Antonio Meneses and Paul Galbraith

The guitare d'amour, or arpeggione as it came to be known, was invented in 1823 or 1824 by the Viennese luthier Johann Georg Stauffer. The instrument—a kind of enlarged guitar that could be bowed, cello-style, due to an altered fingerboard—was not a success; within just a few years of its birth it had for all intents and purposes gone extinct. However, this short-lived instrumental curiosity will be forever remembered as the vehicle for Schubert's Sonata "per arpeggione" in A minor, D. 821, a work now played almost exclusively by violists and cellists, although it exists in arrangements for instruments as far afield as the euphonium. Schubert composed the "Arpeggione" Sonata in November 1824 shortly after a summer spent teaching music to the Count of Esterházy's two daughters. The three-movement sonata must be altered somewhat if it is to be played on cello or viola: the arpeggione's six strings were tuned to the same pitches as a guitar's, and the resulting extended range can cause problems when the piece is transcribed; in most editions, certain portions of the piece are transposed up or down an octave to avoid the extreme registers. However, Schubert by and large avoided the kind of idiosyncratic arpeggiations that earned the original instrument its nickname, focusing instead on the type of lyricism that drove his sonatas for traditional instruments. The opening Allegro moderato is built around a wistful melody whose fame is such that many who have never heard of the "Arpeggione" Sonata will find that they recognize the tune. A second theme proceeds in gentle gusts of sixteenth notes; the arpeggione could not play fast notes with much volume at all, so the sonata's quicker portions are almost always marked piano or pianissimo. The Adagio is a rich but introverted musing on an almost hymn-like subject. Schubert places great emphasis on the Neapolitan chord—a harmony also used to great effect in the opening movement—during the movement's closing measures, weakening the power of the final cadence and thus inviting the soloist to improvise a brief transition into the final, multi-sectioned Allegretto. (Adapted from a note by Blair Johnson)

Born in 1977 in Niteroi (Rio de Janeiro state), Andre Mehmari is considered one of the most talented young Brazilian musicians. His compositions and arrangements have been performed by major Brazilian orchestras and chamber ensembles, and his performances of jazz and Brazilian popular music at festivals and concerts are widely acclaimed. He has performed at the Chivas Jazz and Heineken Jazz Festivals, two of the most important in Brazil. Mehmari's precocity as a composer and multi-instrumentalist has been well documented in the media; he began composing at age 10, and was teaching organ at conservatory at 15. He played all 26 instruments on his CD "Canto": piano, clarinet, viola, violin, cello, percussion, guitars, double-bass, flute and voice, among others. Mehmari won the Camargo Guarnieri National Composition Competition Award and the Carlos Gomes award for Classical Musician of the Year, and composed the music for the official Pan American Games ceremonies. He made his U.S. début at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC, stunning the audience with virtuosity and musicality. Mehmari composed his Suite Brasileira No.1 for Antonio Meneses and himself as pianist, and later composed Suite Brasileira No.2 for Antonio Meneses and Paul Galbraith.
The composer writes: "The short pieces that make up the suite evoke the inner landscape of an imaginary Brazil. Great care was taken by the composer to keep as far away as possible from real, contemporary Brazil. A fine selection of out-of-date maps was used as a reference. The main themes are derived from the ancient chant of the mythic boto cor-de-rosa (pink dolphin) as painstakingly transcribed by the composer himself during his seven-year travels along the Amazon. Unfortunately, his notebook, full of drawings, notes, and transcriptions was stolen by a mischievous Saci (a mythical, one-legged prankster), and the composer had to try and remember all the themes by heart when this noble commission from Antonio and Paul arrived. Therefore, 100% accuracy cannot be guaranteed, as memory tends to reinvent itself from time to time. Alas, this is a good time to reinvent the memories of a Brazil that never existed, an uncharted land of wondrous entities, resounding on sacred wood both plucked and bowed. The Andurá tree is said to set itself on fire during the night, generating magical light in dark times. Yara (the water-mother) spreads her airy voice through the Igarapé (a tributary of the Amazon)—who is listening? No one. But I remember, I remember . . . "

Catalan composer Isaac Albéniz, along with Enrique Granados and Manuel de Falla, defined and elevated Spanish music at the turn of the 20th century, each answering the call of their revered teacher Felipe Pedrell for music that united traditional and folkloric elements with classical disciplines to create a true national style. It is ironic that much of this music, written by virtuoso pianists for virtuoso pianists, is better known in transcriptions for classical guitar. When Albéniz wrote his six album leaves “España” at the age of 30, he was in London and his piano recitals were causing a sensation. At these concerts he often performed his own compositions, including the first performance of the piano cycle “España” in London, taking his audience on a journey through the Spanish countryside. Albéniz began composing his Suite española in 1886. It was intended as a collection of eight pieces, each highlighting a particular region of Spain, including the then-colony Cuba. As it happened, only four pieces were published, but twenty years later, another publisher took up the project and the suite as we know it was completed using other pieces Albéniz had composed in the interim. Deliciously atmospheric, by turns languid and festive, the suite’s movements each bear a descriptive subtitle. “Sevilla” is a sevillanas, a Castilian dance with origins in the 15th century.

Clóvis Pereira, born in Caruaru, Brazil in 1932, has composed numerous works ranging in style from popular to classical. In much the same way as Villa-Lobos paid hommage to Bach in the Bachianas Brasileiras, Pereira does so in his Suite Macambira by reworking, in a modern Brazilian language, one of Bach's essential forms, the dance suite. Macambira is a small town in Brazil's smallest state, Sergipe, in the northeast part of the country. O Canto do Cego (The Blind Man's Song) evokes the sadness of the beggars who frequent marketplaces in the interior of northeast Brazil.

Johann Sebastian Bach composed six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello between 1717-1723 when he served as Kapellmeister in Köthen, Germany. It is intriguing to consider what might have turned Bach’s interest towards an instrument he was not known to have played. In the first three decades of his life, his interest focused almost without exception on pieces that he would have either performed from a keyboard or directed, as court organist, concertmaster and chamber musician. There is no record of a performance of the suites for at least 100 years after they came into being. After the composition of the sixth and final suite in 1725, no solo cello works were written for 190 years. Now, the suites are now some of the most frequently performed solo compositions ever written for cello, and most well-known cellists regard performing and recording the set as a milestone in their career. Each suite consist of six movements: Prelude; Allemande; Courante; Sarabande; Minuets, Bourrées or Gavottes; and Gigue. It took the legendary cellist Pablo Casals 12 years before he felt ready to perform one of the suites in public. “They are the very essence of Bach, and Bach is the essence of music,” he wrote. His famous recordings of the six suites–the first time anyone had recorded any of the suites in its entirety–were made between 1936 and 1939, when not only was World War 2 looming, but Casals’ beloved homeland was being viciously torn asunder by civil war. Turning to Bach must have provided sorely needed comfort in his darkest hours–as Bach’s music has done, and continues to do, for countless men and women through the ages. —Excerpted from an article by Steven Isserlis in The Guardian

Radamés Gnattali was one of Brazil's most important 20th century composers. He comfortably straddled the worlds of popular and classical music, embracing many influences including French Impressionism and American jazz. Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto were among his numerous students. Gnattali wrote for many unconventional instrumental formations; his best-known work, "Retratos," a series of homages to four Brazilian popular musicians, was composed for mandolin, strings and chorus. Inspired by the success of his 1968 Sonatina for Two Guitars and Cello, Gnattali composed his Sonata for Cello and Guitar the following year. One of the few original works in existence for this combination of instruments, it was dedicated to his cellist friend Iberê Gomes Grosso and guitarist Laurindo de Almeida, who premiered and recorded it. Characterized by samba rhythms and echoes of the toada (a song with romantic or comical lyrics), the Sonata is truly a work meant for two virtuoso soloists, with a subtle interplay of accompaniment and leading voice. —Note from Fabio Zanon, "The Brazilian Guitar"