Kianush Robeson, playing a guitar made by Philip Woodfield of Catsfield.

Kianush Robeson’s Impressions of Segovia at Blacklands Church

Blacklands Church in Hastings hosted an afternoon of classical guitar music recalling the Spanish master Andrés Segovia by Kianush Robeson last Sunday, 21 May. Stewart Rayment was there to savour a special occasion, and also took the photos.

Kianush Robeson, who has recently relocated to Bexhill, brought us his Impressions of Segovia in a concert at Blacklands Church last weekend. Andrés Segovia (1893-1987) is remembered as a great exponent of Spanish guitar music, dominating the field of classical guitar for most of the last century.

Kianush explained the importance of Segovia’s technique in classical guitar music, something I was not previously aware of, but which was as important as the developments of Charlie Christian or Jimi Hendrix in their respective fields. By keeping his hand away from the sound hole, the sound was amplified, making for a more suitable performance in a concert hall setting. Although brought up, as most of us were, on Segovia and his followers, one might not be aware of his innovation.

Graduating with 1st class honours from the Royal Welsh College of Music in 2018, Kianush studied with John Mills, who had himself studied with Segovia, an important link in musical continuity. He did not seek to copy Segovia, he said, but to interpret him. The instrument that Kianush was playing was a newly made copy of one of Segovia’s guitars built by Philip Woodfield of Catsfield.

The programme opened with a work by Polish composer Aleksander Tansman (1897-1986), Variations on a Theme by Scriabin (1972), which was written for Segovia and became a standard piece of his repertoire. Those of us more familiar with Scriabin’s fiery piano pieces would have been taken by surprise by this work. Tansman, like the Spanish composers whose works followed, became imbued in the French impressionist school after he moved to Paris.

Incidentally, he collaborated with the choreographer Rudolf von Laban in his ballet compositions, providing a link with our previous concerts at Blacklands Church by harpists Catherine and Elizabeth Rajhans, Ukrainian refugees – they are now studying at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London, part of his legacy.

Also composed for Segovia was Frederic Mompou’s (1893-1987) Suite Compostellana (1962). Evoking the essence of Santiago de Compostela during the period when Mompou taught at the university there, the suite is in six pieces, ending in a muñiera, a traditional Galician dance.

Ponce and Segovia

The set concluded with a piece by Mexican composer Manuel Ponce (1882-1949). Already a composer, having, like Mompou, studied in France, Ponce saw Segovia at his first performance in Mexico City in 1923. Meeting afterwards, the two were mutually impressed with each other and started a long fruitful collaboration. The Sonatina Meridional was composed in 1930 in response to the great guitarist’s request for a piece in a ‘purely Spanish character’ – evocative of Andalusia, it requires a level of skill which Kianush certainly mastered.

The Blacklands Church concerts started in the New Year by chance, when the Ukrainian harpists were looking for venues to play at before starting college. I first saw them when they performed as part of Explore the Arch’s High Rise Connecting Conversations at The Stade; they will return to Blacklands later in the summer.

From a spontaneous beginning, the concerts are now attracting audiences of 60-70. Among future events we are hoping to arrange an organ recital by Peter Ford, and other musicians seeking performance opportunities are welcome to get in touch (lockharthastings@btconnect.com).

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