|
| Text by Sidney Molina |
|
|
| A �chamberish proposal�. That�s how we can define the work developed by the Kroma Quartet with electric guitars. Formed by the end of 1999 by guitarrist Heraldo Paarmann(Ultraje a Rigor), the group kept on working hard during one year and finally gets to the recording of their first cd. In august 2000, Heraldo, one of my students of Musical Aesthetics in a graduation course at FAAM in S�o Paulo, invited me to go to their rehearsal. I realized I was facing a very special musical proposal: some sort of combination between Heraldo�s experience and rhythmical accuracy with the competence and determination of young and talented guitarrists as Alexandre Spiga, Igor de Bruyn and Fabiano Rodrigues. All this added to the enthusiasm and availability of the quartet to deal with new musical challenges. This was the first of the innumerable nights of musical hard work we shared. The Kroma had already set distortion aside, even before my taking part in the project, opting for some �cleaner� music. Then we tried to search for a musical concept which could be adequate to the repertoire. We must say that wasn�t that easy. First, things went on very slowly. Once we spent one single almost- five-hour- rehearsal just working on the first compasses of Mozart�s Nachtmusik: frequent changes of digitals- aiming at a good musical result more than some kind of technical facility-, adequation of articultations, search for some �stocky� sound, use of �vibratos�(similar to the ones which are used by cellists, for example), trying separated voices( individual, in duets and trios), flexibility, accuracy, lightness, dynamics, dialogue between the voices, adaptation of the composer�s writing details to the musical characteristics of the electric guitar and the goal of reaching some homogeinity of pitch between parts of the extreme acute region and the others. All this was part of our daily lives. We knew, however, that working on Mozart�s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, as transparent and classical as it is, would bring us to the defining of the quartet�s interpretation criteria, as well as its music and personality. Mozart�s masterpiece, composed in 1787, did not need any arrange or adaptation, given that Kroma made it straight on the version for a chord quartet( violin I, violin II, viola and cello). The last of the �Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm� is the piece that closes the Mikrokosmos, a great collection of 154 pieces for piano by hungarian B�la Bart�k(1881-1945) composed from 1926 to 1939. Together with A Lenda do Caboclo(1920) by brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos(1887-1959) and Ragtime Climax(1914) by American James Scott(1885-1938), they form a piano triology recorded Kroma in this album. The pieces by Bart�k and Scott were transcribed to four guitars by guitarrist M�rcio Alves, while Villa-Lobos� piece was done by Eduardo Fleury and extracted from the repertoire of the Quaternaglia guitar quartet which had already recorded in their first cd(JHO- 1995). It is worthwhile to mention the importance of a young Brazilian composer named Marisa Ramires(1962) in the elaboration of the Cd repertoire. She signs an exclusive piece and four arrangings based on well known pop themes. They are: Unforgiven(1991), by Hetfield, Ulrich and Hammet, Eleanor Rigby(1966), by Lennon and McCartney, Sina(1982) by Djavan and Flores em Voc�(1986) by Edgar Scancdurra and Nasi, members of a band called Ira!. On this last track, Kroma hosts its own composers as invited vocalists, showing that a guitar quartet can also represent company to some main melody. Despite the versatility of her arrangings, Marisa Ramires, shows some kind of craft rigor in her pieces. In Marcha(1990), she offers a rich sound texture where density has its place beside some harmonical speculation and rhythmical variations. Doing their first recording of the piece, Kroma opens the path to new exclusive pieces of contemporary Brazilian composers who are interested in writing to four electrical guitars. Heraldo Paarmann himself made some �chamberish� arranging of the most famous theme by Luiz Gonzaga (1912-1989): Asa Branca, from 1947, closes the range of repertoire possibilities to open the formation of �a electric guitar quartet�, enabling the group�s arranging to combine with some other by competent musicians. Also, careful transcriptions of written pieces to be added to compositions dedicated to the quartet itself and to singers or other instrumentalists. The Kroma cd was �mixed before recording�: just like a classical chord quartet, Heraldo, Spiga, Igor and Fabiano made it right all the way to the recording. Then, it was time to plug everything and choose the best performance. The cd was done in just three sessions. Sidney Molina ( Musical director of Kroma Quartet and Quartenaglia guitarrist) |
 |