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Maximo Diego Pujol is a native of Buenos Aires, and was born in 1957. His music is inspired by the sights, sounds, and smells of that great city. Depictions of card games, the shady tree lined streets and of course the Tango are all to be found in his music.

The use of traditional or folk music in classical music has a long and dignified history. Bach raised the humble gavotte and gigue to an art form in his suites, Chopin turned the Polonaise into a rallying cry for Polish nationalism when the country was suffering at the hands of oppressive neighbouring states. Bartók, Kodály and Vaughan Williams in the 20th century rescued traditional music from their respective countries from oblivion and drew on the wealth of material for their compositions.

Pujol also introduces traditional rhythms of the milonga, candombe and chacarera, and he is a natural successor to Piazzolla.

Maximo Diego Pujol is a native of Buenos Aires, and was born in 1957. The sights, sounds, and smells of that great city inspire his music. Depictions of card games, the shady tree lined streets and of course the Tango and Milonga are all to be found in his music.

The use of traditional or folk music in classical music has a long and dignified history. Bach raised the humble gavotte and gigue to an art form in his suites, Chopin turned the Polonaise in to a rallying cry for Polish nationalism when the country was suffering at the hands of oppressive neighbouring states. Bartok, Kodaly and Vaughan Williams in the 20th century rescued traditional music from their respective countries from oblivion and drew on the wealth of material for their compositions.

Pujol’s Historias sin palabras is a group of 12 pieces inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marques’s Doce cuentos Peregrinos. Color sepia is a musical description of old family photos, recalling long departed relatives, and times past. Torino is a cheerful and lively Milonga, inspired by the city.

A highly original selection of guitar works in which the night is the inspiration: darkness, suspense and fright for the unknown, but also the mystery, the sense of the supernatural and the immaterial. Composers include Giorgio Mirto himself, and composers writing for Mirto: Manco,Torresan, Di Salvo, Albini, and more familiar composers such as Pujol and Miklos Rozsa whos Valse Crépusculaire was made famous in the film Providence.

Giorgio Mirto is the ideal interpreter for this repertoire: imaginative, speaking the language of love and life itself. A new recording, with personal liner notes by the composer and artist. With its romantic and mystical connotations, ‘night’ has long been the inspiration behind many works of art. This release presents an alternative reading of its beguiling message, detailing a selection of little-known and contemporary compositions that have all been written for guitar. The compilation contains expert performances by Giorgio Mirto and begins with his 3 Nocturnes – the first of several Italian works featured on this disc. As well as revisiting the music of Máximo Diego Pujol, whose complete guitar duets are detailed in a former Brilliant Classics’ release and whose exotic Nocturno brilliantly captures the sights and sounds of Buenos Aires, the collection also includes Valse crépusculaire – written by Hungarian-born Miklós Rózsa for the award-winning film Providence. Andrew York’s spirited Into dark completes the survey, a work that perfectly encapsulates the American’s predilection for mixing classical music with folk and rock elements. Brimming with colour and expression, these miniature and highly varied evocations form a gem of a recording that is not to be passed up. The compilation is a worthy addition to the guitar enthusiast’s library, with the instrument’s subtle nuances perfectly capturing night’s enigmatic nature.

Probably one of the most extensive surveys of classical guitar on record, this 25 CD collection is a must for lovers of the instrument.

Starting with the lutenist composers of the 16th century such as Alessandro Piccinini, the collection then moves to the Barock period with music by J.S. Bach and his sons, plus the great Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas. This survey then takes us through the early Romantic period with the three grand concertos for guitar and orchestra of Giuliani, a friend of Beethoven and Hummel, and the great Fernando Sor who was known as ‘the Beethoven of the guitar’. Giuliani’s rarely heard fantasias on themes by Rossini, and sinfonias on Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and Bellini’s Il Pirata are also to be found here as well as his remarkable paraphrase of Rossini’s Semiramide which takes up CDs 16 and 17!

The world of transcriptions is also covered with examples of Chopin and Mendelssohn’s music for the guitar.

The 20th century CDs are dominated by the great Segovia whose influence on composers for the instrument cannot be underestimated. The most famous modern work, Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez of 1939 as well as music by his brother Eduardo is to be found on CD19. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s famous concertos and the concerto of Ponce The present day is represented by Angelo Gilardino, Maximo Diego Pujol, and Leo Brouwer.