This album, Alexander Gil’s first, entitled Paseo, is conceived as a journey and thus as a narrative grounded in enduring interconnectedness. Here, “paseo” – literally the action of traveling a short distance, preferably on foot – is an invitation to journey from the guitar – and through music –through cultures, places, cities, and neighborhoods. At the same time, the works on this album contain music that transits between Spain, Cuba, and Venezuela in a time span that includes compositions dating from the mid-19th century to the early 21st century.

Francisco Tárrega (Villareal, 1852 – Barcelona, 1909), an essential point of reference in the academic history of the modern guitar, composed Capricho Árabe and Lágrima. While the former echoes the turns and melismas typical of the Arab heritage in the Iberian Peninsula, the latter composition displays a lyricism that, in its simplicity, evokes a mood close to melancholy. Isaac Albéniz (Camprodon, Spain, 1860 – Cambo-les-Bains, France, 1909) was the composer and pianist who, thank to transcriptions of his music for the instrument, is today regarded as one of the fundamental Spanish composers in the guitar repertoire. Leo Brouwer (Havana, 1939), guitarist, composer, conductor, and musician of stature, is a central figure in the development of guitar music during the 20th century. With a creative career marked by curiosity and a drive for integration, Brouwer’s music has spared no effort to create crossovers between diverse types of aesthetics and artistic trends. The Tríptico (Triptych) by Venezuelan composer Javier Pedrá is a tribute to Cuban musician Joaquín Clerch, who was his teacher in Austria. Structured like a Baroque suite with a fast-slow-fast succession of tempos, each of the three pieces draws explicitly on dances from the popular music traditions of Venezuela and Cuba.