Musical Miniatures for the Classical Guitar - Steven Saulls, Classical Guitarist
About the music and composer...

Lamento Gitano (or “Gypsy Lament”) is the first work from a collection of three short pieces titled “Tres Piezas para Guitarra” by Bartolomé Calatayud. This is one of Bartolomé Calatayud's many popular pieces and was published in a collection titled "The Guitar Music of Spain, Volume One: Over Fifty Traditional Pieces".

Bartolomé Calatayud (September 8, 1882– April 11, 1973) was a Spanish classical guitar composer, teacher and performer. He was born in 1882 on the island of Mallorca. In 1899, while still a teenager, he was awarded the Diploma of Honour 1st Class by the Workers Instructive Centre Palma for his "superior musical knowledge in guitar playing." A contemporary and friend of Miguel Llobet and Andrés Segovia, he studied guitar first with Pedro Antonio Alemany Palmer (Palma 1862–1952), and then with Antonio Gomez Melters (1839–1908). He studied harmony and composition with the great Majorcan musicologist and composer D. Antonio Noguera. Bartolomé was also taught by Francisco Tárrega in Valencia.

He gave concerts in Spain, France, Switzerland, Portugal and Algiers and toured South America with Spanish Chorus and Dance groups. In Majorca he composed many works for the classical guitar and taught the instrument. Many of his guitar works are based on popular Catalan/Majorcan folk music.

Although less famous in the classical guitar world, Bartolomé Calatayud has left much enjoyable and exciting music written for classical guitarists of all abilities. He taught many pupils in Majorca during his final years. He died in 1973 at the age of 90. (Wikipedia)

About the performer...

Steven began studying the guitar at age nine and has attended some of the finest music schools in the world including the Berklee College of Music (Boston), and the Mozarteum (Salzburg, Austria). He holds both a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Washington University (1980) and a Master of Music degree from the University of Arizona (1982).

Over the past 40 years, Steven has performed hundreds of concerts throughout the United States, Central & South America and Europe. His debut recordings ‘Espressivo’ and ‘Steven Saulls Plays Works by Ponce, Torroba & Bach’ have received wide acclaim both nationally and internationally. In addition to solo concerts, he has performed over 200 chamber works including guitar concerti (with orchestra) by Vivaldi, Ponce and Rodrigo.

About the recording...

Recorded at The Steven Saulls Guitar Studio, Sahuarita, Arizona 2023/Guitar handcrafted by Martin Blackwell.

Copyright© 2023 Steven Saulls, Sahuarita, Arizona

For additional information please contact Steven Saulls at [email protected]