Ourkouzounov

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.

With specially made instruments and a range that can emulate that of a whole orchestra, the acclaimed Guitarra a Seis bring us a colourful programme 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 mère l’Oye, a blend of Bulgarian folk and modern music from Atanas Ourkouzounov, Tobias Krebs’ jazz-infused Suite Panamericana, and Sérgio Assad’s humorous Juan Sebastian’s Bar, which alludes to Bach and Beethoven but is Brazilian through and through.

Award-winning Atanas Ourkouzounov is one of Bulgaria's foremost composers and has written prolifically for the guitar. These five sonatas reveal elements of Bulgarian national music - sometimes through a textured soundscape that includes percussive elements - cast in forms that are often rhythmically asymmetric. Teeming with complex harmonies, contrapuntal effects and poignant depth, the sonatas are a vivid contribution to the contemporary guitar repertoire.

In recent years a number of composers have explored the tonal chemistry of timbre and texture offered by the ensemble of cello and guitar. The examples here, from South America and Eastern Europe, are among the most ambitious and technically demanding yet to have been written. Vivacious Latin-American rhythms, such as the Milonga and Chacarera, are explored by Edwin Guevara, while the Bulgarian Atanas Ourkouzounov creates an aura of indigenous folk culture in Tanzologia. Both lyricism and rhythmic dynamism suffuse Dušan Bogdanović’s Quatre pièces intimes.