Concierto de Aranjuez
Also knows as “Concert of Orange Juice” among some english speakers, this concert has an incredible emotive power over me. It has been written for guitar and orchestra, which is quite rare, by the pianist and composer Joaquin Rodrigo. Its name comes from “Aranjuez”, the town where the Royal Palace of Aranjuez stands. Rodrigo composed the concert in order to be played at the gardens of the palace. The concert premiered at November 9th, 1940, only slightly more than 1 year after the horrors of the spanish civil war. Although some people relate the sad mood of the Adagio to the bombing of Gernika, Rodrigo’s wife, Victoria, assures that the concert is all about their honeymoon, and the Adagio documents the loss of their first baby.
Several versions of the concert exist: Regino Sainz de la Maza was the first soloist, but other famous guitar players like Pepe Romero, Narciso Yepes and Paco de Lucia have performed the concert for the record. Even the wizard of fusion, Miles Davis, has adapted the Adagio for jazz band (i definitely recommend it). And the fabulous jazz latino success “Spain”, from Return to Forever, starts with Chick Corea playing the initial moments of the Adagio on a Rhodes.