Adam Cicchillitti Plays Prelude in C Minor by Barrios

Canadian guitarist Adam Cicchillitti performs Prelude in C Minor by Agustin Barrios Mangore (1885-1944). This comes via Cicchillitti’s YouTube channel and recorded by Drew Henderson. Great performance by Cicchillitti with beautiful phrasing and pacing. One of the great preludes by Barrios, solemn but not without a few hopeful parts and forward momentum.

This is my interpretation of the classic Barrios Prelude in C-minor. I’ve recorded this piece before and have a version from my living room already on YouTube, but I have improved the majority of my left-hand fingerings and decided to re-record it with the incredible Drew Henderson in a more beautiful acoustic space. The piece is a string of arpeggios, utilizing a descending sighing motive in the treble voice. The first half of the piece descends to a low E before dramatically building to the highest register of the piece, before descending anew in a slow return to the C-minor harmony that is heard at the end.

Cicchillitti’s YouTube 

Bradford Werner
Bradford Werner

Bradford Werner is a classical guitarist and music publisher from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He originally created this site for his students at the Victoria Conservatory of Music but now shares content worldwide. Curating guitar content helps students absorb the culture, musical ideas, and technique of the classical guitar. Bradford also has a YouTube channel with over 94,000 subscribers and 13 million views. He taught classical guitar at the Victoria Conservatory of Music for 16 years and freelanced in Greater Victoria for 20 years and now dedicates much of his time curating content online and helping connect the classical guitar community. See more at his personal website.

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  1. I really thought this was a great interpretation, thanks for sharing!! One thing that has been on my mind is the angle of the neck. It seems when I am watching videos of Bream and Williams the neck angle is less steep but with many of the “newer” (at least relative to them) guitar players we are seeing much steeper angles relative to before. Maybe this is just me but I wonder if technique teachings have changed on this. I would be curious about others thoughts. Thanks!