Although given the overall title of Preludes, each of these pieces could easily be served as alternatives to the usual contemporary etudes studied when the intermediate-plus stage is reached, and my feeling is that they would have far more use employed in a didactic fashion rather than as pieces of music as « food for the ear. » 

This is not to say that they are not worthy of listening to-indeed, they hold a certain attraction, and due to the contrasts between each piece, they would easily fit into any contemporary music slot in a formal recital. But their value as « technique irnprovers » is high; both hands will benefit greatly if practiced diligently and some of the fascinating chord sequences Fimbel has come up with provide excellent material for study.

« Marked ‘enigmatic’, the theme here relies less on a strong melody line and more upon the harmonic progression, the chords of which contain some slight dissonances without being too disturbing; it does indeed conjure up a sense of the ‘mysterious’. Following on from this there are five variations – all short-lived and comprising of arpeggios, rapid note clusters, a tremolo, block chords and a little chord sequence up and down the fingerboard before a return to the opening theme. It is all very concise and well written and the piece holds interest throughout. As an introduction to a contemporary guitar piece of this form, this would make an ideal study for the Grade 5 player. »

Steve Marsh (Classical Guitar Magazine)

« Pour sa dernière parution en date, Jean-Jacques Fimbel a choisi de s’attaquer à la forme thème et variations. Et l’on comprend que cette forme séduise ce musicien à la formation si large et variée, qui peut ainsi exprimer librement son langage de compositeur. Un premier thème, court et ramassé, néanmoins dense, avec la mention «énigmatique»; le ton est donné. S’ensuivent cinq variations qui vont à la fois développer l’harmonie, tout en gardant le suivi de la basse originelle, essentielle ici, peut-être comme une réminiscence du style baroque? Les variations utilisent un langage guitaristique varié, Tremolos, campanelles, changements de mesure et autres ornements sont au rendez-vous. Dans un style concis et dense à la fois, Jean-Jacques Fimbel renouvelle un genre phare du grand repertoire. »

S. L. (Guitare Classique)

Spring Chôro is an optimistic, joyous affair in A major with a catchy rhythm and a rather nice, unpretentious opening tune of the type you think you may have heard previously. The work takes the form of a rondo with this opening segment appearing twice more. In between there is a more chordal passage with once again an agreeable tune and later on an eight-bar tremolo section. This is a pleasant, unpretentious little ditty in the attractive Brazilian chôro style with some agreeable melodies, and probably would be ideal for the Intermediate player.

Steve Marsh

 (Classical Guitar Magazine)

Dans le petit milieu guitaristique, on ne présente plus Jean-]acques Fimbel.
Compositeur, arrangeur, pédagogue, interprète sur cordes pincées anciennes et modernes, directeur artistique, ce talentueux et polyvalent
musicien vient de publier chez d’Oz Cinq Miniatures. Ces petites pièces pour guitaristes débutants sont chacune consacrées a un style particulier.
Ainsi Fimbel passe~t-il en revue les traits caractéristiques de chaque style, très simplement, mais avec esprit et
élégance. Après lecture de ce sympathique recueil, les accents particuliers de la rumba, la gamme pentatonique
du blues, le côté lancinant et répétitif de la pop song ou encore les articulations du tango n’auront plus de secret
pour vous ou pour vos élèves.

S. L. (Guitare Classique)

For such a short piece, there is an interesting mix of melody, chord and percussion, and the chords are a mix of rasgueado, and brushed with the thumb.
Each of the parts has its own challenges and rewards; the parts cross over so that everyone has a chance to go up the neck, everyone plays bass notes, everyone strums some chords, everyone has some percussion. 
It’s possibly a little ambitious for a school concert, but the rhythm is such that it really can easily be practised at home and it will glue together solidly when played in ensemble, and that’s important at this stage of learning. I like it, and I look forward to hearing it played.

Derek Hasted