Marta Almajano - José Miguel Moreno - Las Mujeres y Cuerdas - Songs and guitar pieces from Spain and Italy - c.1800

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Marta Almajano - José Miguel Moreno - Las Mujeres y Cuerdas - Songs and guitar pieces from Spain and Italy - c.1800

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The guitar is an instrument with two faces. On the one hand it presents us with a popular countenance in wich unportrayed musicians make of it and other instruments an object of utility in the task of accompaniment… But at the same time the guitar can show us a nobler figure with a whole range of characteristics providing resources able to satisfy the requirements of virtuoso artists and an educated audience

Born in Zaragoza (Spain), Marta Almajano studied piano at the Madrid Coservatory and then studied singing in Barcelona with Josep Benet and later with Jordi Albareda.
She has sung under the direction of such famous musicians as Gustav Leonhardt, Christophe Coin, Robert King, Christophe Rousset, Fabio Biondi and with such leading groups as Il Giardino Armonico, Zefiro, Europa Galante, Ensemble Elyma, Les Talens Lyriques
She is currently a regular member of the ensemble Al Ayre Español, while also giving frequent recitals and working with numerous ensembles and orchestras.

José Miguel Moreno is one of the leading specialists of historical plucked string instruments, but with a repertory that extends from the 16th century to the present day. A co-founder of Glossa, he had previously recorded with Teresa Berganza for Philips and with Hespèrion XX for Astrée. As a soloist, as an accompanist or with his ensembles La Romanesca and Orphénica Lyra (focused on the Spanish repertoire of the Renaissance and Baroque), Moreno has made some of the signal recordings that have helped establish Glossa’s reputation: his groundbreaking album, The Spanish Guitar (1536-1836), for example, has sold in excess of 30,000 copies
As well as performing on original instruments – vihuelas, Renaissance and Baroque guitars, lutes and theorbos as well as Romantic-era guitars – he has carried out extensive research into the building of early instruments of the lute and guitar family