Overtures and Dances

Overtures & Dances from the Mēla Guitar Quartet matured as a concept through years of touring and performing. Naturally, as we explored repertoire, we found pieces that resonated with audiences and had a special affinity with the quartet. The album is available at NativeDSD in Stereo DSD 512, DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 and DXD plus Auro3D FLAC and Dolby Atmos TrueHD, Auro3D and DTS:X Immersive Audio. These pieces tended to be ones that had a theatrical element in opera, ballet, or dance. The possibilities of arrangement enabled by guitar quartet add another dimension, either using the spectrum of timbral colors of the guitar like “an orchestra in miniature” (as the great Andrés Segovia used to say), or to expand the music of one piano between four guitarists to make a rich, sustaining sonority, unobtainable with fewer guitars. We believe this collection of pieces pushes the boundaries of how guitar quartet can be used, but always in a way that best serves the storytelling, lyrical beauty, and often childlike wonder of these works.

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Mēla Guitar Quartet Matthew Robinson George Tarlton Michael Butten Zahrah Hutton