New Classical Tracks: Pablo Garibay's 'Guitar'

In addition to being the music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta is an accomplished guitarist.

Four years ago, she helped establish the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition to promote up-and-coming classical guitarists.

At the inaugural event in 2004, Pablo Garibay nabbed second prize. Two years later, he captured first prize, which included a recording contract with Fleur de Son Classics.

Garibay recently released his second solo recording for that label, simply titled, "Guitar." On this new release, Garibay blends the past with the present as he looks to the future.

Each time I listen to this recording, the piece that really catches my ear is a gorgeous elegy by Johann Kaspar Mertz. Mertz was a Hungarian composer and a virtuoso guitarist who used the piano music of Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Schumann as his models.

Nothing looks to the past more profoundly than an elegy. The heartfelt melody in this "Elegia" makes this one especially powerful. Four of the seven works on this recording are rooted in the Hispanic culture of Central and South America. Three of those come from Mexico, the country Pablo Garibay calls home.

The great Mexican composer Manuel Ponce first met guitar master Andres Segovia when the guitarist made his debut in Mexico City in 1923. The two established a friendship and collaborated on several new guitar works.

Pablo Garibay performs two of those pieces on this recording. Ponce dedicated "The Sonatina Meridional" and the "Sonata Clasica" to Segovia, who asked him to compose guitar pieces in the style of other famous composers of previous eras.

The "Sonata Clasica" pays homage to Spanish guitarist Fernando Sor, who was known for his ability to develop interesting textures by shifting the melody between the higher and lower parts.

We hear an example of that in the first movement of the "Sonata Clasica," which keeps us guessing as to where the melody will pop up next. Garibay plays this musical game artfully, shifting with ease between the base line and the melody.

When Garibay won first prize in the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Competition in 2006, he was required to learn a work written by Bulgarian composer Milen Parashkevov, the winner of the first Composer's Competition also named for Falletta.

That piece, titled, "Evocation," appears on this new release. In this piece, the composer takes us back to the ancient Bulgarian culture by referencing Tangra, the God of the Ancient Bulgarians.

This work is set in a minor key, giving it a mystical feel. Garibay's beautiful tremolo technique, where notes are evenly repeated to create a galloping affect, accentuates the haunting mystery of this piece.

Mexican guitarist Pablo Garibay is a modest craftsman whose new recording showcases three centuries of guitar artistry.

We can only imagine what the future holds for this fine young artist, who represents his homeland and the world of classical guitar, with poetic finesse.

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