For Guitar

The name of Astor Piazzolla is fatally linked to the Tango, although his artistic parable is much more complex than it appears to a superficial look. Many encounters influenced his musical life. Thanks to the great pianist Arthur Rubinstein, he became a pupil of Alberto Ginastera, whom Piazzolla kept acknowledging as the greatest Argentinian composer of his century. After this educational experience and that in the orchestra of Annibal Troilo, Piazzolla encountered European music through Nadia Boulanger with whom he studied. He then began an experimentation of his own, becoming – as he said in the Sixties – a vanguardista of the tango.

Cyro Delvizio is one of the leading guitarists, composers, and researchers of his generation. Having devoted his multiple skills to spreading Brazilian classical music

Rossini Hayward, one of the most creative guitarists of his generation, has written a sequence of Christmas carol arrangements that range across the centuries and over continents.

This album features the complete works for guitar of British composer and radio broadcaster John Brunning, including world-premier recordings, performed by internationally acclaimed classical guitarist Xuefei Yang.

‘Aspects’ portrays the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet’s love of musical diversity. It is a collection of music that observes a startling variety of perspective and which reflects the group’s ability to craft an emotive and diverse musical tapestry. The album includes original works for four guitars, arrangements that have been made by members of the group, and even a new work written especially for this project. ‘Aspects’ is both retrospective and prospective: it includes favourites which the Quartet has been performing for many years and also pieces which it has learnt specifically for this recording and which will form the basis of new concert programmes in the future.

Starting on guitar at when he was eight years old, he received lessons on classical guitar in school. When he was ten he saw a Baden Powell concert in Paris and was also impressed by Jimmy Gourley. At fourteen he was performing day and night in bars and restaurants. He dropped out of school and learned to play drums and bass. He attended workshops given by guitarists Philip Catherine, Mickey Baker, and Tal Farlow. During the 1990s he worked with Joey Baron, Lol Coxhill, Glenn Ferris, Daniel Humair, Michel Portal, Sam Rivers, Aldo Romano, Louis Sclavis, and Henri Texier. He started the record label Rectangle. He was a member of the Recyclers, Trash Corporation, and was a founder the Big Four in 2001 with Steven Bernstein, Bradley Jones, and Max Nagl. He has also played with Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Tim Berne, Eugene Chadbourne, Marc Ducret, Christian Escoude, Fred Frith, Mary Halvorson, Ingrid Jensen, Adam Levy, George E. Lewis, Phil Minton, Evan Parker, Marc Ribot, and Herb Robertson.

With specially made instruments and a range that can emulate that of a whole orchestra, the acclaimed Guitarra a Seis bring us a colorful program that includes works written specially for the ensemble. Opening with a real feast for the ears in Bach’s lively Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, we further encounter the magical moods of Ravel’s Ma mere l’Oye, a blend of Bulgarian folk and modern music from Atanas Ourkouzounov, Tobias Krebs’ jazz-infused Suite Panamericana, and Sergio Assad’s humorous Juan Sebastian’s Bar, which alludes to Bach and Beethoven but is Brazilian through and through.

Variation means change, and especially in the realm of tones, this is a particularly popular means of creating developments. In the programme of the guitarist Tilman Hoppstock, there are works with the designation "Variation" as well as many others, such as "Double", Passacaglia", "Mutazione" or "Capriccio". At the same time, it also reflects the possibilities of variation through the ages, beginning with compositions from the Baroque with Froberger, Buxtehude and Bach, through the Classical period – Beethoven, Carulli and Matiegka –to Romantic guitar music by Willcocks and Tansman, to the Garden of Dreams by contemporary composer Karl-Wieland Kurz, who in turn spreads his "mutations" over a Renaissance theme