Every weekday morning I play what I call a “guitar pick.” It’s a work featuring the guitar. It can be as a solo instrument, in a chamber setting or with orchestra. This week I played two works called Fandango.
The Fandango is a quick Spanish dance intended originally for 2 dancers. The more popular fandangos of today are accompanied by castanets or hand-claps. The earliest known form of the form appeared int eh early 1700's. It was quickly developed into a musical form by the time the two fandangos I presented were written, around 1800. Rameau and Scarlatti were the first well-known composers to use the fandango in their compositions. Fandangos are still be written today as a lively dance piece or as a showy concert work.
This week's guitar picks:
Louis Moreau Gottschalk - Fantasy on Brazilian National Anthem - Alvaro Henrique, guitar
Cesar Franck - Prelude, Fugue and Variation, Op. 18 - Amadeus Guitar Duo
Salvador Castro de Gistau - Fandango - Thomas Schmitt
Edvard Grieg - Valse Melancolique - Peter Fletcher
Dionysio Aguado - Fandango - Thomas Schmitt
My ukulele pick this week is an original song by a very original Miami-based artist, Rachel Goodrich.