The Romantic Guitar

 OUTSTANDING HIGH FIDELITY THROUGH RADIAL SOUNO ■ A PROOUCT OF CBS 

LC 3564 

THE ROMANTIC GUITAR 

Granados: Danza espanola No. 5 

(Andaluza) (trans. Llobet) 

Granados: La Maja de Goya 

(trans. Llobet) 

Albeniz: Torre bermeja (Serenata) 

(trans. Llobet) 

Albeniz: Leyenda 

(trans. Segovia) 

Tarrega: Marietta (Mazurka) 

Tarrega: Mazurka 

Tarrega: Minuetto 

Rodrigo: Zarabanda lejana 

Falla: Homenaje a Debussy 

Grau: Corranda 

(Antigua danza catalana) 

LC 3564 

OUTSTANDING 

HIGH FIOSLITY 

THROUGH 

i RADIAL SOUND 

A PRODUCT OF CBS 

REY DE LA TORRE, Classical Guitar 

In contrast to Rey de la Torre’s previous Epic recitals 

(LC 3418 and LC 3479), which embraced different periods and 

a wide variety of styles, the program selected under the 

heading of “The Romantic Guitar” follows a much more 

centralized pattern. Only Spanish composers are represented 

and these are further linked by a romantic-nationalist orien¬ 

tation which gained a powerful impetus from the work of 

Felipe Pedrell, the prophet of Spanish nationalism during 

the late 19th and early 20th century. One may even classify 

the entire program as “romantic music” without going too 

far afield, though the label of romanticism will not attach as 

easily to the compositions of Falla or Rodrigo as it does 

to the works of Albeniz and Granados. The nationalistic 

spirit, on the other hand, will he readily established as a 

unifying element that links together not only the individual 

pieces but also their totality to the centuries-old tradition 

of Spanish music. 

In his authoritative volume on “The Music of Spain,” 

(Norton, 1941) Gilbert Chase refers to a vignette in Luis 

Milan’s “El Maestro,” written in 1535, which “represents 

Orpheus, in medieval setting and surrounded by a rapt aud¬ 

ience of birds and beasts, playing not the antique lyre but a 

six-stringed guitar.” This amusing example illustrates the 

high esteem in which the Spanish people held the guitar in 

the early days, and from which they have never wavered. 

Luis Milan, incidentally, was one of the early masters of the 

vihuela (fore-runner of the modem guitar), and the book 

“El Maestro” offered detailed instructions for gentlemen 

wishing to master the art of playing that fashionable instru¬ 

ment. A talented composer—besides being a poet, wit, and 

man about the courts—Don Luis Milan is gratefully remem¬ 

bered today by Spanish composers and instrumentalists. It 

was to him that Joaquin Rodrigo reverently dedicated his 

Zarabanda lejana, an outstanding modern contribution to 

guitar literature and a particular favorite with Rey de la 

Torre. 

Rodrigo, like Luis Milan, is a native of Valencia. He 

was born in 1902 and has been blind almost from birth. 

Famed as a symphonist and composer of a colorful concerto 

for guitar and orchestra, Rodrigo, in common with other 

famous Spanish composers of past and present, does not him¬ 

self play the national instrument. But his natural affinity to it is 

clearly shown in Zarabanda lejana, a fascinating piece in 

which the modernity of harmonic idiom blends with a per¬ 

vading 16th-century spirit. 

Manuel de Falla’s Homenaje a Debussy also invokes the 

image of a departed musician, but there the emotional in¬ 

volvement is much more immediate. Falla, too, had studied 

with Pedrell and had received his first vital orientation as a 

result of this experience. But the most important period of 

his life were the seven years spent in Paris (1907-1914), 

where he found the orchestral techniques ideally suited to 

express the music of his national heritage. While in Paris he 

was drawn to the circle of Debussy, Ravel and Dukas with 

an attraction that soon deepened into friendship. When De¬ 

bussy died several prominent composers were requested by a 

French publisher to write musical tributes in his memory. 

On the advice of the Catalan guitar virtuoso Miguel Llobet, 

Falla responded with the Homenaje in 1920. Rey de la Torre 

describes this elegy as a “model of controlled intensity and 

precise notation for the instrument, consistent with the com¬ 

poser’s well-known meticulousness. In an original, almost 

strange conception Falla has used the habanera rhythm to 

communicate his personal grief in an elegy for the loss of his 

friend, quoting with grave irony toward the end of the piece 

a fragment from Debussy’s Soiree dans Granade.” Many 

years later Falla completed an orchestral verson of this piece 

for a four-part suite called Homenajes which also includes 

compositions written in the memory of Pedrell, Dukas and 

Arbos. 

Untouched by the Gallicism and impressionist colors which 

characterize much of Falla’s music, Spanish nationalism 

found its truest musical expression in the writings of Isaac 

Albeniz (1860-1909) and Enrique Granados (1867-1916). 

Both were Pedrell’s pupils, both virtuoso pianists and, by a 

further and lamentable coincidence, both came to tragically 

premature ends in their forty-ninth year. Albeniz was for¬ 

ever fascinated with the colorful exoticism of Andalucia and, 

particularly, with its Moorish heritage. His piano pieces— 

there were hundreds of them—are charming and captivating 

vignettes characteristic of his basically uncomplicated art. 

Although plainly a composer for the keyboard, Albeniz often 

modeled his technique on the guitar, a fact which lent his 

piano music a highly individual quality. It follows that these 

pieces sound entirely natural and idiomatic when performed 

on the guitar since the transcriptions are in effect realizations 

of the composer’s original concept. For this program Rey 

de la Torre has selected Andres Segovia’s transcription of the 

Leyenda, while Torre bermeja is heard in Llobet’s setting. 

The musical nationalism of Enrique Granados was not 

concentrated upon the soil of Andalucia, although some of his 

compositions—particularly the popular Spanish Dances— 

reveal an Andalusian character. It was the spiritual influence 

of the great Spanish painter Goya which gave a unique color 

to Granados’ art. La Maja de Goya, one of the selections 

chosen for this recital, comes from a collection of tonadillas 

—short compositions for voice and piano inspired by scenes 

and characters of Goya’s paintings. (The composer’s most 

famous opera, Goyescas, was also a dramatization of Goya 

paintings. Granados attended its world premiere at the Met¬ 

ropolitan Opera in 1916. On the return trip his ship was 

torpedoed by a German submarine and he and his wife per¬ 

ished.) As in the case of Albeniz’s piano music, La Maja de 

Goya lends itself most effectively to guitar treatment, an ob¬ 

servation that holds even truer for the very popular, flamenco- 

spirited Spanish Dance No. 5. Both Granados compositions 

are heard here in the transcription of Miguel Llobet. 

While Albeniz and Granados enriched the piano literature 

of their land, Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909) can be credited 

with the rejuvenation of the classical guitar repertory from 

a period of relative inertia lasting almost a century. Tarrega 

was a brilliant virtuoso and founder of a school to which all 

modern guitar teachings are related. As a composer he 

specialized in concert pieces of limited substance but con¬ 

siderable variety and melodic appeal, as exemplified by the 

three short selections Rey de la Torre has chosen for this 

recital. Although Tarrega enjoyed world-wide renown, his 

activities were limited to Spain. 

Unlike Tarrega, Miguel Llobet (1875-1938), whose name 

has frequently recurred throughout these notes, traveled ex¬ 

tensively in Europe and South America and gave solo re¬ 

citals which paved the way for the many excellent guitar 

virtuosos of the present generation. Llobet was Tarrega’s 

pupil and, in turn, the teacher of Rey de la Torre. During the 

quarter of a century that has passed since Mr. de la Torre’s 

career was launched in Barcelona (1934) thousands of lis¬ 

teners on many continents have discovered the remarkable, 

expressive powers of the classical guitar as a concert instru¬ 

ment. Today’s guitar repertoire embraces a wide area rang¬ 

ing from Bach transcriptions to original compositions for 

the instrument by musicians of our times. But Spain, the 

country which replaced the ancient lyre with the guitar in 

Orpheus’ hands, continues unrivalled in its cultivation of the 

instrument, adding new chapters to the fascinating history of 

“The Romantic Guitar.” 

Notes by George Jellinek 

Other Epic Records by Rey de la Torre include: 

Rey de la Torre Plays Classical Guitar: music by Sanz, Sor, 

Llobet, Ponce, Torroba and Tarrega. LC 3418 

Virtuoso Guitar: music by Giuliani, Turina, Llobet, Villa- 

Lobos, Falla and Tarrega. LC 3479 

■ Library of Congress catalog card number R59-1100 applies 

to this record. z