Classical Guitar for Lovers by Branimir Krstic

Journeys end in lovers meeting, Every wise man's son doth know. Twelfth Night, ii, iii, 44-45 Even if most of the romantic music has originally not been written for guitar, lovers love romantic guitar music. Frederic Chopin is represented with four waltzes on this album (all transcribed for guitar by Branimir Krstic). He is known to have been a controversial character - even by today's standards. While one can only marvel at the elegance of his piano compositions, the only thing that he apparently found more beautiful than the sound of a single guitar, was sound of two guitars playing. As the legend of Chopin's frustration about his own inability to play guitar persists, one must say that Franz Schubert did not share this problem. He was apparently so plagued by financial problems, that he was unable to own and maintain a piano, thus switching to a cheaper and more stimulating alternative: guitar. His wonderful output, from which his anthemic song "Ständchen" has been selected for this album, shows that guitar playing did him no harm whatsoever. The same can be said of two most prominent guitar figures: the legendary Fernando Sor - whose guitar studies beautify days of all guitar lovers - as well as of Francisco Tarrega, who managed to transfer the instrumental romantic style to his guitar oeuvre. Tarrega's compositions were truly inspired by Chopin's, so the style of Branimir's arrangements on this album pays tribute to the "spirit of Tarrega". Robert Schumann loved his wife so much, that he dedicated most of his piano music to her. Love can be selflessly useful, taking into account that Clara Schumann was one of the most accomplished pianists of her time. The three compositions on this album are from the one of the first works Robert wrote for Clara, Kinderszenen (Childhood Scenes). Branimir Krstic is an American musician of Croatian origins. While the first four of his guitar albums established his reputation as a tirelessly inspired innovator (three albums of his own works, and a classical rendition of the greatest rock album), this one shows him on the more familiar territory of a first-rate classical guitar performer. ℗ 2009 Pineapple Music