SUEÑO
DOMENICO MOTTOLA

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TARREGA - LLOBET

No-one did as much to bring the guitar into the modern world as Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909) and Miguel Llobet (1878-1938). In all facets of their lives, their impact was unequalled and their legacy was profound. They paved the way for the younger Andrés Segovia (1893-1987) who went on to build a new concert repertoire for the guitar and take it to the four corners of the the globe. Tárrega and Llobet consolidated the place of the new Torres guitar, developing techniques appropriate to its depth and palette of colours, and transcribing works by non-guitarist composers that would help elevate its stature among other instruments, particularly in the conservative academic circles where the guitar had never been welcome. Tárrega and Llobet are often portrayed as opposites, a result of the nails-or-flesh debate of the early twentieth century: Tárrega, without nails, who sought the pure the sonority of the string quartet and Llobet who, with nails and like Berlioz long before him, envisaged the guitar as offering all the colours of a symphony orchestra. The present recording, whether by accident or design, encourages the listener to reconcile any vestiges of this rivalry and to enjoy the spiritual communality of two great guitarists who shared a common romantic culture.

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John Griffiths

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