Rodrigo Aranjuaz Yepes

The popularity of the guitar has never waned and the sun-drenched sound of Spanish guitar music is one of the instrument’s most popular incarnations. At the helm of performers of this style of guitar music is Narciso Yepes who recorded vast amounts of guitar music for Deutsche Gramophon. This collection brings together some of the gems from among these recordings and indeed, from the body of work for Spanish guitar.

2017 marks the tenth anniversary of the release of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s breakthrough self-titled album. To celebrate the occasion, the acclaimed Mexican duo have remastered the album and dipped into their archive to share a scintillating live CD/DVD. “Rodrigo y Gabriela” was produced by Rodrigo and Gabriela with John Leckie, best known for his work with Radiohead and The Stone Roses. Affectionately known to fans as “the Crocodile album," the record has gone on to sell 750,000 copies worldwide. The new remaster was done by Robyn Robins, who mastered the original album in 2006. The live album was recorded during a string of shows at The Olympia Theatre in Dublin to coincide with their Irish triumph in 2006, performing tracks from the new album as well as their back catalog.

When guitarist Jacob Kellermann and conductor Christian Karlsen devised the programme of this recording, one inspiration was the legendary jazz album Sketches of Spain on which Miles Davis performed arrangements of Spanish folk music, along with a version of the Adagio from Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. Rodrigo’s work is a re-imagining of times past and of courtly life in the gardens of the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, and as such it is the perfect opening to Kellermann’s and Karlsen’s project, intended to conjure up Spain ‘as if through a prism – as a concept rather than a place’. In order to achieve this they have enlisted the help of Francisco Coll and Pete Harden, who have each contributed a concertante work for guitar and ensemble.