A figure in the tradition of the great player-composers of the early 19th century, Agustin Pio Barrios (1885-1944) was born in Paraguay and developed a unique approach. At one stage early in his career, he used a steel-string guitar to perform classical pieces. Barrios is the first player of note to record, producing mechanical wax cylinders in the period from 1910—13 that feature his own composition as well as standard works. A flamboyant and charismatic performer, he toured South America and visited Europe, and is thought to be one of the first guitarists to transcribe and perform the complete Suite No. 1 for lute by J. S. Bach. As a composer, he was inspired by Chopin and Bach, as well as by South American folk music, and his exceptional material includes. Un Sueno en la Floresta and Confesion. A number of his works have survived with variants both in manuscript form and on his own recordings.

La catedral

Inspired by Montevideo Cathedral in Uruguay, in its original version La Catedral (1921) consisted of the second two movements, which were recorded by Barrios in 1925.The first movement, Preludio, added in 1938, and subtitled Saudade (Yearning), conveys a sense of stillness with a shining melody over transparent arpeggiated chords with occasional close voicings and ends with harmonics. Andante religioso, based on hearing Bach being played on cathedral organ, has a measured rhythm and mannered chords that have a sense of processional movement with harmonies that evoke ancient traditions. The third part, Alleg solemne, was based on the bustle of people in the streets outside the cathedral. Its beautiful linear melodic movements interweave with shimmering cascading arpeggios with shifting harmonies. Strong thematic figures blend into each other, and the movement unfolds with inventive variations building to a perfect final

Composers for guitar

As the guitar and its possibilities started to fire the imagination, new works began to appear. The Spanish composer Manuel de Falla (1876—1946) produced one great work for the guitar, Homenaje pour le Tombeau de Claude Debussj (1920), which uses the rhythm of the Cuban dance, the habanera, and has a stately beauty with somber voicings and expressive lines and quotes from Debussy's piano piece Soiree dans Granade.

One of the most important and popular composers for guitar, the Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) produced music with great originality and variety, showing influences as diverse as Impressionism and South American folk music. Among his music for guitar are a superb modernistic set of Twelve Studies (1929), which are inventive and melodic, with developing ideas that challenge the player, the Five Preludes (1940), and Choros No.1. which casts the guitar in a Brazilian-influenced ensemble.

More avant-garde composers also took an interest in the guitar. The serial composer Anton Webern (1883-1945) wrote his Drei Lieder (1925) for voice, clarinet, and guitar, giving it a lyrical atonality. One of the few solo guitar pieces in a serial style was Frank Martin's (1890-1974) Quatre Pieces Breves (1933), which uses the form of the 17th-century French dance suite.

Villa-lobos: five preludes

The Five Preludes (1940) each has its own character, and Villa Lobos uses his characteristic approaches to fingering for compositional ideas with shapes moved up and down the fingerboard, and open strings. In the example below, Prelude No. 1 in E minor opens with an emotional cellolike melody on the bass strings over open string chords, before moving to exquisite flourishes of melodic invention with strummed chords and passages of seesawing glissandos, before returning to the first theme. The second has an expressive turn of phrase on upper notes and is full of inventive energy with a theme in fifths over arpeggios. The third is gentle and ruminative, with delicate bell-like notes. The fourth has a beautiful simple theme against atmospheric chords and harmonics and explodes into life with arpeggiation, before returning to artificial harmonics. The fifth has elegant and stately rhythms with attractive strummed voicings.


Concerto de aranjuez

The most famous piece of music for guitar with orchestra was written by the Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo (1901—99). Concierto de Aranjuez (1939) evokes the faded grandeur of the gardens of the Palace of Aranjuez and was conceived as a popular classical piece. It was premiered in Barcelona in 1940 by Regino Sainz de la Maza.The first movement starts with rhythmic strummed melodic figures that are taken up by the orchestra, and the guitar interacts with the orchestra, playing melodies and variations punctuated by strummed chords before the opening figure returns. The second-movement, adagio, opens with strummed chords supporting a cor anglais playing the captivating sentimental theme, which is then taken up by the guitar. The guitar plays inventive sections alone which convey atmosphere and stillness. The last movement is playful, with a dancelike 3/4 rhythm and passages of variation and interplay between guitar and orchestra.