the guitarist plays a third guitar, i.e. notated in C major with a capo in the 3rd fret, but sounding in E flat major.

The Rondo Anatolis takes the musicians to Eastern Europe. Echoes of Hungarian and Romanian folk tunes can be heard as well as the wistful melodies of the Sinti and Roma. Precise interplay is particularly required for this song.

Down' is the only ballad on this sheet music volume. This piece must be played very quietly and restrained throughout.

Argentine tango and Viennese coffee house music meet in the ninth song. Effortlessly, these different musical styles merge and hook each other while dancing.

The last song is a real Dixie. It is the shortest of the ten songs and must be performed like a two-step. This was danced to fast Cajun music in the southern states. A good technique is a prerequisite to be able to perform Rambling Rose adequately.

This is the 1st volume in the 'Songs for Trio' series. I intend to follow up with further volumes, with the viola taking over the part of the violin.