Anabel Montesinos
Guitar Recital
The birth and death dates of the composers represented in
this recording span just over a century, during which the classic guitar
emerged, reached its apogee, declined in popularity and finally began the
renaissance that has now lasted for a further century.
Dionysio Aguado (1784-1849) was born in Madrid to a
prosperous family, and this enabled him to give his whole time to studying the
guitar and music with the Cistercian Father Basilio; he may also have studied
with the Italian virtuoso Federico Moretti. In 1820 he published the first
volume of his Escuela de la guitarra. After the death of his mother he moved to
Paris where he gained the respect of Rossini, Bellini, Paganini and others, and
met Fernando Sor (1778-1839) with whom he developed a close friendship and
played in duo, testified by Sor's Les deux amis, Op.41. Aguado used the nails
of his right hand in playing but Sor did not, which does not appear to have
disturbed their relationship. It was during his thirteen years in Paris that
Aguado composed all his most important works, amongst which are the Trois
Rondos brillants, in each of which the Rondo is preceded by a slow
Introduction. In 1838 Aguado returned to Spain to teach and to compile his
Nuevo metodo para guitarra, a treatise that remains an important book of
reference even today.
Napoleon Coste (1806-1883) was born in the French village of
Amondans, of which his father, a former military man, was the mayor. He began
to play the guitar at the age of six, assisted by his mother, an amateur
guitarist. A serious illness caused plans for him to follow in his father's
military footsteps to be abandoned. His devotion to the guitar continued,
however, and after some notable successes in Valenciennes, where he lived in
adolescence, he moved to Paris in 1830. There he met all the great guitarists
of the time, studied with Fernando Sor and took lessons in theory and
composition. In 1863 he injured his right arm, after which it never fully
recovered and his performing career ended. He continued, however, to teach and
compose, leaving an ceuvre of over 53 brilliant works. Les soirees d'Auteuil is
the last of his Sept morceaux episodiques, consisting of a Serenade and
Scherzo, both in 3/8 time.
Julian Arcas (1832-1882), born in Almeria in Spain, was famous
as a flamenco guitarist and composer of national dances and small pieces. The
apogee of his fame was in the years 1860-70, during which he toured in central
Europe and played in the Brighton Pavilion in 1862 before members of the
British Royal family. In 1864 he toured with a pianist, Patanas, with whom he
was living in Barcelona. He tired of 'life on the road' and retired (c.1870) to
Almeria, where he established a business and collaborated with the Sevillian
luthier Antonio Torres in developing some features of the guitar. Finally he
moved to Antequera (Malaga) where he died after a short retirement. Arcas'
music has been largely neglected by recording artists. The simple Andante in
this programme is a welcome addition to the very few pieces that have been
recorded.
Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856) was born to a poor family in
Pressburg, the Hungarian Pozsony, now the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, where
his only notable memorial is an annual competition in his name. He was a child
prodigy on the guitar and flute. Little is known of his early life but by 1840
he was ensconced in Vienna, enjoying royal patronage and touring widely in
Europe. In 1842 he married Josephine Plantin, a pianist whose unwise
administration of strychnine in 1846 aggravated an illness from which he
recovered eighteen months later, thanks to her nursing. He died shortly before
his magnum opus, the fifteen-volume Bardenklange was awarded the First Prize in
a competition in Brussels, organised by his great admirer Nicolai Petrovich Makaroff.
The virtuosic Fantaisie hongroise begins with a slow Introduction, followed by
a csardas, a Hungarian national dance in two sections, slow and fast.
Giulio Regondi (1822-1872) may have been born in Geneva,
though this is not certain. What is known is that his mother died in
childbirth, and a man called Regondi, who claimed to be his father, taught him
to play the guitar and destroyed his childhood by forcing him to perform in
public from the age of five, dressed up like Little Lord Fauntleroy, making him
practise for five hours a day, and stealing the money he earned. Regondi's
success in Paris in 1830 was such that Sor and Carcassi dedicated works to him.
In 1831 he came to London with his 'father', who soon absconded with Giulio's
earnings; only the support of a wealthy patroness saved the boy from
starvation. He remained in London for the rest of his life. Regondi was a
formidable virtuoso and the composer of guitar music that combines extreme
technical difficulty with the charm of salon music at its best. The opus
numbers of his ceuvre indicate that many of his works remain to be rediscovered.
It was the work of Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909), born in
the Spanish town of Villareal, which, at a time when the popularity of the
guitar had reached its nadir, triggered the instrument's renaissance in the
twentieth century. His importance was fourfold: in laying the basis of modern
playing technique, as a teacher, as the composer of numerous works, and in
establishing the art of adapting music originally written for other musical
media to the guitar. His performing career was limited in scope, free from any
dream of conquering the world. It was on the basis of Tarrega's work that
Andres Segovia developed his own technique and other skills which, together with
his own ambition, enabled him to carry the guitar to all parts of the globe,
making the 'renaissance' a reality. Tarrega's compositions were tailored to the
tastes of the salon but display both refined musicality and aptitude to the
guitar. His expressed intention of writing a book in which the technical
details of his 'school' would be clearly stated never came to fruition. Had it
done so it would almost certainly have included the sixteen Preludes, of which
three are here included. Antonio Gallego has rightly described them as "Studies
of expression", works in which expressivity take precedence over technical
level.
Miguel Llobet (1878-1938), a student of Tarrega, was born
and died in Barcelona. His debut recital was in Malaga in 1900 but it was after
his first performance in Paris in 1905 that his career took wings that carried
him all over Europe and the Americas. He may have been the first guitarist to
record using a microphone in 1926, one year before Segovia made his first
recordings. His music ranges from charming and relatively simple settings of
Catalan folk-songs to virtuosic works such as those in this recording. It is
strange that Llobet should have believed the theme of the variations to have
been composed by Fernando Sor; it is in fact the traditional ground of the
Folias, on which Sor also wrote variations.
John W. Duarte
Anabel Montesinos
Anabel Montesinos was born in Reus, Tarragona, in 1984. She
started her musical education in the Escuela Municipal de L'Hospitalet de
L'Infant in Tarragona at the age of six and was awarded a distinction for her
elementary grade in 1996. From the age of ten she studied with Vania del
Monaco, and in 1997 she began her intermediate level in the Conservatorio
Superior de Música of Tarragona, completing these in 2001. She is currently
studying in the Conservatorio Superior de Música Oscar Espla in Alicante, in
the class of Ignacio Rodes. Her first solo concert took place in Mallorca when
she was just twelve years old. She also took master-classes with Manuel
Barrueco and David Russell. She has given recitals in Spain, Poland and Italy
and has participated as a guest in numerous important festivals, including the
Fourth International Meeting of Classical Music in Jaen, the Ninth Gitarowy
Festival in Lublin, as guest soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Lublin,
and the Thirteenth Guitar Festival in Barcelona. She has won various prizes,
among them third prize in the 1999 Sixth International Guitar Contest Maria
Luisa Anido in Italy, and first prizes in the Ninth Castellon Francisco Tarrega
Competition, and in 2000 in the Krynica International Contest in Poland, the
Fourth Sevilla America Martinez National Contest, the First Almeria Julian
Arcas International Contest, and in the Fourth International Guitar Festival,
category Moyen, in France. In 2001 she won first prizes in the Jaen First International
Competition El Condado, the Lerida Second Instrumental Competition Sant
Anastasi, and in 2002 the first prize, audience prize and special prize for the
best performance of works by Francisco Tarrega at the 36th Francisco Tarrega
International Guitar Competition at Benicasim. Her achievements have won
enthusiastic acclaim from critics and audiences.