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Canadian guitarist Simon Farintosh performs Maцi by Canadian composer Liam Kuhn on an 8-string guitar. This comes via Simon’s YouTube channel (go subscribe). Nice performance by Farintosh with a great sense of space. I also really enjoy hearing the extended range from the 8 string. As he mentioned in the description:

‘Maцi’ by Canadian composer Liam Kuhn. Written for solo 8-string guitar, this piece was the 1st prize winner of the 2024 Twisted Spruce Composition Competition.

Composer’s note: “The composition in question, (Maцi: Mache), meaning mother is a piece that was inspired by Come and See, an anti-war soviet/Belarussian film from 1985 by Ales Adamovich and Elem Klimov. Essentially it is about an innocent boy, Flyora, who is in the middle of a war zone in 1943. He digs up a soldiers gun and it seems after that the enemy (Nazis) are after him from the sky and all around. He ends up losing everything that he loves in life including his innocence. Flyora becomes a soldier himself to help fight in the horrible war. The film is disturbing and is hard to watch but is a beautiful reminder to try and live in peace with each other. The Nazis in the my piece (Maцi) are represented as in E major and the soviets are represented as A major. Flyora is C# Aeolian but throughout the story grows and evolves in and out of a whole tone scale, as seen at the end of the composition. The whole tone row is B C# D# F G A. There are also messages about the story using A C# E G# B rows consecutively aligned with the alphabet. There are multiple references to music that was in the film, especially Lacrimosa, plus my own addition of Für Alina.”

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Evangelina Mascardi performs Sonata No.48 in F sharp minor (Dresden Manuscript) by Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1686–1750) on a 13-course lute. Recorded at Bishop’s Palace of Orte (Italy) by E. Lambertenghi & A. Zeccara. This comes via Mascardi’s amazing YouTube channel. Beautiful performance by Mascardi with excellent pacing and such flowing phrasing of this wonderful, but difficult, Weiss sonata.

The post Evangelina Mascardi Plays Sonata No.48 by Weiss first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Lección No.4 from Las Terceras Lecciones de Guitarra by Julio Sagreras (1879–1942). This is a tremolo lesson from his third lesson book. PDF sheet music for classical guitar. Comes with both a notation edition with left hand fingering and a separate tab edition. The level is intermediate (grade 6) depending on your tremolo technique, desired tempo, and level of refinement. 

My pdf sheet music edition

• Leccion No.4, Book 3 by Sagreras (PDF) from Werner Guitar Editions

This is an excellent little study with minimal difficulty for the left hand and a short length making it perfect for working on tremolo technique at the intermediate level. Nevertheless, tremolo itself is an advanced technique and you’ll want to work on it separately as a technique. You can find my tremolo lesson and exercises here.

Subscribe to the free membership newsletter and if you’re just watching for free you can consider supporting the site. This video was performed on a Douglass Scott classical guitar with Augustine Regal Red strings and a Guitarlift One for All support as well as a Le Support rest. All my gear here.

Sheet Music SamplesThe post Tremolo Study: Leccion No.4, Book 3 by Sagreras first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

English guitarist and composer Laura Snowden has a new album filled with her own compositions to be released on October 24th, 2025. I’ve featured Snowden a number of times on the site playing more traditional guitar repertoire but this album is a bit different. This Changing Sky has some beautiful compositions with excellent guitar work, ensemble music, and vocals. It has a close intimacy that is nicely matched by the pristine recording quality. Take a listen to the two singles released below. This was not what I was expecting from Snowden’s first album but I’m absolutely delighted.

Pre-Order the album on BandCamp or find it on other platforms and streaming services. Snowden describes the album:

This recording was conceived as a journey. It is an album about feeling you’ve lost your sense of self, and the tumultuous path to finding your way back. It is about gaining strength and trust in ourselves, but also about finding deep tenderness and connection to the people we love who help us on our way. Although it navigates difficult topics, I wanted the album’s ultimate message to be one of healing, hope and recognition.

The first two singles are out, Picking Up the Pieces for guitar and saxophone featuring Amy Green and The Trap. See more releases via Snowden’s Youtube. You can also find a link to the score in the YouTube description. Beautiful and melodic work both in the composing and performance. I’ll release more videos and singles here as they are released.

I’ll continue to add new videos here as they get released.

Album Repertoire and Tracks

• The Dragon’s Lair – with Loz Garratt
• Carrickfergus
• The Trap – with Loz Garratt
• Home
• Picking up the Pieces – with Amy Green
• The Unknown
• The Puppet Master – with Loz Garratt
• Love, Eternal – with Joo Yeon Sir
• The Parting Glass
• This Changing Sky
• Song for Maria
• Outro – with Loz Garratt

Music and lyrics by Laura Snowden, except tracks 2 and 9 which are Laura’s arrangements of traditional songs.

The post This Changing Sky by Laura Snowden first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Noh Ahhyun Plays Prelude from Suite BWV 997 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). This comes via Partita Studio in Seoul, Korea on their YouTube. Excellent performance by Noh Ahhyun with a directness that really brings out clear musical ideas and lines. Reminds of a harpsichord performance but with shifts to a more sensitive sound and articulations when appropriate. I had to listen to it a few times to fully appreciate the depth and range of her interpretation.

The post Noh Ahhyun Plays Prelude BWV997 by Bach first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

A brief history of guitarist and composer Giulio Regondi (1822-1872) with a focus on his dual nature as guitars and concertinist. Narrated by Jakob Schmidt and presented by Tonebase and via their Youtube channel. Giulio Regondi was a Swiss-born classical guitarist and concertinist and one of the great Romantic composers for guitar. His music stands out for its compositional integrity along with an elegance combined with technical virtuosity. You can read more about the concertina via this wiki.

Chapters

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:09 Childhood and Betrayal
• 04:16 The Concertina
• 06:36 The Pinnacle
• 07:53 The Mastery
• 09:21 Forgotten and Rediscovered
• 11:16 Playing Regondi
• 13:03 Learning From Regondi

The post A Brief History of Giulio Regondi first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Émilie Fend performs Komore-Bi by Toshio Hosokawa (b.1955). This comes via Fend’s YouTube channel (go subscribe). Beautiful performance by Fend filled with some very nice pacing and spacious soundscapes. Here is Fend’s description:

“Komore-bi is a Japanese expression meaning sunlight shining through the swaying trees. In this piece, short ascending and descending note shapes overlap and are repeated with slight variations. Each time this happens, the harmony of the pitch relationship changes, as do the subtle shifts in the timbre of the guitar. I want you to hear it as if the light is shining through the swaying trees. I also drew a lot of inspiration from the Komore-bi in Wim Wenders’ film Perfect Days.” – Toshio Hosokawa

Preface from the Schott Edition score of this piece. Dedicated to Tillmann Reinbeck.

The post Émilie Fend Plays Komore-Bi by Hosokawa first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Canadian guitarists Adam Cicchillitti and Steve Cowan perform their arrangement of Elfentanz from Lyric Pieces Op.12 by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907). This comes via Cowan’s YouTube channel (go subscribe). Lyric Pieces, Op. 12 is the first of ten books of short piano pieces composed by Edvard Grieg. In all the opuses of Lyric Pieces there are 66 works in total. Fantastic little performance with excellent articulations and a beautiful sound recorded by Drew Henderson. They have a new album out September 5 via Analekta. Here’s what they said via the YT description.

We’re thrilled to share our new video of Elfentanz by Edvard Grieg, arranged for guitar duo and performed by Adam Cicchillitti and Steve Cowan. This playful miniature is part of our forthcoming album, “Lyrique”, which reimagines eight of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces through the warm, intimate voice of the classical guitar.

The post Cicchillitti & Cowan Play Elfentanz, Op.12 by Grieg first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Marco De Biasi performs his 18 Studi progressivi (18 Progressive Studies) which are easy to intermediate works he describes as: “Didactic work for early-year students. The pieces use only tonal or modal elements. The sound is modern and close to the music that young people often listen.” I’ve posted videos of Marco De Biasi’s excellent playing and compositions a few times and I highly recommend checking out his advanced works as well. See more at his website or personal YouTube channel. Here’s what he mentions about the studies:

“A few years ago, during the Covid period, together with my friend and luthier Marco Maguolo, a seemingly simple project was born, but unfortunately it was only partially realized. Here is the series of 18 Progressive Studies. Everyone of those study is played with a different guitar of him.” – via his YouTube

The sheet music for these studies are published by Edizioni Musicali Sinfonica here.

I will continue to update this post as he releases videos.

The post Marco De Biasi Plays 18 Studi progressivi first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.

Claudio Hernandez Bravo presents a beautiful vihuela recital “The Spanish Golden Age” with repertoire by Mudarra, Milán, Narváez, Valderrábano. This comes via The Lute Society (UK) and their YouTube channel (subscribe). Here he’s playing a Vihuela de Mano (Gabriel Aguilera, 2019).

Programme

• Alonso de Mudarra (1510-1580)
  • Fantasía para desenbolver las manos
  • Fantasía de pasos largos para desenbolver las manos
  • Fantasía que contrahace la harpa en la manera de Ludovico
• Luys Milán (1500-1561)
  • Fantasía del primero y segundo tono
  • Fantasía del quinto y sexto tono
  • Fantasía del primero y segundo tono
  • Fantasía del quarto tono
  • Fantasía del octavo tono
• Luis de Narváez (1490-1547)
  • Fantasía del segundo tono
  • Una Baxa de contrapunto
  • Fantasía del primer tono Il
  • Mille Regrets, La canción del emperador del quarto tono de Josquin
  • Fantasía del primer tono
  • Veynte y dos diferencias de Conde Claros
• Enríquez de Valderrábano (1500-1557)
  • Fantasía XIII de contrapunto
  • Soneto Lombardo, a la manera de danza
  • Siete diferencias sobre Guárdame las vacas
  • Diferencias sobre el tenor de Conde Claros

The post Claudio Hernandez Bravo Vihuela Recital first appeared on This is Classical Guitar.