Touchings

Anatoly Shevchenko's (b. 1938) early interest was in the plastic arts. He graduated in 1961 from the Art Vocational School in Rostov-na-Don. He later took an interest in music and continued his studies in the Musical Vocational School in Simferopol and in the Odessa Conservatory. His output as a composer includes several sonatas, sonatinas, a concerto for voice, guitar and orchestra based on poetry by Lorca and several others. His work for solo guitar Rozamientos, a collection of studies for beginners based on the principles of Béla Bartók, was a prize winner in the 1987 Esztergom competition. Rozamientos, which constitutes Book I of the present cycle, was later augmented with Book II, referred to as Tocamientos. The didactic character of the guitar cycle "Touchings" ("Rozamientos, Tocamientos," "Prikosnoveniia") is directed at the technical aspect of mastering the instrument, and at same time, also at the introduction of the student to the general process of transformation in the European development of music. The cycle contains several quasi-quotational passages which allude to the music of the Spanish vihuelists, J.S. Bach, M. Musorgsky, B. Bartók, P. Hindemith, and so on. This aspect would enable the student to be prepared for the perception and performance of the work of composers of different epochs, styles, schools, and musical systems and may eventually be used as an introduction to the wide world of music.