Tavi Jinariu plays Torroba Castles of Spain

When Tavi Jinariu told us he wanted to wanted to record a few movements of Torroba’s Castles of Spain we took it as a challenge to assemble some amazing mid-century Spanish guitars for the recordings. In the end we chose a few guitars that were made early in the 20th Century and even one, the Moya, made in the late 19th Century, but they all represent the Spanish tradition and are great examples of the work of these luthiers. The guitars include the 1896 Hijos de Melchor de Moya, a 1958 Ignacio Fleta, a 1925 Santos Hernandez, a 1929 Francisco Simplicio, and a 1949 Jose Ramirez II.

Tavi chose these five movements as representative of the range of Torroba’s collection, and Segovia customarily played 8 (of the 14 total) of them in concert. Tavi will play the 8 that Segovia played on his upcoming CD. Here are a few words from Tavi about the piece:

“Federico Moreno Torroba loved his native Spain and elements of Spanish folklore permeate each of his compositions. Through “Castillos D’Espana” Torroba musically portrays various castles within Spain. As these castles differ from each other, so do the individual pieces: from fast and energetic to lyric and introspective. This collection of pieces offers guitarists seemingly limitless interpretive options and invites experimentation with tonal colors and techniques.

“Though there are several differing editions available today, the pieces recorded here come from Segovia’s unpublished manuscripts and contains the maestro’s own fingerings, additions and omissions. As such, Torroba’s music was not only written for Segovia, but, in a real sense, it was also written through Segovia as the composer and performer negotiated the compositional outcome. Segovia was so fond of Torroba’s compositions that he offered them as a template for other composers interested in composing for the guitar.”