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Richard Yates' Classical Guitar Transcriptions

Frederic Chopin - 21 Selected Pieces

Transcribed by Richard Yates for guitar solo
Published by Guitar Solo Publications

Review by Piero Viti, GuitArt Magazine

"For some time guitarists have been rediscovering Chopin, the romantic composer par excellence. We are not talking about marvelous, as well as unlikely, discoveries of music written for the guitar by this famous composer (a dream of many guitarists), but rather a renewed interest in the part of the guitar world in the music of this exiled Pole, made manifest in numerous publications and recordings. The present volume published by the American company GSP [Guitar Solo Publications] represents an eloquent sample of this renewed Chopin fervor. The author of this volume is the American guitarist Richard Yates, who has keen interest and skill in guitar transcriptions (he is the author of numerous essays on the subject). The book tackles numerous works of the Polish composer, presenting versions for guitar solo. He naturally chose those works with the greatest expressive possibility for the guitar, the transcriptions for which, despite their inevitable expressive complexity, manage to avoid being heavy, preferring instrumental effectiveness even at the cost of simplification. Examples of this are the versions of the Nocturne op. 32 no. 1 and the Prelude to op. 28 no. 6, both of which had been previously transcribed for guitar by Tarrega. Yates' versions gain both in fluency (thanks also to the use of more comfortable keys) and in expression, eliminating the excessive ornamentation that weighs down the versions of the Catalan composer. In total there are 21 works of Chopin, which range from Preludes, Etudes, mazurkas and waltzes, all more or less well known. A curious thing is that, together with versions in standard notation, at the end of the volume there are versions in tablature aimed, we seem to understand, at a broader public of guitarists: it can only be hoped that the discovery of such an enchanting musical world may induce some people to learn in more depth the secrets of reading standard musical notation."

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