Gabriel Bianco Plays Sonata Romántica by Ponce

French classical guitarist Gabriel Bianco performs the first movement Allegro Moderato from Sonata Romántica by Manuel Ponce (1882-1948). Performed from his hometown of Lille, France and performed on a Altamira N500 classical guitar. This comes via Altamira Guitars and their YouTube channel.

Ponce wrote a number of sonatas and suites in imitation of era specific styles. This one was written with the dedication “Hommage a F. Schubert qui aimait la guitare” (Tribute to F. Schubert who loved the guitar). Wonderful performance by Bianco with excellent phrasing, articulations, and expressive musical delivery. There’s so much one can do with this opening movement and I really like Bianco’s pacing and Romantic touches but not without some classical refinement to the motifs and style.

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.