Manuel Ponce: Complete Guitar Sonatas – Simone Rinaldo

Mexican composer Manuel Ponce is one of a relatively small group of excellent composers who were not guitarists themselves but who left a very significant output of guitar masterpieces. Similar to other members of that small group, Ponce was prompted to write guitar works by his encounter with legendary performer Andrés Segovia, who disseminated and popularized many contemporary pieces, several of which were dedicated to him or had been directly commissioned by him. Ponce and Segovia were friends and worked closely together, with Segovia constantly suggesting technical improvements to Ponce’s brilliantly imaginative works. This Da Vinci Classics CD comprises the complete (surviving) guitar Sonatas authored by Ponce, plus the Sonatina as a digital bonus track. Featured works include the First Sonata, where Ponce’s very first guitar piece found its way, the Sonata Clásica and the Sonate Romantique, together with the Third Sonata; together, these works reveal the variety of provenance in Ponce’s musical inspiration, which drew abundantly from music history and from varied musical backgrounds.