Rodrigo: Concerto de Aranjuez / Kazuhito Yamashita (2008)

The Concierto de Aranjuez is a composition for classical guitar and orchestra by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1939, it is probably Rodrigo’s best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the most significant Spanish composers of the twentieth century. The Concierto de Aranjuez was inspired by the gardens at Palacio Real de Aranjuez, the spring resort palace and gardens built by Philip II in the last half of the 16th century and rebuilt in the middle of the 18th century by Ferdinand VI. The work attempts to transport the listener to another place and time through the evocation of the sounds of nature. According to the composer, the first movement is “animated by a rhythmic spirit and vigour without either of the two themes… interrupting its relentless pace”; the second movement “represents a dialogue between guitar and solo instruments (cor anglais, bassoon, oboe, horn etc.)”; and the last movement “recalls a courtly dance in which the combination of double and triple time maintains a taut tempo right to the closing bar.” He described the concerto itself as capturing “the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds, and the gushing of fountains” in the gardens of Aranjuez. Rodrigo and his wife Victoria stayed silent for many years about the inspiration for the second movement, and thus the popular belief grew that was inspired by the bombing of Guernica in 1937. In her autobiography, Victoria eventually declared that it was both an evocation of the happy days of their honeymoon and a response to Rodrigo’s devastation at the miscarriage of their first pregnancy. It was composed in 1939 in Paris. Rodrigo dedicated the Concierto de Aranjuez to Regino Sainz de la Maza. Rodrigo, blind since age three, was a pianist. He did not play the guitar, yet he still managed to capture the spirit of the guitar in Spain.




The Fantasia para un gentilhombre (Fantasia for a Gentleman) was written in 1954 for Andrés Segovia, the "gentleman" of the title. The thematic elements are based on short works by a 17th-century Spanish baroque guitarist, Gaspar Sanz, who wrote the first Instruction Book of Music for Spanish Guitar in 1674. The melodies compiled by Sanz were based on still older, traditional dance tunes. Rodrigo expanded on these short melodies, in some cases completing themes from the older composer's original sketches, and said he orchestrated the work to produce a sound in the "manner of strong spices that were so popular in the victuals of the period." Segovia premiered the work in 1958 with the San Francisco Symphony.





Tracklisting:

01. Rodrigo - Concerto de Aranjuez 1. Allegro con spirito <5:33>
02. Rodrigo - Concerto de Aranjuez 2. Adagio <10:22>
03. Rodrigo - Concerto de Aranjuez 3. Allegro gentile <4:46>
04. Lennox Berkeley - Concerto Pour Guitare et Orchestre 1. Andantino <8:08>
05. Lennox Berkeley - Concerto Pour Guitare et Orchestre 2. Lento <5:30>
06. Lennox Berkeley - Concerto Pour Guitare et Orchestre 3. Allegro con brio <6:28>
07. Rodrigo - Fantaise Pour Un Gentilhomme 1. Villano y Ricercare <4:31>
08. Rodrigo - Fantaise Pour Un Gentilhomme 2. Espanoleta e Fanfare de la Caballer… <8:25>
09. Rodrigo - Fantaise Pour Un Gentilhomme 3. Danza de las Hachas <1:55>
10. Rodrigo - Fantaise Pour Un Gentilhomme 4. Canario <4:17>




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