20 Miniatures (CD incl.)

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This group of small compositions by Haitian-born guitarist/composer Alain Reiher is arranged in more-or-less progressive order, beginning very innocently and becoming somewhat more complex as one proceeds through the volume (but only to early intermediate level of technical difficulty). Appropriately for the idea of «miniatures«, the individual pieces are conceptually simple, but this is not to be construed as simplistic. there is considerable musical content here. The harmonic language is sometimes unexpected, keeping the interest and a feeling of freshness, but it always sounds logical in retrospect. It does not seem that the set is necessarily conceived as a single performance unit, although the final miniature is a more developped re-statement of the first one. The CD by the composer is helpful in locating the intent and the style.
David Grimes (Soundboard Magazine)

This is the first CD/book package I have seen d'Oz do and is a trend that can only be welcomed when the material is as good as this latest book.
Reiher is a Canadian composer/performer whose music is new to me; my loss then, for this is wonderful stuff from start to finish. It is a rare occurrence for me, when reviewing, to play a large book all the way through at one sitting but this I did with this volume. The miniatures are not necessarily too easy to play, as they are fully formed little slices of music with their own individual character. Some are easy-ish but then there are several that are intermediate at the very least.
The important factor is that they are never obvious, they go their own path, and yet completely keep your interest throughout. Reiher has quite an individual voice in composition, which sets him apart from quite a number of composers writing today who often tread a safe path.
Individually, No 1 is an innocent sounding little waltz in three main voices with a little chromatic sting in the tail at the coda. No 4 is in dropped D tuning with a lilting tune that immediately sticks in your brain. Its melody leads it as far as fret 12 with some tricky progressions a few notes further on. No 5 is a dramatic brooding Lento, whilst No 6 is essentially a study of hammer-ons and pull-offs whilst still retaining its melodic interest. No 7 has a constant open D/G ostinato against which a deliberately perversely offbeat melody strains and pulls against it. No 10 has an odd tonality about it with a dramatic Lento section sandwiching a Più mosso of undulating semiquavers. No 13 manages to make C major sound quite new and fresh by the distribution of its melodic ideas and in particular the way he fingers the opening C major chord across the strings. The final No 20 hearkens back to No 1 for its melodic ideas and closes the set in admirable fashion.
This is a set to play and enjoy again and again. Every one is different and every piece poses a different challenge. Many of them work as studies but can just be enjoyed for their music. I can see this set being selectively used by all manner of teachers for quite a wide ranging standard of pupils, who will almost certainly benefit from the set's lack of the obvious.
Go out and have a look at this set, and be prepared to buy, if you do!«
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)