Barely half a century ago, the guitar was such a rarity in the concert hall that even an outstanding player like Julian Bream was remarkable as a pioneer as much as for his exceptional technique and musicality. Today, by contrast, the field is richly populated – thanks not only to Bream’s own inspiring example to younger players but also to the vastly increased repertoire, so much of which he also instigated.

On that evening in Paris, the mikes were on – to conclude a partnership between the Arte Flamenco Festival and Scala Music – but above all, they were awaiting ‘elevation’, the “duende” (a heightened state of expression or emotion) which played its part in the jam-packed auditorium. Rafael Riqueni performed his entire body of work, spanning almost forty years of composition, presented chronologically. The man, who did not get up once during his recital, brought people to tears, left expressive periods of silence, stirred up memories, and astonished the audience with some virtuosic flourishes. Without the instrument of his life leaving his embrace, Rafael Riqueni had not yet finished. The three encores opened up a never-ending world as if he were only halfway down the track, ready to turn the next corner. Único!

François Campion est généralement considéré comme le plus important guitariste baroque français après Robert de Visée. Il succède à Maltot comme guitariste et théorbiste dans l'orchestre de l'Académie royale de Musique de 1703 ou 1704 à 1719. Maltot lui transmet la règle de l'octave qu'il consignera plus tard dans son Traité d'Accompagnement (1716). Il reçoit alors le titre Maître de guitare et de théorbe à l'Académie royale de Musique de la part du roi Louis XIV (on pense qu'il a bénéficié la protection du duc de Noailles). Il utilise des tablatures, très courantes à cette époque, pour l'écriture de ses pièces pour guitare. Il emploie 8 accords. On considère ses compositions comme claires et riches en modulations et développant le jeu de l'instrument.

Une intégrale de la musique pour guitare de Robert de Visée, par le guitariste canadien David Jacques, spécialiste en musique ancienne, sur une guitare cinq chœurs Claude Guibord, d’après un model Stradivarius de 1700.

This collection of music for guitar, brought together by Jose Luis Bieito as the musical element of his music+image binomis, Reflections, possesses a delightful balance of sounds. These are flowing, pulsing, mostly gentle sounds that tend to soothe and calm the listener's mind. Sounds that - through a variety of compositional techniques - tend to be sustained in time; the effects of which can sometimes capture a listener’s attention, holding it inside an extended musical moment, like a spell. When heard while viewing the accompanying (provocative, sometimes disturbing) images, the sounds can serve an additional function: grounding the listener's reaction, enabling the passage of emotion; like electricity discharging through a lightening rod.

Mario Escudero (October 11, 1928 – November 19, 2004), was one of a handful of Spanish flamenco guitar virtuosos who, following on the footsteps of Ramon Montoya, helped spread flamenco beyond their Spanish homeland when they migrated to the United States in the early 1950s. Along with others such as Sabicas, Carlos Montoya and Juan Serrano, Escudero helped forge the viability of solo flamenco guitar as a concert instrument, with lauded performances at New York's Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, and other venues. Invited to perform at the White House for President John F. Kennedy, Escudero was counted among the best in his era; Ramón Montoya called him "the best flamenco guitarist of this new generation."

This album is dedicated to the compositions of Federico Mompou i Dencausse (1893-1987), a composer and pianist of profound sensitivity. Born in Barcelona, Mompou exhibited an early inclination for the piano. However, inspired after a concert of Gabriel Fauré, he decided to dedicate himself to composition. Like many of his generation, he went to Paris to further his studies. Upon returning to his homeland, he continued his profoundly personal approach to the piano, exploring its most poetic facets as a composer and interpreter. Despite his innate introversion, the unique voice of his music soon gained recognition. His contemplative and poetic music mirrors his life, one of introspection, in which music was used as a medium to connect to his spiritual world.

Sean Shibe returns to the acoustic guitar on Profesion, bringing together works by Agustin Barrios, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Alberto Ginastera. The album derives its name from Barrios's "Profesion de fe" (profession of faith), a poetic, mythological text praising the divine power of music, often used as a preface to his concerts. Barrios's La Catedral and Julia Florida are combined with Villa Lobos's 12 Etudes, while Ginastera's Guitar Sonata completes the programme. These works by Southern American composers share a spirit of homage and pastiche, bound together by magical realism.

Typically, Finnish musicians succeed by doing something highly unusual exceptionally well. Guitarist Petri Kumela is different because he’s done all kinds of things exceptionally well: Bach, flamenco, microtonal avant-garde, Fernando Sor on a period guitar and musical theatre. The career of Finland’s most fascinating classical guitarist is based on a do-it-yourself spirit and curiosity.

Frank Bungarten has taken on a significant task: an entire album of works by legendary Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. The composer's music is lush, complex, and richly textured, which is not a surprise given that Villa-Lobos was classically trained. But Villa-Lobos also incorporated inspiration from music of native Brazilian peoples and African cultures, so one cannot consider him purely a formal art music composer. Thus it takes a very skilled musician to be able to technically master the music and to convey the emotion and rhythms. Bungarten is perhaps most successful in the first set of works, Suite populaire brésilienne, which is a set of five dances.

Since the late '60s, John McLaughlin's name has been synonymous with electric fusion guitar. But McLaughlin is equally accomplished on the acoustic guitar; he has a long history of excelling on that instrument, which he plays exclusively on Thieves and Poets. This 2003 release, in fact, isn't fusion in the amplified jazz-rock sense but rather acoustic-oriented post-bop with Euro-classical leanings. Thieves and Poets finds McLaughlin joining forces with two of Europe's classical outfits: the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie (with Renato Rivolta serving as conductor) and the much smaller, guitar-oriented Aighetta Quartet.

While it would be utterly foolish to consider a two-disc set by guitarist John McLaughlin as anything other than a sample of the wildly diverse career he's enjoyed since the early '60s, it should be noted and underscored that what Legacy does with this set is to provide a solid look at not only the man's gifts but at the way he's employed them, exploited them, and let them get the best of him for the past 40-plus years.

Sweet, intimate, and very dry, Fabio Biondi's of Boccherini's Guitar Quintets with players from Europa Galante and guitarist Giangiacomo Pinardi is ineffably charming, but possibly too etiolated for some taste. But it has the feel of polished oak and such a wonderfully evocative sense of place and time that it is hard not to fall for Biondi and Boccherini. Much of the appeal, of course, is Boccherini's music: filled with luminous light and most tender affection, Boccherini is the chamber music equivalent of the young Goya, and it would take a hard heart not to be beguiled by Boccherini's La ritirata di Madrid or swept up in his wonderfully stylized Fandango. Biondi and Europa Galante may be fay, but they match the music's delicate delights. Virgin's sound is close but with a sense of space around it.