While Joaquín Turina’s works for solo guitar are pillars of our repertoire, guitarists are often less familiar with his Danzas Fantásticas, even though they remain his most famous work with the general public.
Originally composed for piano in 1919 — like Ravel’s great frescoes — they were orchestrated only at a later stage. Turina himself specified that he had imagined from the outset a “sufficiently wide range of colors to make use of the entire instrumental palette.”
It was in this spirit that I created this arrangement for the Quatuor Eclisses. Rather than simply adapting the piano score, I drew directly from the symphonic version. I sought to transform our four guitars into a true orchestra, capable of conveying the textures and intensity of this masterful work, which you can hear on our album Evocación.
Benjamin Valette
Quatuor Eclisses
