Chestnuts: Three Memories
for Eight-Part Guitar Ensemble (2019-20)

Watch

Time mark for movement 1 - electric whirligigs | 1:02:10
Time mark for interlude: a moon of regret | 1:07:36
Time mark for movement 2 - an autumn long past... | 1:08:35
Time mark for movement 3 - rock in a bottle | 1:14:43

Program Notes

Late in 2018, I was asked by Chilean guitarist Javier Farias to write a new work for the eight-instrument Guitar Ensemble of Chile.  I have composed often for guitar, both in solo and chamber contexts (including a Double Concerto), although I am not a guitarist.  This piece, however, was an unprecedented challengee.  While I am accustomed to imagining the sound of a single guitar by itself or in partnership with other instruments, imagining how eight guitars (with no other instruments or voices) sound together, especially with regard to differentiation of material and color, required considerable time and attention.  

The resulting piece in in three movements with an interlude between the first and second.  While guitar 1 is considered “first among equals” in the ensemble, I have given solo lines and prominent moments to each guitar, so that each player in the ensemble has a few moments to shine.  

Stylistically, the piece draws on popular styles familiar to me and to which I feel a personal or emotional connection.  The title, “Chestnuts,” references a slang term for a play or piece of music which is a long-established, sentimental favorite.  In this sense, the piece draws on certain stylistic “chestnuts” important to me (without quoting any other piece), and so employs a set of memories to be the foundation-stones for a new piece.  Hence, the subtitle’s reference to three “memories.”  

The opening movement, “electric whirligigs,” is based on a syncopated line redolent of mid-century pop-rock: the middle section, in 5/8, plays with a rhythmically repeating figure which spins around itself in repetition, evoking the spinning motion of a “whirligig.”  

The interlude, “a moon of regret,” dips into a well of romantic associations of the guitar as an instrument of summer-night serenades: a buzzing hum in the ensemble evokes cicadas and other night-sounds which accompany the serenade.  This interlude flows immediately into the second movement, “an autumn long past…”, sweetly melancholy in its lyricism.  

The final movement – “rock in a bottle” – has a double meaning.  The first evokes rock music, vintage 1972, in which the opening strummed rhythmic pattern reflect the edgy yet somehow sweet style of rock in that period.  The ensemble members have the option of using electric pickups for this movement.  The second meaning is, similar to “electric whirligigs,” depicting the motion of a rock stuck in a shaken bottle, bouncing from side to side in the way the repeated rhythmic figures bounce around.

—Andrew Earle Simpson

Review

Premiere of CHESTNUTS on July 28, 2022 at Andres Bello University in Santiago, Chile
“Finally, the most interesting piece of the concert, and this due to the amount of color, clear contrasts and variety of resources. “Chestnuts” (2020) by Andrew Earle Simpson was the third of the world premieres of the night, and without a doubt, it calls for more attention to be paid to this name. The public's reception was warm….”

— Alvaro Gallegos, adnradio.cl, Aug. 1, 2022 (Full Review)