Manuel María Ponce, Suite in A minor

Only two years after entering the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, Mexican pianist and composer Manuel María Ponce felt that he had learned nothing, or at best, very little. So in 1903 he abandoned his formal studies and returned to the family home in Aguascalientes, capital of the state of the same name, where he began to work, at the age of 21, as a private piano and solfeggio teacher. The composer, had to wait...

Popular songs
The traditional National Fair of San Marcos that was held there every year gave him the splendid opportunity to listen to the autochthonous music played by the traveling troubadours who moved from fair to fair sharing their vast repertoire of popular songs. A very rich material that Ponce thought could be the basis for the creation of genuine Mexican classical music. These were the beginnings of Mexican musical nationalism, which Manuel Ponce is regarded as its father, although it was his future student, Carlos Chávez, who would consolidate the movement.

Travelling to Europe
But in order to carry out all this it was urgent to broaden his knowledge, and for that there was no better way than to set off to Europe. So the Mexican composer first ventured to Bologna, Italy, and from there he went to Germany where between 1906 and 1908 he refined his piano technique with none other than Professor Martin Krauze, a former student of Liszt, who shortly thereafter would become Claudio Arrau's teacher and trainer.

Manuel M. Ponce (1882 - 1948)

A friendship with Segovia
Some years later, after two seasons as conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de México, he was assigned to study composition under the guidance of Paul Dukas. There he was fortunate to have Joaquín Rodrigo and Heitor Villa-Lobos as fellow students.
In the new journey he also forged a great friendship with Andrés Segovia, since the maestro Ponce, besides being a pianist, also mastered the guitar. Proof of this are his nearly 40 compositions for guitar, including sonatas, sonatinas, preludes, studies and suites.

Suite in A minor
Presented here is his Suite in A minor for guitar, from 1929, composed while Ponce was pursuing his degree in composition at the Ecole Normal de Musique de Paris, and written specifically in the style of the baroque suite at the request of the friend to whom it was addressed, Andrés Segovia.

Sections:
00       Preludio
02:41  Allemande
05:23  Sarabande
09:56  Gavota I y II
12:37  Giga

The rendition is by Armenian guitarist Gohar Vardanyan.