Leo Brouwer: Guitar Sonatas Ricardo Gallén

• Leo Brouwer (b. 1939): Guitar Sonata No. 1:
• 1 Guitar Sonata No. 1: I. Fandangos y boleros 06:46
• 2 Guitar Sonata No. 1: II. Sarabanda de Scriabin 03:36
• 3 Guitar Sonata No. 1: III. Toccata de Pasquini 04:49
• Guitar Sonata No. 2 "Del caminante":
• 4 Guitar Sonata No. 2 "Del caminante": I. Visión de la Amazonia 01:52
• 5 Guitar Sonata No. 2 "Del caminante": II. El gran sertao 06:29
• 6 Guitar Sonata No. 2 "Del caminante": III. Danza festiva 03:46
• 7 Guitar Sonata No. 2 "Del caminante": IV. Toccata nordestina 05:45
• Guitar Sonata No. 3 "Del decamerón negro":
• 8 Guitar Sonata No. 3 "Del decamerón negro": I. Güijes y gnomos 05:40
• 9 Guitar Sonata No. 3 "Del decamerón negro": II. Treno por Oyá 06:10
• 10 Guitar Sonata No. 3 "Del decamerón negro": III. Burlesca del aire 04:12
• 11 Guitar Sonata No. 3 "Del decamerón negro": IV. La risa de los griots 05:39
• Guitar Sonata No. 4 "Del pensador":
• 12 Guitar Sonata No. 4 "Del pensador": I. Recuperación de la memoria 05:39
• 13 Guitar Sonata No. 4 "Del pensador": II. Iluminaciones 04:38
• 14 Guitar Sonata No. 4 "Del pensador": III. Elogio de la meditación 06:36
• 15 Guitar Sonata No. 4 "Del pensador": IV. Celebración de la memoria 03:57
• Guitar Sonata No. 5 "Ars combinatoria":
• 16 Guitar Sonata No. 5 "Ars combinatoria": I. Toccata 04:49
• 17 Guitar Sonata No. 5 "Ars combinatoria": II. Fantasía que contrahaze la harpa 05:46
• 18 Guitar Sonata No. 5 "Ars combinatoria": III. Finale 08:23
• Guitar Sonata No. 6 "De los enigmas" (Arr. R. Gallén):
• 19 Guitar Sonata No. 6 "De los enigmas" (Arr. R. Gallén): I. Preludio 05:02
• 20 Guitar Sonata No. 6 "De los enigmas" (Arr. R. Gallén): II. Pavana melancólica [Con el permiso de Luys de Milán] 07:19
• 21 Guitar Sonata No. 6 "De los enigmas" (Arr. R. Gallén): III. Fantasía y toccata 06:13
• Total Runtime 01:53:06

Info for Leo Brouwer: Guitar Sonatas

We are facing the first recording of complete Guitar Sonatas of Leo Brouwer, the most important guitar music composer of the modern era. In his music in general and in his Sonatas for Guitar in particular, tradition is intermingled with the latest stylistic and intellectual tendencies and is not limited only to what is erroneously called refined music. The different cultures -from the most tribal to the most elitist ones-, political-social phenomena, religions, the arts in any of their manifestations as well as the same human thought and feeling inspire and feed the Masters sound world. Consequently, the challenge of recording his Sonatas for Guitar was not so much in the quantity or difficulty of his music, but in trying to show that Ethos originating from his music. From the first sonata to the last one, one can appreciate the multitude of ideas coming from his privileged knowledge as a composer and orchestra conductor of the great repertoire and its most hidden ins and outs. It is sometimes evident when he quotes Spanish Renaissance vihuelists such as Mudarra or Milan, but also masters of the stature of Pasquini, Beethoven or Shostakovich. Some other times he lets us glimpse details of the French harpsichord school of the 17th century, sonorities by Scriabin, Debussy, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Albéniz, or textures by Stravinsky, Bartok, minimalism, popular music and jazz. Similarly, like the vast majority of great composers, he quotes himself using written material for other instruments or instrumental groups, such as the piano, the flute, the orchestra or the guitar. Any element present in his pieces has an organic importance, which gives meaning to the whole ensemble. The golden ratio often appears in his structures, shaping the sound material in groups of measures based on the Fibonacci series as well as on the use of fractals.

Ricardo Gallen, guitar

Ricardo Jesús Gallén García
studied guitar and ancient music at the Universities of Salzburg (Mozarteum) and Munich with the Masters Fisk, Eglhuber, Spiri, Gilbert, Huebscher and Clerch, graduating in 1999 in the Master Class (Konzertexam) at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, Germany with Joaquín Clerch.

He has given recitals and played in concerts with more than 25 orchestras under the direction of well-known conductors such as Maximiliano Valdés, Juan José Mena, Sergiu Comisiona, Leo Brouwer, En Shao, Monica Huggett or Jordi Savall, throughout Europe and America, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina, Cuba, the United States, Russia, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Egypt, Jor-dan, Lebanon and Israel, in concert halls like Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Auditori and Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barce-lona, Schostakovich Hall in Saint Petersburg or Tchaikowsky Hall in Moscow.

Ricardo Gallén García has recorded many works for the state radio and televisions in Spain, Finland, Belgium, Romania, Germany, Cuba, Mexico, Poland, Chile, South Korea, Hungary Australia and Bulgaria. Presently on the market are his first five Cds recorded for NAXOS, in which he performs music by Giuliani, Brouwer, Take-mitsu, etc., as well as all of the concerts for guitar and orchestra by the Spanish master Joaquín Rodrigo. His first recording was among NAXOS' 50 top-selling re-cords for 2001, and received sensational reviews in the specialized press. His sixth Cd (double cd) with the Bach Complete Lute Suites was released by Sunnyside Re-cords in New York in June 2013.

He was featured on the cover of the August, 2000 issue of 'Classical Guitar Maga-zine' in which he was interviewed by Cecilia Rodrigo, Joaquin Rodrigo's daughter. His biographical information has been included, among others, in the fifth edition of The Classical Guitar: It's Evolution, Players and Personalities Since 1800, written by the director of the Ashley Mark Publishing Company, Maurice J. Summerfield.

Ricardo Jesús Gallén García has received over twenty international prizes, includ-ing: 1st Prize at the 32nd Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition 1997, in Markneukirchen, Germany, 1st Prize and a Special Prize for the best in-terpretation of the works of Enrique Igoa at the 14th Andres Segovia International Classical Guitar Competition 1998 held in La Herradura, Granada, 1st Prize at the 4th Alhambra International Guitar Competition 1998, 1st Prize and the Special Audience Prize at the 33rd Francisco Tárrega International Guitar Contest 1999, 1st Prize and five Special Prizes (Best Interpretation of a Cuban work, the Leo Brouwer Special Prize, the Cuban National Union of Writers and Artists Musicians Association Prize, the Music Recording and Publishing Company Prize and the Cu-ban Radio and Television Institute Prize) at the 11th International Guitar Competi-tion held in Havana, Cuba in 2002.

He was Eliot Fisk’s Assistant Professor in “Mozarteum” University in Salzburg for five years and he is currently Professor at the HFM “Franz Liszt” in Weimar, Germany.

Recently he got the “Andres Segovia” Medal Award given by the Andres Segovia Foundation in Spain.

Booklet for Leo Brouwer: Guitar Sonatas