This piece by Leo Brouwer is very important to me. It represents the best of contemporary guitar, is a flagship for compositions from the New World and is my favourite Brouwer piece. I have only ever met him in passing but have enjoyed him as a composer and conductor and been inspired by him for years. I heard El Decameron Negro in Montreal at about the same time I began classical guitar lessons (1987?) and was hooked. I ran out and bought a recording by Jorge Oraison and the sheet music shown in the photo. Only at 22 could I have ever believed that learning to play this was within my possibilities. As you can see I still have the sheet music and still pull it out every now and then and try to understand how the beauty of Ballade de la Demoiselle Amoureuse can possibly be distilled into the black and white that I see on the page. Speaking of that 3rd movement, if you are not really a fan of guitar or music in general just jump to 9:00 and listen to that. For the rest of you listen to the whole thing from start to finish, won’t disappoint.

So here we are over 30 years later and I still can’t play the music but I can make the perfect guitar to play it on and I have a dear friend who plays it beautifully. Thank you Javier!