Anybody have recommendations for spanish acoustical guitar instrumental music? I have no knowledge of that genre but have always enjoyed the rare bits and pieces I’ve heard by chance.
My favortie is Leyenda by Isaac Albéniz. I have been trying to learn to play it for two years now.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oEfFbuT3I6A
Good artists to listen to are Andres Segovia and John Williams. (Two obvious choices)
“Mediterranean Sundance” - Al DiMeola
“Splendidio Sundance” - Al DiMeola/Paco DeLucia
A lot of the work of Ottmar Liebert
The utube stuff sounds pretty good. I’ll have to check out some more when I get home.
Carlos Montoya, the legendary Spanish guitarist.
The Romeros, one of Spain’s most beloved musical families. This group still does concerts.
Paco DeLucia is acknowledged to be one of the greatest living Spanish guitarists.
Not truly Spanish, but check out Rodrigo y Gabriela’s stuff. They’re just mindblowingly awesome players.
The Romeros taught at my college (UCSD), but I prefer Narciso Yepes. He’s not as flashy, and he stayed in Spain and relatively humble through his whole life. “Recuerdos de la Alhambra” is the song you want to find.
Speaking of the Romeros, I don’t know if it’s exactly what the OP is looking for but I have a CD that I really enjoy of Angel Romero playing Bach on guitar.
Al DiMeola.
Sabicas (flamenco guitar).
absolutely!
What is the piece that starts out a very slow 3/4, E___ D C___ D E______ F G___ F E___ F G______, with the right hand very fast, like a mandolin? I heard it a lot in Seville.
Try Steve Stevens Flamenco a Go Go.
Great stuff.
John Williams Cavatina from The Deer Hunter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_8d0DJpbBI&feature=related
Freekin’ beautiful.
Jesse Cook is good too, contemporary, not strictly flamenco
Perhaps the most famous/popular work for Spanish guitar and orchestra is Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. Here’s one performance of it I found on youtube:
Movement 1 (the concerto starts about 40 seconds in)
Movement 2
Movement 3
One of the few concertos in which the most famous movement is the 2nd.
This seems like as good a time as any to mention the Naxos guitar collection. Much of the Naxos label is kind of hit and miss - in general, the label concentrates on recordings by second rate ensembles that don’t cost as much, and the performances are just not up to the same level as their counterparts on the longer established classical labels like Deutsche Grammaphon, London, Phillips, CBS/Sony, et al.
That being said, the guitar collection is fabulous - Norbert Kraft, the producer, has done a remarkable job of managing every aspect of the recordings, from ensuring that each disc has a balance of established repertoire and obscure pieces to ensuring that the winners of major international guitar competitions get a contract to record as a part of the first prize. Twenty years ago, the guitar repertoire on recording was restricted to the same 10 - 15 pieces, and the performers were Segovia, Bream, William, Parkening, Yepes or Barrueco; all fantastic players, no argument. But now, you can find good recordings of music by most of the 19th and 20th century masters, in good performances by worthy guitarists that you wouldn’t necessarily have heard of before. The Naxos collection is definitely worth checking out.
I’m not real sure on the breakdown between Spanish Guitar and Classic Guitar, but there’s a Russian guy named Andrei Krylov who has some really nice stuff.
I’m not either. They overlap a lot, in my opinion.