Within the span of eight years, Weinzweig composed three significant works for the guitar repertoire: Contrasts for Guitar (1976), Eighteen Pieces for Guitar (1980), and Conversations for Three Guitars (1984). Eighteen Pieces for Guitar explores sounds and techniques that are idiomatic to the instrument, such as strummed chords, tremolo, and arpeggios. The work was premiered by celebrated Canadian guitarist Philip Candelaria at Weinzweig’s 70th birthday celebration at Roy Thomson Hall.
By the end of the 1960s, Weinzweig had largely abandoned large-scale form in favour of shorter “events,” particularly in solo and chamber works. These eighteen pieces allow the performer to explore a range of moods and styles, from the lyrical “Arioso” to the call-and-response and minor thirds of “Manor Road Blues.” Weinzweig expands the guitar’s timbral range with creative extended technique, such as scraping the right-hand nails along the bass strings and using a chopstick to “strum” between two strings.
Written by Alexa Woloshyn
Eighteen Pieces for Guitar (1980)
1. Rocking, 2. Glissade, 3. Promenade, 4. Meditation, 5. Incantation, 6. Carillon, 7. Strumming, 8. Oscillation, 9. Manor Road Blues, 10. Dialogues, 11 Arioso, 12. Question-Answers, 12. Fragments, 14. Soliloquy, 15. City Blues, 16. Sparks, 17. Lamentation, 18. Birds
Solo Guitar
Duration: 36 minutes
First Performance: 6 March 1983, Toronto; Philip Candelaria