Justin Holland
was and remains an intriguing figure, largely unknown until guitarist
Christopher Mallett
came along; six of the pieces here are receiving their world premieres.
Holland
, born free in 1819, made his way to Boston and took lessons there from several guitar teachers, one of them Spanish. He may have been the first African American to play the classical guitar. Establishing himself in Cleveland, he developed a successful guitar teaching business and published many works, including two guitar methods.
Mallett
's release contains a variety of arrangements as well two original pieces by
. Some of them are quite simple and were probably aimed at a general audience of guitar students; others, such as the final
Carnival of Venice
, are more intricate and were perhaps intended for more advanced players or possibly for
himself, although he is not known to have toured much. Compare the sprightly
Delta Kappa Epsilon March
with the more sparse
Rochester Schottisch
of
W.H. Rulison
for an idea of the various idioms.
's performances are clean, and he resists the temptation to make more of the music than is there. The
Rulison
work points to another interesting aspect of the album: it offers the listener a tour through music that might have been in the heads of 19th century Americans. Some of them (like
Home Sweet Home
) are familiar, but
and some of the other composers, a mix of Europeans and Americans, are all but unknown. The album is nicely recorded, with a good sense of presence but no annoying over-intimacy, at an auditorium at the University of California at Santa Cruz. This release is essential for collections of 19th century American music and of music by African Americans, and it is of great general interest. ~ James Manheim