Why Antonio Lauro is a Great Composer for the Guitar

el maestro venezolano

As you may already know, if you have ever heard me play, I am a big fan of Antonio Lauro’s compositions for guitar.  Antonio Lauro is a Great Composer for the Guitar.  Why?  I’ll tell you in a second.

First, let’s establish that, ignoring rhythm and dynamics, there are two basic ways to look at western music: in terms of melody, or as a series of chords (i.e. harmonies).  When viewing written music, harmonies are the vertical organization of a group of notes, while melodies are series of notes that flow horizontally across the page.

chords from Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition"

melody from "Pop Goes the Weasel"

Some styles of music emphasize the harmony, while others emphasize melody.  For example, it is well known that rock music and jazz standards follow very well-established chordal (i.e. harmonic) structures, the most common being the I-IV-V (“one four five”).  It is not uncommon for a musician to know dozens of songs that all follow the same chordal structure.  While the basic harmonies stay the same, the difference between such songs is generally to be found in the melody, so you could say that these are very melodic types of music.

Conversely, Sibelius’ Finlandia and Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto are good examples of music emphasizing harmonic structures. While both pieces undoubtedly use melody (harmony and melody are fundamentally inseperable, and discriminating between the two is just a tool for analysis), the  harmonies are what set the mood.  Notice that the moods are very different between the two pieces.

peasant woman digging up potatoes

This harmony/melody duality in western music is very noticeable in classical guitar music. By its very structure, a guitar makes chord playing easy. Brushing the guitar crudely with one finger will produce harmonies whether you like them or not.  This vulgarity, along with its portable, itinerant nature, is one reason why the guitar has not historically been considered a classical instrument.

Before Andrés Segovia, the guitar had fallen into disrepute as an instrument suitable for simple peasant music… strumming simple folk tunes for simpleminded drinkers (like rock music today).  Segovia made a concerted effort during his lifetime to pick the guitar up out of the ashes, and put it in what he considered its rightful place among classical instruments.  Whether he was justified in bothering to try, and whether he was successful are not the topic of this post, but it is a fact that the classical guitar repertoire has expanded dramatically ever since.

Meanwhile, over in the wild-eyed Americas, ever since the colonization of the Americas, Latin American artists have been fusing indigenous rhythms and melodies with the chordal possibilities of western instruments and western harmonic standards (to say nothing of rhythms).  The guitar, introduced by the Spanish and Portuguese (and possibly similar to existing indigenous instruments), has caught on and proven itself a natural fit for indigenous latin-american music.  Late 19th and early 20th century latin-american composers for the guitar, like Mexican Manuel Ponce, and Augustin Barrios (who preferred to perform in traditional Paraguayan costume) fused indigenous melodies with western classical guitar tradition.

Agustín Barrios Mangoré

Given the nascent resistance to vulgar music in the then-civilized society, up-and-coming latin-american composers like Heitor Villa-Lobos, assisted by Andres Segovia, did everything possible in the middle 20th century to convince western audiences that their guitar music was not vulgar peasant folk rock.  Nevertheless, the similarities between some of Villa-Lobos’ works and choro, a type of jazzy Brazilian street music (as perfected by choro master Pixinguinha), whether intentional or not, are, in retrospect, undeniable.

Today, in our cut-and-paste world, we again embrace indigenous flavor as a sign of “authenticity”.  Antonio Lauro’s compositions are the embodiment of state-of-the-americas classical guitar music.  They look back towards the past, while giving a little hint of the future.

Lauro’s pieces unabashedly and seamlessly blend traditional western harmonies with indigenous melodies.  He has an uncanny ability to sneak in an indigenous rhythms even into the most standard structure.  While not very experimental in terms of harmonic form, his pieces take from the best of what has preceded them, and add a bit of flourish.

Furthermore, each composition fluidly takes advantage of the inherent proclivities of the guitar, giving the compositions a natural feeling to the performer.  This comfort with the physical movements required, combined with the melodic focus, affords the performer an ability to explore her inner duende, and leads to a more enjoyable experience for both performer and listener.

Antonio Lauro is a Great Composer for the Guitar.  Now it’s time to move on to modern music.