The music of Leo Brouwer may be traced through the three developmental stages of compositional style: self-taught, contemporary and what he calls ‘national Hyper-Romanticism’. Four works on this new recital disc fall into the middle category: these are Canticum, La Espiral Eternal, Parabola and Tarantos. In these challenging and vibrant pieces Brouwer develops a new language of metre, dynamics and timbre, driving forward the expressive possibilities of the guitar. The remainder of the programme contains works from Brouwer’s most recent compositional phase, which lays greater emphasis upon colour, excitement and poetry, and sees a re-emergence of the natural lyricism for which his home country, Cuba, is renowned.