Francesco Molmenti - Las Musas de la Guitarra (2206) [Hi-Res]

Two elements give coherence and unity to the program of this recording. First, all the selected pieces share the presence of a female name in their title; moreover, almost all the composers are of Spanish origin (with the exception of Claude Debussy) and lived during the period in which Antonio de Torres (Almería, 1817–1892) built his guitars. It is known that Julián Arcas, Francisco Tárrega, Miguel Llobet, and Antonio Jiménez Manjón played instruments crafted by Torres. Of the other composers, fewer biographical details are known, but the aesthetics of their works perfectly match the timbre and sensitivity of the nineteenth-century guitar. The program also includes two compositions by non-guitarist composers: La maja de Goya by Enrique Granados and La fille aux cheveux de lin by Claude Debussy. The former, in Miguel Llobet's transcription, is ideally connected to the selection of Catalan songs; the latter, conceived as a “bonus track,” is a poetic homage to the French composer and to his ideal dialogue with Spain — a country he never visited, yet deeply evoked, as in La soirée dans Grenade.