Manuel de Falla and Federico García Lorca, in 1920, planned to commemorate Mikhail Glinka's 1845 visit to Granada and his musical encounter with El Murciano with a tile in the Alhambra.
Compositional Technique
Manuel de Falla's only solo guitar work, Le tombeau de Claude Debussy, incorporates elements of the 19th-century rondeña, such as arpeggiated patterns, thumb melodies, tremolos, and rasgueo techniques.
Album & Artwork
This album aims to show the evolution of flamenco and concert guitar through newly discovered transcriptions of rondeña variations by Francisco Rodríguez Murciano, a vernacular guitarist from Albaycín.
Recording & Production
All newly recorded pieces on this CD are played on a guitar made by the luthier Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817-1892) from Almería, which is currently exhibited in the Centro de Documentación Musical de Granada.
Cultural Impact
The rondeña, a type of Andalusian fandango, played a significant role in the consolidation of flamenco and the development of solo guitar playing.
Interpretation
To achieve a 'historicized sound,' the recording uses gut strings and is tuned to A=430 Hz, which was the practice in the era of the music featured.
Composer Biography
Francisco Rodríguez Murciano, known as 'El Murciano,' was an illiterate tavern-keeper but a respected musician whose guitar playing incorporated sophisticated techniques usually associated with classical music.
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