In the forties, Barrios being in a melancholically and even depressive mood, he used the music as a reflection of his mind. “Preludio in c-menor n☃ (San Salvador 1940) and la-menor (dedicated to his friend and benefactor Salazar, Costa Rica) are both small but beautiful creations. Raphaella Smits about the selected pieces: In execution of his last will, his sketches and latest manuscripts regrettably were burned. With World War II about to start, Barrios moved back to Venezuela and returned to touring in South America, performing and composing. Following his contact with the Spanish royal family, he received a Morant guitar from the Queen as a present. Next, he was able to meet Regino Sainz de la Maza and Federico Garcia Lorca. After almost one year in Germany without performing, he returned to Brussels to play for the high society. In September 1934 he came to Belgium, met Igor Stravinsky, and gave a prestigious concert at the Brussels Conservatory, with the royal family present. Later he visited Mexico, where the Paraguayan ambassador convinced him to drop his unconventional attire and also got him an official diplomatic passport allowing him to travel freely. He travelled successfully through French Guyana, Trinidad, Venezuela, Costa Rica, San Salvador and Honduras. Five years later he transformed himself as ‘Chief Nitsuga Mangoré from the jungle of Paraguay’, most likely for marketing reasons. He met several times with maestro Andrés Segovia who expressed his admiration, but who later refused to play his music.Īt the age of 40, Barrios decided to leave Paraguay for good. He was called the ‘Paganini of the Guitar’ and praised by Villa-Lobos as unsurpassable. While recovering from a serious illness, his first editions were published. There he became one of the first guitarists who made vinyl recordings.
In 1910 he moved to Buenos Aires where he met the famous tango singer Carlos Gardel. His music (over 300 compositions) remained undiscovered for over three decades after his death.Īt the age of eighteen, he made his debut at the National theatre in the capital Asuncion, where he mingled with a group of intellectuals and artists.
Ponce has written more wonderful scores for the classical guitar, sometimes in styles that were not available for our instrument in the first half of the 20th century.”Īgustín Barrios Mangoré ( – 7 August 1944) was a Paraguayan virtuoso classical guitarist and composer, largely regarded as one of the greatest performers and most prolific composers for the guitar. Ponce’s homages to Sor, to Schubert, to Weiss etcetera were examples of the influence of Andrés Segovia. Some elements wouldn’t be possible at all in the Baroque, but this is exactly what grabbed my attention and gave me the enthusiasm to finally play it - a tribute to one of my very favorite music genres: the Baroque. Ponce mastered the ability to write in a very baroque way, but still it was very much in the spirit of the 20th century. Segovia had programmed the piece for many years. Those movements give a great impression of the knowledge of Ponce and his sympathy for the so-called ‘old music’. In the end, I did too, but only some forty years later.įrom the suite, I selected the prelude, allemande, sarabande and gigue. José Tomás, being the assistant for decades to maestro Segovia, passed this score onto his students, and advised us to learn this beautiful piece. “I got this score during my time as a student in Alicante. Raphaella Smits about this Homage to Weiss: Ponce's guitar music is a core part of the instrument's repertory, and many of these works were dedicated to his long-time friend and guitar virtuoso Andrés Segovia. Widely travelled – he studied in Europe, at first in Bologna and then, between 19, as a pupil of Paul Dukas in Paris – Ponce assimilated a wide range of styles and influences, including European Romanticism, indigenous idioms and a more advanced harmonic language. Heitor Villa-Lobos, who met Ponce in Paris in the 1920s, wrote: “It gave me great joy to learn that in that distant part of my continent there was another artist who was arming himself with the resources of the folklore of his people in the struggle for the future musical independence of his country.” Manuel María Ponce Cuéllar (8 December 1882 – 24 April 1948) was a Mexican composer and the founder of Mexican musical nationalism, often incorporating the melodies of harmonized folksongs into his music. Opname: in de Rockaway Studios, Castellón de la Plana, Spain, 14-16 december 2016. Instrument: John Gilbert guitar #46 (1980) Componisten: Manuel María Ponce, Agustín Barrios Mangoré, Federico Mompou.
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