Rodrigo: Concierto di Aranjuez Narciso Yepes

• Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999): Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra:
• 11. Allegro con spirito06:11
• 22. Adagio11:16
• 33. Allegro gentile05:17
• 41. Villano y Ricercare (Adagietto - Andante moderato)04:53
• Fantasía para un gentilhombre for Guitar and Orchestra:
• 52. Españoleta y Fanfare de la Caballería de Nápoles (Adagio - Allegretto molto ritmico)09:41
• 63. Danza de las hachas (Allegro con brio)02:06
• 74. Canario (Allegro ma non troppo)05:00
• Total Runtime44:24

Info for Rodrigo: Concierto di Aranjuez

This programme dedicated to Joaquín Rodrigo includes a pair of his landmark works, recorded in the late 1970s by Spanish 10-string guitarist Narciso Yepes working with two different orchestras led by García Navarro. The Fantasía is a 1978 performance from the English Chamber Orchestra while the Concierto de Aranjuez is from a 1979 recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Both orchestras bring out the best in Rodrigo’s music, with its astounding ability to evoke feelings and visualizations of rural Spain and its romantic past.

Narciso Yepes, guitar
English Chamber Orchestra (tracks: 4 to 7)
Philharmonia Orchestra (tracks: 1 to 3)
García Navarro, conductor

Recorded London, Watford Town Hall, 4/1979 (Concierto), Henry Wood Hall, 6/1977 (Fantasia)'
Engineered by Heinz Wildhagen
Produced by Dr. Rudolf Werner

Digitally remastered

Narciso Yepes (1927–1997)
was a Spanish classical guitarist. Yepes was born into a poor family in Lorca, Spain on November 14, 1927. His father gave him his first guitar when he was four years old. He took his first lessons from Jesús Guevara in Lorca. Later his family moved to Valencia when the Spanish Civil War started in 1936.

When he was 13 he was accepted to study at the Conservatorio de Valencia with the pianist and composer Vicente Asencio.

On December 16, 1947 he performed Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto De Aranjuez with conductor Ataúlfo Argenta, which brought him renown from critics and public. In 1952 he arranged a traditional song for guitar called "Romance" (which would later be covered by My Chemical Romance.) which would become the music for the film Forbidden Games (Jeux interdits) by René Clément bringing him to international notice. Yepes also performed other pieces for the movie, including a Catalan Folk Song and a piece by Robert de Visée.

In 1964, Yepes performed the Concerto de Aranjuez with the Berlin Philharmonic, premiering the ten-string guitar which was created in collaboration with the renowned guitar maker José Ramirez. Yepes was the greatest proponent of the 10-string, an instrument that made it possible to transcribe works originally written for baroque lute without deleterious transposition of the bass notes. However, the main reason for the invention of this instrument was the addition of string resonators tuned to C, A#, G#, F#, which resulted in the first guitar with truly chromatic string resonance – similar to that of the piano when the pedal is employed.

After 1993 Yepes limited his public appearances due to illness. He gave his last concert on March 1, 1996, in Santander, Spain.

He was married to Marysia Szummakowska. They had one son, Ignacio Yepes, an orchestra conductor, and one daughter, Ana Yepes, a dancer.

He died in Murcia, on May 4th 1997.

Booklet for Rodrigo: Concierto di Aranjuez