The Classical Guitar

The classical guitar is a very popular, but little heard instrument outside of its group of staunch supporters and players. In addition, it has a long history going back as far as 1600 BC according to some historians.

There has always been sporadic interest on the Forum in the instrument, and I wanted to pull together something that will hopefully pique people’s interest and encourage them to explore the classical guitar further.

I will not go too deeply into the evolution of the instrument. Briefly, by about the 13th Century AD, we had the guitarra latina, which resembled most the modern instrument in that it had a single sound hole and a flat back. This was as opposed to, for example, the lute and the oud, which had curved backs.

The guitar continued improving and began to rise to prominence around the end of the 17th Century, growing in popularity until sometime towards the end of the 19th Century, when the instrument began to fall out of favour.

There are two events that propelled the guitar back into the limelight and helped to gain respectability amongst modern composers and classical audiences.

The first was the upgrade made to the guitar by Antonio de Torres around 1850. His research increased size and playability, greatly increasing the volume, projection and sustain of the instrument. Even if the volume of the guitar could not compete with the violin or piano, at least it could hold its own in the concert hall. The basic shape and construction of the modern guitar are almost unchanged from the original Torres version.

The second event was the arrival on the scene of the great Andres Segovia. Segovia, almost single-handedly promoted the guitar: he sought great composers to write for it; he introduced further repertoire through transcriptions and his own compositions; he taught students who have gone on to become great guitarists in their own right – John Williams, for example; and he gave endless concerts across the world, where his incredibly technique demonstrated to unbelieving audiences that, yes, here was a serious instrument that could play serious music.

My own interest in the guitar arose when trying to determine which instrument to take up to learn to play, this or the violin. I bought solo recordings of each and my benchmark would be the sound and performance I liked most. The clear winner, of course, was the guitar. The sound was a revelation: gorgeous, bell-like tones packed with emotion. I had heard nothing like this even from listening to finger picked (non-classical) acoustic guitars. It was a clear winner over the less alluring tones (to me) of a solo violin.

I began my music collection by deliberately avoiding Spanish composers at first. I wanted to listen to material that was not what I would expect to hear on a classical guitar. It was probably overexposure to flamenco in adverts and soundtracks that caused this! As a result, I explored 19th Century French and Viennese composers, before moving on to the 20th Century and discovering modern British, Cuban, South American and Japanese pieces. Of course, I did go back to Spain to discover the true variety of Spanish guitar music, finding for example, that the composer Joaquin Rodrigo, who wrote that utterly Spanish composition, the Adagio of the Concierto de Aranjuez, wrote considerably more works that are utterly modern.

I shall leave these ramblings here, but if there is enough (or any!) interest, I shall write more on some of the great guitarists, composers, music and the continued evolution of the construction of the guitar.

For those who wish to explore further, I shall leave you with a list of ten recordings, obviously only a small cross-section of the vast material available. You will notice that most of these are collections. Given the general lack of investment in classical guitar music, it is difficult to find CD’s dedicated to single composers. One of the great exceptions to this is the Naxos label and a vast library of guitar material can be found there. However, in pulling together this selection, I have focussed on providing, in my opinion, some of the finest recorded guitarists.

Asturias: The Art of the Guitar – Narciso Yepes (DG)
Ignore the slightly tacky cover art; this is a great collection of music superbly played by Yepes on a ten-string guitar. Includes the piece “Recuerdos De La Alhambra”, which demonstrates one of the classical guitar’s greatest virtuoso techniques, the tremelo.

Guitar Recital – Kevin Gallagher (Naxos)
Fabulous collection of Baroque and Renaissance music by the first American to win the prestigious Francisco Tarrega Guitar Competition in Spain. His rendition of “Differencias sobre Conde Claros” is stunning.

Caprice – Wang Yameng (GHA)
Tricky to get hold of, but well worth the effort. This is an astonishing rendition of 19th and 20th century music, played by a very young performer – she was winning international guitar competitions at the age of 12. I have not heard better versions than these.

Johann Sebastian Bach: New Transcriptions for Guitar – Philip Hii (GSP)
Transcriptions this time, and Hii’s technique is quite amazing, bringing these pieces alive in a way I have not heard from other performers.

The Goldberg Variations, transcribed for solo guitar – Jozsef Eotvos
An incredible accomplishment, these are played exactly as described, on a single guitar by the talented Mr Eotvos. And this is no mere technical exercise; this recording is one of the best Goldberg’s I have heard on any instrument.

Leo Brouwer, Guitar Music Vol. 1 – Ricardo Cobo (Naxos)
Brouwer is one of the greatest guitar composers of the 20th Century and his work covers some of the most beautiful and lyrical pieces, included here, to considerably more challenging material. To hear the latter (and more of the former), get Volume 2. Cobo is bettered only by Brouwer himself, but Brouwer’s recordings are difficult to obtain and the sound is not a good as the Naxos.

From the Jungles of Paraguay – John Williams (Sony)
An essential CD, this showcases the work of composer and performer Agustin Barrios-Mangore, who has been described as the “Chopin of the guitar”. A listen to this will quickly demonstrate why. And there is no better performer than Williams.

Nocturnal – Julian Bream (EMI)
20th Century guitar works, including the title piece by Benjamin Britten. These are not easy pieces, but Bream brings them to life and gives them tension and excitement.

Bach Guitar Recital – Julian Bream (EMI)
Yes, yet another recording of Bach, but I defy anyone not to enjoy this. Superbly recorded to boot.

Rodrigo: Fantasia Para Un Gentilhombre – Conductor Enrique Jorda, Performer Andres Segovia (DG)
I will admit now, I am not a fan of Segovia’s style of playing. This recording, however is a major exception - in my opinion it is the best version of this concerto. Rodrigo wrote this work for Segovia – he is the gentilhombre referred to in the title.