Phillip Houghton - God Of The Northern Forest *New* Classical Guitar Solo [Ameb]

PHILLIP HOUGHTON - God Of The Northern Forest

Classical Guitar Solo medium/advanced difficulty
[AMEB Guitar Certificate Of Performance List D]
"God Of The Northern Forest was written for my former teacher, noted Australian guitarist Sebastian Jorgensen, who gave the world premiere of this piece at the 1990 Melbourne International Guitar Festival.
In composing this work, I drew inspiration from both Sebastian's Nordic heritage and his childhood experiences growing up in the Australian bush at Eltham, Victoria. I wanted to try and capture these two important aspects in musical terms.
In my imagination, a few images brought these diverse backgrounds and elements together. One was a distinctive symbol unique to the Australian bush at Eltham, the Eltham Copper Butterfly, and the other was a painting of a dark, brooding forest by the great 20thC Swiss painter Paul Klee. Finding musical ideas to express these two contrasting images created a chiaroscuro (light and dark) effect, as the themes merged and interacted.
The guitar's bass string is tuned to F throughout. I did this because I felt the bass F captured something of the painting's 'resonance', especially the powerful inverted D min chord it makes with the open A and D strings. This chord, played "like an anvil", dominated the opening of the solo before returning towards the end, and is the backbone of the piece.
The title of the work is also that of the beautiful Klee painting that inspired it and which also graces the front cover of this edition."
Phillip Houghton
Sydney 1993. This edition is a facsimile of the composer's autograph. Fingerings by composer (assisted by colleagues and friends).

On cover is 'God of the Northern Forest' (1922) by Paul Klee (1879-1940). Artwork and design by Lyndall Gerlach.

The copyright of this work belongs to its composer and no part may be reproduced by any means without the composer's permission. Support Australian composition (and the livelihood of composers) by refraining from making illegal photocopies of legitimate printed material, and of this edition.

(PH07004)