The Classical Guitar Compendium: Classical Masterpieces Arranged for Solo Guitar

I was thinking reading my Guitar techniques magazine 'I wish that Bridget Mermikedes would write a book because I can't find transcriptions this good anywhere... that thought start a few years ago. I will now happily no longer have to think it.This book contains exceptional classical pieces for guitar transcribed beautifully. What makes it special is how perfectly these classical pieces are translated onto guitar. I've read many pieces of classical music that other people have transcribed that simply don't express the beauty of the music like this. Highlights for me are: Claire De Lune, Air on a G String, Ave Maria, Gnossienne No.1, La Forza Del Destino and the Flower duet. All the pieces are excellent and the techniques used to express the music very cleverly thought out and well worth learning. This is without doubt the best compendium book on classical music that I have ever encountered.Contained in the book:- eight studies by Sor, Tarrega, Giulai, Carcassi, Aguado.Repertoire:- Bach: Air on a G String,Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1. Beethoven: Adagio from Pathetique Sonata, Fur Elise, Moonlight Sonata. Brahms:Lullaby. Chopin: Nocturne Opus 9 No. 2, Prelude Opus 28 No. 4, Prelude Opus 28 No. 20. Debussy: Clair De Lune, La Fillr aux Cheveux de Lin. Delibes: Flower Duet from Lakme. Faure: Pavane. Grieg: Hall of the Mountain King. Morning Mood from Peer Gynt. Massenet: Meditation from Thais. Mozart: Clarinet Concerto 2nd Movement Piano Concerto No. 21 Andante, Rondo Alla Turca. Pachelbel: Canon. Puccini: Nessun Dorma. Ravel: Bolero. Satie: Gnossienne No. 1, Gymnopedie No. 1, Gymnopedie No. 3, Schubert, Ave Maria Schumann: Traumerei. Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Verdi: La Forza del Destion. Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries

I bought all 3 of Margaret's books as they have such great reviews from so many people- Compendium, Anthology and the Masterworks (the one with a white cover). Compendium and Anthology are amazing books. I had other books with the same songs in but these are written perfectly and sound amazing so no longer use those books- I just play these. I am a big classical fan anyway but most people would recognise most of these songs, if not all. All the big names you would expect plus some others that you just wont find in other books. These are not easy songs but the easiest songs in the book are doable if you've played for a while, and the advanced songs are still achievable if you spend time working on them. A few are seriously hard with huge chords but it's something to work up to and enjoy the process- sense of accomplishment with these books is great. If you want to build your repertoire and play songs people recognise and enjoy, you need these books. Margaret has a way of creating TAB that sounds so beautiful. She has amazing reviews for good reason. You need these books if you enjoy classical guitar.

I've been following Bridget's arrangements in Guitar Techniques for the last few years and have often been so impressed with the arrangements that I just had to learn to play some of them. This book is primarily a collection of those arrangements. Standard notation is used and tab is also provided so it's no problem if you're not a good reader of standard notation. The book starts with a Technical Study section which consists of a series of exercise that are designed to allow one to play some of the great classical guitar studies. These are great pieces of music in their own right. Examples are the 3 arpeggio exercises designed to help one play the Giuliani Allegro study. There are a total of 8 studies by Sor, Tarrega, Giuliani, Carcassi and Aguado, along with their associated exercises. The repertoire section contains over 30 beautifully arranged pieces. The pieces range from moderately easy to advanced so there is something for everyone. The pieces also cover different eras of classical music as there is everything from Bach (the beautiful Air on a G String), to modern pieces by Satie (the hauntingly beautiful Gymnopedies 1 and 3). One of my favourites is the arrangement of Puccini's Nessun Dorma (used as the World Cup anthem from 1990). I was staying in a youth hostel on Crete where there were some partying Italians. I started playing Bridget's arrangement of Nessun Dorma quietly in the corner and they were stunned into silence! They were asking where I found the arrangement and said they never heard anything like that played on the guitar! There's even an arrangement of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries so I hope they'll be some partying Germans at the youth hostel next summer! This is a great value package as it also comes with 2 very well engineered CDs. It would have been good if it came with a DVD showing the pieces being played l but I guess that would be pushing one's luck a bit too far. Even if you don't play guitar but like guitar music, it's worth buying for the CDs alone. The great thing about the guitar is that it's such a versatile instrument. These arrangements exploit this versatility to the full. Overall a great package and I hope there'll be volume 2 sometime.

I ordered this book only a few days ago. It arrived today and was that was quick. It was packed into a single wall cardboard envelope but it had please do not bend printed on it in big letters. It had no marks from the journey to me so am very pleased with the packing.I thought that this book also displayed the tablature as used by guitarists, but it doesn't, so make note of that when you order if you can't read music. It says in the book that you can download the tunes from a site that is mentioned in the book. So I will be doing that as I always find it handy when learning new tunes.

You do need to be able to read music really to use this. The print is too small for me but may be ok for younger/better eyes. I suppose they do that so there's not too many pages [to keep production costs down?]Unfortunately this is yet another guitar book I've bought from Amazon that looks returned. It's corners are ragged & dog eared. I will attach pics when Amazon "allows" me.