The Dance of a Classical Guitar

This is not a review. Few of my Orts on Arts posts are reviews, but this definitely is not one. It's a personal reaction. 

This evening, I attended "An Evening in Spain" a classical guitar recital by Juan Carlos Aguilar at the Havens Center of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church (Houston, TX).

Let me say my musical education is somewhat lacking among my arts education. I can't talk about it in technical terms. I can only say I love the guitar, in nearly all its permutations (the exception probably being some of the more feedback prone electric guitars, and even then there are exceptions to that exception).

It was a free event and nearly triple what was expected showed up and they ran out of programs. I didn't get one, so I can't tell you what I heard tonight, but I do remember there was some Spanish music, yes, and a Tango, something Italian, something for lute by John Dowland (whose name, I admit, I only recognized thanks to Sting) which was arranged for guitar by Benjamin Britten, and an American piece that was a classical homage to Jimi Hendrix.

It was all lovely and exciting and amazing. I can't tell you anything more about it than that, really. It was an amazing free gift to everyone who attended.

Because it was so well attended, it was standing room only. I stood. It was the best "seat" in the house. From where I stood, I could watch as well as listen.

The hands of Juan Carlos were mesmerizing. It's almost alchemical how the slightest fluttering of a hand can create the many different sounds that came from the strings. His left hand bounced up and down the neck of the instrument, changing shapes constantly. There were times that I nearly laughed and clapped, the hands were so clever and quick. The coordination and strength and intelligence of those hands held me as rapt as the music they created.

All the way home I thought of those hands.

I said to myself, "It's all a dance with you, isn't it?"