One of the main disadvantages in the composition and performance of classical guitar music is the short duration of string vibration, which makes the notes carried by a melody not long enough, contrary to what a violin or any bowed string instrument is able to produce by the simple expedient of passing the full extension of the bow over the string and, if necessary, pass it again in the opposite direction.
The tremolo
This disadvantage of the classical guitar was solved by the tremolo technique, born in the Romantic period and that the Spanish composer Francisco Tárrega brought to its climax in the second half of the 19th century, leaving it embodied until the end of time in the very popular work Recuerdos de La Alhambra, composed in 1896.
The technique, whose purpose is to extend the duration of the notes that make up the melody, basically consists of the repetition of a note using the ring, middle and index fingers, accompanied by the thumb that carries a bass resting on the lowest strings. The uniformity and regularity with which the three repeated notes are played is the key to the creation of an exquisite tremolo.
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| Agustín Barrios-Mangoré (1885 - 1944) |
As Tárrega did for Spain in the previous century, the Paraguayan composer and classical guitarist of Guaraní origin, Agustín Barrios-Mangoré forged in the first half of the 20th century one of the most extensive guitar productions in Latin America, combining the classical European tradition with the melodies and rhythms of popular Latin American musical forms.
An extraordinary guitarist, he made excellent use of the tremolo technique with short works such as El Último Trémolo – which turned out to be his last composition –, and the one presented here, the somewhat longer Un Sueño en la Floresta, in an outstanding rendition by the Scottish-born artist David Russell.
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