Alirio Diaz is one of the greatest practitioners of the classical guitar who ever lived, perhaps even exceeding the talent of his mentor, Andres Segovia.
Revised and updated from an earlier post
Guitar for Romantics is a selection from many recordings of classical guitar music by Alirio Diaz. His talent is a rarefied one, known mostly to intimates of the classical guitar. These days electric guitar stars get top billing, particularly blues-flavoured, but there is something compelling about an unamplified nylon-string guitar played by a virtuoso. Such is the case with Alirio Diaz. You need only listen to one minor track on the Romantics Album to savour his great talent: the track in question: “Fantasia De Mudarra”.
The track encapsulates just one minute and forty-five seconds of the most elegant, precise, evocative guitar playing you will ever hear in your life. The composition sounds to the modern ear fresh, even contemporary: it might well have been studied by Mason Williams before he composed and recorded “Classical Gas”. This is not to take anything away from Mason, as his hit recording from 1968 did a great deal to popularize the classical guitar, and his work is the most played pop instrumental ever. But even he admitted that he derived “Classical Gas” from at least three compositions, and I believe Mudarra‘s was the primary one; it has the same infectious optimism and a very similar hook.
“Fantasia De Mudarra” was composed in 1546. It‘s proof, if you ever needed any, that life was anything but somber back then. The 16th century was as complex, as delightful, and as rewarding as the present, maybe more so to a privileged few.
And Alirio Diaz? – probably the greatest “unknown” guitarist you‘ll ever come across. “The Prince of the Guitar”, he was celebrated internationally for his tonal purity and lauded as a brilliant student who exceeded his master, Andres Segovia. Diaz was born in Venezuela in 1923, studied in Madrid and Siena, and continued to play in public well past his 90th birthday. He passed on in 2016.
The 20th century has been called the century of the guitar and it‘s probably the instrument you‘ve heard more often than any other (in its steel string acoustic or electric Stratocaster forms). The classical guitar, though, is a magical instrument that takes years to master. You have to seek it out as it is seldom played in concert or on streaming channels. If you don‘t know what truly magnificent guitar playing sounds like, this album is a great place to start. Along with Julian Bream and John Williams, Alirio Diaz has been a mainstay of late 20th century guitar study and performance. He is a thunderbolt of virtuosic genius.
When I’m down, listening to Alirio Diaz playing music by Gaspard Sanz (Pavane, Españoleta, Marizapolos and Canarios) always lifts my spirit.