Music / Rupert Boyd. At Smiths Alternative, 18 July. Reviewed by GRAHAM McDONALD.

Rupert Boyd is a classical guitarist. Born and raised in Canberra, he trained at the ANU School of Music under Tim Kain, before relocating to New York 21 years ago. 

He performs regularly in the US and internationally as a solo guitarist and in a duo with his wife, cellist Laura Metcalf. This current Australian tour is brief and, I suspect, as much an opportunity to visit family as to perform.

Whatever the reason for the visit, Boyd is a very fine guitarist and in 90 minutes of music in the crowded loungeroom-like ambience of Smiths Alternative entertained and charmed his audience.

The room at Smiths is in no way a live acoustic space, so subtle amplification of the guitar made each note clear and audible.

The first half of the concert started with music from two early baroque composers, one whose name I missed and the second a German/Italian lutenist Johannes Kapsberger. These were followed by a work from a prolific, late baroque German composer for the lute, Sylvius Weiss. 

What was notable about his interpretation of the baroque component of the concert was his precise phrasing that emphasised the structure of the music. There was variation in tonal colour from where the strings were plucked with the right hand, a technique he used later in the concert in two movements from the Suite in E major by JS Bach.

The first half concluded with 11 (very) short works by Cuban composer Leo Brouwer and a descriptive work, La Catedral, by Paraguayan guitarist and composer Agustin Barrios.

The second half of the concert continued with the same variety of music. The Bach previously mentioned, two very Spanish pieces by Isaac Albeniz, a very clever transcription of a kora piece by Salif Kieta arranged by Derek Gripper and finishing with a bent bossa-nova song by Antonio Carlos Jobin with lots of unexpected dissonance.

The concert as a whole was deftly programmed and extremely well performed. 

In this time of debate around the future role of the School of Music in Canberra, it is instructive to look back at a 35-year period where the school was a major centre for classical guitar in Australia and produced a quite astonishing number of guitarists who have gone on to professional careers around the world. It has all come from one-on-one teaching.