TABULA RASA

Once upon a time… there was no such thing as a classical guitar, let alone a guitar quartet. Composers would write for harpsichord, piano, violin, cello, orchestra… and thus attained global fame for works that have lost none of their power over the centuries. And yet, composers have always sought ways to improve their compositions, and would rewrite and rearrange (parts of) them.

Perhaps they envisioned something that was simply not yet possible. Perhaps they were dissatisfied and remained so throughout their whole musical lives. Perhaps you as a listener remained unsatisfied. But perhaps we have found the perfect solution.

What if Mozart had played the guitar, for example? How would his music have sounded? Or take Bach, and exchange his love of the harpsichord with the guitar. Or perhaps Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ might have been an instant success if he had used the guitar in his opera to evoke the atmosphere of Spain.