Des parfums, la nuit

For almost five centuries, the repertoire for classical guitar grew almost behind closed doors, with guitarists being the only composers for the instrument. At the beginning of the 20th century, the guitar was at the centre of a small musical revolution that was to change its destiny. A vast repertoire for guitar began to appear penned by composers who did not play the instrument. Inspired by Falla and Debussy, they dedicated their works to the man who would soon become known as the father of the classical guitar: Andrés Segovia. By virtue of the quality of his interpretations of a repertoire that evoked the noble and exotic past of the guitar, Segovia quickly allowed the guitar to gain international credibility and notoriety. With the firm intention of stimulating the creation of a repertoire that would do the guitar justice, Segovia encouraged and assisted composers to write for him. From his very first concerts in Paris in the spring of 1924, Segovia achieved a dazzling success. Aided by the activities of concert societies and the musical press, Segovia’s guitar prowess inspired a variety of creative movements including many French composers, among whom Breville, Migot, Tansman and later on Poulenc and Sauguet. With a nod and a wink to Iberia’s second movement, Debussy’s Les Parfums la nuit, the title of this record, alludes to the shiver of the soul, beyond all morality and reason, that music produces.