Colección de Tonadillas

Difficult to play, but worth the effort

'Written in 1910 for voice and piano, Granados' 12 "Tonadillas" are settings of a collection of poems by Fernando Perique and are regarded by many as some of the finest compositions of this genre. These new arrangements of the dozen songs for voice and guitar by French guitarist Tristan Manoukian closely follow the piano score (as much as one can on six strings) and have the melody and lyrics reproduced above the guitar staff. This is a score-only edition with no separate parts. Guitarists will be particularly interested in "La Maja de Goya," with its lengthy solo instrumental introduction (often played as a solo guitar piece) before the singer joins in at bar 77. If I remember correctly, this solo section originally used to have spoken words recited alongside the part. These arrangements, though quite good in their own right, are of necessity a bit watered down when compared with hearing the works performed as the composer intended. They are, for the most part, extremely difficult to execute, and are realistically only suitable for very high-grade players. However, these days there is a wealth of super technicians around, and it would be nice to see these particular offerings appearing on the concert platform.'

Steve Marsch (Classical Guitar Magazine)