The composer Joaquín Rodrigo is one of the most important and distinctive voices of 20th century Spanish music. He is famous for one work – the wildly popular Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra, and little else of his oeuvre gets played outside of Spain. This is a curious state of affairs, as lovely though the concerto is, his concertos for cello and violin are unquestionably better and works, as are the later guitar concertos and many of his choral works.

The concert consisted of Rodrigo’s daughter Cecilia retelling her father’s life by reading from Rodrigo’s correspondences and memoirs with guitar interludes played by Carlos Bonell. The tales were often accompanied by Rodrigo’s understated Nocturnes on the guitar, the mellifluous voice of Cecilia, tender and soft, making a beautiful chamber music with Bonell’s sensitive guitar. Cecilia movingly related her father’s account of how he lost his sight aged three, how he now inhabited a world of ‘bumps and shadows’ and the sadness he felt at being unable to experience a landscape or a sculpture. She also told of Rodrigo’s hopeful belief that through artistic beauty we may live on, communing with and influencing our legacies for eternity. These moments were almost unbearably poignant and intimate, the audience rapt and silent, hanging off her every word.

Rodrigo had a talent for writing unutterably beautiful slow movements, most notable perhaps in the string concertos, where the nostalgic melancholia that came to him so naturally could be given its strongest impulse. In Rodrigo there are always two psychological layers at play – the merry, rustic village scene, which captures the joy of everyday life, and a wistful, sorrowful, nostalgic mode associated with a feeling of loss and perhaps regret at the grander, sadder aspects of the human condition. His juxtaposition of these two elements is perhaps what gives his music its unexpected potency. The guitar playing of Bonell was extremely beautiful and poetic in the slow numbers whereas the spicier, faster numbers didn’t always come off as well, occasionally seeming a little mundane next to Cecilia’s graceful and charming recitations. But no matter, this was an evening to cherish, a rare and moving insight into the life of a great artist and human.

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