Digital Liner Notes
Dance is universal.
Every culture has developed its own dances: celebratory, ritualistic, expressive, and communal. From the Argentine tango to the courtly dances of France and the folk dances of Eastern Europe, movement and music have evolved in tandem, spanning geography and time. These traditions are more than entertainment; they are expressions of identity, history, and human connection.
Just as dance has emerged in every corner of the globe, so too has the impulse to make music on plucked-string instruments. Whether it’s the oud of the Middle East, the pipa of China, or the Renaissance lute of Europe, the idea of coaxing rhythm and melody from vibrating strings has taken many forms. The modern classical guitar, with its distinctive voice and wide expressive range, is a descendant of that shared musical heritage, and an ideal instrument for exploring dance.
Dancing on Six Strings is a celebration of that connection. Each piece on this album reflects a different cultural perspective on dance, from lively social gatherings to stylized art music. These five works are among my favorite discoveries so far in a broader project that explores how movement lives in music and how the guitar can bring it to life. I hope this will be the first of several volumes, with future recordings exploring even more of the world’s diverse and rich dance repertoire.
Napoléon Coste – Souvenir du Jura: Andante et Polonaise, Op. 44
Napoléon Coste was among the most prominent figures in 19th-century French guitar music and a direct student of Fernando Sor. A composer, performer, and lover of 7-string guitars, he expanded the guitar’s repertoire at a time when it risked being overshadowed by the piano and violin. His works are known for their refinement, formal clarity, and idiomatic understanding of the instrument.
The polonaise is one of Poland’s oldest surviving court dances, with roots reaching back to the 16th century. Originally a slow, processional peasant dance, it rose in popularity among the Polish nobility in the 17th and 18th centuries, eventually becoming a symbol of elegance and national identity. Characterized by its stately triple meter and distinct rhythmic pattern, the polonaise was typically performed at ceremonial events, often as a formal opening number. While many associate the polonaise with Chopin’s passionate expressions of Polish nationalism, its earlier incarnations were more reserved, a kind of walking dance or regal parade, designed to display grace and refinement rather than virtuosity or dramatic flair.
Souvenir du Jura: Andante et Polonaise captures both the nobility and lyricism of the polonaise form while adapting it gracefully for solo guitar. Coste opens with a flowing Andante introduction, rich in harmonic color and Romantic expressiveness, before launching into the poised and eloquent polonaise. Coste’s gift for crafting expansive textures is on full display here; his counterpoint and use of the instrument’s natural resonance invite the listener into an almost orchestral sound. In this way, the piece becomes both a nostalgic homage to the Jura Mountains and a showcase of the guitar’s capacity for grace and grandeur, a fitting reflection of Coste’s artistic legacy and the elegant roots of the polonaise itself.
Jean-Philippe Rameau – Gavotte et Six Doubles from Suite in A minor, RCT 5, arranged by Ben Lougheed
Jean‑Philippe Rameau was the pre‑eminent French composer and theorist of his era, celebrated for transforming French opera and harpsichord music. When he published the Pièces de Clavecin (which included this Gavotte) in the 1720s, he was already renowned for his groundbreaking Traité de l’harmonie, which has influenced Western music theory for centuries. Rameau’s harpsichord suites push traditional dance forms into innovative territory.The gavotte is a stately French dance that emerged in the Baroque ballroom, often appearing alongside minuets in the court of King Louis XIV. Characterized by a buoyant duple meter that typically begins with a pick-up (though not with this one), it blends lively steps with courtly elegance.
Rameau’s version, with its measured gallantry and bright variations, exemplifies his genius for combining elegant form with dramatic flair. Beginning with a graceful main theme that flows with clarity and charm, it launches directly into six “doubles,” variations that embellish the melody rhythmically and harmonically. The six doubles unfold like a story, weaving the melody into increasingly ornamented, virtuosic displays while retaining the form’s underlying dignity.
When I first heard this piece in its original harpsichord form, I knew I wanted to play it. After spending years arranging it for solo guitar, I’m thrilled that this version will soon be available through Clear Note Publications.
Manuel de Falla – Homenaje pour Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy
Manuel de Falla was one of Spain’s most influential composers of the 20th century. Though his output is modest in size, his works are deeply refined and unmistakably Spanish in spirit. Falla was a lifelong admirer of the guitar, even though he rarely composed for it. His music often evokes its colors, and his sensitivity to its expressive potential is on full display in Homenaje.The habanera, with its sensual, syncopated rhythm, is one of Cuba’s most iconic contributions to global music. It evolved from the contradanza, a Cuban take on European ballroom forms, and was eventually re-exported to Europe, where it was embraced by composers from Bizet to Ravel. Traditionally it carries a mix of elegance and exoticism, a duality that found especially fertile ground in the impressionist imagination. With its steady dotted rhythm and underlying melancholy, the habanera lends itself to evocative storytelling. This quality makes it the perfect vehicle for Manuel de Falla’s deeply personal Homenaje pour le tombeau de Claude Debussy.
Commissioned by La Revue Musicale for a 1920 memorial issue dedicated to Claude Debussy, Falla’s Homenaje is not only his only work for solo guitar, but also the first modern piece written for the instrument by a major composer. At the urging of guitarist Miguel Llobet, Falla crafted the piece as an elegy that combines French impressionist color with the Spanish guitar’s idiomatic warmth. The musical language is spare yet refined, every note meticulously marked for phrasing, articulation, and color. A quote from Debussy’s own music appears near the end, a poignant final gesture of remembrance, drawn from a French composer’s vision of Spain, now refracted through the Spanish guitar.
Frédéric Chopin – Mazurka Op. 33, No. 4, arranged by Francisco Tárrega
The mazurka is one of Poland’s most iconic contributions to the world of dance and music. Emerging from the Polish countryside, it blends the flavors of three regional dances: the stately mazur, the melancholic kujawiak, and the fiery, spinning oberek. With its triple meter, lively syncopations, and shifting accents, the mazurka captured a uniquely Polish spirit. By the late 18th and early 19th centuries it had traveled from village taverns to aristocratic salons, where it was danced at court and eventually adopted as a national symbol.No composer is more associated with the mazurka than Frédéric Chopin. Over the course of his life, he wrote more than 50 of them, transforming the genre from simple folk dances into poetic miniatures for the concert stage. The Op. 33, No. 4 mazurka, composed in 1838, exemplifies Chopin’s ability to elevate a simple form into something profound and intensely personal. Its whimsical character, graceful rubato, and subtle chromaticism create a world that is both nostalgic and imaginative. While these pieces began as nationalistic gestures, musical reminders of Poland during Chopin’s exile, they became vehicles for his most intimate expression.
This particular mazurka is given new life on the guitar by the great guitarist and composer Francisco Tárrega. Tárrega’s transcription takes full advantage of the guitar’s warmth and ability to color melodic lines. The guitar’s natural resonance lends a lyrical intimacy that suits the mazurka’s dance-like origins and Chopin’s understated expressivity. In this setting, the work becomes not just a conversation between composer and listener, but a dialogue between instruments and eras: Chopin’s piano and Tárrega’s guitar, Polish nationalism and Spanish romanticism, salon sophistication and rustic charm.
Gerardo Matos Rodríguez – La Cumparsita, arranged by Ben Lougheed
Tango began as an urban folk dance in the working-class neighborhoods of Buenos Aires and Montevideo in the late 19th century. A product of immigration, cultural exchange, and a complex social hierarchy, it fused African rhythms, European harmonies, and the passionate stylings of criollo and gaucho song. Though it was initially met with resistance from high society, tango rose from its cabaret roots to become a national symbol of Argentina and an internationally celebrated art form. Deeply expressive and emotionally charged, the dance reflects both the elegance and the melancholy of the culture that shaped it.One of the most iconic tangos of all time, La Cumparsita (“The Little Parade”) began its life not as a tango at all, but as a carnival march composed in 1916 by a teenage architecture student named Gerardo Matos Rodríguez. It was transformed into a tango by the great bandleader Roberto Firpo, who adapted it into the dramatic, minor-key version known today. Though Matos Rodríguez initially struggled to have the piece recognized, its 1924 revival launched La Cumparsita into the global spotlight. Today it is not only one of the most performed tangos of all time, but a de facto anthem of the genre itself.
Album Supporters on Kickstarter
Executive Producer:
David Norton
Official Album Supporters:
Anthony DiMambro
Brette Esterbrooks
Cindy James
Claire Vazquez
Connor Flynn
Jacob Spangler
Mark Czachorowski
Matthew Denman
Mike & Kit Flynn
Paul Whitman
Virginia Hart