Benjamin Dwyer: Twelve Etudes for guitar

My Twelve Études for guitar were written over a ten-year period between 2000 and 2010. I built this set upon the ‘concert étude’ models of the past by Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Alkan, Debussy, Villa-Lobos and Ligeti while trying to forge new ground in terms of my own compositional and technical signatures. These Twelve Études are divided into four books, each dedicated to teacher, player or composer who exerted an influence on me—John Buckley, Marion Hyland, Timothy Walker and Fabio Zanon, respectively. I have not followed the system used by some to explore explicitly certain technical aspects (3rds, 6ths, octaves, arpeggios, etc.) though all such technical elements are found in my études through a method I call ‘hidden pedagogy’. While Twelve Études draws upon a wide scope of compositional languages and tonalities they are also deeply connected in their shared exploration of two defining motives—a descending chromatic three-note figure (or its retrograde) and the interval of the perfect 5th. These Twelve Études are designed to prepare the gifted student and the concert performer for the expanded tonal, technical, rhythmic and structural innovations found in 20th- and 21st-century music.

[Eriksariejd]

Remarkable compositions & great performances!