[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 21, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E709-E710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PENNSYLVANIA CLASSICAL GUITARIST, JAY STEVESKEY, PERFORMS THE WORKS OF 
     A SPANISH COMPOSER AND MEXICAN COMPOSERS AT TWO RECENT VENUES

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                          HON. MATT CARTWRIGHT

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 21, 2013

  Mr. CARTWRIGHT. Mr. Speaker, with a resemblance to Sir Paul 
McCartney, the persona of a John Denver, and the soul of guitarist John 
Williams, local classical guitarist Jay Steveskey is a study in 
contradictions--engaging yet nonchalant, ready-to-do-battle yet laid 
back, fanciful yet down-to-earth, personable yet aloof, worldly yet 
parochial, busy yet relaxed. At a recent concert at Covenant 
Presbyterian Church in Scranton in which he shared the stage with the 
well-heeled flutist Ed Wargo, Jay Steveskey performed a special guitar 
solo of Francisco Tarrega's ``Recuerdos de la Alhambra.'' Translated as 
``Memories of Alhambra,'' a famous palace in Granada, Spain, the 
romantic-era piece is by far Tarrega's most famous work and is 
considered a study in the art of the tremolo.
  Steveskey's rendering of this work was both touching and gripping 
with tremolos as heartfelt and bittersweet as a lovesick teenager. The 
rise and fall of the melodic line was produced fine and evenly to the 
point of exquisite perfection. His technique was masterful in the 
tradition of Segovia, who considered this piece to be one of his 
personal favorites of the solo guitar repertoire. Both Tarrega and 
Segovia must have been smiling down upon Steveskey with this elegant 
and finely impressionistic performance. Two weeks later, Steveskey was 
superbly at it once again, engagingly performing the music this time of 
Mexican composers at a special Cinco de Mayo concert at the Dietrich 
Theater in Tunkhannock. A study of sorts in Mexican folk music, the 
program began with a Mexican piece by Agustin Lara about the Spanish 
city of Granada and ended with Five Sketches of Mexico by Julio Cesar 
Oliva. In between was the music of Manuel Ponce and Ernesto Garcia de 
Leon. Steveskey's musicality had the ring of authenticity and was quite 
dolce at various times throughout the program. The ``Seis Preludios 
Cortos'' written by Manuel Ponce at the end of his life for the 
children of a fellow composer was brooding and urgent as if the 
composer had a longing for Death. The ``Sonatina Meridional'' also by 
Manuel Ponce was the last piece written for his old friend, Andres 
Segovia, to whom he dedicated much of his career. The contemporary 
sketches of Mexico by Oliva were part of a set of twenty such 
impressionistic sketches with Steveskey performing two sets of five, 
for Cinco de Mayo. In keeping with the Cinco de Mayo theme of the 
program, Steveskey also performed the modernistic ``Cinco Bosquejos'' 
by Ernesto Garcia de Leon. Other brief pieces by Ponce such as 
``Estrellita,'' ``Scherzino Mexicano,'' and ``La Pajarera'' rounded out 
the charmed performance.
  Steveskey's nuanced sound was so honest and pure and full of lyricism 
that it could bring a grown hombre to tears. His overall performance 
was quite strong and very straightforward yet strewn with subtle 
touches here and there. His encore after the all-Mexican program was a 
well-known Mexican tune called ``Maria Elena.'' As the words to the 
poetic song ``Granada'' go: ``Granada, land of my dreams, mine becomes 
a gypsy song when I sing to you,'' Jay Steveskey has managed to capture 
the wayward and sensual soul of the Spanish-speaking people.

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