SASO to play Pete Fine's electric guitar concerto

You could probably count on one hand how many times electric guitar has been a part of a symphony concert, and the count would be equal when you consider how many classical composers have written for the instrument.

This weekend we get to experience that rare marriage of symphony concert and rock show when the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra performs the American premiere of Tucson composer Pete Fine’s Concerto No. 2 for Electric Guitar and Orchestra.

Fine will be the soloist in a program that also includes Poulenc’s choral work “Gloria” with the SASO chorus and the guest soloist, soprano Christi Amonson. Jacqueline Rodenbeck, a young violinist who was among the winners of the 2018 Dorothy Vanek Youth Concerto Competition, also will perform.

Fine penned his four-movement concerto in 2014 and had hoped to have SASO perform the world premiere the following season. But SASO music director Linus Lerner had already finalized the season, so he invited Fine to perform the world premiere in 2016 with Lerner’s Brazilian ensemble, Orquestra Sinfonica do Rio Grande do Norte.

“My orchestra has been playing mostly just symphonic repertoire ... but I thought maybe they will like this. They loved it,” Lerner said.

Lerner said the piece at times casts the guitar in arena-rock mode, with searing solo runs. And then it sounds playful like Mozart and then bold and big like “you’re listening to a movie soundtrack or sometimes a little rock or Ravel’s ‘Bolero,’” the conductor explained.

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“You have this assembly of different ideas and that, I think, he was successful in putting together,” Lerner said.

Fine, whose first Electric Guitar Concerto was performed and recorded in 1999 by the now-defunct Catalina Chamber Orchestra, described the work as virtuosic and challenging for the soloist.

“It has the sound of a rock guitar, but it’s written in a very late Romantic, Classical style. It could be a violin concerto except that it’s an electric guitar,” he said. “It’s a symphonic work that features some challenging guitar stuff, but I don’t want it to be listened to just by guitarists.”

Fine has been composing for decades in between playing lead guitar with a popular Tucson Led Zeppelin cover band and other solo gigs. For a while, he wouldn’t compose for his instrument; he wanted to be a member of the audience and hear his works played by an orchestra rather than be a part of the performance, he said.

But in 2014, he had all these ideas for a guitar concerto swirling in his head. After 15 years or more, he was ready to write Guitar Concerto No. 2.

“I think people will love it,” Lerner said of the work. “It’s such a different thing. You never hear of an electric guitar playing with an orchestra.”