A scholarly edition of over 500 pages written to explore and evaluate Andres Segovia's achievements. Volume One contains a biography of the years of 1893 -1957 and focuses on Segovia's renditions of Renaissance, Baroque and Classical masterpieces by Narvaez, Frescobaldi, Bach, Scarlatti and Sor

This second comprehensive and scholarly volume of over 500 pages on the life and work of Andres Segovia contains a biography of the years 1958-1987 and focuses on Segovia's rendition of Spanish/Romantic and Contemporary/Neo-Classical masterpieces by Tárrega, Albeniz, Granados, Llobet and Ponce. A special appendix in each volume presents the original scores for the Segovia editions discussed in the text, some of which have never been published, as well as modern editions of these pieces. Includes access to an online audio recording by Gerard Garno.

(Amadeus). This heartbreaking tale uncovers a mystery in the life of one of the most important personalities of the twentieth century, guitarist Andres Segovia (1893-1987). He married the widowed Paquita Madriguera (1900-1965), famous child prodigy pianist and prized student of Enrique Granados, in 1935 as his international career was blossoming. They fled their native Spain under death threats when the Spanish Civil War erupted in 1936 and began an odyssey that landed them in the Uruguayan capital. Segovia's support for the fascist Franco resulted in his banishment from the lucrative American concert scene, while the travel dangers of World War II further isolated him from the rest of the world. During this time, Segovia greatly enriched the guitar repertoire through numerous arrangements and collaborations with major composers via correspondence. It was also an era of happy family life with Paquita. The couple collaborated on two of the most important contemporary guitar concertos and traveled throughout Latin America to perform. Then tragedy struck as the guitarist became entangled with a beautiful Brazilian singer in an affair that ruined his marriage and brought tragic consequences to his family life. In writing his autobiography, Segovia could never face this period. With the help of tenacious research and Paquita's two surviving daughters, Alfredo Escande diligently lifts the veil of secrecy and reveals a magical age of music history framed around the couple's decade together.

Recording the Classical Guitar charts the evolution of classical guitar recording practice from the early twentieth century to the present day, encompassing the careers of many of the instrument’s most influential practitioners from acoustic era to the advent of the CD. A key focus is on the ways in which guitarists’ recorded repertoire programmes have shaped the identity of the instrument, particularly where national allegiances and musical aesthetics are concerned. The book also considers the ways in which changing approaches to recording practice have conditioned guitarists’ conceptions of the instrument’s ideal representation in recorded form and situates these in relation to the development of classical music recording aesthetics more generally. An important addition to the growing body of literature in the field of phonomusicology, the book will be of interest to guitarists and producers as well as students of record production and historians of classical music recording.

The last of the Spanish Romantics, composer, conductor, and impresario Federico Moreno Torroba (1891-1982) left his mark on virtually every aspect of Spanish musical culture during a career that spanned six decades and saw tremendous political and cultural upheavals. After Falla, he was the most important and influential musician: in addition to his creative activities, he was President of the General Society of Authors and Editors and director of the Academy of Fine Arts. His enduring contributions as a composer include dozens of guitar works composed for Andrés Segovia and several highly successful zarzuelas, which remain in the repertoire today. Written by two leading experts in the field, Federico Moreno Torroba: A Musical Life in Three Acts explores not only his life and work, but also the relationship of his music to the cultural milieu in which he moved. It sheds particular light on the relationship of Torroba's music and the cultural politics of Francisco Franco's dictatorship (1939-75). Torroba came of age during a cultural renaissance that sought to reassert Spain's position as a unique cultural entity, and authors Walter A. Clark and William Krause demonstrate how his work can be understood as a personal, musical response to these aspirations. Clark and Krause argue that Torroba's decision to remain in Spain even during the years of Franco's dictatorship was based primarily not on political ideology but rather on an unwillingness to leave his native soil. Rather than abandon Spain to participate in the dynamic musical life abroad, he continued to compose music that reflected his conservative view of his national and personal heritage. The authors contend that this pursuit did not necessitate allegiance to a particular regime, but rather to the non-political exaltation of Spain's so-called "eternal tradition," or the culture and spirit that had endured throughout Spain's turbulent history. Following Franco's death in 1975, there was ambivalence towards figures like Torroba who had made their peace with the dictatorship and paid a heavy price in terms of their reputation among expatriates. Moreover, his very conservative musical style made him a target for the post-war avant-garde, which disdained his highly tonal and melodic españolismo. With the demise of high modernism, however, the time has come for this new, more distanced assessment of Torroba's contributions. Richly illustrated with photographs and musical examples, and with a helpful chronology and works list for reference, this biography brings a fresh perspective on this influential composer to Latin American and Iberian music scholars, performers, and lovers of Spanish music alike.