{"id":14792,"date":"2020-05-29T05:00:04","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T12:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=14792"},"modified":"2020-05-27T17:20:04","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T00:20:04","slug":"segovia-a-centenary-celebration-part-v-1950","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/segovia-a-centenary-celebration-part-v-1950\/","title":{"rendered":"Segovia: A Centenary Celebration Part V, 1950"},"content":{"rendered":"
BY GRAHAM WADE | FROM THE JUNE 1993 ISSUE OF CLASSICAL GUITAR<\/em><\/h5>\n

So many foundations were prepared during the 1940\u2019s for the great leap forward which was to be Segovia’s<\/a> destiny in the following decade. In the United States of America Andr\u00e9s Segovia, with the help of Sol Hurok, his esteemed concert agent, had managed to overcome the prejudice against the guitar in the concert hall which endured among many concert managers. Segovia appeared on a number of popular shows broadcast nationwide. In 1949, for example, he appeared on the USA Army Theatre Show, a prestigious and unusual platform for a classical musician. (In 1943 Segovia had appeared on the Coca Cola Show, performing Spanish Dance No 5<\/em> by Granados accompanied by an orchestra!)<\/p>\n

Note: This is part 5 of a 17-part series<\/a>\u00a0from the<\/em>\u00a0Classical Guitar\u00a0archive.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Moreover the development of nylon strings by the Augustine workshop during the war years changed guitar history radically. Nylon strings were not only more stable than the gut strings used through the ages but could in their very invention provide a positive factor in spreading the classical guitar’s popularity. Nylon strings were easier to tune and lasted longer than gut. The sound of the guitar became brighter, perhaps more metallic, and to some extent aspects of guitar technique traditional since the days of Sor and T\u00e1rrega would be amended to accommodate the new technology. The post-war generation of guitarists of course profited greatly in so many ways by the introduction of nylon strings.<\/p>\n

In October, 1949, The Gramophone<\/em> reviewed another Segovia recording, its first since May, 1946. Columbia LX1229 featured two studies by Villa-Lobos and Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Tarantella<\/em>, \u201cplayed with all the skill and charm for which Segovia is so justly famous.\u201d In January, 1950, Lionel Salter, (still writing for the magazine in 1993), reviewed Columbia LX1248, a recording of Turroba’s Arada<\/em> and Danza<\/em> and Turina’s Fandanguillo<\/em>, mentioning Segovia’s \u201cvariety of tone colour\u201d and \u201cperfection of phrasing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilfrid M. Appleby, writing in BMG<\/em> (January 1950) in his column The Spanish Guitar<\/em> commented:<\/p>\n

Six new discs of Andr\u00e9s Segovia’s masterly playing were recently recorded by the English Columbia Co. They include an album of three 12-inch records of the Castelnuovo-Tedesco <\/em>Concerto for Guitar with a Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alec Sherman. I believe this is the first time a guitar concerto has been recorded and, if that is so, it is an important event in the history of the guitar.<\/em><\/p>\n

At the time of writing only one of the other three records (LX1229) has been issued\u2014but I understand another is being released this month. One side of LX1229 is the new <\/em>Tarantella in A minor by Castelnuovo-Tedesco which I heard Segovia play at one of his recitals. When I mentioned that I liked it, Segovia said he did too\u2014although it was difficult to play.<\/em><\/p>\n

The two studies by the Brazilian composer, H. Villa\u00adLobos, on the reverse side are in contrasting styles; the second being a breath-taking arpeggio study which Segovia plays magnificently.<\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/4NuMdLD6loI<\/p>\n

As well as these considerable advances in his international reputation through the issue of recordings, Segovia’s perennial desire to expand the repertoire was also rewarded in 1950. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, no doubt encouraged by the recording of his Guitar Concerto<\/em> (composed in 1939), produced two works of significance during this year, the Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet, Op. 143<\/em>, and the Fantasia for guitar and piano, Op. 145<\/em>. Ever since the writing of the Guitar Concerto<\/em>, Castelnuovo-Tedesco had been hard at work on behalf of the guitar producing Capriccio Diabolico, Op. 85b<\/em> for guitar and orchestra (the solo piece of this name, Op. 85 had been written in 1935), Rondo, Op. 129<\/em> (1946), and Suite, Op. 133<\/em> (1947).<\/p>\n

Fantasia for guitar and piano<\/em> was dedicated to Segovia and his wife, Paquita Madriguera, a concert pianist of renown who had studied composition with Granados and pianoforte with Frank Marshall. (Segovia had married Paquita in 1936 following divorce from his first wife, Adelaide. But by 1947, [cf. Segovia\u2014Ponce Letters, ed. Alcazar, Page 275] this second marriage was also heading for divorce.)<\/p>\n

Corazon Otero, in her book Mario Castelnuovo\u00ad Tedesco, Su Vida y Su Obra Para Guitarra<\/em> (Mexico, 1987), gives the background to the composition of the Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet<\/em>. Alfred Leonard, a German musicologist, requested Segovia to participate in a chamber music concert. Segovia agreed provided that Castelnuovo-Tedesco would supply the modern part of the programme by writing a Quintet. The resultant work was a masterpiece of its kind in four movements, Allegro vivo e schietto, Andante mesto, Scherzo\u2014Allegro con spirito alla Marcia<\/em> and Finale\u2014Allegro con fuoco<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In BMG<\/em> (March 1950) Wilfrid Appleby commented on the second of the new issues of Columbia records (LX1248):<\/p>\n

\u2026It is a masterpiece in two senses. First the superb playing of the soloist and secondly the perfect recording. <\/em><\/p>\n

Segovia’s playing makes the listener realise that here is a musician who knows exactly what he wishes to express in whatever music he plays.<\/em><\/p>\n

Torroba’s Arada and Danza are based on Spanish folk themes, the former being a ploughing song. Segovia’s arrangement of them for the guitar enhances their natural beauty and gives them an atmosphere of idyllic charm.<\/em><\/p>\n

On the reverse side is a new interpretation of an old favourite and those who have the HMV record of Turina’s <\/em>Fandanguillo (which Segovia made in April, 1928) will find it interesting to compare it with this new Columbia. This disc has attained a new high level in the art of recording the guitar. Never have I heard such extraordinary clarity and perfection of tone.<\/em><\/p>\n