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16 November 2025
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Volume 11, Issue 1 (2026)Read More
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Articles12 January 2026The Six-Course Guitar in Spain: Some Considerations of Repertoire and Musical Practice
The six-course guitar is still a little-known instrument. One need only look at books on the history of music to verify that claim: there is hardly any mention of it, nor are its composers or repertoire often cited. In fact, researchers have given far more attention to other plucked-string instruments than to the six-course guitar—whether for reasons of tradition or ideology—leading to a major gap in the literature. The repertoire of the Spanish Golden Age, to take one example, has been thoroughly explored, in the domains of both vocal and instrumental music (as in the vihuela). Similarly, there is quite a lot of research on the five-course Baroque guitar (as exemplified by Gaspar Sanz and Francisco Guerau): witness the several commercial and critical editions available. And there are plenty of studies of composers such as Fernando Sor and Dionisio Aguado—who are, moreover, already known to people outside our specialized field of the history of the guitar. Perhaps the lack of documents, printed scores, or manuscripts associated with the six-course guitar has hindered research into the instrument. Some documents held in public libraries are available online; others, such as those in the private archive of Navascués, can be accessed only with great difficulty. It is therefore not surprising that today we are familiar with names such as Luis de Narváez or Gaspar Sanz, while composers such as Juan de Arizpacochaga, Isidro Laporta, or José Avellana are completely unknown. The purpose of this text, therefore, is to present the six-course guitar, its particularities, and its function in a society that could be characterized as bourgeois.
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- From the Archive1 January 2026
Left-Hand Technique and the Limits of the Possible
This article conceptualizes classical guitar left-hand technique through a physiomechanical framework that places coordinated movement—particularly shifting—at the center of technical practice. Challenging traditional positional doctrines that privilege static hand forms and digital independence, the author argues that such approaches often disregard the functional anatomy of the limb, resulting in inefficiency, unnecessary tension, and potential injury. Advancing the principle that form must follow function, the study proposes shifting as the fundamental technical category governing all left-hand procedures. A systematic typology—interpositional, intrapositional, and compound shifting—serves as the basis for analyzing arm-wrist-hand coordination across diverse technical contexts, including extensions and contractions, barrés, slurs, vibrato, and complex chordal and scalar textures. Particular emphasis is placed on alignment, rotational freedom, and the timing of preparatory movements as conditions for both ergonomic efficiency and musical continuity. A final section explores the application of this framework to passages demanding exceptional virtuosity, demonstrating how physiomechanically informed coordination can resolve extreme technical challenges while preserving fluidity of motion. By reframing technical security as the product of organized movement rather than fixed positional strategies, the study offers a dynamic model of left-hand technique that aims to help players discover their full potential as virtuoso performers. - From the Archive7 February 2026
Mignone, Fernandez, Guarnieri: Brazilian Guitar Music after Villa-Lobos
This article challenges the widespread perception of Heitor Villa-Lobos as an isolated peak in Brazilian musical culture with no natural successors. The author focuses on the composers who followed Villa-Lobos—Francisco Mignone, Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez, and Camargo Guarnieri—arguing that their works deserve far more attention in international concert life, not least their contributions to the guitar repertoire. These twentieth-century Brazilian composers are situated within a broader historical narrative that traces the impact of European colonial models, the delayed and contested formation of musical nationalism in Brazil, and the shifting aesthetic and political conditions of the twentieth century. Analytical discussions of representative guitar works reveal contrasting approaches to nationalism, instrumental craft, and expressive intent. The article concludes with a selective survey of Brazilian guitar music composed since the mid-twentieth century, providing a categorized list of repertoire deserving of wider attention. - Print Reviews3 March 2026
“The Only Maker of Spanish Guitars” in England: Panormo and His Contemporaries
The following work is reviewed: Guitar Making in Nineteenth-Century London: Louis Panormo and His Contemporaries, by James Westbrook (Halesowen, UK: ASG Music, 2023) classicalguitar.co.uk/shop/guitar-making-in-nineteenth-century-london [http://classicalguitar.co.uk/shop/guitar-making-in-nineteenth-century-london] - Print Reviews5 May 2026
Mapping Legnani in Print: Mustardino’s Thematic Catalogue
A review of Luigi Legnani: Catalogo tematico delle edizioni a stampa per e con chitarra [Thematic Catalogue of Printed Editions for and with Guitar], by Marco Mustardino (Rome: Aracne, 2023).