Fernando Sor’s Op. 60:
Complete Recording
I recently recorded Fernando Sor’s complete Op. 60. Thinking you may find my experience of interest, this is an essay on my exploration of this justifiably renowned collection. At the bottom of this essay is the YouTube video of my complete recording. If you wish, you can scroll down and start the video, so you then can listen to each étude as you read.
Études 1-4
The first four études of Op. 60 are almost entirely single line melodies. Sor offered no explanation for why he did this. But it’s reasonable to assume he wanted students to focus on phrasing and articulation of a simple melody, without the distraction of polyphony. I’ve chosen to impose two limitations on my performances. First, I add no ornamentation. My goal is to craft interesting performances without gilding the lily. Second, I deliberately avoid over-rings that create the illusion of extra voices. I want to imitate the sound of a solo singer. Though I make no pretense that this was Sor’s intent, it’s in keeping with the stripped down nature of these pieces. It’s also more difficult to prune away all over-rings. To me, an important purpose of an étude is to master difficulties, even if the difficulties are of my own making. (I’ve recorded No. 1 before. In this other recording I included ornaments. If you want to hear it, click here.)
A word about repeats. Throughout my recording, I take all repeats as written. (Though in da capo sections I often omit repeats.) In music of this time, I believe it’s a mistake to consistently omit repeats. It implies that the player is bored with the music. And skipping repeats robs the player of creative opportunities—it’s a dull player who can’t find interestingly different takes on the same music.
Étude 5
This étude goes a step further, adding bass notes to a melody. It’s as if Sor is saying: “Okay, you’ve learned to play a melody. Now it’s time for counterpoint.” He clearly meant to ease the student’s transition into polyphonic music—most of the bass notes are open strings. In this étude I’ve allowed myself a smattering of ornaments. You’ll also hear that I change a few notes from the original. Consider this a warning shot: in playing these pieces, I intend to bring my own taste into the mix. It’s my belief that players should bring something of their own to the table. Done with taste, unexpected departures can keep listeners engaged. Note: Between the 9:22-9:54 time marks in my video, the sheet music doesn’t match what I’m playing. I apologize for my mistake. (If you’re charitable, call it my tribute to wabi sabi.)
Étude 6
Here’s another étude in two voices. Now the bass line is more challenging, using more fretted notes. It’s also here that we begin to see Sor’s meticulous use of rests, so common in his advanced music. It’s a mistake to ignore these rests, as many students do. Instrumental music of this time had a parlando style to it—that is, the music sounds almost like speech. Observing the rests is in keeping with Sor’s declamatory approach. Yes, it makes the music harder to play. But the result justifies the effort.
Étude 7
By now you may have noted the preponderance of C major in Op. 60. Eleven of the twenty-five pieces are in C major. (And No. 4 is in C minor.) While études in C major aren’t unusual for Sor, it’s unusual for him to have so many in one collection. Perhaps it’s his concession to what he regarded as a beginner collection. (Like many virtuosos, Sor overestimated the skill of real world beginners.) Étude 7 is a cheerful little waltz. In the early 19th century, the waltz was evolving into an obsession in Europe. So it’s no surprise for Sor to tap into this popular dance. This piece is an old favorite of mine. For this reason, I take the repeats in the return to the A section, sprinkling in ornaments to brighten the mood.
Études 8-9
These two études are unusual. No. 8 is merely a slowly arpeggiated chord progression. No. 9 is the same chord progression with smaller note values. Taken together, they’re a thinly disguised theme and variation. They remind us that Sor is teaching more than guitar playing—Op. 60 is also a primer on how to compose. Since these two pieces are clearly linked, I perform them attacca. And here’s something curious about No. 9. It has measures that are repeated almost note for note, and yet are stemmed differently. (See mm. 1-2 and mm. 5-6, or mm. 9-10 and mm. 11-12.) Often these differences are overlooked. But why would Sor take the trouble to notate these differences if he expected them to be ignored? Thus, I’ve taken Sor at his word—that he wants the notes stemmed upward to be treated as melody. So I’ve honored his notation by accenting these upward stemmed notes.
Étude 10
What a sparkly little gem this is! And Sor does it with the simplest of means. Almost the entire piece is nothing more than broken chords. Indeed, the first eight measures are merely the I, IV, and V chords of C major. It’s as though Sor is reveling in what can be done with a mere chord progression. In my performance, I try to sharpen the good spirits with some snappy ornaments.
Étude 11
Though this étude sounds different from the one before, it’s really quite similar. Again, Sor fashions an entire piece from nothing more than broken chords. Here we also hear a favorite compositional device of Sor’s: gradually building tension over a bass ostinato.
Étude 12
Here’s another jolly piece. Its apparent simplicity, however, masks an underlying complexity. We now have counterpoint in which the two voices are more equal. And the chromaticism hinted at in the B section of No. 11 is more overt in No. 12. The challenge for the player is to make all this added complexity roll trippingly off the tongue. In this, we’re reminded of the familiar quip pianists have about Mozart’s music: “too easy for children—too difficult for adults.” (In m. 20, I suspect the last note of the upper voice is a misprint. I changed it from G to B.)
Étude 13
Sor now thickens the musical texture, expanding to three full fledged voices. As it happens, some years ago I wrote an analysis of this piece. You can find it here:
https://pooretom.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-value-of-musical-analysis_1.html
Étude 14
I made a slight change in this piece. Mm. 17-18 have the E bass note tied. So although mm. 1-2 omit this tie, I’ve elected to put it in. To my ears, it sounds better.
Étude 15
This is an odd piece. In the opening Sor simply announces the I, IV, V7, I progression, and then repeats it with arpeggiation. Although the B section is a tad more elaborate, it then returns to the opening declaration. Of course, it’s not so odd when we remind ourselves that Sor regards Op. 60 as a primer in composition. So highlighting the primary chords in each key alerts our ear to their characteristic sound. Then again, perhaps this is merely an inside joke, alluding to an improvised prelude in which players would play a simple chord progression to check their tuning.
Étude 16
This is a personal favorite of mine, which I played for decades as part of my gig repertoire. So I indulged myself by repeating the B section with ornamentation. At 52 measures, this is the longest piece in Op. 60. (Though some pieces exceed it if you count their repeats.) The melodic motif is infectiously syncopated against its accompaniment. Once again we encounter an extended passage with a bass ostinato. This piece is also notorious for the gnarly ornament in m. 46. Why Sor put this challenging ornament into an otherwise easy piece is a mystery. Then again, he never seemed interested in making his music easy for dilettantes. If you want to know how I counted this ornament, click here:
https://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1681428#p1681428
Étude 17
Some of Sor’s music has latent sonorities that are often overlooked. No. 17 is a good example. On the page, it’s just broken chords. But if you listen closely, it’s chock full of suspensions across the bar lines. You have tease them out of the background, taking care to hold the notes past their literally notated values. But if you do, the piece shines. Did Sor intend this? Well, he didn’t explicitly notate it the way I play it. So one can argue that I’m foisting things on the music that aren’t there. My reply? Listen to the result. To quote Duke Ellington, if it sounds good, it is good.
Once composers release their music to world, it’s no longer entirely theirs. A creative player may raise a piece beyond what the composer intended. The composer’s intent (insofar as it can be divined) is certainly grist for the mill. But when a composer’s intent becomes a rigid proscription, it has degenerated into something harmful to the creative process.
By the way, if you detect a touch of Travis picking in my performance of No. 17, you’re not imagining it. Practicing this piece, I couldn’t shake the shadow of Merle looking o’er my shoulder. So I just went with it. Okay, it’s an anachronism. But this is an unpretentious little étude, not the Saint Matthew Passion. So let’s lighten up and have fun.
Étude 18
On occasion, Sor lets technical formula override musical taste. No. 18 is to me an example of this. Its start and stop texture grows tiresome—at least to me. I did the best I could with it. But to pull it off convincingly will require a better player than me. I invite someone to sell it better than I did.
Étude 19
On the guitar, the key of G major invites this texture: a melody and bass flanking a repeated open string accompaniment. Nearly every early 19th century guitar composer wrote 6/8 G major pieces like this. The challenge, of course, is to highlight the melody over the third and fourth string drones. And again we encounter a gradually intensifying melody over a bass pedal.
Étude 20
Sor had a thing for B minor. It’s the key of his justly popular Op. 35, No. 22 arpeggio study. But this one, while not as well known, is equally worthy. For me, the change into D major at m. 17 is exquisitely magical—to blow through it without an expressive response is inexcusable.
Étude 21
Sor also had a thing for damping. He wrote a number of pieces in which chords are immediately damped—Op. 31, No. 20 (the old Segovia edition No. 9) is a well known example. In my performance, I indulged myself by penning a new coda for this piece. I like to think Sor would be delighted if one of his students showed a little compositional chutzpah.
Études 22-23
It’s no secret that Sor was influenced by Haydn and Mozart. But he also lived in the time of Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt. How could he not be influenced by them? In my recordings of 1-21, my expressive approach cleaved to conservative classicism—my fairly steady tempi reflect this. (Recall Mozart’s famous dictum that, when playing tempo rubato, the right hand stays in strict tempo.) But in Nos. 22 and 23 of Sor’s Op. 60, I sense a more Schumannesque approach is apt. So I’ve relaxed my otherwise classical pacing and adopted a more romantic vibe.
In No. 22, mm. 45-47 display a complex stemming. To convey this audibly is a worthy challenge.
Étude 24
Like No. 18, this étude again sports the start and stop right hand arpeggio approach that I find so unconvincing. And again, I did my best to sell it. It’s interesting, however, that this approach is similar to the idea of “speed bursts” often found in current guitar pedagogy. Might Sor have anticipated this concept in his own teaching?
Étude 25
One might think that Sor would end Op. 60 with a bang. But instead, he takes leave with a gentle aria. Here again I take liberties with the printed music. Rather than play the harmonics in each initial statement and repeat, as Sor originally wrote it, I elect to play normal notes in the initial statement and harmonics in the repeats. I do this for two reasons:
1) To break up the sameness.
2) To recall the single line melodies that began Op. 60, thus closing the circle.
Sor almost never used artificial harmonics. Though he was aware of them, he felt they were difficult, unreliable, and took the right hand out of optimal position. You’ll notice that, by using natural harmonics, 4th fret notes will be noticeably out of tune. (A consequence of modern tempered tuning.) To avoid this, some players today prefer to use artificial harmonics when playing this piece. Indeed, I considered it myself. But keeping to natural harmonics gives the player practice in accurately locating the 4th and 3rd fret harmonics, which aren’t directly over the fret. Besides, the slightly out of tune 4th fret harmonics add a bit of piquancy to this lovely piece.
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