Customer Reviews

Renaissance Guitar W/CD (Frederick Noad Guitar Anthology)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've had this book for almost 20 years and have been getting back into it quite a bit lately. The reviewer that complained about the tablature notation is a little confused. The numbering on the notes are left hand fingerings, not tablature, and is standard for classical guitar notation. Sometimes I find myself playing just the notes and paying less attention to the fingering.. or I might question the fingering... but time and time again I find the fingering offered is utlimately the best solution.
Not only is the music expertly presented but the selections are incredible. Years ago I bought the tapes of this book as well as Noad's Baroque, Classical and Romantic books. I learned many of the pieces that were on the tapes that I found interesting.. but for the most part with this book and the Romantic book I think all of the tunes are quality. I have even learned the pieces that were not on the tape and have found a number of gems. I am an amatuer so I don't appreciate spending what little time I have to learn a piece and then having the piece turn out uninteresting... but I think you will find ALL of the pieces in this book to be fascinating.
This was the first Noad book I bought... and had it for a few years before I bought the others. However... I still find this one to be my favorite. And the four book collection has to be the greatest collection of classical guitar music ever assembled.
I may have to order another copy of this book because I've worn mine down.

This is an anthology of renaissance music for stringed instruments, arranged for guitar. The tunes are well-chosen; the printing is good; the book falls open well; the arrangements are nice, with useful performance tips. What more could you want?

As far as guitar sheet music/song books go, Frederick Noad was and is a name to be trusted. This collection is no different from his others. A first rate compilation. I rarely have problems with his fingering suggestions. The selections are top notch and always include a few surprises! Mr. Noad was truly one of the finest classical guitar teachers of the 20th century (and a top flight guitarist to boot). His legacy lives on in his songbooks. I own everything he published and recommend him most highly to beginner, intermediate and advanced students alike.

Noad's books in this series have a very tasteful presentation of staples of the repertoire mixed with more obscure pieces, illustrations, and history. Highly recommended!

For anyone trained in reading classical guitar notation, this book is excellent. The pieces are wonderful, the fingering and suggestions are just enough to make things easy and not overly done. The selection ranges from late beginner to advanced, but even the advanced stuff is readable. Only complaints are that the CD does not include all the selections and the singer on the CD for the few selections with vocals is an awful classical style singer with a disgusting amount of vibrato. Besides the fact that this level of vibrato being generally distasteful in any context, it is particularly inappropriate to this era when vibrato was definitely not encouraged. But the book is excellent and deserves 5 stars. The CD is just bonus and it is overall quite good.

The book is pretty. For that, it get's 2 stars. BUT, 1/2 the book is duets. Part of the book is vocals. I don't have another guitar player to play with, nor a singer. So, 1/2 the book does me no good. So, I guess 2.5 stars god, 2.5 stars bad.

I've owned this book for several years and have used it many times. I cannot comment on the included CD since my book did not come with one. So I can only comment on the quality of the book itself.

This book is a must for those who love music of this period. The pages at the front of the book do an excellent job of discussing the vihuela, lute, and the tablature from whence the music in this book came. It's a very nice historical reading about these instruments and the time period.

This book contains solos, duets and music for guitar and voice. I have played several of the solos and duets. My favorite duet is "La Rossignol".

The book progresses from easy to difficult so it has something for everyone. The music is very well notated giving good left hand fingering suggestions and sometimes even pictures of old tablature which is very interesting to study. Playing suggestions or other information are given at the beginning of each piece. For example, "Guardame Las Vacas" has a short blurb of it's historical information, tempo speed suggestion, and some fingering ideas to make it easier to play. It's not the full version of Guardame, but it's still quite nice. Guardame Las Vacas is actually a theme and variations which has several more variations than what is in this book.

I have no complaints about this book. I teach classical guitar and have used numerous pieces from this book for myself and for my students. It's money well spent.

This is a great collection of Renessanse pieces.

I am an intermediate guitar player (say, five years of playing) and the easy pieces are just immediately playable, intermediate are "browsable" (e.g. I can easily walk through them to get the idea) but would require a week or two to play smoothly, and "advanced" are hard, yet doable (I could probably take one as a 3-8 months project).

For a beginner it might be a good book as well, just make sure you're familiar with music notation already. This is a nice collection of pieces with fairly thoughtful fingering and advices about difficult parts. This is not a self-help guitar/music text book, and it doesn't have tabs (I am so happy about that, tabs would probably make it twice thicker).

Fingering is very good, and very thorough, sometimes with thorough right hand fingering. I disagree with fingering in some cases, but in any case, the proposed variant is at least "very good" if not "excellent".

RE CD. I am a little bit disappointment, CD alone would get maybe "3 star". It's OK to illustrate pieces, it's done by a professional guitarist, but it's definitely far away from a "world-class concert level performance". E.g. the last few lines in Mudarra's Fantasia where bass line is main melody and upper voice is accompaniment: bass line is not emphasized (it's quieter than the accompaniment) and it's not at all smooth.

This is a great book. The songs are in gently increasing difficulty and even the easy ones are very pleasing to play - you don't get punished with Mary Had A Little Lamb type stuff for being a beginner. In addition, it uses standard notation instead of tablature - excellent - and the notation is helpful... fingering and position are clearly labeled when needed. It is consistently rewarding as you work your way through beginner, intermediate, etc. I only WISH I could find another book of renaissance or medieval guitar music this good.

The CD is at times helpful, although I have some serious complaints about the interpretations of some tunes - for instance, they play a Galliard slow and rubato - with varying tempo. Makes me imagine a bunch of normally-jolly Renaissance types in their gay frippery trying to dance to it with depressed faces and shuffling gait like zombies, trying to keep time with the slow, varying tempo... until Falstaff strides over, whacks the lute-player on the side of the head and yells "It's a Galliard, fool! Make it snappy!"

They do that on a beginner-level galliard. Someone trying to use the CD as a learning tool shouldn't be having to wade through someone's creative departure from the norm to showcase their "creativity." That tendency to slow down and do it rubato increases as you go further into the CD and is kind of depressing on songs that by all rights shouldn't be. They should have played these songs as straight-ahead as possible to maximize its utility as a learning tool rather than using it as a (somewhat dreary) recital.

That said, the actual book and the songs in it are too, too good to even subtract one star. If you ever want to hear other versions of the songs, just search for a song on youtube. I have yet to not find one I wanted to hear - especially useful for those songs not covered in the CD.

This is by far my favorite book for guitar.

Frederick Noad provided us all with a legacy of careful editing, wise choice of material, and cogent commentary. for three major periods of guitar development.

These pieces are accessible and progressive. They build technique and appreciation. There is no TAB; which is of immense value to students and teachers who understand that standard notation is, except for so called Arabian numerals (they are Indian, or Persian), the best and most universal information retrieval developed by humankind.

Noad's compilations belong in every guitarist's library- and they should be on the music stand, not the shelf.