Reflexões No. 6 II. Doloroso by Jaime Zenamon
I'm so excited to return with a new excerpt from a piece that's very close to me: Reflexões No. 6 by Maestro Jaime Zenamon! This piece written for guitar and cello is standard repertoire for the ensemble and one of the first pieces I learned after moving to NYC and meeting my duo partner Mark Humburg. A fond memory I have of learning this piece for the first time was when Mark's mother and acclaimed cellist Maxine Neuman (part of the celebrated Claremont Duo) would sit in our rehearsals and help us shape our interpretation. She had played this piece over the years with guitarist Peter Ernst in concert halls throughout the world so it was really privilege to try and soak up all the good ideas she had for us as a fledgling duo.
Years later, I had the privilege to work with Jaime Zenamon in making my album, Zenamon A Chamber Music Collection come to life. Zenamon worked very closely with me on the interpretation of his pieces for guitar duo, guitar and cello, guitar and clarinet and more. I even had a wonderful time interviewing Zenamon as part of the NY Guitar Seminar in 2021 for the album release and this past summer we were able to put together a concert at the Americas Society performing music from the album and world premieres!
The excerpt from this famous piece comes from the 2nd movement called "Doloroso." I thought this fleeting tremolo section would be a perfect selection to explore with you and I cover a variety of topics such as:
Thumb placement and how it affects the fluidity of the tremolo
How to phrase in 5/8 time
Left hand legato considerations and fingering choices
Practicing Molto Rallentando
Check out a live performance of II. Doloroso from Reflexões No.6 with Mark Humburg below!
Thanks so much for your time and interest! Let me know what you think and I'm happy to help you out if you have any questions. Also, if you have any ideas for some pieces you'd like me to break down, send me a note at mkaplan@kaplanguitar.com
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