Monologues of the Unicorn Einojuhani Rautavaara

############################# Video Source: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoINttydB9g

I. 0:00 Monologue with JSB (He gets slightly annoyed with the beast) • II. 1:57 Monologue with Claude Achille (He is poeticised by the whiteness) • III. 4:07 Monologue with Ad Schbeg (With occasional remarks by his son Aba Beg) • IV. 5:53 Monologue with Igor (The horn gets on his nerves) • https://m.facebook.com/Aidan-Marshall... • Aidan Marshall plays the 1980 work for Solo Guitar by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara. • The work is in four movements with caption titles and subtitles, each being a homage to an historical composer. The names of these great geniuses are etched into the score, notationally embedded into the first melodic phrase of each movement. One exception to this pattern is the final movement, in which just two musical notes (A G) from Igor Stravinsky's name appear in almost every phrase. • Movement 1 is a homage to J.S Bach - The recurring thematic melody in the bass contains the notes B.A.C. and H (from the German system - B) • F note also appears later in this melody, possibly representing an expletive response to the difficult processes one experiences when attempting to play Bach on the guitar. • Movement 2 is a homage to Claude Debussy - The opening notes spell C. La. (A) D. E. There is nothing musically possible to represent the letter U, and Rautavaara appears to have simply omitted the letter altogether. • Movement 3 is a homage to Schoenberg Berg - The opening phrase spells A.D S.C.H.B.E.G, and is followed in the second bar by the phrase with notes A.B.A B.E.G • (The S in 'Schbeg represents a #, and is coyly hidden as an Eb instead of D#). • Movement 4 is a homage to Stravinsky - There are only 2 musical notes appearing in the name for Igor Stravinsky - A G, and therefore this is the most mysterious. However, hese notes feature very prominently in the thematic opening chord which recurs extensively. The first 2 notes of this chord are A G, and many of the following developing chords appear with altered versions of A - Ab, A#, highlighted against the open G. • Performed on a 2001 A.J. Lucas ‘Radial’ guitar, built specifically for me by the maker. • The decision to play part of the 1st movement in ‘lap’ position was not an easy one to make. There is no annotation in the score to suggest it should be played this way, however, the open notes preceding and following the tapping section facilitate the position switch. In lap position, these very difficult bars become exponentially more playable. • I would also like to thank my teachers - in chronological order - Robbie Jones, Peter Constable and Rob Johns. Again, this post would never have appeared without your guidance and inspiration. You all made an individual, indelible impression on me respectively as a young player. • I would also like to thank Summerfield Musical Instruments and La Bella strings for their cordial supply of strings. This performance was recorded on a set of La Bella ‘Professional Series’, high tension silver plated strings.

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