{"id":12222,"date":"2019-02-13T14:07:53","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T22:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=12222"},"modified":"2019-02-13T14:09:43","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T22:09:43","slug":"print-music-review-quality-and-variety-in-books-of-19th-century-spanish-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/print-music-review-quality-and-variety-in-books-of-19th-century-spanish-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Print Music Review: Quality and Variety in Books of 19th Century Spanish Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Espa\u00f1a Romantica (3 volumes<\/strong> for solo guitar)
\n<\/strong>edited by<\/em> Mario Martino
\n<\/em>Ut Orpheus, 40, 42, and 64 pp.
\nBy Steve Marsh<\/strong><\/p>\n

These three volumes are each subtitled Anthology of Guitar Works by Spanish Masters of the 19th Century.<\/em> The editor, Mario Martino, has assembled a collection of guitar works by a handful of Spanish guitarists who were composing throughout the second half of that century. For the editing of the music of these three books, the first printed editions were used, and any obvious errors, omissions, and inaccuracies in the originals have been corrected by Martino.<\/p>\n

Volume one of the series is marked Easy to Intermediate<\/em> and features 26 works by seven composers, with the music presented in approximate order of difficulty. The collection gets off to a pleasant start with three little pieces by the Catalan guitarist Jaime Bosch. These are followed by three works written in the manner of exercises, taken from a guitar method Bosch published in 1891. Bosch is featured once more later in the book with the much more flamboyant Ballade.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Jaime Bosch (1825\u20131895)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a further congenial trio of pieces by Tom\u00e1s Damas, the overall musical quality is raised by four lovely miniatures composed by a name perhaps more familiar to guitarists, Jos\u00e9 Ferrer. This composer is represented three more times in this first volume with two Nocturnes<\/em> and the deservedly popular La Danse des Naiades.<\/em> Elsewhere in the album are two pieces by Jose Broca (one-time tutor of Ferrer): a fairly bland Andante<\/em> and a mazurka titled Una Flor,<\/em> which more than makes up for the previous piece. There are also two useful studies by Antonio Cano\u2014a Vals<\/em> and Minueto<\/em> by Julian Arcas, an extremely attractive and lengthy set of variations on a waltz theme (one of the highlights of the album) by Tom\u00e1s Damas, and finally an Andante Sentimental<\/em> and the lovely El Sueno<\/em> by Jos\u00e9 Vinas; this latter one is usually played in a tremolo style, but here is presented in a non-tremolo fashion.<\/p>\n

Below: Italian guitarist Max Coradduzza plays\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Ferrer’s popular\u00a0<\/em>Danse des Naiades, an intermediate work:<\/em>
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