BROUWER: Barrios Competition Laureate Series Vol.2 [CD de audio] Emanuele Buono and Brouwer

Leo Brouwer (1939) had a promising career as a virtuoso guitarist ahead of him until an injury to his left hand prevented him from making further progress. The Cuban then turned his attention to directing and teaching, both of which would be crucial aspects of his life. In fact, it was for the purpose of teaching that Brouwer wrote the studies we find on this disc, although they have been demonstrated to be much more than simple training tools. The first set of studies (published in 1971) display vibrant creativity, with each concentrating on a particular, and sometimes neglected, area of guitar playing. This is also true of the New Simple Studies (2003), although the skills demonstrated are motivated by the characteristics of the music of different composers, so that the composer's personal style is essentially the basis of the study, such as the arpeggios of Claude Debussy and the tremolos of Francisco Tárrega. Each of the pensive and tense Epigrammatic Preludes (1981) is based on a poem by Miguel Hernández, who was executed in prison during the Franco regime. Emanuele Buono, born in Turin, is an internationally acclaimed performer. Among the many prestigious awards he has received are the gold medal at the Parkening International Competition (2009), the golden guitar at the XIII Convegno Internazionale in Alessandria (2008) and first prize at the Agustín Barrios International Competition in Nuoro (2012 ).