Ghost Songs

Ghost Songs was written for Arturo Tallini and is my first piece for classical guitar, after having spent many years writing for electric guitar in various ensemble contexts. Even though the mechanism for both instruments is the same, I think the classical and the electric guitar are wildly different. Electric guitar, thanks to a combination of amplification and the plethora of effects pedals it can employ, can do almost anything, whereas the classical guitar, at least to me, feels like a very fragile instrument in comparison. I find that fragility beautiful, and something that I wanted to exploit in this piece. I wanted to give the suggestion of (long) melodic lines, played by an instrument that does not naturally have much sustain at all. I was struck also with the idea of having another guitar not as an accompaniment, but as a shadow, and sometimes as an interference to the sound of the principal guitar. So, the piece employs two guitars, one detuned that, due to momentum, almost plays itself, as well as the principal guitar. Over time, the piece gets more intricate and virtuosic, before eventually collapsing back in on itself, and the ever-present melodic lines eventually fade away and turn into another type of voice entirely. Therefore, the title does not mean the songs of ghosts, but rather ghosts, remnants, or phantasms of songs, songs that are perhaps almost forgotten, and quite definitely mis-remembered.

—OB