Juan Francisco Padilla - Rondeña del siglo XIX (2019) [Hi-Res]

The purpose of this album, La rondeña del siglo xix de El Murciano a Falla (The 19th-Century Rondeña, from El Murciano to Falla) is to illustrate the evolution of flamenco guitar and Spanish concert guitar styles, drawing on the recent discovery and subsequent analysis of transcriptions of variations on the rondeña (a cante or song-type, with associated guitar accompaniment style) as played by the “vernacular” guitarist of Albaycín (Granada), Francisco Rodríguez Murciano (“El Murciano,” 1795-1848). The research on the 19th-century development of the rondeña musically encapsulated in this CD reveals how this genre evolved and contributed to the development of a sophisticated national guitar language. This evolution basically occurred through two channels: (1) the tradition of classical guitar music, transmitted primarily through published scores, and (2) the orally transmitted playing of folk or vernacular guitarists, some examples of which were transcribed and subsequently studied and musically elaborated by classically trained guitarists. The present study focuses in particular on the variations—some recently unearthed—of the rondeña of El Murciano, stressing the influence of this Granada-based repertoire on the evolution both of solo flamenco guitar and the compositions of classical musicians such as Julián Arcas (1832-1882), Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) and Ángel Barrios (1882-1964).

Juan Francisco Padilla, classical guitar