Nuages

“an entirely new dimension to the existing pieces, a CD to deeply fall in love with… “ (Gitarre Aktuell)

Nuages (clouds) brings together some compositions and a few personal arrangements. I would like to take this opportunity to linger on the art of the arranger, because in my eyes musical arrangement is an art. Regarding the word arrangement, I prefer the word version, which I find more fitting and better adapted to a piece of work that the artisan gets involved with in a personal manner.

This has nothing to do with the transcription which implies – from the passage of one instrumental formula to another – the integral and true transfer of the musical text. The wager of the arrangement for the guitar is the restitution of the work’s original essence across the space, forcibly restrained, of the six strings of the instrument. It is also a perpetual confrontation with the technical limits of the guitar.

This requires on the part of the artisan a fine geographical acquaintance with his instrument, a solid harmonic knowledge and, above all, the concern for being in permanent contact with the spirit of the work. The arranger metamorphoses the limits and weaknesses encountered into many new qualities, he transforms, he enriches the work, putting it in a sometimes unexpected new light.

It is in this step that the art of the arrangement reveals itself. Nuages is a sincere praise for the flexibility of musical material. I wanted it to be respectful of the guitar and of the composers, of all styles, from which I have borrowed some musical notes. My only desire is that it brings you pleasure. (Roland Dyens)