Irina Kulikova: Guitar Recital

The guitar is ideal for lyrical romanticism, and always has been in its long history. But its clarity and fluency of line also provide scope for contrapuntal complexity characterized in the baroque era by the master works of J.S. Bach. The intimate voice of the guitar lends itself to every epoch and within this selection we move from the eighteenth century to the Napoleonic period, and then to Francisco Tárrega, the high priest of guitar expressiveness, and, in the twentieth century, to the profoundly Italian inspiration of Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Also represented here are the elegant musical statements of a modern virtuoso, José María Gallardo del Rey, a contemporary guitarist/ composer. The richness of textures to be found throughout is truly remarkable, proving once again that a guitar is appropriate for all seasons and for so many varied moods and emotions.