Romance-Impromptu and Jamaican Rumba for two Guitars by Arthur Benjamin
Arthur Benjamin (1893-1960) was born in Sidney, Australia, on 18 September 1893 and received his earliest education in Brisbane. Even as a boy, he was determined to pursue his musical training in London, and in 1911 he achieved his aim, studying composition with Sir Charles Villiers Stanford and piano with Frederick Cliffe. At the outbreak of war in 1914 Benjamin joined the army, later transferring to the RAF. His wartime service was curtailed when his plane was shot down and he was captured. Demobilized on the return of peace, he traveled home to Australia, where he began to compose in earnest.
Arthur Benjamin’s harmony and counterpoint teacher at the Royal College of Music (RCM) was Thomas Dunhill. It was through Dunhill that, in 1913, Benjamin had his first piece published, the short Romance-Impromptu.
Benjamin composed a number of light-music pieces, and it was one of these, the Jamaican Rumba, published in 1938, that brought him popular acclaim, making him something of a household name – so much so that the Jamaican government assigned him a free barrel of rum a year for his contribution to making the country known.
Both of these works have been arranged for guitar duo by Gregg Nestor, and are presented here as contrasting but companion works.
