This collection presents a carefully chosen selection of works by Francisco Tarrega and Miguel Llobet performed on a master-instrument constructed by the famous Antonio de Torres (1819-1892). It is not only a hommage to the great Spanish guitar-maker but also a reinterpretation of his historical role. Although Torres’ works spans almost half a century, his guitars seem to transcend their immediate context. In fact they ellicit a musical response only from composers and performers of later generations.

 

Francisco Tarrega represents, in both a good and bad sense, the archetype of the late 19th century Spanish guitarist. He was a combination of virtuoso performer, composer for his instrument, teacher and the acknowledged founder of a school. As a composer in fact the superficial eclecticism - or so it seems - of his music can be interpreted as precisely the product of an innovative, experimental spirit: and it was the new potential offered by the Torres guitar that stimulated Tarrega to a musical exploration of such vast and variegated spectrum. His pupil, Miguel Llobet, was a living contradiction: In this intellectual and tormented musician the archetype of the happy Spanish guitarist seems to be completely shattered. As a composer he had to face a permanent personal crisis that opened him up to influences of the world beyond Spain. This crisis yielded perhaps its highest expressive fruits in the apparently innocuous genre of popular song arrangements, such as those presented in this collection. In this genre Llobet is at the height of his originality and freedom, as can be seen in the subtlety of his harmonies of in his constant extending of the instrument’s possibilities.