solo-romantiek-div-1-en

At a certain time, I liked to play a tremolo piece. The problem with the standard tremolo pieces (like Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Tarrega) is that you need quite some skill and condition before you can play the tremolo smoothly. My teacher Robert Horna had a nice old Polish music book in which we […]

Valse Lente is a romantic piece that breathes the atmosphere of the guitar salons at the turn of the nineteenth century. The fingering is a puzzle at times, the piece is not very easy. The slow tempo is helpful.

Romance sans Paroles is a peculiar piece. It starts with a sad Andante, which leads to a more joyful waltz-like Allegretto theme. A Lento has the function of a kind of trio and the piece ends with a da capo of the waltz. It is fun to play. Initially I was surprised about some more

This piece consists of a quiet introduction and a romantic theme in 6/8 measure. It includes a key change from E minor to E major which provides some challenge, but it gives the piece a lot of warmth.

A romantic Etude that is perfect practice material for the ring finger (a) of the right hand. The challenge is to lift the melody above the bass line and the accompaniment, in particular because the rest of the right-hand fingers are occupied with it. At some places it is handier to use the index- and

El Arreglito is the one but best-known piece by the Spanish composer Sebastian de Iradier y Salaverri (1809-1865), because La Paloma, a Habanera which was written by him is firmly on the top of the charts and still popular in Spain and Mexico. El Arreglito has the characteristics of the Habanera too, two-four time and

Sons de Carilhoes is a delightful piece of music by the Brazilian Joao Pernambuco, also known as Joao Teixeira Guimaraes. It is a Maxixe, one of the many Brazilian dance forms, it resembles a tango. The title translates as “sound of bells”. Well, these bells were not quite clear to me in the piece, until

Edgar Elgar wrote this piece under the name Liebesgruess as a tribute to his fiancée. He started with a piano version and composed a piano/violin version, hoping to earn some money from publication. Unfortunately, the publisher and the players did not like the name Liebesgruess that much (Prussia was not that popular in England in

This Tonadilla originates from a set of pieces for voice and piano, dedicated to the “Maya” paintings by the classical Spanish painter Francisco de Goya (eighteenth century). Granados was a great admirer of this painter, witness his Goyescas that are amongst his best pieces and that are based on Goya’s art. What Granados bore in

In the beginning of the twentieth century, Enrique Granados composed a set of small piano pieces called Cuentos de la Juventud. These romantic pieces more or less reflected the atmosphere of Schumann’s Kinderszenen, in a Spanish mood indeed. Miguel Llobet, the well-known pupil of Francisco Tarrega, arranged Dedicatoria -one of the Cuentos– into a nice