Manuel de Falla – (1876-1946)

- Like many Spaniards, he was attracted to French culture.

- In 1905 the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando sponsored a contest for a
Spanish opera, and Falla won with La vida breve. This was the first of his explorations of
Gypsy cante jondo (‘deep song’), employed here alongside verismo elements and
thematic reminiscences. As in subsequent works, he set himself the challenge of elevating
traditional Gypsy music to the highest level of art while preserving its primordial essence.

- He lived in Paris from 1907-1914

- His second Madrid period proved more gratifying than the first. La vida breve was
performed shortly after his return, and so a few months later were the Siete canciones
populares españolas, completed in Paris. He had based the latter work on Spanish folk
material, harmonizing terse melodic fragments with rich added-note chords and modal
sonorities. Considerable emphasis is given to the piano, as in ‘Jota’, where it provides a
brilliant ritornello, and ‘Polo’, where rapid repeated notes pound against the singer's
impassioned cries. His balancing of simplicity (‘Seguidilla murciana’, for example, is
little more than an elaborated ii–V–I cadence), metrical play and textual subtleties have
made the Siete canciones the most performed of all Spanish-language solo songs.
Numerous transcriptions, including orchestral arrangements by Berio and Ernesto
Halffter, attest to their celebrity.

Pour le tombeau de Claude Debussy – (1920); arranged for piano and orchestra
(1938)

At only three minutes in length, this piece had an influence on guitar writing that is
disproportionate to its dimensions. It was composed as a contribution to a special edition
of the Paris Revue musicale which would be a "tombeau" for Claude Debussy, who had
died in 1918. Falla readily agreed, for Debussy had been important in giving him
confidence as a composer and promoting interest in his music in France.
Meanwhile, the Spanish guitar virtuoso Miguel Llobet Soles had requested a solo guitar
piece. Falla fulfilled both requests with this three-minute work in the rhythm of a slow
habanera, dignified but not funereal in tread, restrained on the surface but with an
impression of intense emotion beneath. At the end, Falla briefly quotes Debussy's piano
work Soirée dans Grenade, honoring Debussy directly and also paying homage to the city
of Grenada, which is where Falla composed the piece. He prepared a piano transcription
of the work immediately, and the guitar version was published in the December 1922
Revue musicale. Falla's original autograph of the work, however, has been lost. In 1936,
Llobet published his own edition of the music, but it diverges significantly from the 1922
publication. In the absence of any authority for the changes in the Llobet version,
commentators assume that the 1922 text is authentic. In 1938-39 Falla orchestrated this
composition, along with similar musical tributes he had written for composers Arbós,
Dukas, and Pedrell, to make his last completed composition, Homenajes (Homages) for
orchestra. ~ All Music Guide
Works: El sombrero de tres picos (1916–21), Amor Brujo (1915–16), La vida Breve,
Siete canciones populares españolas (1914).

- Obra notavel pela sua economia de material, tendo um motivo principal com apenas 4
notas e harmonizacao baseada nas cordas soltas do violao. Melismas tipicos do cante
jongo espanhol.

- Obra estreada por Llobet em 1921.

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)

- Only after the premature death of his father in 1899 was Villa-Lobos able to immerse
himself fully, at first as a guitarist, in the life of Rio's street musicians. The music of the
chorões especially fascinated him, and the impressions of this vigorous experience were
of such importance that he later gave the generic designation of choros to his portrayal, in
the 1920s, of a variety of Brazilian musical styles.

- By 1917 he had produced some 100 works, including his first guitar pieces (e.g. the
Suite popular brasileira), four string quartets and other chamber music, two symphonies,
and the ballets Amazonas and Uirapuru.

- Villa-Lobos assimilated spontaneously, if at times reluctantly, a number of important

influences, especially at first some of the techniques of Impressionism concerning
harmonic practices and orchestration. His friendship with Milhaud (who lived in Rio
from 1917 to 1918) and Artur Rubinstein (whom he met in 1918) probably also resulted
in his acquaintance with the latest French music and Stravinsky. However, by 1918 Villa-
Lobos was already well advanced in his own innovative experiments in rhythm and
harmony. During the next few years Rubinstein promoted Villa-Lobos and his music
throughout the world.

- Villa-Lobos left for Europe in 1923, where he travelled to a number of cities and settled
in Paris. His main reason for going was self-publicity, not study, and in Paris he met with
enormous success with concerts of major works in 1924, 1927 and 1930, and won the
support of such figures as Rubinstein, Florent Schmitt and the music critics Prunières, Le
Flem and Klingsor. He met, too, many other composers, including Ravel, d'Indy, de
Falla, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Varèse, and his music began to be published by Max
Eschig.

- Villa-Lobos was unquestionably a strongly nationalist composer, though over six

decades of extraordinarily prolific work his nationalism took on many faces.

- The period 1901–22 covers Villa-Lobos's initial search for stylistic definition. Despite
the strongly post-Romantic, French Impressionist character of several of these works,
particularly in the harmonies and tone-colouring, the home-grown is evident too, for
example in the ‘Chorinho’ from the Suite popular brasileira.
- His principal pieces for guitar have achieved a much wider appeal. The virtuoso 12
études, completed in 1929, are especially challenging for performers, while also evoking
Brazilian popular culture; the five preludes (completed in 1940) and a concerto (first
performed by Segovia in 1956) reveal, on the other hand, a more Romantic character,
while remaining highly sophisticated and idiomatic additions to the repertory.
- Gui: Suite popular brasileira, 1908–12: Pecas despretenciosas muito mais proximas da
tradicao popular brasileira (Joao Pernambuco) doque da influencia francesa. Dancas
estilizadas.

- Chôros no.1, 1920: Choro tradicional

- 12 Etudes, 1929: Segovia encontra-se com Villa-Lobos em 1923. Selecao comparavel

com as series de estudos para piano e violino. Villa-Lobos era o unico compositor
abordado por Segovia que apresentava um bom conhecimento do violao. Serie finalizada
em 1928. Dedicados para Segovia.

5 Preludes, 1940: “Neo-Classico” – Homenagem ao Sertanejo, Homenagem ao malandro

carioca, Homenagem a Bach, Homenagem ao indigena e homenagem a vida social da
capital.

Augustin Barrios Mangore (1885-1944)

- In 1910 he left Paraguay intending to give a week of concerts in Argentina, but such
was his success that he was away for 14 years, playing in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay
(where he studied with Antonio Giménez Manjón).

- Critics compared Barrios Mangoré with Segovia as an interpreter and with Paganini as a
virtuoso. He was the first Latin-American guitarist of stature to be heard in Europe, and
made numerous recordings between 1913 and 1929.

- Although he lacked a formal musical education, Barrios Mangoré wrote guitar music of
high quality that combined many of the characteristics of his predecessors, Sor and
Tárrega. He reputedly composed about 300 works for solo guitar, of which over a third
have been located either in manuscripts or from his recordings.

- Da mesma forma que o broto de uma planta remove de sobre si a pedra para que possa
vir à luz e florescer, Agustín Barrios é um milagre da natureza que soube enfrentar todos
os obstáculos e deixar uma marca perene na história do violão, da música e de seu país.
Nascido em 1885 num Paraguai destroçado por uma guerra desigual e sangrenta, onde a
herança cultural havia voltado à estaca zero e onde a prática da música culta era
praticamente inexistente, ele conseguiu, à força de um talento excepcional e de uma
genuína ilusão artística, tornar-se um dos compositores mais significativos da história do
instrumento e um violonista de recursos extraordinários.
- Podemos compartimentalizar a produção de Barrios como compositor, de quase uma
centena de peças curtas, em 4 categorias: a primeira é a das obras inspiradas no folclore e
nas danças locais, como o Pericón e a Danza Paraguaia que já ouvimos.

- Na verdade, um arranjo admirável de uma canção folclórica. A segunda é a categoria de

pastiches de música antiga, minuetos, gavotas e árias onde ele "imita" o estilo de
compositores como Bach ou Mozart, ou das danças espanholas como a Jota que ouvimos
no início do Programa, e preenche uma desconfortável lacuna no repertório de sua época.
A esta categoria pertence uma de suas obras mais conhecidas, La Catedral, que sugere a
intensidade de uma experiência pessoal. Barrios, certa vez em Montevidéu, foi visitar a
Catedral de San José, onde um organista estava estudando um coral de Bach. Aquela
música solene transportou o compositor a uma dimensão de íntima espiritualidade. Após
esta epifania, o homem transfigurado se ressente do contraste com o burburinho prosaico,
a agitação e a futilidade da vida terrena quando volta à rua. A dualidade entre o religioso
e o profano é representada pelas duas partes contrastantes, Prelúdio e Allegro Solenne

- A terceira categoria é a das peças características de inspiração romântica, talvez onde

encontramos o genuíno Barrios. É o Barrios boêmio e arrojado, que recitava de memória
trechos de Don Quixote e das Mil e uma Noites, o Barrios mestre da caligrafia, o Barrios
autor de vários poemas, o Barrios que desenhava com perfeição os retratos das jovens
mais belas, o Barrios que falava várias línguas, o homem profunda e ingenuamente
religioso, enfim o poeta do violão, na tradição do intelectual de feira popular que ainda é
tão presente na América Latina e cujas reverberações ainda podemos presenciar na arte
de um Antônio Nóbrega. São obras de temática variada, algumas com temas
sentimentais, outras com temas religiosos, históricos ou evocativos, e cada uma de
inspiração soberba.

- A quarta categoria é a de obras de caráter técnico/didático, estudos de concerto, ora

intricados e extenuantes, ora poéticos e evocativos, um misto de exercício e peça
característica. Uma de suas especialidades era o efeito de tremolo [descrever e
exemplificar]. Ele deixou várias obras nesse estilo, e ouvindo Contemplación logo
percebemos por quê.

- Apesar da imagem de saltimbanco que temos de Barrios, ele também sabia ser artista
sério. Foi o primeiro violonista da história a tocar uma suíte para alaúde de Bach
completa e, no final da carreira, incorporou obras de Turina, Albéniz e Granados a seu
repertório. Mas os arranjos de clássicos de bolso e de temas populares foram a segredo de
seu sucesso. A famoso minueto de Beethoven, por exemplo, é tocado com uma languidez
totalmente apropriada e um especial cuidado nas terminações de frase que praticamente
não se escuta em interpretações modernas.

- Segovia certamente aprendeu algo ao encontrar-se com Barrios, mas cuidadosamente

evitou falar do colega e rival, ativamente impediu sua carreira na Europa e dizia que
Barrios era "um compositor fraco". Sua música nunca deixou de ser tocada na América
Latina. Na Europa e EUA, entretanto, Barrios era somente um nome obscuro para
especialistas, até que o violonista australiano John Williams gravou, em 1978, um LP
totalmente dedicado a Barrios, um estrondoso sucesso.

Leo Brouwer (1939)

- Three phases can be identified in Brouwer’s work: the first, nationalistic (1955–62); the
second, avant-garde (1962–7); and a third in which avant garde elements diminish and,
particularly after 1980, a creative process described by the composer as ‘new simplicity’
emerges. The first phase is characterized by the use of traditional musical forms,
including sonata and variation form, and by tonal harmonic structures rooted in
nationalism (e.g. in Homenaje a Manuel de Falla (1957), Tres danzas concertantes
(1958) and Elegía a Jesús Menéndes (1960), among others). During this phase, despite
the prevailing use of tonality, a tendency to structural fragmentation may be discerned, as
well as the employment of several simultaneous tonal centres, a device that has remained
throughout his output.

- Though never lacking formal rigour, Brouwer’s works have in general sprung more
from a sonic conception: ‘I use any form to help me find musical forms: that of a leaf, of
a tree or geometric symbolisms. All these are also musical forms; despite the fact that my
works appear very structured, what interests me is sound’. This concentration on the
sensory, and an accompanying use of extra-musical formal sources, is most to the fore in
Brouwer’s second phase, which was, with the Cuban avant garde in general, heavily
influenced by the Polish school; he first heard this music at the Warsaw Autumn in 1961.
Variantes for solo percussion and in particular Sonograma I for prepared piano typify this
phase, which also included a brief turn towards serialism, in works such as Sonograma II
and Arioso (Homenaje a Charles Mingus). Basic materials frequently comprise intervals
of the 2nd, 4th and 7th and chords of superimposed 6ths, 9ths, 11ths and 13ths. Complex
polyphonic textures dominate, with thematic independence retained within the different
planes of sound, and a resultant richness in rhythmic conjunction. Other common devices
include pedals, ostinatos, sequences and melodic and rhythmic echoing. One of
Brouwer’s most important avant-garde works, which has become a major piece of the
guitar literature, is the solo Elogio de la danza (1964). In two movements – Lento and
Ostenato – it was originally composed for dance with choreography by Luis Trápaga; it
makes reference to primitive dances and to mysticism, and conveys an image of stamping
feet and gyrations together with other dance elements.

- In the 1970s Brouwer continued to work on post-serial and aleatory ideas, for instance
in La espiral eterna for guitar. But by the 1980s a ‘new simplicity’ had begun to take
hold, involving neo-Romantic, minimalist and newly tonal elements. There is a marked
lyricism in this third period, the use of varying nuclear cells to generate development, and
the return of traditional forms exemplified in works like Canciones remotas, Manuscrito
antiguo encontrado en una botella and La región más trasparente.

- Brouwer diz que, na Cuba dos anos 50, o acesso às obras mais modernas era limitado e,
desconhecendo obras de vanguarda para violão, ele quis compor aquilo que o instrumento
não tinha, o equivalente violonístico das obras de Bártok ou Stravinski.
- A Revolução Cubana em 1959 reformulou, muitas vezes à força, todos os aspectos da
sociedade. Brouwer, já considerado o maior talento jovem da composição cubana, e um
ativo militante da revolução, ganhou uma bolsa de estudos para os EUA, onde estudou
composição por um ano. De volta a Cuba, atualizado com a produção da vanguarda,
tornou-se uma figura dominante na vida musical do país, definindo os rumos do ensino
musical, participando de comissões orquestrais, de produção cinematográfica e de órgãos
governamentais de cultura e educação. Como violonista e compositor, tornou-se artigo de
exportação da nova Cuba e visitou festivais de música contemporânea como
representante oficial - e nestes sofreu a profunda influência do aleatorismo e efectismo de
Penderecki e Maderna. Suas credenciais de revolucionário permitiram-no estabelecer a
experimentação de vanguarda na agenda da produção musical cubana. Segundo suas
próprias palavras, "inovar é uma condição intrínseca a qualquer adepto da Revolução;
restringir ou subestimar as massas é que é uma atitude burguesa".

- Os anos 60 e 70 marcam sua fase mais experimental, de um alinhamento multifacético

com as várias vertentes de vanguarda, quando ele compôs obras orquestrais de peso e
flertou com a música eletrônica.

- Brouwer retoma a idéia medieval da música como um reflexo da ordem cósmica em "La
Espiral Eterna", de 1971, que deveria ser estudada como uma das obras modelares do
século XX. Partindo de uma citação de um livro de astrofísica de Withrow, "pela
primeira vez revelou-se nos céus a famosa estrutura espiral empregada com profusão pela
natureza no mundo orgânico", Brouwer desenvolve em termos musicais a idéia de que as
mesmas estruturas são encontradas no cosmos e nas criaturas vivas.

- Simplesmente não havia, nos anos 70, nenhum outro violonista capaz de tocar com
tanto rigor e entendimento as obras de Maderna, Cristóbal Halffter, Ohana, Henze,
Cornelius Cardew ou Bussotti. Para falar a verdade, à exceção de John Williams, eu não
consigo pensar em nenhum outro violonista que conseguisse, nos anos 70, sequer decifrar
a partitura desta obra de Juan Blanco, para violão e tape, onde Brouwer toca um dueto
consigo próprio.

- De acordo com suas palavras, "com o tempo, eu percebi uma saturação da linguagem da
chamada vanguarda. O que aconteceu é que este tipo de linguagem atomizada, seca e
tensional sofreu, e ainda sofre, um defeito relacionada à essência do equilíbrio
composicional, um conceito que está presente na história: movimento, tensão e seu
conseqüente repouso ou relaxamento. Esta "lei de forças opostas" - dia-noite, masculino-
feminino, yin-yiang, tempo de amar, tempo de odiar - existe em todas as circunstâncias
da humanidade. A vanguarda sentia falta do relaxamento das tensões. Não há ente vivo
que não descanse. Dessa maneira, eu fiz uma regressão na direção da simplificação dos
materiais composicionais. Este é o que considero minha última fase, que chamo de "Nova
simplicidade", e que abrange os elementos essenciais da música popular, da música
clássica e da própria vanguarda. Elas me ajudam a dar contraste às grandes tensões".

- Esta guinada a uma nova simplicidade informada pelo minimalismo, certamente um

reflexo da época globalizada e do enfraquecimento das certezas etnocêntricas da cultura
clássica, levou Brouwer a compor algumas de suas obras mais populares, como a Sonata
e El Decameron Negro, além de mais 7 concertos para violão e orquestra. Como regente,
ele já se apresentou frente a algumas das maiores orquestras do mundo e fixou-se como
diretor musical da Orquestra de Córdoba, na Espanha, Para ilustrar esta fase, que se
estende de 1980 até hoje, ouviremos um trecho de seu 2o. Concerto para violão, uma de
suas obras mais representativas, onde ele exibe seu brilhantismo como regente.

- Ao contrário de Villa-Lobos, que pouco a pouco se afastou do violão para se concentrar

em obras sinfônicas, Brouwer situou-se como um líder, ao optar por enriquecer o papel
do instrumento como um fundamental mediador entre a música clássica contemporânea e
a esfera da música popular e da world music. Isso só foi possível pela emergência, nos
anos 70, de um circuito internacional de festivais e sociedades de violão clássico, um
fenômeno que será explorado nos próximos Programas.

Julian Bream
Repertorio totalmente diferente do repertorio do Segovia.
Gravou um disco so com musica conteporanea: Frank Martin, Hanz Werner Henze and
Benjamin Britten.
Malcom Arnold, Benjamin Britten, Lenox Berkley, William Walton, Henze (Royal
Winter Music) and Richard Bennett

Composers List:

Argentina

Astor Piazzolla:
5 pieces for guitar
Histoire du Tango
Concerto for guitar and bandoneon
Tango suite

Carlos Guastavino:
3 sonatas

Alberto Ginastera
Guitar Sonata, Op. 47 (1976)

Austria

Anton Diabelli (1781–1858)

Anton Webern (Friedrich Wilhelm) (1883–1945)

5 pieces for orchestra
Ernst Krenek (1900-1991)
Suite, op.164
Suite, op.242, mand, gui, 1989

Brasil

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959)

Suite popular Brasileira

Choros 1
12 estudos
5 preludios
Sexteto mistico
Guitar Concerto (1951)

Assad Sergio (*1952)

Aquarelle, sonata and fantasia carioca

Cuba

Leo Brouwer (1939)

13 guitar concertos

 Suite No. 2
 Piezas sin títulos Nos. 1-3
 Fuga No. 1
 Two Popular Cuban Themes: Cancion de Cuna & Ojos Brujos
 Two Popular Cuban Airs: Guajira Criolla & Zapateado
 Danza del Altiplano
 Variations on a Piazzolla Tango
 Canción Triste
 Suite Antigua Nº1 (1954)
 Preludio (1956)
 Danza Característica "Quítate de la Acera" (1957)
 Tres Apuntes (1959)
 Elogio de la Danza (1964)
 Un Dia de Noviembre (1968)
 Canticum (1968)
 La Espiral Eterna (1971)
 Estudios Sencillos (Nos. 1-20) (1973)
 Parábola (1973)
  Tarantos (1974)
 El Decamerón Negro (1981)
 Preludios Epigramáticos (1981)
 Variations on a Theme of Django Reinhardt (1984)
 Paisaje Cubano con Campanas (1987)
 Sonata (1990)
 Rito de los Orishás (1993)
 Paisaje Cubano con Tristeza (1996)
 Hika: In Memoriam Toru Takemitsu (1996)
 An Idea (Passacaglia for Eli) (1999)
 Viaje a la Semilla (2000)
 Nuevos Estudios Sencillos (Nos. 1-10) (2003)
 La Ciudad de las Columnas (2004)
 Omaggio a Prokofiev (2004)
 Paisaje Cubano con Fiesta (2008)

Micro piezas for 2 guitars

Paisaje cubana con rumba

Paisaje cubana con Lluvia
Tocatta
Guitar quartet

England

Lennox Berkeley (1903-1989)

Quatre pièces pour la guitare (1928)
Sonatina, op.52 no.1 (1957)
Theme and Variations, op.77 (1970)
Guitar Concerto, Op. 88

Arnold Malcolm (1921–2006)

Serenade for Guitar and Strings, Op. 50 (1955)
Guitar Concerto, Op. 67 (1959)

Britten Benjamin (1913–1976)

Nocturnal Op.70

Sir William Walton (1902–1983)

5 Bagatelles (1971)
Varii capricci (ballet), 1983, New York, Metropolitan Opera House, 19 April 1983 [arr.
of 5 Bagatelles, gui, 1975–6]

Duarte John W (*1919)

France
Robert de visee

Napoleon Coste

Ohana Maurice (1914–1992)

Si le jour paraît... (1963)[1] and Cadran lunaire (1981-2)

Roland Dyens (*1955) (France)

Libra Sonatine (solo guitar)

German
Hans Werner Henze (1926)
Drei Tentos, gui, 1958 [from Kammermusik 1958]
Royal Winter Music, sonata no.1, gui, 1975–6
Royal Winter Music, sonata no.2, gui, 1979
Drei Märchenbilder, gui, 1980 [from op Pollicino]

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

Triosatz, 3 gui, 1930
And two songs for voice and guitar

Hungary

 Johann Kaspar Mertz 1806-1856

Elegy and Hungarian fantasy

Italy

 Matteo Carcassi 1792-1853

 Ferdinando Carulli 1770-1841
Mauro Giuliani 1781-1829
Giulio Regondi 1822-1872

Luciano Berio (1925 –2003)

Sequenza XI for guitar (1987-88);

D'Angelo Nuccio (*1955)

Due Canzoni Lidie" (1984) ed. Max Eschig (M.E. 8608)
"Quattro Travestimenti" (1988)  ed. Max Eschig
no 1: Alba  (M.E. 8750)
no 2: Barcarola (M.E. 8751)
no 3: Mercato (M.E. 8752)
no 4: Sera (M.E. 8753)
"Magie" (1990) ed. Ricordi (135827)
"Spazio" (1993) ed. Max Eschig (M.E. 9103)
"Electric Suite" (1995) ed. Ricordi(137452)
"Introduzione e Aria" (1995) ed. Lemoine (27 174 H.L.)

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 –1968)

2 solo guitar concertos
1 duo guitar concerto

Variations à travers les siècles Op. 71

Sonata "Hommage a Boccherini" op.77
Capriccio Diabolico (Homage To Paganini) op.85a
Aranci in fiore op. 87a
Tarantella op. 87b
Variations plaisantes sur un petit air populaire Op. 95
Rondò op. 129
Suite op. 133
Greeting Cards op. 170
Tre preludi mediterranei op. 176
Escarramán op. 177
Passacaglia op. 180
Tre preludi al Circeo op. 194
24 Caprichos de Goya op. 195
Appunti op. 210

Japan

 Takemitsu Toru (1930–1996)

 Folios for guitar (1974)
 All in Twilight for guitar (1988)
 In the Woods for guitar (1995)

Mexico

Ponce Manuel Maria (1882–1948)

Canciones populares mexicanas, La pajarera, Por ti mi Corazon, La valentina
Sonata mexicana (1925)
Thème varié et Finale (1926)
Sonata III (1927)
Sonata clásica (1928)
Sonata romántica (1929)
Suite en la Mineur (1929)
Variations and Fugue on 'La Folia' (1929)
Valse (1937)
Sonatina meridional (1939)
Variations on a Theme of Cabezón (1948)
Paraguay

Barrios Agustín (Mangoré) (1885–1944)

Puerto Rico

Cordero Ernesto (*1946)

Poland

Tansman Alexandre (1897–1986) (Poland)

Cavatina

Spain
 Enriquez de Valderrabano (1500–1557)
 Luis Milan (1500–1561)
 Miguel de Fuenllana (1500?-1579)
 Alonso de Mudarra (1508–1580)
 Diego Pisador (1509–1557)
 Luis de Narvaez (1510–1555)
 Antonio Cabezon (1510–1566)
 Francisco Guerau (1600?)
 Gaspar Sanz (1640–1710)
 Fernando Sor (1778–1839, France)
 Dionisio Aguado (1784–1849)
Arcas Julian (1832–1882)
Francisco Tarrega (1852–1909)
Miguel Llobet (1878–1938)
Joaquin Turina (1882–1949)
Emilio Pujol (1886–1980)
 Federico Moreno Torroba (1891–1982)
Sonatina
 Mompou Federico (1893–1987)
Suite Compostelana for guitar (1962)

 Sainz de la Maza Regino (1896–1981)

 Joaquin Rodrigo (1901–1999)
Tres piezas espanolas
Concierto de Aranjuez
Invocacion et danza
Elogio de la guitarra
Sonata Giocosa
En los trigales
 Jose Antonio (Martinez Palacios) (1902–1936)
Sonata para guitarra (1933)
 Asencio Vincente (1908–1979) (Segovia and Yepes)
Elegía a Manuel de Falla (1946),
Sonatina (1949);
Col•lectici Íntim; (1965)
Dipso (1973),

Swiss

Frank Martin
Quatre pièces brèves for guitar (1933)

Uruguay

 Santorsola Guido (1904–1994) (Italy - Uruguay)

 Carlevaro Abel (1918–2001)
Cuaderno N° 1 -Escalas Diatónicas
Cuaderno N°2 -Técnica de la mano derecha
Cuaderno N°3 -Técnica de la mano izquierda
Cuaderno N°4 -Técnica de la mano Izq. Conclusión
Masterclasses (Villa-Lobos studies, preludes and choros, Chacone and sor studies)
20 Microestudios
5 preludios americanos
Introducion e capricio
Suite antiga (sobre temas de Gaspar Sanz)

USA

Elliot Carter (1908)

Changes, gui, 1983
Luimen, tpt, trbn, vib, mand, gui, hp, 1997; Nieuw Ensemble, Amsterdam, 31 March
1998
Shard, gui, 1997;

George Crumb (1929)

Quest, solo gui, s sax, hp, db, 2 perc, 1990, rev. 1994
Mundus canis (5 Humoresques), gui, perc, 1997
Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death, Bar, elec gui, elec db, elec pf + elec hpd, 2 perc,
1968

Milton Babbit (1916)

1989 Soli e Duettini for two guitars
1989 Soli e Duettini for flute and guitar
1991 Four Cavalier Settings for tenor and guitar
2003 Swan Song No.1 for flute, oboe, violin, cello, and two guitars
1984 Sheer Pluck (composition for guitar)
Venezuela

Antonio Lauro (1917–1986)

a concerto, a sonata, Suite Venezolano and Suite, Homenaje a John Duarte; but he is
particularly identified with his numerous Valses venezolanos, characterized by rhythmic
vitality, teasing hemiolas and lyrical melody. For some years Lauro was a member of the
folk music trio Los Cantores del Trópico.

Brandenburg concertos

- In the score bearing the dedication to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg, the
so-called Brandenburg Concertos are dated 24 March 1721. This is merely a terminus
ante quem, for the concertos themselves must have been written over a considerable
period before being assembled in 1721 as a collection of ‘Concerts avec plusieurs
instruments’ (not as a single work in several parts). It cannot be proved that Bach
composed instrumental music in his capacity as Konzertmeister in Weimar; but his
position there and his preoccupation with the Italian concerto style during those years
make it seem probable that he did. Of the Brandenburg Concertos, no.6 in particular
points to the Weimar period, partly because of its indebtedness to the Italian type of
concerto (above all in the middle movement) and also because of its unusual
instrumentation (the particular combination of low strings is otherwise found only in
Weimar cantatas). Other concertos (for instance the conjectural early version of no.1)
may also belong to the Weimar period, but it is not possible to draw any firmer
conclusion about a Weimar orchestral repertory.

The special significance of the Brandenburg Concertos resides in the fact that, like
Vivaldi’s, they abandon the standard type of concerto grosso and use a variety of solo
combinations. The originality of Bach’s ideas extends far beyond Vivaldi’s, as do the
density of the compositional texture and the level of professional virtuosity. The devising
of concise head-motifs, particularly in the first movements, shows a strong Italian
influence. Most of Bach’s instrumentations are unprecedented. They feature all kinds of
combinations, from homogeneous string sound (nos.3 and 6) to the heterogeneous mixing
of brass, woodwind, string and keyboard instruments. Just as unusual is Bach’s conflation
of the group concerto with the solo concerto in nos.2 and 5. No.5 probably represents the
latest stage in composition of the set: it was written for the inauguration of the
harpsichord he brought back from Berlin early in 1719 (an earlier version survives from
about this date). At the same time it marks the beginnings of the keyboard concerto as a
form.

- Bach's dedicatory preface provides us with some indications as to the origin of the
cycle. According to this dedication the Margrave, who was residing in Berlin, had a few
years earlier expressed to Bach the wish for instrumental works for his court orchestra.
Possibly Bach and Christian Ludwig had met in May 1718 in Karlsbad, where in the
eighteenth century many of the crowned heads of Europe came in the warm season
together with their court musicians and where something like a festival atmosphere
regularly came about. If this was the case, however, it meant that Bach waited three
whole years before fulfilling the Margrave's wish. There is no doubt that the
Brandenburg Concertos are partly a compilation of works composed earlier. For
example, there exists an early version, which cannot be dated with certainty, of the first
concerto - without the third movement and without the violino piccolo part – which had
perhaps originally served as the introductory Sinfonia for the Hunt Cantata, composed in
1712 or 1713. Other works of the cycle, on the other hand, may date from shortly before
1721, for their style differs greatly from comparable works of the Weimar period and
adheres more closely to Italian models.

The first Concerto in F major, BWV 1046 contrasts three groups of instruments (horns,
oboes, strings) with one another, fusing together in the first movement into a complex
texture of motivic layers and in the third movement providing a subtle accompaniment to
the virtuoso solo passages of the violino piccolo. The sostenuto second movement uses
only the oboe and the string groups, the upper voices of which spin out wide sweeps of
filigree melody. The third movement is followed by a colourful series of dance
movements divided up by the rondo-style repeats of the minuet.

In the Brandenburg Concertos, Bach enriched the concerto genre in many significant
aspects and ran the gamut of possibilities the genre presents. It is not easy to find a
comparable cycle of works of this era which manages to combine bold experiment with
solid craftsmanship and musical richness with conceptional consistency in such
perfection.

- Concerto No.3 in G major (BWV 1048)

Instrumentation: 3 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, basso continuo

This concerto is unusual in being scored for solo strings only, with three each of violins,
violas and cellos, supported by continuo. Like the Sixth Concerto (also for strings alone),
there is no separate concertino group, the solo instruments also providing the tutti.

1. [Allegro]¹
This movement is similar in its formal design to the first movement of Concerto No.1
(see above): although both can reasonably be said to be in ritornello form, Bach
integrates the ritornelli and the episodes so closely, borrowing material from each for the
other, and including fragments of both, that the distinction between the two is blurred.
The lack of distinct concertino and ripieno groups adds further to this integration.

As with most of Bach’s ritornello movements, the opening 25 seconds provides the bulk
of the melodic material for the remainder of the movement. Smaller sections or motifs
(for example, those labelled a and b below) are extracted to form the basis of the
episodes, and the opening three notes on the violins (labelled x below) permeate the
whole movement.
The ritornello treats the three instruments of each type as a section, resulting in a three-
part texture. The episodes, however, vary the scoring with each of the three sections
sometimes playing together, sometimes as three soloists, with up to nine separate parts
(for example, 2:47). Sometimes, a solo instrument will detach itself from the ensemble
(e.g. the 1st violin at 2:04), or melodic ideas will be passed from instrument to instrument
- note particularly the passage from 4:39, where the motif descends all the way down
from 2nd violin to cellos.

Two other passages are of particular note in this movement. The first is at 3:22 where,
following a cadence in B minor (the relative minor), the listener would expect a return of
the ritornello section. Bach provides the expected recapitulation, but only the melody line
(in the second violin), accompanied by a quaver bass, and set against a new melody in
longer note values (which is itself derived from the opening material). The first and
second violins then share a few bars of two-part counterpoint, leading into the second
interesting passage. This is the tutti from 3:46: under reiterated chords in the upper
strings, the bass line descends through the circle of fifths, weaving a chromatic web that
could only have been written by J.S. Bach:

2. Adagio
The slow movement of this concerto consists (on paper at least) of only two chords.
There is no indication of what Bach intended here, but is customary to improvise a short
cadenza-like passage before (or over the top of) the chords, usually on the violin. The
chords form a Phrygian cadence (IVb - V, here in E minor), which was often used at the
conclusion of a slow movement as a way of introducing the finale (for an example, see
Concerto No.4, below).

3. Allegro
The last movement is not a ritornello, but an extended binary form dance, a form
sometimes used by Vivaldi for the final movements of concertos, but not often by Bach.
It is in the style of a gigue (as are the finales of Concertos 5 and 6), and is remarkable for
the almost continuous semiquaver scales that permeate almost every bar. The overall
structure is:

Concerto grosso.
Generally, a type of concerto in which a large group (known as the ‘ripieno’ or the
‘concerto grosso’) alternates with a smaller group (the ‘concertino’). The most common
solo group, used in the archetypal concerti grossi of Corelli’s op.6, is two violins and
cello, a combination also used by Handel; Bach preferred a more varied selection of
instruments in his Brandenburg Concertos, only some of which are strictly concerti
grossi. The term ‘concerto grosso’ is often loosely applied to any concertos of the
Baroque period except solo ones; the term ‘orchestral concerto’ is, however, more
appropriate to those concertos without a solo group.

J. S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 2, 4, 5, and 6 are traditional concerti grossi.

Questions:

1- I would say that 75% of my performance decisions are based on analysis,

some times intentionally and sometimes not intentionally. I usually try to get
an idea of the big picture, so I decide the form of the piece and the relations
between the different sections. After that I look for the phrases and try to
shape them towards their final cadence. The harmonic analysis also helps me
with the phrasing; it makes clearer where tension and relaxation are.
(Appoggiaturas) At the end I try to identify the motives that give unit to the
piece and try to establish connections between them so that the piece sounds
as 1 long idea, and not a lot of short ideas. However I think that everything
has to sound natural. I agree that the analysis will help you to make your
interpretation sounds natural, but sometimes we need to use our imagination
and let it flows. Especially in an instrument that gives us so many possibilities
as the guitar.

2- I thought a lot about this question during these days trying to find a
composer who really influenced other composers. And thinking about all the
guitar history I would say that the composer who most influenced other
composers was Leo Brouwer. He created a much more idiomatic way of
writing for guitar, a very guitarristic way of composing for guitar. We could
say that Giuliani’s music is also idiomatic, and in fact it is. However the
limitations of the style did not allow him to use the possibilities of the guitar
as we can use today. I would say that this new idiomatic way started with
Villa-Lobos, especially in his studies. Villa-Lobos uses for example parallel
chords, fix arpeggio fingerings, fix left hand fingerings, open strings in study
9 … But I think Leo Brouwer takes it to another level! Probably for having
been a great guitarist in the past he is always thinking about the relation
between the music and the fingers. Elogio de la danza (examples) He
influenced Roland Dyens, Sergio Assad and Carlo Domeniconi. During his
vanguard period he also stimulated some composers, such as Hans Werner
Henze and Maurice Ohana. However differently from the violin or the piano
I think the performers influenced the repertoire a lot more then the
composers. In the piano for example we had Liszt, who was a great pianist
but also a great composer, and he influenced all the next generation because
he showed the piano could do a lot more than what they were doing before.
We could say the same thing about Paganini, he brought a new view for the
technical approach of the violin. However in the guitar much more than
composers I would say that Andres Segovia and Julian Bream were
responsible for the repertoire of the guitar. If you compare all the composers
who Segovia worked with, you will see that their musical approach was very
similar, most of them wrote in a neo-classical stile and usually with some
Spanish influence. (talk about Tedesco, Torroba, Ponce, Villa-Lobos,
Rodrigo etc.) Sogovia basically created the early 20 th century repertoire of
the guitar and defined the stile he would like to have. (Stravinsky,
Schoenberg, Webern). After Segovia we have Julian Bream, who was
 basically responsible for the second half of the 20 th century. Julian Bream
wanted to expand the guitar repertoire to a different way, he wanted
composers who wrote in a more modern musical language. And therefore we
during that period we have a totally different repertoire with great
composers such as William Walton, Hans Werner Henze, Benjamin Britten,
Lenox Berkley, Malcom Arnold, etc.
3- When I am performing I am always thinking about the music, the phrases
and how beautiful I can make it sound. However it is important that you
don’t think too much and just let it flow. After having done all the hard
work, practicing, finding fingerings, working on the phrasing, etc. it is very
important to enjoy that moment and don’t worry too much. As an
educational experience I wouldn’t say that I am trying to educate the
audience while I am playing but I am only trying to show them how
interesting those pieces are and trying to give them a good experience, and in
this way I think it works as an educational experience. First of all the way
you choose your program can teach them how different stiles are played in a
different way, so how playing Bach is different then playing Sor or Villa-
Lobos. You can also show the audience how the guitar can produce different
sounds working with different colors. And depending on the level of
knowledge of the audience they can learn even more during your
performance, for example new fingerings, how some people play some
sections, if he roll that chord or not, if he plays that piano or forte, so all
these musical details that make a big difference during a performance.
However, in spite of not being thinking about that while I am playing I do
have an educational goal when I am performing which is make the audience
more interested in classical music, or guitar music, or Brazilian music. I
always want to be able to contribute to their musical experience and try to
make them more interested in this kind of music. But other than that I would
say that the performing educational experience always happens before the
concert and after the concert. Before the concert you will choose your
repertoire trying to suit your goal and trying to adequate it to your audience,
for example I cannot play a whole concert of atonal music if I am playing in a
high school for example, one or two pieces would be fine, but a whole concert
would be too much. So I have to think about sides, my expectations and my
goals and try to suit it to the audience. And also after the concert, when I am
going to think what I could do better, how I could play it better, and how I
could make that audience enjoy more the concert, if it was the right
program, if the stiles were different, if I played all slow music, etc.