Transforming - The Blue Guitar by Michael Tippett

Commissioned by Julian Bream and premiered in 1983, The Blue Guitar Sonata was the only piece of music Michael Tippett wrote for solo guitar. Transforming is the first movement of three from The Blue Guitar. The Blue Guitar drew inspiration from the poem by Wallace Steven’s ’The Man With the Blue Guitar,’ in particular the 19th, 30th and 31st stanzas. The Pablo Picasso painting ’The Old Guitarist,’ stimulated Stevens to write his poem where it explores the paradox of outer reality and artistic reality. Transforming, like the rest of the work does not follow any strict structure, using rich chromatic harmonies and sometimes hints to the blues using flattened thirds, sixths, and sevenths in the melodies and chords. Recorded and filmed by KeepingMusic Filmed in East Sutton Church, December 2018