Another early-age poorly-executed attempt of playing a masterpiece by Barrios. After about 2 years into the guitar, I was particularly interested in tremolo-intensive works, those such as Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Tarrega) or Una limosna por el amor de Dios (Barrios). These pieces are deceptively difficult to play, first because of its repetition of the right hand, and second because of the left hand's ability to sustain essential notes.
Sueno en la Floresta is considered to be one of the most characteristic Barriosian works, with the emphasis on the idiomatic use of guitar language and Latin-American folksong materials. In Barrios' music, it is probably due to his audience at the time, the compatibility to the listeners' preferences should always be sacrificed for the academic writing of the music. If one gets to know Barrios, he probably was in total capability of writing music comparable to the academians e.g. Fernando Sor or M. Giuliani. To the least, he was playing small pieces which last no longer than 5—7 minutes (these were the standard of the day) by Beethoven or Bach.
A perfect example of his ability of writing captivating music non-traditionally would be the work La Catedral. The three-part structure of the work, the harmonies, the Rondo form of the last movements, etc., all pointed to the fact that Barrios was more than comfortable writing music with different characterisitics. It is likely that La Catedral was presented to the father of modern classical guitar Andres Segovia on an occasion Barrios came to Europe. Segovia, on his path of seeking new guitar repertoires, specifically those with novel use of harmonies (which I would consider to be Neo-Spanish, Neo-classical, Neo-baroque, borderline tonal), would endorse works like the La Catedral, which were Bachian and evocative simultaeously.
However, Segovia committed a fatal flaw, or at least his conviction to the discover of new music was a flaw itself. Sueno en la Floresta, along with the mojority of his other works, was rejected by Segovia. Some may speculate that Segovia was envious of Barrios' talent in both the fields of technical prowess and composing (or improvising). Let's keep in mind that Segovia has so much more support in all aspects, morally and financially, it is unlikely that he would fear being overrun by a folk guitarist. After all Barrios was not as welcome in Europe as Segovia. The scope of music Segovia focused on expanding was simply not the type of music Barrios composed, which Segovia perceived to be "lacking significance". The music Segovia preferred was significantly longer and has larger structures. There is a stark difference that almost all listeners would be able to detect between works commisioned by Segovia from Ponce, Torroba, Tansman, Tusina, Rodrigo, etc, and those written by Barrios.
Nonetheless, I think the rejection of the divergence from tonality is an inevitable end, simply it being not music for the ear, at least on the aesthetic level. "Embarsing the past" or "back to tradition", they say. Barrios manuscripts were recovered, however, a majority of his compositions remains in an unretrievable condition. Through John Williams' wondrous interpretation, Barrios' music is now more alive than ever.
I recorded this piece, low-key just for not having to play it again (in near future). To the time of writing, it has been 5 years, and I have only played the piece, probably, twice. I would love to see how it turned out if I practiced it from scratch,for the second time.