Another Segovia commission, Federico Moreno Torroba’s Sonatina (1924), is a zesty and robust work whose dance-like finale is built on a machine-gun fanfare of 16th notes.Ĭórdova makes a detour to Central Europe with Johann Kaspar Mertz’s Elegie before concluding the album with a Guitar Sonata by Spaniard Antonio José. Manuel Ponce’s Sonatina meridional (“Southern Sonatina,” from 1930) is a response to Segovia’s request for a piece “of a purely Spanish character.” Though it’s unclear how much time the Mexican composer ever spent in Spain, no matter: he effortlessly evokes lyrical warmth of the Iberian countryside in this three-movement, impressionist essay. His Capricho árabe (Arab Caprice), is a contemplative tribute to Spain’s Moorish heritage, suggesting an oud, or Arabic lute, and later, the sensuous Danza mora, a traditional dance.Ĭórdova also offers works written for Andrés Segovia (1893-1987), the dean of classical guitarists, who commissioned dozens of works in the 20th century. Tárrega composed nearly 80 original works and over 100 transcriptions for the instrument, helping to establish the modern classical guitar technique (with a left leg raised on a footstool) and, in turn, influencing guitar construction. Córdova was a first prize winner at the 2017 Tárrega International Guitar Competition and, accordingly, he shines in music by the event’s namesake, Francisco Tárrega (1852–1909). Mexican guitarist Alejandro Córdova offers an attractive starting point with a new recital album surveying five solo guitar masterpieces, which together highlight a range of techniques, expressive forms and national traits. As critic Allan Kozinn once acknowledged in the New York Time s: “the rhythms, colors and melodic twists of Spanish music are deep in the guitar's DNA: in the layout of its strings, in its tuning, timbre and technique.”Īs guitarists once again embrace the instrument’s Spanish and Latin American roots - commissioning new works, arranging old ones, and uncovering neglected gems - here are five albums that tell the Spanish guitar’s story. Figures like Tárrega, Turina, Llobet, and Pujol embraced the instrument’s diverse personalities - its rhythmic zest, its languor and its Mediterranean charm. Spanish composers, however, certainly made up for this lack of guitar repertoire. But none of these figures left a major concerto for the instrument. Schubert wrote songs with guitar as well as a charming quartet for flute, guitar, viola and cello. It’s true that Berlioz and Paganini both played the Spanish guitar, as it’s commonly known, and Paganini even wrote some pieces for violin and guitar, though they lack the virtuoso fireworks of his solo violin caprices.
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