Baroque guitar in Perú

[Juan Pablo Pira]

I recently got my hands on "Melodías virreinales del siglo XVIII" a collection of guitar (probably 5-course)  pieces from Peru. These pieces are transcriptions from a peruvian manuscript "cuaderno de música para guitarra".

The music is a bit unusual; you are not likely to find anything similar to Sanz or Murcia. There is also an unusually high amount of triplets.

The transcriptions look like if they were made with a 6-string classical guitarist as the most likely customer. This is possible, since the transcriptor, Mto. Javier Echecopar, usually plays a six string classical.

Anyone has had any experience with these pieces?

[Jelma van Amersfoort]

Hello Juan Pablo

Mr Echecopar made one or two CDs, I have one at home that I can check tonight, recorded on a six course Benedid guitar. I believe he later sold both the guitar and a manuscript (probably the one you are mentioning) to Makoto Tsuruta in Japan. By the way, Echecopar is on facebook and has a website, so you could try emailing him directly.

Jelma

 

[Juan Pablo Pira]

Thank you very much.

These pieces sound a bit too modern to be XVIII century... unless it is a VERY late XVIII century. I've checked Mr. Echecopar performances and found them to be remarkable.

The initial essay says some rather peculiar things which might be unique to Peru.  It states that there was a 5 course guitar with the third string tuned to f#... that vihuelas were used to Sarabandes Chaconas and Canarios at the end of the 16th century... that you can see the influence of Haendel and Telemann in Latin American music. Well, quite a few interesting things.