Julia Florida by A. Barrios Mangore as played by Duo Roldan

Download an mp3 of Julia Florida played by Duo Roldan (right-click and choose "save as...")

Watch a live concert video of Julia Florida played by Duo Roldan

"... as a guitarist/composer, Barrios is the best of the lot, regardless of ear. His music is better formed, it's more poetic, it's more everything! And it's more of all those things in a timeless way. So I think he's a more significant composer than Sor or Guiliani, and more significant composer --- for the guitar --- than Villa-Lobos."

A virtuoso guitarist and composer, Barrios is one of the most important composers for guitar. You can read a very interesting account of his life and work at Ms Johnna Jeong's webpage.

"A standard piece in guitar repertoire is Prelude No. 1 in e minor by Heitor Villa-Lobos. This piece presents the melody primarily in the bass. A device borrowed from cello music is playing the melody in the bass register. Both Villa-Lobos and Barrios used this device in their compositions. However, Barrios elevated this device to perhaps its most complex level of conception and execution. Two of Barrios' pieces utilizing this approach are Confesión and Romanza en Imitación al Violoncello."

In Julia Florida, Ana Ruth Bermudez and Rene Izquierdo made an arrangement of this solo guitar piece, bringing out the beautiful melody by putting it in the cello part.