El pez de oro

The poem tells the tale of a magical fish that grants wishes, and the humble fisherman's greedy wife gradually turns things into a nightmare of ever more insatiable demands for possessions and property.
This work would need players of about Grade 8 standard if the ensemble were to be robust with the changes in rhythm and time signature, but a strong ensemble would be able to carry a less experienced player on line four. The page turn points are particularly well chosen and are easy to execute in an unrushed way.
From an opening of tranquil, expansive and haunting arpeggiated chords comes a jumping, darting little motif and the theme is set.
As the piece develops, the composer introduces harmonies, pizzicato and strummed chords to generate a pleasing Russian balalaika effect against a jaunty accompaniment, woven around a strong melodic phrase. This is rich, harmonic writing with strong thematic material. As the poem unfurls, so the music develops, with arpeggios and a tremolo effect, building more and more until some brushed or
rubbed chords add an air of mystery. That melodic phrase pops back, mimicking the repeated demands that the wife placed on the husband to ask of the magic fish.
There are more surprises and delights yet, with a waterfall of natural harmonies in a small tempo ad lib. section. A tremolo effect produced by rubbing the strings leads into a very tranquil section that gradually evolves into more and more arpeggiated chords and into more and more volume before silence, and then return again of that jaunty theme and balalaika effect, leading to a quiet close.
It will be disappointing for player four to have nothing to do for the last ten bars, as the others round off this very attractive piece that runs for almost six minutes.
Derek Hasted (Classical Guitar Magazine)