SKU: A0.802693

Romance Anónimo (Anonymous Romance) is a piece for guitar, also known as Estudio en Mi de Rubira (Study in E by Rubira), Spanish Romance, Romance de España, Romance de Amor, Romance of the Guitar, Romanza and Romance d'Amour among other names.

Its origins and authorship are currently in question. It is suspected of originally being a solo instrumental guitar work, from the 19th century. It has variously been attributed to Antonio Rubira, David del Castillo, Francisco Tárrega, Fernando Sor, Daniel Fortea, Miguel Llobet, Antonio Cano, Vicente Gómez, and Narciso Yepes. The Anónimo (anonymous) part of its name has been incorporated over the years due to this uncertainty. The question of authorship has probably been propagated by three main reasons: the lack of claim by its true author, the desire to avoid paying copyright fees, and the desire of publishing companies to claim the lucrative copyright of this world-famous piece.

The style of the piece is that of the Parlour music of the late 19th century in Spain or South America, having a closed three-part form: the first in the minor key and the second being in the major key, with the third being a restatement of the first.

Narciso Yepes (1927 - 1997) interpreted and is listed as the author of the piece in René Clément's 1952 film Jeux interdits (Forbidden Games). The popularity of the film gave the piece worldwide fame. Yepes currently has the copyright of this composition in Spain although recordings and manuscripts of this song predate 1952. Newer publications show Yepes as the arranger and the piece being of anonymous authorship, or authored by Fernando Sor.

The official statement from Narciso Yepes and the Yepes heirs is that Narciso Yepes, being a young boy, originally composed the piece for his mother when he was about seven years old (c.1934) and soon thereafter performed it between acts at the Teatro Guerra, in Lorca, Spain. Some time later, he recounts, when he was thirteen years old he attended a performance in Valencia and heard his composition performed by another guitarist, who indicated the authorship as anonymous. Yepes contends that the melody had been plagiarized (with some changes to the arrangement) by someone who, he assumes, must have attended that first performance.

However, Yepes was born 1927 and cannot be the author of the work, since it was already recorded
 in 1900 and published before 1925 (possibly 1913) by J.A. MEDINA e HIJO; and in 1919 in the
method of Pedro Mascaró y Reissig, etc. Vicente Gomez (1911-2001) 
published it and performed it in 1941 in the Hollywood movie Blood and Sand with Tyrone Power
and Rita Hayworth, also attributing authorship of the song to himself.

 Anyway, the piano arrangement of the brilliant Shigeo Ida caught my attention and I decided to
 rework it somewhat into this trio for strings. Enjoy!

SKU: A0.818235

Beneath the Cross of Jesus ♫ Original piano arrangement by Stephen R Dalrymple
♫ Based on the public domain hymn by Elizabeth C. Clephane 1830–1869 (lyrics) and Frederick Charles Maker 1844–1927 (melody)
♫ In preparing to compose the arrangement I asked myself “What would be the opposite of “Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand.� How could I picture that? The opposite of firm footing, stability, taking a stand is vacillating between ideas or chasing numerous ideas.
♫ I pictured the wind scattering leaves and debris, but failing to budge heavy objects, anchored to the ground.
♫ Our culture bids us chase after status, power, money, pleasure, thrills … The problem, of course is that the shelf life of the satisfaction that these things brings is very short. Chasing after status, power, money, pleasure, thrills, etc. is like is like chasing the wind.
♫ Portraying chasing the wind allowed me to use some contemporary classical composition techniques such as polymeter, polytonality, and deliberate dissonance. The first theme suggests the futility and inevitable frustration of chasing the wind. The score opens up to the beauty of a life grounded on the cross of Jesus Christ.
♫ music © 2017 (copyright registered in ‘I See Your Glory’ collection)
♫ recording ℗ 2022 Stephen R Dalrymple
♫ presentation © 2022 Stephen R Dalrymple
♫ performed by the composer
♫ This .pdf file includes 2 files: 1) Letter size piano score 2) Small page piano score for performing from a 10 inch tablet, 4) Small page piano score for performing from a 10 inch tablet.
♫ (Tell your computer which pages you want to print. There are programs online that will allow you to split pdf files so that you can choose the correct part of the pdf for your tablet.).

SKU: A0.1068889

Something quite astonishing has happened in the Swedish accordion world during the last couple of years, we´ve got a new idol. It´s astonishing in two different ways: for us who know the accordion world it´s a fact that Lars Ek has been around as a professional accordionist for almost 20 years, since he finished school, second: he has become an idol playing music and in a style that has it´s roots 50 years back in the accordion music history. One could say that Lars Ek, today 35 years old, should have been 85, active in the 30´s. Himself, he confess that he feels kind of secret longing back to a time when accordionists were equilibrists, when accordionists played in a brilliant way, the golden age it was for all accordion music all over the world, an age that we will never meet again. It´s a type of music which is historical but not belonging to the museums, not dead, it´s a typical of music filled with life. Very much so thanks to Lars Ek. It´s a quite notable situation. Lars Ek has been playing the accordion for a long time, he has been playing all types of music that can be played on an accordion. Just some few years ago he met, via phonograph records, the music of Nils Lind and Ragge Sundquist (two legendary Swedish performers from the 30´s and the 40´s, both dead since long ago - they both founded a school and a style) and, of course, also Frosini. And then, finally, Lars Ek felt that it was exactly here, in this style where he belonged. Lars Ek finally came home. Some sloppy listeners say that Lars Ek is copying the music of Nils Lind. Those are listeners who don´t listen. Others say that Lars is a maniac - he plays on an accordion of the Raggie Sundquist brand from 1937 and since a couple of years he also owns and plays an accordion once owned by Pietro Frosini, manufactured in 1927. That´s not mania. The style asks for such instruments. It´s most correct that way. Lars Ek has become incredibly popular. There are many reasons. He has lots of personality, he is a stage personality, he shows enthusiasm and joy while performing, he knows how to attract an audience (and the girls say he´s very handsome). One other reason is that the music Lars performs finds lots of response from the audience. And, please, don´t think it´s only those old ones who were around in the 30´s who love the music - so do even the young ones! Lars Ek x 2 is the name of the record. The explanation is simple. Lars wasn´t able to find a second accordionist to assist him. So, thanks to the technique he is his own second accordionist himself in five of the tunes performed. There is one more explanation. Lars performs melodies linked to the names of Nils Lind, Ragge Sundquist and Frosini, but he also plays five compositions of hes own. Just to show how he wants accordion music to be composed. Lars Ek does not need any recommendation, his records sell anyway. But you´re going to get some final words. This records is, regarding style, very rare to be recorded in 1982, it´s a matter of looking back and to do so with lots of skill, a look back that golden age of the accordion. It´s also a very personal record. The inspiration may very well be Nils Lind, Ragge Sundquist and Pietro Frosini. But it´s Lars Ek who plays. In his personal way. Which means that this is a record played in a very personal way.

SKU: A0.1068893

Something quite astonishing has happened in the Swedish accordion world during the last couple of years, we´ve got a new idol. It´s astonishing in two different ways: for us who know the accordion world it´s a fact that Lars Ek has been around as a professional accordionist for almost 20 years, since he finished school, second: he has become an idol playing music and in a style that has it´s roots 50 years back in the accordion music history. One could say that Lars Ek, today 35 years old, should have been 85, active in the 30´s. Himself, he confess that he feels kind of secret longing back to a time when accordionists were equilibrists, when accordionists played in a brilliant way, the golden age it was for all accordion music all over the world, an age that we will never meet again. It´s a type of music which is historical but not belonging to the museums, not dead, it´s a typical of music filled with life. Very much so thanks to Lars Ek. It´s a quite notable situation. Lars Ek has been playing the accordion for a long time, he has been playing all types of music that can be played on an accordion. Just some few years ago he met, via phonograph records, the music of Nils Lind and Ragge Sundquist (two legendary Swedish performers from the 30´s and the 40´s, both dead since long ago - they both founded a school and a style) and, of course, also Frosini. And then, finally, Lars Ek felt that it was exactly here, in this style where he belonged. Lars Ek finally came home. Some sloppy listeners say that Lars Ek is copying the music of Nils Lind. Those are listeners who don´t listen. Others say that Lars is a maniac - he plays on an accordion of the Raggie Sundquist brand from 1937 and since a couple of years he also owns and plays an accordion once owned by Pietro Frosini, manufactured in 1927. That´s not mania. The style asks for such instruments. It´s most correct that way. Lars Ek has become incredibly popular. There are many reasons. He has lots of personality, he is a stage personality, he shows enthusiasm and joy while performing, he knows how to attract an audience (and the girls say he´s very handsome). One other reason is that the music Lars performs finds lots of response from the audience. And, please, don´t think it´s only those old ones who were around in the 30´s who love the music - so do even the young ones! Lars Ek x 2 is the name of the record. The explanation is simple. Lars wasn´t able to find a second accordionist to assist him. So, thanks to the technique he is his own second accordionist himself in five of the tunes performed. There is one more explanation. Lars performs melodies linked to the names of Nils Lind, Ragge Sundquist and Frosini, but he also plays five compositions of hes own. Just to show how he wants accordion music to be composed. Lars Ek does not need any recommendation, his records sell anyway. But you´re going to get some final words. This records is, regarding style, very rare to be recorded in 1982, it´s a matter of looking back and to do so with lots of skill, a look back that golden age of the accordion. It´s also a very personal record. The inspiration may very well be Nils Lind, Ragge Sundquist and Pietro Frosini. But it´s Lars Ek who plays. In his personal way. Which means that this is a record played in a very personal way.