Guitar music

The third Cuban composer on tonight’s program, Leo Brouwer (b. 1939), is one of the 20th century’s most significant guitarists. From an early formal education in Havana, Brouwer eventually relocated to New York City to study performance and composition at the Juilliard School. His earliest works betray the idols of his youth: Granados, Tárrega, and Villa-Lobos. Later he worked to adapt modernist styles and techniques to his instrument. He maintained an active performance career until the 1980s, by which point he had written dozens of pieces for guitar (solos, duos, quartets, concertos, etc.) and more than forty film scores. The simple, earnest beauty of Cancion de Cuna (Cradle Song) has earned it a place in the repertoire of most professional guitarists. Brouwer’s rich texture hearkens back to the giants of the 19th century. Guajira criolla refers to two traditional folksongs of the Cuban countryside and is marked by evocations of improvisation and fantasy. The Danza characteristica, as its title implies, derives a great deal of intensity from rhythm, though Brouwer shifts between subtle and vehement moods.

(c) Jason Stell