Rodrigo: Tonadilla for two guitars

‘Mediterranean’ is the follow-up to 2006’s highly successful ‘Grand Duo’, which was released in 2006 and won many new fans, including BBC’s Rob Cowan, who described it as ‘a lovely disc’, also receiving considerable radio airplay on Classic FM, BBC Radio and on radio stations all over Germany. Whereas ‘Grand Duo’ explored original 19th Century music written for guitar duo, ‘Mediterranean’ is its 20th century counterpart. Once again, every note is played exactly as it was written and intended to be heard and there are 2 world premières on the disc. The musical language on ‘Mediterranean’ comprises rich sonorities, vivid colours, and a range of expression from almost violent drama to sublime peacefulness. All the shades, colours and textures of Mediterranean life are here, from sunrise to sunset, dance to stillness, water to fire, ocean to sky, anguish to joy. The Arada Guitar Duo, namely Simon Davies and Nicholas Lee, reached the finals of the inaugural Landor Competition. Simon and Nicholas began playing guitar together in 1992 while studying classical guitar with Gordon Crosskey, John Williams and Craig Ogden. The evocative programme notes on this release are written by Graham Wade, one of the most prolific and respected writers on guitar music.

Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-99) composed for the guitar for over 75 years. Over his long and productive life he produced some of the best loved music ever written for the instrument – Concierto de Aranjuez and the Fantasia para un gentilhombre. His output for solo guitar and guitar duet form the bulk of his compositions and this 3CD encompasses all these works from the earliest in 1926 up to the late Ecos de Sefarad of 1987.

Strangely for one who devoted so much of his creative energies to the guitar, Rodrigo was not a guitarist, but a pianist of considerable technique. His flair for exuberance, display of technique and the combination of popular styles and great refinement ensure that all the works on these CDs are full of delightful surprises, and typical of this composers unpretentious style.

Includes liner notes written by Rodrigo’s daughter.

Additional notes and sung texts available online.

A welcome addition to the everexpanding Brilliant Classics’ Edition catalogue.

On this, the largest set ever compiled of one of the last century's most popular composers, we may not only renew our familiarity with the Concierto de Aranjuez, or perhaps with one of the other evermelodious guitar concertos that sustain his reputation with audiences, but also discover chamber, instrumental, choral and especially vocal works which testify to a creative imagination confident in the formation of its style but never satisfied with repetition, one which responded directly to poetic and lyric inspiration, and transformed its ideas with unfailing skill and respect for the idiom under consideration. The floating melismas that open the Cantico dedicated to St Francis of Assisi share a visionary aspect with the hymns on Qum'ran texts that are as far as can be imagined from the jolly folkloristic character of certain song‐cycles. There are plenty of homages to music of the past such as the baroqueries of the piano music, much of it written for his wife Cecilia, but one never forgets that Rodrigo was a creature of his age.

The performances gathered here are authoritative, many of them made as they were under the aegis of the Rodrigo Foundation, and many also exclusive to the Rodrigo Edition on Brilliant Classics. For anyone who loves Spanish music, anyone who wants to listen beyond the Concierto de Aranjuez, or anyone who delights in unfailingly tuneful music, this set will have a compelling appeal.