Aranjuez

Expressing his own cultural identity, guitarist Thibaut Garcia combines Rodrigo's archetypally Spanish Concierto de Aranjuez with a declaration of l'esprit français: Alexandre Tansman's neoclassical Musique de cour, inspired by the court of Louis XIV.

Garcia's heritage is Spanish, but he is French, born in the city of Toulouse, where this album was recorded with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and the young British conductor Ben Glassberg.

"The Concierto de Aranjuez provides a superb example of Rodrigo's musical language," says the guitarist. "It is strongly influenced by Spanish folk music in its harmony, scales and its flamenco strumming or rasgueados, while bearing the composer's personal mark in its dissonances and nobility ... It certainly conjures up the gardens of the palace at Aranjuez, not far from Madrid."

Alexandre Tansman, a Polish-born Frenchman, wrote a number of works for the great Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia. Musique de cour is among them. Dating from 1960, it evokes the baroque era, when the guitarist Robert de Visée was a favourite at the court of Versailles.

Solo music completes the album: a suite by de Visée himself and four pieces by Regino Sáinz de la Maza, the guitarist who premiered the Concierto de Aranjuez in 1940.