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Elegía
Margarita Escarpa

Label: GHA
Ref: CD - 126.048
Prix: 18 € all inclusive

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In the 1920s, the composer Federico Moreno Torroba took an active part in the Spanish opera revival, particularly the zarzuela. Although a non-guitarist, his contribution to the guitar repertoire was considerable, and included numerous pieces with evocative titles that incorporated the Spanish folk idiom. Among them is the trova “Alba de Tormes”, the llamada “Alcazar de Segovia” and the elegy “Torija”, all taken from the album of fourteen pieces entitled “Casillos de España”.

Antonio Soler, working in the 18th century, created a new style of sonata, more intimate than the model set by one of his teachers, Domenico Scarlatti. While Soler’s sonatas were more in the galant style, he did not hesitate to use themes from Spanish folk dances, brief yet graceful. Although he composed 120 sonatas, dedicating them to his patrons, only 27 were published during his lifetime, in London, and the complete edition was prepared by the musicologist Samuel Rubio. Margarita Escarpa has transcribed three sonatas which, as with the Scarlatti sonatas, work particularly well on the guitar. Sonatas no 84 and no 90 are taken from the Madrid manuscript, where they are numbered IV and VIII. The first, originally in D major, has been transposed to E major, while the second has been transposed from F sharp major to A major on the guitar. Sonata no 115 appears in three manuscripts, and retains its original key of D major.

“An admirable instrument, as sober as it is rich, that subjugates the spirit with a rough gentleness, and in which, as time goes by, a rich heritage has accumulated, combining the essence of a noble instrument of earlier times with the genuine character of the people”. None other than Manuel De Falla was the author of this description of the guitar, in a preface he wrote in 1933 for Emilio Pujol’s guitar method. “The history of music", he continued, "shows us the splendid influence of this instrument, which has sown the seeds of fundamental Spanishness over a large field of European musical art. It is moving to see its clear reflection in the works of Domenico Scarlatti, Glinka and his colleagues, of Debussy and Ravel”. And it was indeed in homage to Debussy that Manuel De Falla composed his sole piece for guitar. “As sober as it is rich” seems an apt description of De Falla’s own style. The work was published in December 1920, in a special edition of the “Revue musicale” that the editor Henry Prunières dedicated to the recently deceased French master. This funereal habanera, moving in its very simplicity, includes a quotation from “Soirée dans Grenade”. De Falla went on to make a transcription for piano, and finally an orchestral version which was incorporated in his suite “Homenajes” (1920-39). The Danza n°1 taken from De Falla’s opera “La vida breve” (1904-5) has itself — understandably — been transcribed several times for one, two, three or four guitars. Here Margarita Escarpa plays her own solo transcription.

The Catalan composer Federico Mompou was a gifted pianist and composer, who carved out a career in Paris in the 1920s by playing his own music. His main sources of inspiration were in the folksongs of his native Catalonia. He dedicated his “Suite Compostelana” to Andrés Segovia.

No	Compositeur	Titre	Commentaires	Durée	Extraits
1	Federico Moreno Torroba (1891-1982)	Alba de Tormes		01:31

2	Federico Moreno Torroba (1891-1982)	Alcazar de Segovia		02:58

3	Federico Moreno Torroba (1891-1982)	Torija		03:08

4	Antonio Soler (1729-1783)	Sonata n° 90	Transcription Margarita Escarpa	06:42

5	Antonio Soler (1729-1783)	Sonata n° 115	Transcription Margarita Escarpa	04:25

6	Antonio Soler (1729-1783)	Sonata n° 84	Transcription Margarita Escarpa	04:05

7	Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)	Homenaje a Debussy		03:18

8	Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)	Danza n° 1	La vida breve	03:53

9	Federico Mompou (1893-1987)	Suite Compostelana Preludio		03:39

10	Federico Mompou (1893-1987)	CoralSuite Compostelana Suite Compostelana		03:05

11	Federico Mompou (1893-1987)	Suite Compostelana Cuna		03:42

12	Federico Mompou (1893-1987)	Suite Compostelana Recitativo		03:09

13	Federico Mompou (1893-1987)	Suite Compostelana Cancion		03:02

14	Federico Mompou (1893-1987)	Suite Compostelana Muneira		02:47

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