James Limerick Kerr: Lute Fantasias of Molinaro
Acis
Having determined that Simone Molinaro's Renaissance lute music was familiar primarily to lute devotees, James Limerick Kerr resolved to right that wrong by creating hybrid-picking steel-string guitar arrangements of the composer's material, Lute Fantasias of Molinaro the result. In doing so, Kerr's effected a time-travel of sorts in transplanting music from 1599's Intavolatura di liuto, Libro into a contemporary guitar context, without, however, sacrificing the essence of the originals in the process. His transcriptions, which include (he believes) the first-ever recorded performances of “Fantasia quarta” and “Fantasia settima,” retain the lustrous polyphony and melodic richness of the originals.
Kerr's dexterity is evident in the technique he used to execute the eight pieces, a hybrid picking style that utilizes a plectrum plus right-hand fingers; such an approach allows for a clear melodic line to be articulated alongside multi-string plucks and layered lines. Lute technique is thus evoked but cast in a different light when the music's performed on a steel-string guitar. Molinaro's material lends itself extremely well to the approach when in a typical fantasia a short theme is distributed across a number of different voices and a dense polyphonic texture produced. To create variety, different compositional designs are applied: in one piece, the entrances of the lines are staggered whereas in another the initial subjects inverted or rhythmically altered. In another scenario, a chromatic design's applied to separate subjects, which generates unusual harmonies and contemporary-sounding chord voicings.
Kerr certainly possesses the skills to pull it off. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in classical guitar performance in 2016 at Stony Brook University (SUNY), but he also studied jazz as an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan. Before his current teaching post as Lecturer of Music-Guitar at Smith College, he taught applied classical and bluegrass guitar for a decade at Columbia University, where he also directed the Bluegrass Ensemble. The range of styles he commands extends from Renaissance fantasias and classical guitar to bluegrass, ragtime, and Delta blues, and he brings extensive experience as a solo player and ensemble member to whatever project he takes on. If he sounds fully comfortable operating in this idiom, it might have something to do with the fact that the recordings were made at Firehouse 12 Studio in his hometown of New Haven, Connecticut during 2025.
The elegant polyphonic dimension of the music is audible the moment “Fantasia quarta” initiates the set with a lilting, medium-tempo stream of melodies and chordal patterns. Its regal tone carries over into “Fantasia sesta,” its stepping pulse a likewise effective complement to its dignified musical character. A more complex polyphony marks “Fantasia seconda” when lines interlace intricately, but Kerr makes the piece's execution seem like a walk in the park. A similar regal lilt animates other settings, with “Fantasia prima” exuding an appealing buoyancy and “Fantasia settima” arresting for the rapid runs that are sprinkled throughout. In creating these fresh arrangements of Molinaro's lute fantasias for steel-stringed guitar, Kerr's made the composer's music available to an entirely new generation of guitarists almost four hundred years after his death. In enabling non-lute players to tackle Molinaro's music, Kerr's performed a valuable service and helped make it possible for the composer's name to become better known.July 2026