Fuoco Di Alberta. Video clip of The Fall of Birds / Nikita Koshkin, Performed on Nov. 01, 2008

This piece was one of three on my program in a guest performance for The Sydney Classical Guitar Society on Nov 1, 2008 at The Performing Arts Centre (Holtermann Street Crows Nest.)
The invitation was following my winning of the Sydney Eisteddfod (McDonald’s Performing Arts Challenge) Classical Guitar Open Age competition on August 31, 2008.

When I first heard Nikita Koshkin's "The Fall of Birds", it was on June 13, 2004 in a recital by classical guitarist Minh Le Hoang. It was the 3rd piece on his Honours performance program, just before the Interval. The concert was presented by the International Guitar Series at the ANU School of Music in Canberra.
The concert hall was packed and we were lucky to find few seats in the Dress Circle.
It was a great and thrilling performance that I still remember to this day.
Over a year later, Minh performed in Sydney on October 15, 2005 in a concert presented by the Sydney Classical Guitar Society, and again, he performed The Fall of Birds, just before the interval. This time I was sitting in the front row and I felt how powerful the music was, and how exacting Minh delivered it.

It wasn’t until years later where I came across it again; this time on May 18, 2007 in Heinsberg Germany.
I was sitting in the 2nd row from the front, right behind a line of eleven Jury members and directly behind Thomas Kirchhoff and Zoltan & Peter Katona (Katona Twins.)
This was Round Two of the Heinsberg International Guitar Festival & Competition, and the performer was Goran Krivokapic. I was eleven at the time.
Straight after the performance, I went to the 2nd level where Heiner Viertmann were exhibiting their huge range of music sheets, CD’s and other products. I asked the kind lady behind the table if they have the score for The Fall of Birds. She looked and looked, but no score.
In due course I realised that Koshkin’s scores are a bit difficult to come by, especially that most are out of print. I tried ordering it through my regular score supplier in Sydney, Doug de Kroo. Still no luck. Doug is a specialist in the difficult to find pieces, but this one eluded even him. He found others, but not this one. Doug and his brother Leo are known as “The deKroo Brothers”, famous for their lively gigs and performances around Sydney.

While contemplating learning the piece by hearing, I suddenly remembered Minh Le Hoang’s concert in Canberra few years ago. Perfect.
In a quick e-mail to him, I explained the situation. He recommended checking with Guitar Solo Publications in California. But even they didn’t have it.
But within few days, I received a scanned pdf of Minh’s own copy, even with his markings. A sigh of relief. Thanks a lot Minh.
Every now and then, I look on-line for an original score but yet to find any.