"Possessed of a striking, multi-octave voice and a passion for high drama in his performances," Jeff Buckley emerged out of New York's avant-garde music scene in 1994 with Grace, an album that would garner him international critical acclaim and a devoted cult fan base. Three years later, just shy of his 31st birthday and the recording of his second album, he drowned in a freak accident." ^{[Note 1]} The son of singer/songwriter Tim Buckley, Jeff was born in Orange County, California, in 1966. He began playing the guitar while in high school, and then studied at the Los Angeles Musicians Institute before moving to New York in 1990. There he formed a short-lived, but locally popular band known as "Gods & Monsters" with guitarist Gary Lucas. In 1993, he began a solo career playing in clubs and coffeehouses, which led to a contract with Columbia Records for an EP recording called Live at Sin-e. His first major success came one year later with the release of Grace, a full-length debut album that received rave reviews. Included on this recording are original works such as "Last Goodbye" as well as a deeply emotional cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." Buckley relocated to Memphis in 1996 where he began preparing a second album. On the night of May 29, 1997, while awaiting the arrival of his band from New York, he impulsively decided to take a swim as he and a friend were walking beside a channel of the Mississippi River. Tragically, he was swept under the water by the wake of a passing boat. His body was not found until six days later. Notes
Note 1. from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001). [Return to text] Beyond the tragedy that led this guitarist and singer from dazzling fame to an incredible tragedy, the Requiem evokes the intense emotions linked to the memory, the loss, and the absurdity of existence. What captivates us in this story is the realisation that talent and success do not have any power over destiny; they cannot insure lifelong happiness, and thus create a void in our existence. Carmen Perennis (Eternal Ballad), an ancient funeral march, recounts the endless and Sisyphean quest to enter the realm of the ideal, the ethereal, the transcendental... Fuga Temporum (Fugitive Vision), without doubt the most narrative movement, flows desperately through meandering, tormented thoughts (the metaphorical Mississippi River). Prima Lux (Sunrise) is not an epilogue that is full of hope, but rather an end of the journey that immerses the listener in a contemplative, introspective conclusion. Denis Mortagne completed his guitar studies at the Conservatory of Avignon while also studying composition, cello, music history, music theory and conducting. He then completed advanced studies in composition with Janine Rueff, Jean Claude Henry, and George Hugon, and in guitar with Karel Harms and Rene Bartoli. He was awarded first prize in the St. Marc International Composition Competition in 1999. Mortagne founded the Orchestre de guitares de Provence in 1994 and has since recorded several of his works with this ensemble, including his latest CD entitled Voyage. He frequently gives solo recitals of classical, romantic, and contemporary works--including many of his own compositions--and also is an active chamber musician in performances for two guitars and for violin and guitar. As a pedagogue, he is the guitar professor at the Carpentras Music School and he is the Director of the Pays Voconces Music School in the south of France. His reputation as a teacher and composer/conductor has made him a highly demanded guest instructor for master classes in France and other European countries. Denis Mortagne's combined musical activities as a performer, teacher, and composer have constantly inspired him to renew his artistic and pedagogical vision. His compositions and arrangements invite listeners into a unique musical landscape and have been enthusiastically received by audiences throughout Europe and America.

Jeff Buckley Requiem This edition is another one of "The Frank Koonce Series", a series which appears to be centering on contemporary guitar music and in this instance the French guitarist/composer Denis Mortagne is paying tribute to now legendary American singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley. In 1997, three years after releasing his first and only studio album, Grace, a recording which has been included in several lists of greatest albums and one which Mojo Magazine named as the number one Modern Rock Classic of all-time, Buckley drowned in Wolf River, a channel of the Mississippi. He was 30 years old. This well-written and at times, moving, Requiem is made up of three movements the most attractive and poignant being the opening one titled Carmen Perennis (Eternal Ballad), a absolute gem of a piece, easily able to stand alone from its two counterparts and when the subject matter is taken into consideration as to why this composition was written in the first place, this piece takes on a whole new dimension. Fuga Temporum (Fugitive Vision), the second part of this trilogy is a meandering, arpeggiated piece, symbolic of the river and finishing with a reprise of the theme from the opening movement. The chief characteristic of the last section, titled Prima Lux (Sunrise), Is the insistent eighth-note rhythm of 3:3:4 almost throughout. This feature, along with its slow and lingering melodic lines placed on either side of this ostinato backdrop, gives this part of the composition an almost hypnotic texture, and with a change of rhythm and a fade-out to silence over the last 12 bars this become quite an emotive finale. Although two of the movements are written in the daunting-looking and disconcerting (for guitarists) key of F sharp major, six sharps, it does not necessarily compute "more sharps = more difficulty". This composition does have its trickier moments but the majority of grade 6-7 players should be able to handle this work. The presentation is excellent, with a really attractive front cover photograph of Buckley in action, nice typesetting and well fingered. I don't know whether it is just for this particular series or for the whole of their future catalogue, but the publishers have increased their page size from their previous, slightly smaller one, and it has to be said that this change seems for the better. -Steve Marsh, Classical Guitar Magazine (UK)