L.A. Guitar Quartet: Dances from Renaissance to Nutcracker

L.A. Guitar Quartet: Dances from Renaissance to Nutcracker

• Los Angeles Guitar Quartet

All of the arrangements on this album were made by LAGQ members. Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite was arranged by Andrew York, who explains in the booklet notes that he first arranged part of the suite for two guitars, which worked musically but was hard to play. So, as he explains: "The ideal solution was to redo the work for guitar quartet, allowing a more complete translation of the complexities of the orchestral score, which could be balanced among four guitars. Two dances remain as duets -- the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," played here by Bill Kanengiser and Scott Tennant; and "Arabian Dance," in which John Dearman and I are the players."