570446 bk Tarrega US 6/14/07 2:26 PM Page 4

Nirse González
Born in 1981 in Caracas, Nirse González began his studies there at the Escuela Superior de Música José Ángel
Lamas under José Gregorio Guanchez. He took part in master-classes by the international soloists Eduardo
Laureate Series • Guitar
Fernández, Alfonso Moreno, Arturo González, Alirio Díaz, Maria Pina Roberti, Tania Chanot, Claude Ballif, and
Costa Cotsiolis. At the age of fifteen he appeared as soloist in Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez and in 1996 won
first prize in the Antonio Lauro National Guitar Competition, with a special mention and the Yamaha Prize. He was
invited to appear as a soloist in 1997 at the Ninth Antonio Lauro International Guitar Festival, with distinguished
soloists such as Eduardo Fernández, Alirio Díaz, Tania Chanot and Alfonso Moreno. In the same year he won first Nirse González
prize in the Raúl Borges National Guitar Competition, with a special mention for his interpretation of a work by
Raúl Borges. In 1998 he took third prize in the Alirio Diaz International Guitar Competition and first prize in the
Antonio Lauro National Guitar Competition, taking second prize at the 1999 Young Soloist Competition with the
First Prize:
Concierto de Aranjuez, accompanied by the Venezuela National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Pablo
Castellano. He has continued with a brilliant career with solo recitals and performing with chamber enembles, and
as a soloist with orchestras including the Sinfónica Vicente Emilio Sojo, Orquesta Sinfónica Bolivariana, National
2006 Tárrega International
Philharmonic Orchestra of Venezuela, the Orquesta Ciudad de Almería in Spain, under the direction of Michael
Thomas, and the Valencia Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Yaron Traub. He has appeared in major concert Guitar Competition,
halls in Venezuela, Spain, Morocco, Chile, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, and participated in four Latin-American
festivals in Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, under the auspices of the Spanish Instituto Cervantes. In 2005 he
took third prize at the Almería Julián Arcas International Guitar Competition and in 2006 first prize at the Francisco Benicásim
Tarréga International Guitar Competition at Benicásim. He studied at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid under José
Luis Rodrigo Bravo, and is at present studying at the Robert Schumann Musikhochschule in Düsseldorf with
Joaquín Clerch.

GUITAR RECITAL

A. JOSÉ
M. PONCE
J.S. BACH
J. CLERCH
F. TÁRREGA
8.570446 4
570446 bk Tarrega US 6/14/07 2:26 PM
Nirse González: Guitar Recital
Antonio José (1902-1936): Sonata
Manuel Ponce (1882-1948): Thème Varié et Finale
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750):
Sonata No. 2, BWV1003
Joaquín Clerch (b.1965):
En Volos • Estudio de acordes • Estudio de ligados
Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909):
Adelita • Mazurca en Sol
This recording presents a varied selection from some of
the finest composers for guitar, as well as transcriptions
from the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The guitar,
extraordinarily versatile in its repertoire, is at home with
Spanish or Latin American compositions, pieces from
the Baroque epoch, or tackling the avant-garde. In the
hands of an expert performer the instrument’s sonorities
seem infinitely adaptable whether presenting full length
sonatas, suites, sets of variations, expressive miniatures,
or brilliant concert studies. Within a single recital a
whole gamut of mood and emotion can be presented,
from the reflective to the extrovert, from poignancy to
the spectacular. The guitar’s palette covers a feast of
possibilities, romantic melodies, complex contrapuntal
effects or the rhythms of the dance, but whatever it does,
it remains an intimately expressive medium, both
human and personal. It is also profoundly international
attracting gifted performers and composers from all five
continents, continually extending and consolidating the
long historical traditions of fretted instruments.
Antonio José was a composer praised by Maurice
Ravel as one who would ‘become the greatest Spanish
musician of our century’, but his arrest and execution
near his home city of Burgos in 1936 during the Spanish
Civil War cast his music into a subsequent obscurity
which has only recently been remedied. A monograph
about his life and work has been published by the
municipality of Burgos. The discovery of his moving
and virtuosic Sonata for Guitar, which has proved most
popular in the concert hall, has been augmented by
8.570446
Page 2
recordings of his orchestral pieces such as Sinfonía
castellana (Naxos 8.557634). Considerable interest was
aroused by the re-discovery in the late 1980s of the
Sonata, which Antonio José finished on 23rd August
1933. (One movement was first performed in Burgos by
Regino Sáinz de la Maza in November 1934.) The
Sonata offers further perspectives on the expansion of
the guitar repertoire during the early twentieth century
Spanish musical renaissance. The work established
Antonio José’s reputation beside those of his
distinguished contemporaries who respected the guitar
as an expressive medium. José’s Sonata is a
composition of virtuosity as well as great emotional
depth and insight.
Manuel Ponce was the founding father of modern
Mexican music. His pupil, Carlos Chavez (1899-1978),
said of him, ‘It was Ponce who created a real
consciousness of the richness of Mexican folk art’. Andrés
Segovia and Manuel Ponce first met in Mexico in 1923
and for the rest of his life the composer dedicated himself
to writing many compositions for guitar, including a
concerto and pieces for guitar and harpsichord, as well as
solos comprising sonatas, preludes, suites, and variations,
nearly all of them dedicated to Segovia. Thème Varié et
Finale was given its première by Segovia at Evian-les-
Bains in August, 1926. Following the unusual opening
theme with its reflective modulations, the Variations
deploy a series of textures such as repeated chords,
dialogue between bass and treble, a study in thirds, an
agitato movement in triplets, a burst of scalic passages,
and an emotive molto più lento section with a memorable
melody and inspired harmonic progressions. The Finale
(Vivo scherzando), a dance in three/eight time with the
dynamism of a tarantella, evolves from filigree
semiquaver runs to glissando chords, the momentum
gathering force as it proceeds to a middle section with
snatches of melody, chromatic chords and intricate
triplets. After the return of the Finale’s opening theme, a
vigorous coda moves to a triumphant close.
2 3
The tradition of performing the music of J.S. Bach
on guitar was first established by the nineteenth-century
master Francisco Tárrega, continued by Andrés Segovia
and developed by later generations of recitalists.
Nowadays Bach’s genius is an integral aspect of the
guitarist’s landscape, incorporating transcriptions from
works for violin, cello, and keyboard. In Sonata No. 2 in
A minor, BWV 1003, the Grave (with its subtle
embellishments and clearly delineated bass) acts as a
prelude, the last bar leading us harmonically directly
into the Fugue. This, 288 bars in length (compared with
103 bars for the middle movement of Prelude, Fugue
and Allegro, BWV 998, and 94 bars for the Fugue from
Violin Sonata, BWV 1000), is a majestic work requiring
a high degree of interpretative stamina on the part of the
soloist. Professor Werner Breig, the eminent Bach
scholar, has written: ‘For three of his works for solo
violin, Bach nonetheless ventured into the field of the
sonata, with fugal second movements that exploit the
violin’s capacity for polyphonic effects. Although these
fugues include longer episodes in which performer and
listener can recover from the rigours of the polyphonic
writing, these episodes certainly do not overshadow the
fugal sections. On the contrary, the composer seems
determined to prove that a violin fugue is not
necessarily inferior to a fugue written for an ensemble.’
The contrapuntal requirements of this Fugue are of
course equally technically demanding for both guitarists
and violinists, though it could perhaps be argued that six
strings plucked by three fingers and a thumb are more
amenable to polyphony than a violinist’s bow across
four strings. After the busy marathon of the fugal
writing comes a gentle Andante, in the key of C major,
its insistent underlying harmonies supporting a poignant
melodic line. The scintillating finale, marked Allegro (in
binary form like the Andante), is characterized by its
rapid tempo and more challenging requirements on the
part of the player.
Joaquín Clerch, born in 1965 in Havana, studied
with several teachers in his early years including Leo
Brouwer and Costas Cotsiolis. Later he moved to
Salzburg to have lessons with Eliot Fisk, graduating
with the highest honours. He is now professor of guitar
at the Robert Schumann University in Düsseldorf, and
has made several recordings including Leo Brouwer’s
Concierto de Habana. The first piece, En Volos, pays
homage to the picturesque Greek town of Volos, where
a famous Guitar Summer School is held. Estudio de
Acordes and Estudio de Ligados (dedicated to Nirse
González and Michalis Kontaxakis respectively) offer
assistance with areas of technical difficulty on the guitar
- the smooth progressions of chordal playing, and clear
articulation of slurs or ligados. The latter, a
characteristic of all stringed instruments (adding
interpretative colour to a melodic line), present
particular problems to guitarists involving strength and
control and require much practice.
Francisco Tárrega, the most influential Spanish
maestro of the nineteenth century, developed
revolutionary principles of guitar technique while his
own compositions exploited the rich tonal qualities of
the guitars of Antonio de Torres. Tárrega was
profoundly influenced by the stylish cantabile of
Chopin’s piano music. His miniature masterpieces are
performed nowadays wherever guitarists gather. The
composer’s use of higher positions up the neck of the
guitar and sonorous effects achieved by precisely
indicated fingerings, created a new concept of the
instrument.
Adelita, a mazurka with a Spanish accent, is an
affectionate portrait of a girl who was clearly both pretty
and sensitive. Mazurka in G admirably demonstrates
Tárrega’s musical characteristics such as his use of
subtle ornamentation, inventive themes, chromatic
harmony and diversified tone colour. In the middle
section the focus varies from a rich bass line
(accompanied by treble chords) to legato phrasing on
the treble strings.
Graham Wade
8.570446
570446 bk Tarrega US 6/14/07 2:26 PM
Nirse González: Guitar Recital
Antonio José (1902-1936): Sonata
Manuel Ponce (1882-1948): Thème Varié et Finale
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750):
Sonata No. 2, BWV1003
Joaquín Clerch (b.1965):
En Volos • Estudio de acordes • Estudio de ligados
Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909):
Adelita • Mazurca en Sol
This recording presents a varied selection from some of
the finest composers for guitar, as well as transcriptions
from the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The guitar,
extraordinarily versatile in its repertoire, is at home with
Spanish or Latin American compositions, pieces from
the Baroque epoch, or tackling the avant-garde. In the
hands of an expert performer the instrument’s sonorities
seem infinitely adaptable whether presenting full length
sonatas, suites, sets of variations, expressive miniatures,
or brilliant concert studies. Within a single recital a
whole gamut of mood and emotion can be presented,
from the reflective to the extrovert, from poignancy to
the spectacular. The guitar’s palette covers a feast of
possibilities, romantic melodies, complex contrapuntal
effects or the rhythms of the dance, but whatever it does,
it remains an intimately expressive medium, both
human and personal. It is also profoundly international
attracting gifted performers and composers from all five
continents, continually extending and consolidating the
long historical traditions of fretted instruments.
Antonio José was a composer praised by Maurice
Ravel as one who would ‘become the greatest Spanish
musician of our century’, but his arrest and execution
near his home city of Burgos in 1936 during the Spanish
Civil War cast his music into a subsequent obscurity
which has only recently been remedied. A monograph
about his life and work has been published by the
municipality of Burgos. The discovery of his moving
and virtuosic Sonata for Guitar, which has proved most
popular in the concert hall, has been augmented by
8.570446
Page 2
recordings of his orchestral pieces such as Sinfonía
castellana (Naxos 8.557634). Considerable interest was
aroused by the re-discovery in the late 1980s of the
Sonata, which Antonio José finished on 23rd August
1933. (One movement was first performed in Burgos by
Regino Sáinz de la Maza in November 1934.) The
Sonata offers further perspectives on the expansion of
the guitar repertoire during the early twentieth century
Spanish musical renaissance. The work established
Antonio José’s reputation beside those of his
distinguished contemporaries who respected the guitar
as an expressive medium. José’s Sonata is a
composition of virtuosity as well as great emotional
depth and insight.
Manuel Ponce was the founding father of modern
Mexican music. His pupil, Carlos Chavez (1899-1978),
said of him, ‘It was Ponce who created a real
consciousness of the richness of Mexican folk art’. Andrés
Segovia and Manuel Ponce first met in Mexico in 1923
and for the rest of his life the composer dedicated himself
to writing many compositions for guitar, including a
concerto and pieces for guitar and harpsichord, as well as
solos comprising sonatas, preludes, suites, and variations,
nearly all of them dedicated to Segovia. Thème Varié et
Finale was given its première by Segovia at Evian-les-
Bains in August, 1926. Following the unusual opening
theme with its reflective modulations, the Variations
deploy a series of textures such as repeated chords,
dialogue between bass and treble, a study in thirds, an
agitato movement in triplets, a burst of scalic passages,
and an emotive molto più lento section with a memorable
melody and inspired harmonic progressions. The Finale
(Vivo scherzando), a dance in three/eight time with the
dynamism of a tarantella, evolves from filigree
semiquaver runs to glissando chords, the momentum
gathering force as it proceeds to a middle section with
snatches of melody, chromatic chords and intricate
triplets. After the return of the Finale’s opening theme, a
vigorous coda moves to a triumphant close.
2 3
The tradition of performing the music of J.S. Bach
on guitar was first established by the nineteenth-century
master Francisco Tárrega, continued by Andrés Segovia
and developed by later generations of recitalists.
Nowadays Bach’s genius is an integral aspect of the
guitarist’s landscape, incorporating transcriptions from
works for violin, cello, and keyboard. In Sonata No. 2 in
A minor, BWV 1003, the Grave (with its subtle
embellishments and clearly delineated bass) acts as a
prelude, the last bar leading us harmonically directly
into the Fugue. This, 288 bars in length (compared with
103 bars for the middle movement of Prelude, Fugue
and Allegro, BWV 998, and 94 bars for the Fugue from
Violin Sonata, BWV 1000), is a majestic work requiring
a high degree of interpretative stamina on the part of the
soloist. Professor Werner Breig, the eminent Bach
scholar, has written: ‘For three of his works for solo
violin, Bach nonetheless ventured into the field of the
sonata, with fugal second movements that exploit the
violin’s capacity for polyphonic effects. Although these
fugues include longer episodes in which performer and
listener can recover from the rigours of the polyphonic
writing, these episodes certainly do not overshadow the
fugal sections. On the contrary, the composer seems
determined to prove that a violin fugue is not
necessarily inferior to a fugue written for an ensemble.’
The contrapuntal requirements of this Fugue are of
course equally technically demanding for both guitarists
and violinists, though it could perhaps be argued that six
strings plucked by three fingers and a thumb are more
amenable to polyphony than a violinist’s bow across
four strings. After the busy marathon of the fugal
writing comes a gentle Andante, in the key of C major,
its insistent underlying harmonies supporting a poignant
melodic line. The scintillating finale, marked Allegro (in
binary form like the Andante), is characterized by its
rapid tempo and more challenging requirements on the
part of the player.
Joaquín Clerch, born in 1965 in Havana, studied
with several teachers in his early years including Leo
Brouwer and Costas Cotsiolis. Later he moved to
Salzburg to have lessons with Eliot Fisk, graduating
with the highest honours. He is now professor of guitar
at the Robert Schumann University in Düsseldorf, and
has made several recordings including Leo Brouwer’s
Concierto de Habana. The first piece, En Volos, pays
homage to the picturesque Greek town of Volos, where
a famous Guitar Summer School is held. Estudio de
Acordes and Estudio de Ligados (dedicated to Nirse
González and Michalis Kontaxakis respectively) offer
assistance with areas of technical difficulty on the guitar
- the smooth progressions of chordal playing, and clear
articulation of slurs or ligados. The latter, a
characteristic of all stringed instruments (adding
interpretative colour to a melodic line), present
particular problems to guitarists involving strength and
control and require much practice.
Francisco Tárrega, the most influential Spanish
maestro of the nineteenth century, developed
revolutionary principles of guitar technique while his
own compositions exploited the rich tonal qualities of
the guitars of Antonio de Torres. Tárrega was
profoundly influenced by the stylish cantabile of
Chopin’s piano music. His miniature masterpieces are
performed nowadays wherever guitarists gather. The
composer’s use of higher positions up the neck of the
guitar and sonorous effects achieved by precisely
indicated fingerings, created a new concept of the
instrument.
Adelita, a mazurka with a Spanish accent, is an
affectionate portrait of a girl who was clearly both pretty
and sensitive. Mazurka in G admirably demonstrates
Tárrega’s musical characteristics such as his use of
subtle ornamentation, inventive themes, chromatic
harmony and diversified tone colour. In the middle
section the focus varies from a rich bass line
(accompanied by treble chords) to legato phrasing on
the treble strings.
Graham Wade
8.570446
570446 bk Tarrega US 6/14/07 2:26 PM Page 4

Nirse González
Born in 1981 in Caracas, Nirse González began his studies there at the Escuela Superior de Música José Ángel
Lamas under José Gregorio Guanchez. He took part in master-classes by the international soloists Eduardo
Laureate Series • Guitar
Fernández, Alfonso Moreno, Arturo González, Alirio Díaz, Maria Pina Roberti, Tania Chanot, Claude Ballif, and
Costa Cotsiolis. At the age of fifteen he appeared as soloist in Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez and in 1996 won
first prize in the Antonio Lauro National Guitar Competition, with a special mention and the Yamaha Prize. He was
invited to appear as a soloist in 1997 at the Ninth Antonio Lauro International Guitar Festival, with distinguished
soloists such as Eduardo Fernández, Alirio Díaz, Tania Chanot and Alfonso Moreno. In the same year he won first Nirse González
prize in the Raúl Borges National Guitar Competition, with a special mention for his interpretation of a work by
Raúl Borges. In 1998 he took third prize in the Alirio Diaz International Guitar Competition and first prize in the
Antonio Lauro National Guitar Competition, taking second prize at the 1999 Young Soloist Competition with the
First Prize:
Concierto de Aranjuez, accompanied by the Venezuela National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Pablo
Castellano. He has continued with a brilliant career with solo recitals and performing with chamber enembles, and
as a soloist with orchestras including the Sinfónica Vicente Emilio Sojo, Orquesta Sinfónica Bolivariana, National
2006 Tárrega International
Philharmonic Orchestra of Venezuela, the Orquesta Ciudad de Almería in Spain, under the direction of Michael
Thomas, and the Valencia Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Yaron Traub. He has appeared in major concert Guitar Competition,
halls in Venezuela, Spain, Morocco, Chile, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, and participated in four Latin-American
festivals in Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, under the auspices of the Spanish Instituto Cervantes. In 2005 he
took third prize at the Almería Julián Arcas International Guitar Competition and in 2006 first prize at the Francisco Benicásim
Tarréga International Guitar Competition at Benicásim. He studied at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid under José
Luis Rodrigo Bravo, and is at present studying at the Robert Schumann Musikhochschule in Düsseldorf with
Joaquín Clerch.

GUITAR RECITAL

A. JOSÉ
M. PONCE
J.S. BACH
J. CLERCH
F. TÁRREGA
8.570446 4
NAXOS

NAXOS
Nirse González, First Prize Winner in the 2006 International Francisco Tárrega Guitar
Competition, has studied at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid under José Luis Rodrigo
Bravo, and is at present studying at the Robert Schumann Musikhochschule in Düsseldorf
with Joaquín Clerch. In this recital he presents a varied selection from some of the finest
8.570446
composers for guitar, as well as transcriptions from the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
DDD
NIRSE GONZÁLEZ Playing Time
NIRSE GONZÁLEZ: Guitar Recital

NIRSE GONZÁLEZ: Guitar Recital

Guitar Recital 61:22
Antonio JOSÉ (1902-1936): 7 Fuga 7:12
Sonata (1933) 19:01 8 Andante 5:15
1 Allegro moderato 6:45 9 Allegro 5:43
2 Minuetto 2:42
Joaquin CLERCH (b. 1965):
3 Pavana triste 5:09
0 En Volos 3:04
4 Final 4:25
! Estudio de acordes 2:51

www.naxos.com
Made in the EU
Booklet notes in English • Kommentar auf Deutsch
 &  2007 Naxos Rights International Ltd.
Manuel PONCE (1882-1948):
@ Estudio de ligados 1:56
5 Thème Varié et Finale 8:15
J.S. BACH (1685-1750): Francisco TÁRREGA
Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV (1852-1909):
1003 (originally for violin) 21:35 # Adelita 1:50
6 Grave 3:25 $ Mazurca en Sol 2:51
Recorded at St John Chrysostom Church, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, from 25rd to 28th January, 2007
Producers: Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver • Engineering and editing: Norbert Kraft
8.570446

8.570446
Booklet Notes: Graham Wade • Publishers: Berben, Ancona, Italy (tracks 1-4); Schott Music (track 5);
Manuscript (tracks 10-12); Ricordi South America, Buenos Aires (tracks 13-14)
Cover photo: Nirse González • Guitar by Angela Waltner, Berlin