Description

Richard Pick (1915-2001), “Selected Works for Solo Guitar”
48 Pages.

About The Author:

Richard Pick was born in 1915 in St. Paul Minnesota.  His birth name was Richard Burns,  and his parents were of Scottish ancestry.  He later adopted the family name of his foster parents,  the Picks.  At the age of five,  he began his musical education,  learning to play both the violin and the piano,  under the tutelage of his foster parents,  who were both professional musicians.  Throughout his early school years in Minnesota,  he performed in numerous musical concerts with them.  He later moved to Illinois,  where he continued to grow musically by performing,  singing,  conducting,  composing,  arranging,  orchestrating,  accompanying and lecturing.  It was then that the classic guitar caught his attention.  As he investigated its possibilities as a vehicle of expression,  his interest in the instrument rapidly grew.

His rich and thorough education in music,  and especially his love of nature,  are reflected in his compositions.  In 1952,  Richard Pick published his First Lessons for the Classic Guitar,  a book that was noted as the first American guitar method since 1924.  The Richard Pick School of Guitar,  from which these original solo are taken,  was originally published by Editions Orphee in 1992.

In years past,  Richard Pick has appeared on radio and television as a guest artist with Dave Garroway,  Robert Trendier,  Henry Weber, the WGN Symphony Orchestra,  the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra,  and the Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra.  He worked with the Encyclopedia Britannica in producing an award winning film,  entitled People Along the Mississippi,  in which he played the background music.  In playing the premier performance of Jacques Ibert’s Le Chevalier Errand,  he was the first guitarist to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  He has given many recitals,  other performances,  and lectures in many cities of the United States:  principally in Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Washington,  D.C., Seattle,  San Francisco,  and Aspen.  Richard Pick died at the end of November,  2001.