Laura

This is a wonderful piece. Having recently seen four books of this man's material, this is the best. It is a truly amusing piece, named one might suspect after a little girl with a very playful nature, as this piece is a real caprice in every sense of the word. You remember how the first movement of the Duarte's English Suite had that little run that often caught you out, (well it did me) and so you could quite easily get the whole phrase wrong? This piece has one of these, the main theme being a flighty three note motif that goes from fret 12, to 9 to the open E of the top string in semiquavers, to be repeated two octaves down on string 5. and then alternated in quick succession.

A tricky thing to get right without making a complete mess of it. That said, this piece bounces around with some effortlessly endearing melodies around its opening key centre of A major, before an unexpected surprise middle section in Db major that does take some initial working out, as classical guitarists tend to not be used to five flats in a piece very often. Then the opening theme and key returns only to be embellished still further into a group of four demisemiquavers before a final coda with an accelerando and a set of very final A major chords. This is great fun, and a simply fabulous crowdpleaser of a piece. It really is not easy in any shape of the word however, but any really good players must get their hands on this piece, for Laura is definitely the final piece in anyone's recital destined to get the audience cheering. Wonderful.

Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)