Ernst Bacon: The Complete Works for Solo Guitar (2014)

American composer Ernst Bacon (1898-1990) studied with Ernest Bloch and Viennese-born Karl Weigl, but he was mostly self-taught. When he was 19, before he had ever composed a note, he created an exhaustive compilation of possible musical harmonies. These guitar pieces, completely unknown and written for the use of the composer's own family, reflect that background, and if they aren't quite the lost treasure guitarist Bradley Colten makes them out to be, they're intriguing in the way that the work of autodidacts often is. ... Read More

American composer Ernst Bacon (1898-1990) studied with Ernest Bloch and Viennese-born Karl Weigl, but he was mostly self-taught. When he was 19, before he had ever composed a note, he created an exhaustive compilation of possible musical harmonies. These guitar pieces, completely unknown and written for the use of the composer's own family, reflect that background, and if they aren't quite the lost treasure guitarist Bradley Colten makes them out to be, they're intriguing in the way that the work of autodidacts often is. They are tonal in orientation, but the harmonic progressions seem to follow their own rules. The most interesting aspect of the music is the guitar language, which does indeed justify exhuming these pieces. A few pieces have the expected Spanish flavor (Toro, track 5), and a few allude to American vernacular styles (the fascinating The Erie Canal, track 14, which could serve as an introduction to Bacon's idiom). But for the most part Bacon does not treat the guitar as a link to popular... Read Less