Guitar Masterpieces: Tan Dun, Denisov, Britten, Rodrigo & Ginastera

Featuring

Xingye Li
Tan Dun
Edison Denisov
Benjamin Britten
Joaquín Rodrigo
Alberto Ginastera

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Composer Biography

Joaquín Rodrigo, composer of "Invocación y danza," did not play the guitar himself, yet he had an unfailing sense for what would work on the instrument and wrote entirely idiomatic music.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Tan Dun, the composer of "Seven Desires for Guitar," aims to bring Western and Eastern music together through his understanding of balance and counterpoint, inspired by the Chinese I Ching.

Performer Biography

Xingye Li, the guitarist on this album, began playing guitar at the age of nine in Shenyang, China.

Compositional Technique

Tan Dun's "Seven Desires for Guitar" incorporates elements of Spanish flamenco and traditional Chinese pipa music, including tremolo passages, string bends, and percussive effects on the guitar body.

Performer Biography

Xingye Li has won several international guitar competitions, including the International Guitar Competition in Tychy, Poland, in 2010 and the International Printemps de la Guitare Competition in Charleroi, Belgium, in 2011.

Compositional Technique

Benjamin Britten's "Nocturnal op. 70" is a set of variations where the main theme, John Dowland's song "Come, heavy sleep," is not revealed until the very end of the piece.

Composer Biography

Edison Denisov, the composer of the Guitar Sonata, included 'quasi-ironic' Spanish references in his work because, at the time, he believed he would never be allowed to travel to Spain from his native Russia.