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The Poetic Guitar

Schubert arranged by Mertz, Craeijvanger's only known guitar works and Schumanns Dichterliebe arranged for guitar solo by Fernando Riscado Cordas.

In The Poetic Guitar (308 pages, NL/ENG, hardcover) the reader/listener becomes part of Cordas' project of arranging Dichterliebe for guitar. Also the lives and struggles of several 19th century composers, musicians and instrumentmakers become visible and alive.

Worldpremières

The CD's in this publication contain the first ever recording of Craeijvangers Trois Nocturnes pour la Guitare.

Gemeentemuseum Den Haag

Craeijvangers works and Mertz' Schubert arrangements are played on a guitar built by Johann Georg Stauffer, datet 1824. The guitar was kindly provided by the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. 

The Poetic Guitar

Fernando Riscado Cordas, guitar and text

308 pages, bound hardcover

Dual language edition (Dutch and English)

Included are 2 CD’s featuring music by Franz Schubert (arranged by Caspar Joseph Mertz), Robert Schumann (arranged by Fernando Riscado Cordas) en Karel Arnoldus Craeijvanger.

Enjoy several cornerstones of the classical guitar repertoire mixed with transcriptions of some of the best works, originally written for the Renaissance and Baroque lute.

This varied program takes you from the Renaissance of John Dowland (c.1563-1626), to the Baroque of Sylvius Leopold Weiss (C.1686-1750) and further to the early romantic era of Fernando Sor (1778-1839) and the mid-romantic Giulio Regondi (c.1822-1872) to the period of Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909); when the guitar reached the shape and dimensions of the instrument we know it as today.

Works by Federico Moreno Torroba (1892-1982) and Manuel María Ponce (1882-1946) add a link to the 20th century guitar virtuoso Andrés Segovia. Agustín Barrios Mangoré features on this recording, especially because his music was ignored for such a long time; but at the same time it's quality grants it a place within the celebrated part of the ouevre for the guitar.

"Grand, solemn and imbued with the melancholy of centuries past; in this way Cordas lifts the music above 'simple guitar tunes'. - Luister Magazine

Karel Arnoldus Craeyvanger (1817–1868) is mainly remembered as a violinist, singer and choral conductor, yet his few surviving works for solo guitar represent a little-known aspect of early Dutch guitar repertoire. Among these, the Trois Nocturnes, printed by Rahr in Utrecht around 1848, stand out as a privately issued and therefore extremely rare publication.

The original edition is preserved today only as a microfilm copy in the archives of the Nederlands Muziekinstituut, which until now has not been readily accessible for practical use.

This new edition presents a clear transcription of the original print, preserving all phrasing, fingerings and dynamic indications exactly as published. It is not a modern arrangement but a faithful restoration of an otherwise unavailable source.

Musically, the Trois Nocturnes offer a Dutch counterpart to the lyrical nocturne tradition of Giuliani and Mertz — intimate in character, elegant in structure and suited to both performance and scholarly reference.

Transcribed from the original Rahr edition by
Fernando Riscado Cordas