"Three River Moments"
© 2000 Kevin Callahan
"Three River Moments" was selected as the final exam performance piece at the Royal Conservatory of Music (Bruxelles) guitar dept. headed by Odair Assad. The middle movement - The River Bed - was recorded by Badi Assad on her Guitar Player Magazine - award winning "Rhythms" CD, Chesky Records.
Henry Lemoine Editions
"Three River Moments"
“Suite Seattle”
© 2005 Kevin Callahan
"Suite Seattle" was commissioned by Odair Assad and Francoise-Emmanuelle-Denis of GHA Records for the newly formed “Alki Guitar Trio” in Belgium. The suite merges classical, jazz, rock, blues and minimalism with tributes to Deep Purple and Jimi Hendrix . It was recently performed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to much acclaim.
pics of Alki in recording session
"Suite Seattle"
“The Fourth Stream”
©2005 Kevin Callahan
For solo classical guitar commissioned by Michael Partington. The three-movement work is inspired in part by Gunther Schuller’s term Third Stream, coined in 1957 to reflect the fusion of jazz and classical music.
This piece brings rock into the mix, ands also draws from Seattle’s Jackson Street jazz scene of the early 20th century and the city’s late 20th century influence on popular music
"The Fourth Stream"
Classical Guitar Magazine
- December 2004
"Three River Moments" for solo guitar by Kevin Callahan Editions Henry Lemoine 27 461 HL. 16pp
Three River Moments gets underway with an exceedingly rhythmic and pulsating opener titled Undercurrents. This is a very exciting, vibrant movement chock-a-block with syncopation, various time signatures, percussion and multiple left-hand slurs driving the music ever forward to a breathless 'Bartok' conclusion.
This is followed by the dreamy, almost romantic, middle movement, The River Bed which provides a highly contrasting effect between the first and final movement the title of which is Riptide; another work where the constantly changing time signatures are the chief characteristics in this incessantly moving piece, which, at six pages in length needs quite a lot of stamina.
Three River Moments, in the right hands, could make a stunning repertoire piece but the 'right hands' would need to be very capable indeed; we are talking here of difficulty Grade 8+.
- Steve Marsh
"Three River Moments"
“The first and third movements are rockin’, and the middle movement is incredibly beautiful. Truly inspirational writing.”
- Charles Nichols, composer
www.charlesnichols.com
"The Red Fantasy"
© 2008 Kevin Callahan
"The Red Fantasy" was commissioned by Odair Assad and was recorded on his first solo CD along with new music from Leo Brouwer, Sergio Assad, Egberto Gismonti.
The score is available from Doberman-Yppan Publications
or via GSP in San Francisco here
"The Red Fantasy"
The score is available from Doberman-Yppan Publications
or via GSP in San Francisco here
The score is available from Doberman-Yppan Publications
"What a great piece, Callahan's!"
10 time Grammy Winner
Of The Red Fantasy:
Concert review by Chris Davis at
Alki Gutar Trio on iTunes
"Old Friend"
© 2011 Kevin Callahan
Commissioned by Odair Assad.
The score is available at
Yesler Way Music
for immediate PDF download.
Gutiar Foundation of America SOUNDBOARD review here
“Old Friend”
"Songs for Lotty"
© 2011 Kevin Callahan
Commissioned by Elizabeth CD Brown.
The score is available at
Yesler Way Music
for immediate PDF download.
“Songs for Lotty”
My interview with Chris Davis at
Classical Guitar blog here
From Guitar Lifestyle
Odair Assad “gave a spellbinding performance of Kevin Callahan’s “Red Fantasy,” an inviting study in chordal melodies, speedy single lines and occasional bent pitches. “ full article
- Allan Kozinn
New York Times
Artyom Dervoed closes his program at Carnegie Hall with “The Red Fantasy”
The end of the program was a virtuosic and rhapsodic work called The Red Fantasy by the American composer Kevin Callahan (b.1958) which was written for Odair Assad and recently recorded brilliantly by Odair on his new CD El Caminante for GHA records. This piece was inspired by an evening that Callahan and Odair had, sharing stories and tasting wines. "A composition based on wine varietals and the musical colors they evoke occurred naturally" is what Callahan has written about his piece and indeed it is a brilliant showpiece of color with its insistent rock n roll rhythms, jazz strummed chords and fancy fretwork throughout. This piece had a very improvisatory structure to it and was definitely a show of a thousand fingers, it was light in mood and fun and provided a nice contrast to the melancholy of the Lime Tree folk song variations. It provided a nice upbeat and exciting ending to Dervoed's half of the concert though it too like the Regondi seemed to be new under the fingers for now.
Photo from reception at Bastyr after Odair Assad performed Kevin Callahan’s “The Red Fantasy” April 22, 2009
Photo by Russell Johnson (contact: rjohnson at olympus.net)
Watch the amazing Artyom Dervoed perform “The Red Fantasy” in Boston here.
Suite Seattle: “... and with the many rhythmic and melodic varieties containied in these 10-+ minutes this is one of the highlights of the disc. The final movement, Skid Row, quotes from Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze as a nod to the electric guitar genius who grew up in this area.“
-Steve Marsh - Classical Guitar Magazine - November 2012
full article
"The Possessed"
© 2013 Kevin Callahan
Commissioned by Artyom Dervoed.
The score is available at
Yesler Way Music
for immediate PDF download.
“The Possessed”
Alternative “Barbera” section here as recorded by Odair Assad
Get Melanie Hosp’s new recording of “Three River Moments’ on iTunes here. She’s a fantastic musician and guitar player!
Watch the Alki Guitar Rio peform “Alki” (the middle movement of “Suite Seattle” here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK0E8wNF1Bc
