In May 2016, I went to the Royal Palace of Aranjuez right after I was awarded the best interpretation of Joaquin Rodrigo Concertos (Special Award to the best interpretation of Fantasia para Gentilhombre granted by the Victoria and Joaquin Rodrigo Foundation). I was walking along the palace when the most ecstatic part of Concierto de Aranjuez came to my mind. I tried following the footprints of Joaquin, feeling what he might have felt at his time, experiencing a combination of Spanish historical architectures and classical music, and dreaming about playing the famous concerto at this very place someday. Joaquin Rodrigo completed his greatest masterpiece “Concierto de Aranjuez” in 1939 in Madrid, which brought him great fame as one of the greatest representatives in Spanish music spectrum, along with I. Albeniz, E. Granados, M. Falla, J. Turina. And his works helped raise the classical guitar to a historic high recognition. The two concertos in the album mean quite differently to me. It was through performing Fantasia para un Gentilhombre that I further understood Joaquin Rodrigo, as a performer myself for the first time. (Xianji Liu, winner of the 50th Franciso Tárrega International Guitar Competition in Benicàssim)

From ancient times, cosmogonies talk about chaos as the origin: it is not the previous disorder but the abyss where things finds their place to be. A distance that reminds the creation power, repeated as an echo in a creative momentum. Thus Joan Guinjoan understands the artistic creation, where the com- poser always finds an abyss under his feet. An abyss that both fascinates and challenges, facing it means boldness and the necessary craft to find one's own voice in the concert voices. Therefore, he defined compo- sition as the challenge to face one's self. But also, the horizon of his work was to find his roots inside himself after a long journey of more than half a century. However, we stand in front a sort of music that it is not born from abstract speculation but from craft- manship; it means, from de sud- den meeting with musical stuff. Pre- cisely, Guinjoan's piano, which is provided of a sharp consciousness of musical stuff, is productive in our analysis and speculative games. In front of them, the Maestro always expresses his reservations, aware of the dangers of some creative adventures during the Post Avant- Gardes. In this work, Alfonso Calderon de Castro sets himself up as an interpre- ter in the Greco-Latin sense of the term: one destined to reveal what re- mains hidden. It does so by reveal- ing hidden aspects of Guinjoan's piano literature, allowing us to take these early works as microcosms of his entire catalogue. His piano navigates with personality and aesthetic intelligence, embodying the composer's motto, that is the instrumental humanisation from the subtle exploration of all parameters, without forgetting the communications among composer, performer and listener. In short, the pianist gives us in this work an an- thology destined to the timelessness of what it is classical, capable of withstanding the passage of time with the elegance of a caryatid.

In this 1720 score, Johann Sebastian Bach laid the foundation that would shape the future of the violin in Western music. While building on the contributions of earlier composers, his meticulous craftsmanship-a true compendium of the instrument's virtues-and his vision in terms of musical conception and performance render these Six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin a cornerstone. No self-respecting violinist can ignore them, as they serve both as a fundamental study and a lofty aspiration. There is no separation between the performer and the music; their expressive power and technical demands require a lifelong dedication. This is exactly what the excellent violinist Gisella Curtolo tells us: In Spanish, grabar means to leave a mark on a surface, on stone... on a CD. It is something lasting, like a "sculpture of sounds." It is a way to communicate the culmination of our journey, akin to scaling a mountain and reaching the summit, achieving something "epic" that we have been carefully preparing and envisioning year after year. There comes a moment in musicians' life when they feel like the right time to "record" what they have been playing, teaching, and perfecting for many years. This is how I felt as I approached the recording of this immense masterpiece, one of the pillars of the repertoire for violinists of the past, present, and surely the future.

In the late 1960s, the composer Michael Nyman coined the term "minimalism" to describe a new musical aesthetic characterized by a certain simplicity and economy of means. One of the composers associated with this movement, La Monte Young, embraced the term with enthusiasm, while others like Steve Reich and Philip Glass nuanced it with terms such as "music without intention" or "music with a repetitive structure". The term "hypnotic music" might also be appropriate for some works by Simeon ten Holt or Arvo Part, provided we are attuned to the monotonous hum of rain, have a fondness for grey-the languid greys of overcast days-or appreciate a certain suspension of the world. Considered to be the most gifted and promising pianist of his generation in Poland, Szymon Nehring is the only Pole to have won first prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv (2017). He was also a finalist at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw with only 19 years of age. Szymon Nehring performes with orchestras such as Sinfonia Varsovia, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchester philharmonique de Marseille and Orchestre Paseloup in France and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, collaborating with conductors such as John Axelrod, Lukas Borowicz, Sylvain Cambreling, Karina Canellakis, Pablo Heras-Casado, Marzena Diakun, Lawrence Foster, Giancarlo Guerrero, Jacek Kaspszyk, Grzegorz Nowak, Pawel Przytocki, George Tchitchinadze, David Zinman and Omer Meir Wellber. He also performed and recorded with the late Krzysztof Penderecki, among other works Mr. Penderecki�s piano concerto.

Despite achieving great success in the operatic scene, Pablo Sorozabal (1897-1988), born in Donostia and passing away in Madrid, maintained a profound connection with choral music throughout his extensive career. In fact, it was within the ranks of the vibrant choral movement of his native Basque Country where his artistic personality began to take shape, including his fascination with voice and theatre. It's no surprise, then, that he devoted some of his most intimate pages to these choirs, connecting them to his family heritage. In fact, his father, a stonecutter by trade, was also a talented bertsolari who shared his songs in the taverns of San Sebastian. From him, Sorozabal inherited a language, Basque, "that sounded like music" on his lips, and a deep love for folk music. According to a tradition passed down through generations, as recounted by the writer Bernardo Atxaga from his great-grandfather, Sorozabal's ancestors, who hailed from the Portale farmhouse in the village of Larraul, near Asteasu, "whistled better than the birds" ("txoriek baino hobeto egiten diate txistu").

Emiliana de Zubeldia's musical legacy includes works for piano, guitar, harp, chamber ensembles; songs for two voices a cappella, voice and piano, voice, piano and woods; works and arrangements for choir for 4 and up to 8 equal and mixed voices; a choral mass, concerts, symphonies, and symphonic poems. Some of her works reflect her passage through practice of the impressionist and avant-garde music of Paris in the 1920s. Her respect for the traditional harmony in some works contrasts with a great freedom in the application of Novaro's system in many others. This recording contains the second and last part of all her compositions for voice and piano known up to now and that had mostly been stored away in the archives of the University of Sonora without being recorded or edited. Four blocks that give faith of Emilianas vast interest in diverse literary gender are presented, the first one approaches eight fables for children, six by Tomas de Iriarte and two by Felix Maria de Samaniego. In these works the author captures the lyricism of the fable.

In this album, Lorquiana, Ana Maria Valderrama, violin, and David Kadouch, piano, project Lorca's musical personality into the future by compiling different scores linked in one way or another to the Andalusian artist. Poulenc's sonata illustrates the positive welcome of the political and social significance of Lorca's figure in France, where it became a symbol of freedom and resistance. Hahn's work, on the other hand, takes us to those happy and ephemeral Twenties of the last century that Lorca also enjoyed. Alizia Terzian's song shows the powerful influence that the poet has had in the Hispanic American context. The famous La vida breve passage is a nod to the veneration Lorca professed towards Falla. And, of course, we listen to Lorca's own creations in a rich selection of Spanish popular songs, iconic testimonies of his compositional activity that are revisited in an exceptional arrangement by Alberto Martin for violin and piano.

Unquestionably Manuel Maria Ponce stands as one of the composers for the classical guitar of all time. Rare would be the virtuoso who does not acknowledge his brilliance. However, to reach such heights, history had to gift us a providential encounter with the greatest ambassador of the guitar in the 20th century: Andres Segovia. Their profound relationship of friendship, respect, and admiration, evidenced through a fraternal correspondence and declarations, began in 1923. At that time, Ponce was a professor of Harmony at the National Conservatory of Mexico and a music critic. Manuel Ponce composed the Sonatas between 1923 and 1929, all commissioned and dedicated to Andres Segovia. They constitute the first collection of Sonatas written in the 20th century by a non-guitarist composer, forming a fundamental and unique corpus in the concert guitar repertoire. Each Sonata possesses stylistic and formal characteristics that Segovia himself detailed.

The long journey that has led me to the recording of one of Liszt's longest cycles for piano solo began many years ago, in the early stages of my piano studies. At that time, while casually tuned in to what is now known as "Radio Clasica", I happened to stumble upon one of the Hungarian composer's most important works-the Faust Symphony. Captivated by this music and unaware of the author's identity (not yet having the training necessary to identify him), I not only listened to the entire work but also made a pledge to dedicate my life to this composer, regardless of who it might be. Many of the impulses and interests of our teenage years frequently fade away, but this was not the case with my new-found passion for Liszt, which has steadfastly grown over time, along with my knowledge of his life and works.

The selection of villancicos included in this recording forms a specific collection in the Cancionero. Alonso de Bonilla’s texts are distinguished by a deep and sophisticated religious message; this provides unity to these musical pieces in the context of the composer’s catalog. This selection of pieces offers a good opportunity to partially discover a new Gaspar Fernandez, especially in comparison to that already performed and recorded. The particular structure of the pieces, when the original poem is fully set to music, includes a solo or duet introduction (without instrumental accompaniment), followed by a refrain written for all the voices, and by some verses (coplas) scored for one, two or three voices. This structure allows us to alternate between voices a cappella (introduction and verses) and the full ensemble (voices and instruments) at the refrains. The participation of the full music chapel (singers and wind-players) at the solemnities on Christmas, Epiphany and Corpus Christi is a general practice well documented in ecclesiastical institutions in Spain and the New World, such as Puebla Cathedral.

Three years after Granados premiered his Trio in Madrid, his admired friend, Joaquín Malats, whom he had known since they were fellow students in Barcelona, premiered his Trio in B-flat at the Madrid Athenaeum. Music of exquisite, elegant, and fresh refinement, constant in flight and resounding in inspiration, condenses in its three movements all the creative potential of a musician who died prematurely at 40 years of age. Pedrell himself confesses in the first person his weakness for Chopin in his first period as a composer: “In the year 1872, the chronic nocturnitis from which I suffered, and which was influenced by Chopin and Field, worsened, and I published, almost at the same time, two Nocturnos (in G minor and A major). After a month of intense work, the Trio in C Major op. 50 of Enrique Granados premiered on 22 February 1895, at the Salón Romero in Madrid, the favorite haunt of Madrid’s chamber evenings, as the culmination of a programme dedicated entirely to the music of Granados that included his Quintet and several pieces for piano.” The present recording has been made using exclusively the manuscript of the Trio in C Major op. 50, held in the Museum of Music of Barcelona. The difference with the existing editions of the work and with the recordings based on those texts is more than notable.

Accordionists and countertenors are a very specific type of musician. They need to build up their repertoire in the present day, while investigating their respective instrument's possibilities and potential relevance for interpreting repertoire from the past. And what better testimony of that vocation and that endeavor could one have than this current release? Alberdi and Mena started investigating their collaborative potential in a programme that paired the music of Tomas Luis de Victoria with Johann Sebastian Bach. In a second phase, the two musicians aimed to extend the timespan of their repertoire by confronting the music of Josquin Desprez - the great Franco-Flemish composer who bridged the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance - with music by four Spanish composers of our time. They asked Jesus Torres, Jose Maria Sanchez-Verdu, Joan Magrane and Gabriel Erkoreka to write four pieces inspired by Desprez' motets and chansons: the concept was for such different styles and approaches to reciprocally throw light upon one another across the divide of half a millennium. Desprez was not chosen by chance: a figure shrouded in enigma and a legend in his own time, he has been described as a rebellious musician who worked for Pope Alexander VI, the Dukes of Ferrara, and the Sforza clan in Milan. Such a biography imbues his musical output with a sheen of mystery, and his music's primitive perfection continues to fascinate the composers of our day.

In his program notes, Alejandro Bustamante writes: “In the present [album] I’ve wanted to give voice to four generations of excellent Spanish composers with works written in the last half century. From Rodolfo Halffter, born in Madrid in 1900 and deceased in Mexico in 1987, to María José Arenas, who was born in Isla Cristina (Huelva) in 1983, and is therefore representative of my generation. Eight composers from four generations covering a wide range of styles and showing very different creative paths that the four strings of a violin can inspire. To prepare the recording I have enjoyed the generous support and invaluable assistance of the six alive composers, with whom I have worked hard to be able to perform their works as closely as possible as they were conceived. To them all my warmest thanks for their time and their inspiration.”

Few instruments are as close to the present as the accordion is. Its own history has defined it: the chromatic accordion, in its present form, dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, but its great evolution in repertoire has not begun until the middle of the twentieth century. Therefore, it is a young instrument compared to others such as the violin or the flute, but it has been precisely the path it had not traversed what has marked the spectacular growth of the accordion in the last decades. Basque performer Iñaki Alberdi does not hesitate to say that the accordion “is the most relevant instrument of the second half of the 20th century and what has passed of the 21st. It is evolving at a great speed and all composers write for it.” Alberdi warns, however, that “in this process, it is important for the accordionists to get involved and support them.”

Of his new release pianist Gustavo Díaz Jerez writes: “The Metaludios are relatively short works grouped in books of six pieces. In this release I present the first three, totaling eighteen pieces. This project started in 2013 but does not end here; the fourth book is almost finished and a fifth is on its way. The word Metaludio is derived from the prefix meta-, “beyond” and the suffix -ludio, from the Latin ludere, “to play”, “to exercise”. When coining this word, I tried to encompass these pieces beyond the usual preludes, interludes, etc. I have tried to give each Metaludio its own character, with distinguishing features that define its identity and differentiate it from the next. The titles give them away, sometimes because of the underlying scientific process, sometimes because of a mythological story behind, a tribute to a specific artist, or simply because of a sound resource that develops and grows in complexity.”