Joaquin Rodrigo: Concerto Andaluz: Batiz (1967)

[maestrob]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nufz3oytFww

Joaquín Rodrigo - Concierto Andaluz, Alfonso Moreno, Minerva Garibay, Cecilia López, Jesús Ruiz, (guitars), Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México, Enrique Bátiz (conductor)
1. Tiempo de Bolero (Allegro vivace) – 00:00
2. Adagio - Allegro – Adagio – 08:42
3. Allegretto - Allegro – Allegretto – 19:41

Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquess of the Gardens of Aranjuez (22 November 1901 – 6 July 1999), was a Spanish composer and a virtuoso pianist. Rodrigo's music is among the most popular music of the 20th century.
Rodrigo was born in Sagunto (Valencia), and completely lost his sight at the age of three after contracting diphtheria. He began to study solfège, piano and violin at the age of eight; harmony and composition from the age of 16. Rodrigo studied music under Francisco Antich in Valencia and under Paul Dukas at the „École Normale de Musique” in Paris. After briefly returning to Spain, he went to Paris again to study musicology, first under Maurice Emmanuel and then under André Pirro. He wrote his compositions in Braille, and they were transcribed for publication.

It is a great surprise to many music-lovers that the Spanish composer most associated with the guitar in fact did not know how to play it (he never mastered the instrument himself). Rodrigo not only wrote five concertos for this instrument; he also added more than twenty works for solo guitar to the repertoire, amongst them two sonatas and three groups each containing three separate pieces. In the majority of these works Rodrigo shows himself to be the last of the Spanish composers who worked within a recognizable national tradition.

Concierto Andaluz for four guitars and orchestra, written for the quartet of guitarists, Los Romeros, received its world premiere performance in San Antonio, Texas, USA on 18 November 1967.
The concerto is a poetic evocation of Andalusia, with its sounds, its lights, the fragrance of its flowers. The Spanish rhythms vibrate in the Andalusian groves and instrumental colors sparkle in the Mediterranean sun, as the music of the guitars resounds in the air. It shows characteristics of the flamenco forms Buleria, Zapateado and Sevillana.