Tárrega

A warm late afternoon in Alhambra Palace, several hundred years of beautiful memories, next to a small water fountain, a man holds his love close to his chest and cuddles her long hair. The man is Francisco Tárrega and his love is his guitar. It is said the dance of the water fountain inspired him to compose one of his masterpieces Recuerdos de la Alhambra.

Tárrega dedicated pieces to many cities in Spain, which are known as the best portrait of those cities ever created. However, the fact that Tárrega almost lost his sight at early ages makes the pieces more fascinating.

Tárrega arranged the greatest pieces by others for guitar, including works by Beethoven, Chopin and Mendelssohn. Tárrega and pianist composer Isaac Albéniz were the pioneers of Spanish music era in combining the prevailing Romantic trend in classical music with Spanish folk elements. Tárrega is considered to have laid the foundations for 20th-century classical guitar and for increased interest in the guitar as a recital instrument. The legendry guitarist Andrés Segovia used much of Tárrega's work on technique and many of his compositions to take the classical guitar into concert halls of Europe.

Pieces composed by Albéniz, arranged by Tárrega and performed by Segovia have affected many hearts around the world for about a century. Althought only few performances of Segovia himself are available on records, contemporary guitarists still follow his methods and try desperately to play pieces as passionately as he did.

I am not surprised that even many pianists may not believe Asturias was originally written for Piano.

Some guitarists say there is nothing more influencing than sound of a guitar, except the sound of two guitars playing together! That is one of the best characters of Tárrega art. It is hard to figure out how a single guitar plays Alhambra or Asturias.