The intention of the arrangement was to provide a guitar accompaniment to the melody of Faure’s Sicilienne Opus 78. Consequently in this arrangement for two classical guitars the Guitar 1 part is much easier to play than the Guitar 2 part. The Guitar 2 part is challenging and some of the voicing may need to be edited – bars 27 & 29 and later repeated at bars 63 & 69 possibly being an example. This guitar duo arrangement has been made from an orchestral score so understandably something does have to be missed out. The TAB score is a simple conversion from the notation score to TAB. Quite clearly there are options as to where the notes are to be played so be prepared to edit this score. Fauré’s early years were spent in Pamiers (which, is in the Ariège, a department in the rural south western part of France) singing in his local church which no doubt meant that his ear became familiar with the old church modes. In his composing career the modal element became a very characteristic aspect of his compositional style especially evident in the Sicilienne. Composing while referencing the modes requires complete clarity in the musical texture and the musical lines in that texture. Modal music however often lends itself to contemporary contexts and arrangements. A sicilienne is a slow tempo movement usually in a minor key with lilting rhythmic patterns and dotted notes enabling it to be described as a slow jig. This movement dates from 1893 and exists with several different instrument combinations. Fauré’s music possesses subtlety and as a composer he has a great awareness of instrument colour. Careful attention needs to be paid to the reading of accidentals as frequently different voices are sounding in what seem to be conflicting versions of a note. This is attributable to the modal element that it is a strong component of Fauré’s music. Apart from this, attention needs to be made to the reading of the notes and the score detail particularly in respect to knowing which notes are tied. In preparing the score the most appropriate ranges of the instruments are explored and consequently there has been some simplifying of the texture in the guitar 2 part. The realisation plays at a tempo of 48 dotted quarter notes to the minute – the music editor’s view is that many performances of the work are played too quickly. In this arrangement A minor is the chosen key although G minor is the natural and most appropriate key for the work. G minor is however a challenging key for the guitar player whilst the work is playable in A minor. The realization features a two different sounding guitars. Accompaniments are in place enabling the Guitar 1 part to practice in as part of a duo. These accompaniments play at 46, 48, 50 and 52 dotted quarter note (crotchet) beats to the minute and feature a 4 bar count in sounding on the wood blocks.
