My idea of developing music from Richard of Gloucester's monologue 'Now is the winter of our discontent', and of generating more music from that material, was conceived during the 1960s. Ten years later it took a more concrete form, when Julian Bream suggested to me that I should write a substanial new guitar work for him. More time went by, and only having finished 'We Come to the River' could I begin to realise our plan. Then began a collaboration with the instrumentalist that went through various phases, from which I gained a more profound knowledge of the technicalities and of the sound-world of the guitar. I would even go so far as to say that this collaboration gave me a new concept of how to write for an instrument with a rich tradition. The guitar is a 'knowing' or 'knowledgeable' instrument, with many limitations but also many unexplored spaces and depths within these limits. It possesses a richness of sound capable of embracing everything one might find in a gigantic contemporary orchestra. but one has to start from silence in order to notice this: one has to pause, and completely exclude noise.
The dramatis personae of this piece enter through the sound of the guitar as if it were curtain. Through masks, voices and gestures, they speak to us of great passion, of tenderness, sadness and comedy: strange events in people's lives. Into this, the whispering voices of spirits are mingled. The epilogue is spoken by Oberon, pacified and reconciled, as though Nature had been subjected to Man.
- Hans Werner Henze.

German - English.

NOW IN ONE VOLUME! Since their first publication in 1992 the Microstudies of Abel Carlevaro have become firmly established among the most important sets of didactic studies for the guitar from the 20th century. Composed at the suggestion of Chanterelle, these studies, twenty in all, cover practically every aspect of guitar technique. Although they constitute an essential complement to Carlevaro's theoretical works, the Escuela de Guitarraand the legendary Cuadernos, his four volume series of technical exercises, they can be used on their own. The music is of the consistent high quality and originality we have to come to expect from Carlevaro and, as with many of his works, the essence of Tango and Milonga can be felt throughout the entire collection. These short yet compact miniatures, many of which are barely a minute in duration, are arranged in a progressive order of difficulty following the same time-honoured structure as used by Fernando Sor, Leo Brouwer and others. Until now the Microstudies were available in four separate volumes published between 1992-2000. The present new revised edition in one single volume offers great value for money and will put them within easy reach of guitarists and students everywhere.