PROGRAM NOTES
Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 995
The Suite in G Minor, BWV 995, was transcribed for lute by the composer Johann Sebastian
Bach between the spring of 1727 and the winter of 1731 from his own Cello Suite No. 5,
BWV 1011. "The musical text follows the cello version [BWV 1011] quite closely. [...] All in
all, this piece is the most successful of Bach's lute transcriptions. It was written wholly in the
idiom of the lute, without, however, violating the original cello work". 1
Fernando Sor, Fantasía y variaciones brillantes, op. 30
Sor’s fantasia op. 30 consists in fact of two sets of variations. The work was first published in
Paris in 1828 and dedicated to Sor’s colleague Dionisio Aguado. The variations were played
by him in a concert in Paris. The original title was 7e. Fantaisie et Variations Brillantes sur
deux Airs Favoris connus (Seventh Fantasia and brilliant variations on two well-known airs).
The theme has been identified as the French folk song “La mère Michel”.
Joaquín Rodrigo
Tiento antiguo
Fue estrenada por Regino Sáinz de la Maza el mismo año de su composición. Así nos la
define Antonio Gallego: “(…)Rodrigo volvió a los tiempos de los vihuelistas que había
evocado con su ya lejana Zarabanda de 1926. El Tiento era la forma “seria” de vihuelistas y
teclistas, y era de técnica contrapuntística (otros como Milán, lo denominaron Fantasía).
Rodrigo no hace mucho caso a esta tradición y traza su tiento como un preludio o “intento”,
como había sido en sus comienzos.”2
1
Hans Vogt, "Works for Lute," in Johann Sebastian Bach's Chamber Music: Background, Analyses,
Individual Works, Eng. trans. Kenn Johnson ( Portland OR: Amadeus Press, 1988: 229f)); original,
Johann Sebastian Bachs Kammermusik: Voraussetzungen, Analysen, Einzelwerke (Stuttgart: GmbH,
1981); overview, [Link]
2
Gallego, Antonio: El arte de Joaquín Rodrigo. Edita Iberautor Promociones Culturales. Madrid, 2003.
En los trigales
This piece, in English "In the wheat fields", dates from 1938, when Rodrigo finally returned
to Spain after his studies in France, an absence prolonged by the Spanish Civil War. It was the
first of a series of impressionistic pieces referring to Spanish landscapes that Rodrigo
eventually collected in the suite "Por los Campos de España". The outer sections of the piece
are a vigorous dance coloured by surprising, even ingenious, chromatic changes. In the
middle section there is a majestic, march-like melody, interrupted by quaternary bell-like
sonorities and a distant echo of the original dance.
Junto al Generalife
"Junto al Generalife" is a piece from the Suite "Por los campos de España" inspired by the
Alhambra in Granada. It has a distinctive form and style, as well as an evocative character
with nationalistic overtones, typical of the period. As Rodrigo himself wrote: "As in the case
of "Bajando de la Meseta" and "En los trigales", "Junto al Generalife" is part of the
imaginary "Suite" that describes the Spanish landscape. Everyone has heard of the
marvellous gardens of the Generalife, close to the Alhambra; one can hear the murmur of the
perfumed breezes, the distant ringing of bells and the flowers that lodge under the myrtle
trees. And there too the guitar rests and dreams" 3. This from the outset gives us to
understand that this is a work opposed to absolute music and that, in the personal
interpretation of each one, it must be inferred with the same extra-musical evocative character
that the composer wished, rather than sticking to the complex automaton execution of notes.
3
Kamhi, Victoria: De la mano de Joaquín Rodrigo, historia de nuestra vida. ED. Fundación Banco
Exterior, Colección Memorias de la Música Española. Madrid, 1986.
