# Joaquin Rodrigo



## tdc

I wanted to start a new thread in honor of a man who was an astonishingly brilliant and original composer and among the greatest composers of classical guitar music in the repertoire. Thank you Rodrigo for being a genius, and for speaking of things through your music that are beyond anything words alone could ever convey. Your compositions are amazing gifts that have brought me countless hours of joy and wonder. Thank you Rodrigo!


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## myaskovsky2002

*Your thread is...not very popular, I guess...*



> I wanted to start a new thread in honor of a man who was an astonishingly brilliant and original composer and among the greatest composers of classical guitar music in the repertoire. Thank you Rodrigo for being a genius, and for speaking of things through your music that are beyond anything words alone could ever convey. Your compositions are amazing gifts that have brought me countless hours of joy and wonder. Thank you Rodrigo!


Unless you love music for guitar (Are you a guitar player?)...

I know just two things he composed...The concerto of Aranjuez and something else.

Sorry

Martin


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## Frasier

Rodrigo wrote quite a few concertante works. Those for cello are quite well known. To me, he's one of those nationalist composers who did very well and came up with some good lyrical stuff - sadly not too much for orchestra alone. As you probably know, he was blind.

His Fantasía Para un Gentilhombre for guitar is almost as well known as the Concerto de Aranjuez.


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## myaskovsky2002

*I am sorry*

I was just speaking about my taste...

I am not saying he's not good! He's not MY cup of tea. That's all.

Martin


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## the_emptier

i like him a lot, i heard a great piece of his on the radio today. it was a non-guitar one actually


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## tdc

the_emptier said:


> i like him a lot, i heard a great piece of his on the radio today. it was a non-guitar one actually


Yes, he has a lot of great non-guitar works some of which I still haven't heard yet ie- The Cello Concerto. He is known for writing difficult pieces apparently when he was writing the cello piece a colleague of his gave it a try and complained it was too difficult, after which Rodrigo ended up adding a few extra notes anyway before he released it!

Have you ever played any of his pieces for guitar?


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## the_emptier

not yet! i just got Noad's solo guitar playing book and i'm refining my technique, then I will get some pieces i've been wanting to play, including rodrigo


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## tdc

Stumbled across this little jewel the other day...


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## Taneyev

Love Joaquin ! Have his Aranjuez (or harp), 4 guitars, violin, cello and flute concerti (Ferra's recording is a perfect gem). All are very beautiful. Rodrigo just couldn't write bad music. His guitar and his solo piano are fine (and difficult) works. The flute concerto is probably one of the hardest of the repertory.


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## PetrB

I am more than fond of Rodrigo's usually sunny and piquant neoclassical and pleasant mildly bi-tonal vocabulary.

I think the Concierto Serenata Para Arpa Y Orquesta needs more exposure. Here performed by the wonderful harpist Nicanor Zabaleta, who was a tremendous proponent of the instrument and contemporary music, both demonstrated by his commissioning of many new works for it from contemporary composers.













His 'A la busca del más allá, poème symphonique' intrigues - maybe because it is atypically 'darker,' dramatic and a bit 'romantic,' at least compared to his better-known works of a seemingly perpetually 'sunny' disposition


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## Sid James

I must admit I kind of thought I disliked him, but I had to get rid of some useless ideologies I'd unconsciously built up. But now that's history, I quite like his music now and then.

Regarding the slow movement of the _*Concierto de Aranjuez*_, has there been any more eloquent and poignant reflection on the tragedies of the Spanish civil war? That's how I take it to be, it's not just a sad pretty tune, but something deeper lies there.

It's the slow movement of a work I recently acquired that moves me the most as well, the _*Concierto como un divertimento*_, written for and commissioned by cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. I have his premiere recording. That middle slow movement includes celesta and xylophone to add splashes of colour, a hint of the exotic perhaps. It's like night-time in summer, you can't sleep and the memories of the day are still in your mind (maybe?). The two outer movements are bubbly and vibrant, which is similar to the format of the _Aranjuez_.

I have also heard a chamber work by him, _*Serenata al alba del dia*_ for flute and guitar. A contrast in that between a similar kind of languid lyricisim & poetry with more fiery flamenco-like bits.

I see him as one of the great composers for this type of more traditional modern music, some of it quite relaxing and easy listening, but with real substance and knowledge of the art of music behind it.

& btw, did people know that apparently Rodrigo never touched the guitar, which he wrote for so well? Talking recently to one of our Australian composers for this instrument, this person said that sounds right, as it's an instrument better not to know how to play - at least not at expert level - when you are composing for it. In any case, the composer of guitar music can kind of collaborate and iron out the score with the guitarist he has in mind - in Rodrigo's case, it was Andres Segovia.

Elliott Carter has stated that the most difficult instruments to write for, in his experience, are the harp and the guitar. For the guitar, thinking of where the player will place his hands on the fretboard as well as where to pluck the strings, and for the harp, the 5 or so pedals are also an issue. So on both counts, for both instruments, what Rodrigo did was amazing, esp. considering his blindness...


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## Guest

I really like his Toccata for guitar. It's cruelly difficult to play! (His elevated fingerboard makes the upper region easier to access, but those are still nasty passages!) Rodrigo wrote this piece in 1933 but it wasn't published or performed until 2006.


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## tdc

Kontrapunctus said:


> I really like his Toccata for guitar. It's cruelly difficult to play! (His elevated fingerboard makes the upper region easier to access, but those are still nasty passages!) Rodrigo wrote this piece in 1933 but it wasn't published or performed until 2006.


Its too bad the full version of Jeremy Jouve's interpretation of the _Toccata_ isn't on youtube yet, its on his latest Naxos release of Rodrigo's guitar music, its certainly the best version I've heard of the piece thus far, by far.

I've really been enjoying Rodrigo's _Sarabande Lejana_ of late, also on the previously mentioned recording. Even on many of his simpler pieces like this I find something profound within them, the chords used and progression of chords in this work I find so tasteful and well crafted.






I generally love Jouve's Rodrigo interpretations but he is not my go to guy for everything Rodrigo. I like Jerome Ducharme's _Three Spanish Pieces_, and Xuefei Yang's _Invocacion y Danza_. Many different guitarists have done a fine job with his concertos. Pepe Romero is one guitarist who although skilled I'm not crazy about. His fast passages are too machine gun like and lose some musicality in my opinion.


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## Fat Bob

I remember a TV documentary a few years back when a comment was made to the effect that the slow movement of the Concierto de Aranjuez was his emotional response to the loss of a child- either a miscarriage or a stillbirth. Puts a different spin on it doesn't it?
His piano concerto is available in a fine Naxos recording, worth listening to as a change from his guitar works.


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## drfaustus

Sid James said:


> I must admit I kind of thought I disliked him, but I had to get rid of some useless ideologies I'd unconsciously built up. But now that's history, I quite like his music now and then.
> 
> Regarding the slow movement of the _*Concierto de Aranjuez*_, has there been any more eloquent and poignant reflection on the tragedies of the Spanish civil war? That's how I take it to be, it's not just a sad pretty tune, but something deeper lies there.


The Concierto de Aranjuez was inspired in the Luxemburgo's gardens. In Spain there are the Aranjuez's gardens, (UNESCO heritage) with palms, sources and set of flowers, make up a heavenly space. Well, there, Spanish kings have lived since XV century. Rodrigo composed The concerto de Aranjuez like a tribute to the love for his wife. Really, I don't know what would had happened with master Rodrigo if he wouldn't had composed the Concierto de Aranjuez…
I'm from Spain and I´d like to appreciate more about him, as well as master Rodrigo. Many Spanish contemporary composers are beginning to appreciate the Concierto de Aranjuez currently. 
In the era of dictator Franco, as Rodrigo was identified with him. And, Spanish music with Rodrigo. In the 50' years. The next generation of Spanish composers, the Generation 51 , when, the most Spanish appreciated composers like Cristóbal Halffter or Luis de Pablo, played an important role to the development of Contemporary Music, have made a real way. Rodrigo was stalled in the Neoclassicism that he found and learnt in France. I don't know that any composer (an artist) should give explanations to anybody. But, personally, I appreciate much more those composers that have opened new ways of expression and who have risked. It's not the case of Rodrigo…

PD: We must recognize that, the Concierto de Aranjuez is a great masterpiece that Rodrigo make "outstanding". The Concierto de Aranjuez is the piece that most money have gained in Copyright into XX century.


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## Necronomicon

Just saw the Australia Chamber Orchestra perform the Aranjuez with guitarist Salva Grigoryan around a week ago, truly amazing.
Is it true he (rodrigo) didn't play guitar? Seems to be such a rare thing to find quality composition for the guitar from composers who didn't play the instrument.


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## tdc

Necronomicon said:


> Just saw the Australia Chamber Orchestra perform the Aranjuez with guitarist Salva Grigoryan around a week ago, truly amazing.
> Is it true he (rodrigo) didn't play guitar? Seems to be such a rare thing to find quality composition for the guitar from composers who didn't play the instrument.


It is true he did not play guitar, though he was a virtuoso pianist. Here is a small clip of Rodrigo playing his Concierto de Aranjuez on piano.


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## Guest

The fact that he didn't play the guitar probably accounts for why so much of it is so hard to play! His chords and passages often require either huge stretches, awkward finger configurations, or both.


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## tdc

Kontrapunctus said:


> The fact that he didn't play the guitar probably accounts for why so much of it is so hard to play! His chords and passages often require either huge stretches, awkward finger configurations, or both.


He knew how to make the instrument sound great, but what you say is true. He didn't compose any easy guitar pieces.

From my experience _Tiento Antiguo_ is less difficult than the others, but still has a nasty recurring stretch of a minor second (4 frets) and some difficult arpeggio figures. Once one attempts to play some of these works it isn't very hard to believe they were not composed by a guitarist.


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## Guest

Have you tried the Passacaglia from "Three Spanish Pieces" or "Toccata"? Both are very awkward and not idiomatic at all!


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## tdc

Kontrapunctus said:


> Have you tried the Passacaglia from "Three Spanish Pieces" or "Toccata"? Both are very awkward and not idiomatic at all!


Yes, those two are the most difficult by most accounts, I have tried the Passacaglia but not the Toccata. The only Rodrigo guitar works I still practice nowadays are Tiento Antiguo, En Los Trigales and Sonata a la Espanola. I love Invocacion y danza and the Toccata, but I'm more focused on piano now so its doubtful I will ever get around to learning those.


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