Narciso Yepes, a great interpreter of the Spanish guitar
Yepes is credited with the piece Juegos Prohibidos, a must-play for all guitar students, and his love for the instrument led him to design one with four more strings, as well as to tour the world tirelessly performing the Concierto de Aranjuez. Narciso Yepes was born in Lorca in 1927 and began playing the guitar at just 4 years old. After the Civil War, and thanks to his family's move to Valencia, he entered the conservatory at 13. At 20 years of age, his performance of the Concierto de Aranjuez, under the baton of maestro Ataúlfo Argenta, was already considered masterful. This work would identify him throughout his life, among others such as: Tedesco's Concerto in D major and Ponce's Concierto del Sur. Performances that showcase his skill with the orchestra, highlighting his powerful sound and unquestionable perfection in musical interpretation. From that moment on, his career was a constant search for improvement and virtuosity, as demonstrated in Geneva in 1948 and Paris in 1952, the year in which he made famous the music "Forbidden Games," which was part of the soundtrack for the film of the same name by René Clément, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The invention of the 10-string guitar came in 1964, and from then on, he played it in all his concerts, allowing him to approach Renaissance and Baroque pieces in a very unique way. In this regard, it is worth highlighting the well-known version of Gaspar Sanz's Spanish Suite. An arrangement that gives the work a very Spanish character and is performed by countless guitarists around the world. Throughout his career, he undertook countless tours, which led him to introduce the Spanish guitar and its unique technique to countries such as Japan, where he achieved his greatest success. Narciso Yepes, who died in 1997, was, in short, a virtuoso and tireless researcher of the guitar, which even helped him construct new and revolutionary designs and recover around 6,000 unpublished old scores.
