Classical guitarist Christopher Mallett celebrates a legend
Christopher Mallett \u2014 Justin Holland: Guitar Works and Arrangements (Naxos)
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New Classical Tracks - Christopher Mallet
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\u201cFor me, it's not just American music. It's music that a Black American arranged,\u201d classical guitarist Christopher Mallett said. \u201cThat's the most significant part of why I want to help spread this music and why I need to play it.\u201d
Mallett honors and celebrates the Black pioneer of American classical guitar music in his latest solo recording, Justin Holland: Guitar Works and Arrangements.\xa0
He initially discovered Justin Holland's music while studying classical guitar at his local community college. He went on to study at Holland\u2019s alma mater, Oberlin College, and discovered more of Holland\u2019s music as a student at Yale. For several years, Mallett has been carrying around a stack of Holland\u2019s music playing it occasionally.
\u201cIt wasn't until 2020 that people started to take notice of Holland's music. It was around the time of George Floyd,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople started looking up Black composers and classical guitarists. Suddenly, people are writing articles about Holland and reaching out to me and saying, \u2018Can you record Justin Holland?\u2019\u201d
\u201cI sat down and read through every single piece,\u201d he says about creating the album. \u201cI spent days and days putting my wife through the torture of just sitting there and saying, \u2018What do you think of this one?\u2019 I was whittling it down from 50 to 60 pieces down to 14 of what I thought would be something that would catch the attention of listeners.\u201d
What piece did your wife enjoy the most?
\u201cThe two that she said should be on the recording were \u2018The Maiden\u2019s Prayer\u2019 and \u2018Carnival of Venice.\u2019 My wife is from Indonesia, and \u2018The Maiden\u2019s Prayer\u2019 is prevalent throughout Asia and Southeast Asia. When I played it, she said, \u2018Oh my gosh, I used to listen to that all the time when I was a little kid. You have to record it.\u2019
\u201cIt's an amazing arrangement. I've seen other guitarists play other arrangements online that I feel aren't even half as good as Holland's. Hopefully, this innovation will get out more because it is a trendy tune.\u201d
What sets the \u201cCarnival of Venice\u201d apart from other arrangments?
\u201cThere are variations with intricate and quick pull-offs reminiscent of metal music. He has variations with these quick, rapid arpeggios that fly up and down the neck. It's a culmination of all his method books into one piece. Everything he talks about scales, arpeggios, harmonics, pull-offs, slurs, it\u2019s all within that one piece.\u201d
Why was Justin Holland so influential as a guitarist in 19th-century America?
\u201cIt was his arrangements. He started making them for his students. They passed them around and they started becoming popular. It caught the attention of a viral publisher back then, S. Brainard & Sons. Any new popular tunes that would come out, Holland would be the person to arrange them.
\u201cWhat made him a household name to guitarists in America were his two method books. There's this famous method book now called Pumping Nylon by Scott Tennant. As I look through Holland\u2019s method, I almost consider it the Pumping Nylon of the 19th century.\u201d
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Resources
Christopher Mallett \u2014 Justin Holland: Guitar Works and Arrangements (Presto music)
Christopher Mallett \u2014 Justin Holland: Guitar Works and Arrangements (Amazon)
Christopher Mallett (official site)