Populaire - Cancion del Lladre

Popular song, Cancion del Lladre , arrangement by Arnaud Sans

Chamber music

Violin, viola, flute, cello, guitar and bassb guitar

Accessible to pupils of cycle 1 and 2

Classical Guitar

CANCION DEL LLADRE
for guitar and ensemble - Trad.
Arr. by Arnaud Sans
Editions l'Empreinte Mélodique. 8pp plus parts
Here's a full score, and parts for guitar, flute, violin, viola, cello and bass guitar, and it's a charming and very accessible rework of the well-known piece made famous by Llobet's solo guitar arrangement.
But it's here that the comparison must end - it is the same piece, but it's not the same at all. Firstly there is a slow, reflective introduction, and then the violin confiscates the tune we always think of as a guitarist's! The guitar is left with some rich arpeggios, taken pretty much verbatim from Llobet's work, and in isolation they are gorgeously easy.
But then that's the entire point of this arrangement- it's for those who are finding their feet as well as finding the notes - it's deliberately written to be performable by those with modest abilities. I have to say that thanks to some careful and sympathetic
arranging, all the parts here look entirely nonthreatening to a Grade Four player.
So, has the baby disappeared down the plughole along with the bathwater? Not at all. If we begin with the premise that we're sharing out a Grade 8 solo piece to make it easier to play, then it's obvious that the guitarist can't keep all the notes.
What's only slightly less obvious, but it's really rather important, is that the extra instruments don't have the guitar's 'decay' - they all have sustain, making the texture very different, very compelling and very satisfying. 
Far from taking away, we are adding to this delightful piece. If you think about the lovely chamber orchestra in  CastelnuovoTedesco's Concerto, this is, at a more humble level, a similar effect- the sound becomes three-dimensional, the highs are higher, the lows are lower, the long notes are longer and the sound is spread across a line of players.

For a teacher in a school environment who isn't looked down on (as guitar teachers sometimes are) as 'not a proper musician', this is a must-have. It will most certainly help the guitar stand shoulder to shoulder with the more 'conventional' scrape and blow instruments, and parental audiences will love the concordant and gentle harmonies.
Derek Hasted

  arnaudsans.com