| Next year, 2007, marks the 20th anniversary of the | | | | works for guitar or transcriptions of works by Bach, |
| death of Andres Segovia, the father of the classical | | | | Haydn and others.His recital at the Arlington ranged |
| guitar for almost the entire 20th Century. This | | | | freely over the body of music available for the guitar, |
| remembrance of what was to be one of his last | | | | from Luis de Narvaez' "Differencias on a Spanish |
| concerts, a 1985 performance at the Arlington Centre, | | | | Theme", written around 1538 to "Danza Pomposa" by |
| Santa Barbara, is a tribute to his extraordinary and | | | | Alexandre Tansman, which was written at Segovia's |
| ground-breaking influence on the classical guitar | | | | request in the 1950s. The "differencias", or variations, |
| repertory.Segovia was born in Linares, a village in | | | | utilising striking contrasts between the sonorous chords |
| southern Spain. Originally he was taught to play the | | | | and dazzling scale runs, are based on a popular folk |
| violin, but after discovering a guitar at the home of a | | | | song of the 16th century, known as "Guardame las |
| friend he rebelled, determined to make the guitar a | | | | Vacas" (Guard the Cows).As was true of all the |
| "respectable" instrument on the concert stage. Both his | | | | evening's music, they displayed a master's command |
| family and teachers at the Granada Institute of Music | | | | of dynamics and sheer musicality, but it would be |
| objected, but to no avail. Unable to find a teacher | | | | foolish to ignore the fact that Segovia had by then lost |
| capable of instructing him, the young Segovia became | | | | much of his technical skill. He was after all, well over 90 |
| his own guide. "To this day," he has commented wryly, | | | | years old, and a guitarist needs great strength and |
| "teacher and pupil have never had a serious | | | | control in his hands. The repertoire he chose reflected |
| quarrel."His first public appearance was in Granada at | | | | an admission that he was growing old. Instead of |
| the age of 16, where his performance was described | | | | exploiting mechanical virtuosity, his concert celebrated |
| as a revelation; his name was soon known throughout | | | | the breadth of musical dynamics which he displayed |
| Spain and the rest of Europe. In 1928 he played the | | | | and the close communion created between performer |
| first ever guitar recital in New York, at the Town Hall, | | | | and audience, even in a theatre the size of the |
| which received rapturous reviews. After that he | | | | Arlington.The ovation that Segovia received, at the end |
| played repeatedly in the United States and attracted a | | | | of a recital which left the audience rapt, seemed to me |
| wide and loyal following. His influence was threefold; he | | | | a recognition of what he had been, not what he now |
| established the guitar as an important concert | | | | was. But that was only a fraction of what he |
| instrument; many of the world's greatest contemporary | | | | deserved; without his influence, the world of the |
| composers wrote works for him (including | | | | classical guitar would have been much poorer.You can |
| Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Villa-Lobos and Rodrigo), and | | | | read more of Tuppy Glossop's thoughts on music and |
| he uncovered a wealth of older literature, either original | | | | popular culture at his Web site, AtTheFamilyPlace. |