24 Preludes by Manuel María Ponce

24 Preludes by Manuel María Ponce/ed. by Miguel Alcázar Recorded in August 2021 in Vancouver/ Canada Video/audio recording: Jordan Nobles Video/audio editing: Anna Pietrzak Sound post production: Felix Salazar Guitar by Steve Ganz www.ganzguitars.com www.annapietrzak.com 00:00 Intro 0:09 C major 1:36 A minor 2:05 G major 2:40 E minor 3:02 D major 3:53 B minor 4:43 A major 5:35 F-sharp minor 7:26 E major 8:09 C-sharp minor 9:08 B major 9:59 G-sharp minor 11:09 F-sharp major 12:24 D-sharp minor 13:12 D-flat major 14:23 B-flat minor 15:11 A-flat major 15:54 F minor 17:06 E-flat major 17:43 C minor 18:36 B-flat major 19:22 G minor 20:05 F major 20:51 Chant populaire espagnol In his preface to the Tilman Hoppstock edition of Ponce’s 24 Preludes, Angelo Gilardino writes about Ponce’s intense working relationship with Segovia in Paris. He writes about the “affectionate tyranny” the great guitarist exerted on Ponce, in a series of “nagging requests” for new works. On top of an insatiable appetite for new compositions from the composer, Segovia even described the characteristic of the compositions he had in mind in great detail. So precise were Segovia’s requests, Gilardino adds, “We wonder why he (Segovia) did not compose them himself.” Ponce heeded Segovia’s many requests in his compositions of the Sonatas, Variations and Suites. Only in one instance did the composer deviated from Segovia’s directions. Gilardino writes, “We do not know whether this was a deliberate gesture or the result of a misunderstanding, which fortunately for posterity had very happy consequences. Probably as a result of the publisher’s pressure, Segovia decided to pen a method for guitar, and he again turned to Ponce for some miniatures to be composed for his pedagogical project. The result of this request is this 24 Preludes, which he composed between 1928 to 1929. In these 24 preludes, Ponce’s idea was to create a pedagogical cycle of works written in a different major and minor key. Only twelve preludes were published in 1930, and was, at the time, edited by Segovia. It was not until 1981, when Tecla Editions in London published these Twenty-four Preludes for Guitar (edited by Miguel Alcázar), that the artistic and pedagogical importance of these works were firmly established. With access to Ponce’s manuscript, Alcázar recovered the autograph texts of 23 preludes. In his edition, the one missing prelude (G major) was replaced by a short work of vocal polyphony discovered among the composer’s archives. A new publication of the 24 Preludes, made by German guitarist Tilman Hoppstock was published last year. Text prepared by Patrick May