Capricho Arabe
Francisco Tarrega
This is a Capricho -this word means whim-, a free musical form by the Spanish composer Francisco Tarrega.
He lived from 1852 to 1909 and was a leading Romantic composer for the guitar. He introduced the modern guitar design by Torres and fully exploited the musical and technical possibilities of the instrument. He even designed new guitar techniques to do so.
One of his most well known pieces is Recuerdos de la Alhambra. Besides this piece, he wrote numerous other pieces like his Preludes, Etudes, Waltzes, Mazurkas, Spanish dances and a number or arrangements of popular classical works by e.g. Schubert.
This capricho clearly shows the Arabic sound and specific intervals in a D minor-D major-D minor section architecture in which the improvisation-like scale passages form the bridges.