Richard Gibson Music for Guitar ∙ Corsican Cetera ∙ Baritone Cittern & Guitarra

This recording is in many ways a celebration of friendships of long standing between myself and two musical colleagues, Doc Rossi and Ian Dean MBE, each of whom, having contributed the encouragement and impetus for the creation of almost all of the new works featured here, also gave generously of their specialized musical skill and knowledge to this unique musical endeavour.

Sometime in the beginning of this century, Doc, a versatile performer on many fretted string instruments, began to probe my level of interest with regard to the possibility of writing new music for him, with a special desire to perform music for instruments of historical and culturally specific interest. Needless to say, I responded with an enthusiastic affirmative, at which point he brought to my attention the beautiful expressive possibilities of his newly acquired Corsican cetera. At this point there was no turning back, the only question being a matter of scale. A series of miniatures or... with much encouragement from Maestro David Wyn Lloyd, a three-movement concerto for cetera and orchestra! 

Fortuitously enough, the multi-talented London producer and friend Ian Dean came to visit me in Porto a decade ago, whereupon he proposed the idea of a recording, to be comprised of the Concerto as a centre-piece, supplemented with other smaller pieces to be performed by Doc, and, for the most part, composed specifically for this recording. The solo pieces and the one duet were recorded in Porto early in 2018 at Estúdios Rangel.

Under Ian’smusical supervision, and with the invaluable assistance of David as both conductor and violinist, the Concerto and the Fantasia were recorded at Arda studios in Porto in the autumn of 2025.

To Ian and Doc, I remain extremely grateful for your musical talent, your faith in my compositional ability, and your perseverance, encouragement and prodding, without which this recording would most certainly have remained on the 'to-do list' for an eternity.

The opening work, Concerto for Corsican Cetera and Orchestra, was composed as a musical depiction of three places in Portugal from which I retain fond memories from previous visits. The work begins with a contemplative solo cetera movement, the angular melodies of which are intended toevoke the graceful flow of the Mondego river as experienced near Coimbra. This leads directly into a movement for soloist and full chamber orchestra, bringing to mind the mysteriously ancient Alfama district of Lisbon. Finally, I drew from memories of a happy sunny afternoon in Guimarães as a source of inspiration for the concluding festive dance movement.

During my compositional life, I have enjoyed the privilege of being friends and colleagues with numerous fine guitarists, not the least of whom being Doc. Through the mediation of these musical collaborators I have come into contact with the widely divergent panoply of guitar styles that exist and have existed in our musical past. The second work, Guitar Legends, is my personal homage to five of these very musically different guitar masters, namely, Messrs Tárrega, Brouwer, Dowland (lute), Paredes (guitarra) and Page. Through Doc, I was made aware of an alternate tuning system known as DADGAD, and have used it to full expressive advantage in these compositions. By avoiding, for the most part, the more predictable tonal centers inherent in this tuning system (i.e. D, A and G), I was presented with serendipitously pleasant tonal possibilities that would not have been possible using so-called standard tuning.

Becoming increasingly malleable and open to new ideas during the course of this project, I eventually accepted Doc’s and Ian's offer to insert myself into it, in the form of a duet entitled Cançoes (Songs) for Portuguese guitar (Doc) and electric fretless bass (me). In my view, this piece perfectly exemplifies the close nature of the musical camaraderie that permeates the recording.

Originally intended as a wedding present for my daughter Julia, the set of Variations on John Lennon's Julia is one of two pieces that were not written specifically for this recording. In my opinion, Doc's use of metal (as opposed to nylon) strings brings a special poignancy and clarity to the composition.

Upon being presented with one of the most beautiful instruments in his musical armament, I seized the opportunity to create a Fantasia for Baritone Cittern and String Quartet. In my musical imagination, the timbre and register of this lower-pitched cittern exist in a perfect 'sweet spot', relative to the quartet, as both a foil for and an instigator of expressive musical conversation between bowed and plucked strings.

In conclusion, the Seven Miniatures is one of my earliest compositions for guitar, and as such it nicely book-ends the first piece on the album, the Concerto, which, conversely, is the most recent of my works for fretted instruments. With references to various extended techniques (rasgueado, Bartok pizzicato, extreme harmonics) this music exemplifies the spirit of adventure, variety, and discovery that has so richly infused the music and performance of this recording, a fitting tribute to the musical collegiality and collaboration that has played such an essential part of this long, and amazingly interesting journey!