Chilean guitarist Felipe Celis Catalán plays Sonata “Los Espejos” by Chilean composer Javier Contreras (b.1983). This comes via Siccas Guitars and their YouTube channel but you can also visit Catalán’s YouTube as well. Great sonata and excellent performance of the thick texture while maintaining nice phrasing and articulations. It all sits on the guitar quite well despite the obvious virtuosity. Make sure to check out his discography including an upcoming album of New Chilean Music. Below is a word on the piece by the composer (roughly translated):
Third sonata for solo guitar by Javier Contreras whose intellectual basis comes from the Ancient Chinese concept of Yin Yang, which is represented in a Tai-chi diagram, by a circle divided by a sinuous line, in the colors black and white. The Yin corresponds to half of the left side of the sphere, black, which represents the passive, feminine, nocturnal, dark and cold. The yang, on the other hand, belongs to the right side of the sphere, white in color, representing the active, masculine, luminous and diurnal principle. In this harmonious game, both have a small sphere inside, of opposite colors, symbolizing the opposite, complementary and inseparable forces of everything that exists, a concept that permeates the cosmogony of all the ancestral cultures of the planet.
The title Los Espejos (The Mirrors) also alludes to the piece as a mirror of the artist (the piece contains the artist) and the artist as a mirror of the piece. and the artist as a mirror of the piece (the artist reflects things from the piece). The work is then a living mirror as is the artist.
