It doesn’t take much to image that the material on this album could be an initiative launched by Swiss diplomats: A Swiss guitar quartet playing compositions by a Cuban and a American. For many years, relations between Cuba and the USA were not particularly friendly – until Barack Obama opened a new era of diplomacy between the two nations in 2016. As a neutral country, Switzerland has often erved as an intermediary between the United States and other countries. But this is not about diplomacy. The Eos Guitar Quartet often performs works by Leo Brouwer and Ralph Townwe and has commissioned these artists to compose original music for the quartet. Everyone knows and appreciates each other. And as a highly specialized chamber music ensemble, the Eos Guitar Quartet naturally tries to help expand the repertoire for such a formation. This Performance of Gismontiana is a live recording of a concert featuring the Eos Guitar Quartet together with the Musikkollegium Winterthur conducted by composer Leo Brower. The Concert took place in the Stadthaus Winterthur, Switzerland.

The guitarist Michael Winkler is internationally known as a musical frontier crosser, especially through the Eos Guitar Quartet. After his debut LP, the highly acclaimed Bach album and the album midlife with original compositions, he now presents his fourth solo album with original compositions by Tárrega. Francisco Tárrega 1852-1909, was a Spanish guitarist and composer. He is still considered the founder of modern guitar playing and the most prominent guitarist and teacher of his era. "When I first heard Tárrega's music as a young man, I was immediately in love with the melodies, harmonies and elegance of his waltzes. I played the pieces at every opportunity until they became "my" pieces. Later I discovered polyphony and forgot about Tárrega's music, until finally in 2019 I dared to reinterpret it with a grasp of my eyes. I interpreted many things more slenderly and rhythmically tighter than at that time, thought phrasings larger, but also took more time. The beautiful spatial sound of the band supported my joy of playing, stimulated my creativity and fulfilled my wish to record the album in a natural acoustic.”

Cinema enthusiasts all over the world will have no difficulty recalling some of the wonderfully circus-like melodies of Federico Fellini's films. The suggestive power of this music is irresistible, and made its composer Nino Rota (1911-1979) an instant classic. But Rota not only left his mark on the soundtrack of over one hundred and fifty films, he also left behind a multitude of other pieces: Operas, symphonies, concertos for orchestra and various solo instruments, and chamber music - all of the highest quality. A never-ending wealth of ideas and deep emotionality can be regarded as the common denominator in Rota's highly individual work.

The many Rota interpretations and arrangements are joined by a very special line-up in this recording. The musicians David Sautter (arrangements, guitar) and Murat Cevik (flute) have put together 23 little-known pieces and "gutter hits". Rota's compositions appear to only have been waiting for the congenial performance of these two instrumentalists: the feather-light, sparkling, sometimes darker playing of Murat's flute, and David's guitar, which sets the beat and suddenly starts swinging. The excerpts from the "15 preludi per Pianoforte" form the enchanting prelude - flute and guitar in dialogue, dancing on the high wire -, followed by a musical bouquet in all its colorful facets until the concluding "Notti di Cabiria"; here the duo casually lives out its jazz affinity and harmoniously rounds off the homage.