Deutsche Grammophon – DG (October 31, 2023) – Laura Lootens, a winner of the Andrés Segovia Competition in Spain, performs here Castilla, from the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz’s Suite Española. This work was originally written for piano, but Laura Lootens has arranged it herself for solo guitar.

This piece is a track from Laura Lootens album of works by Albéniz on CAvi music: Laura Lootens – Albéniz: Suite Española No. 1 Op. 47: No. 7, Castilla (arr. for solo guitar) and Laura Lootens / Albéniz: Suite Española Malagueña and Other Works

As a homage to well-known regions and towns of Albéniz’s home country, Spain, it is written in a Romantic, national style, and features typical dance rhythms of its corresponding localities. Born in 1860, Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz was mainly a pianist and wrote primarily for the piano.

More than any other musician, he succeeded in incorporating the Spanish guitar idiom and folklore into his style. Thus, for instance, his works contain allusions to rasgueado, a guitar technique that strums all six strings percussively in rapid succession, as we often hear in flamenco.

So it is no wonder that many of Albéniz’s piano works have also been performed on the guitar.

Album page: https://dgt.link/lootens-albeniz

Video direction: Jure Knez