''Torre Bermeja'' is a musical work by the Spanish composer

Isaac Albéniz Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (; 29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the Post-Romantic era who also had a significant influence on his conte ...

. It was published in a set of piano pieces, his ''12 Piezas características'', Op.92.12 Piezas características, Op.92
IMSLP The title means "vermilion tower". There are towers of this name at the

Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the ...

, but Albeniz's piece is believed to be named after the Torre Bermeja, a defensive structure on the

Playa de la Barrosa Playa de la Barrosa is a long beach in the municipality of Chiclana de la Frontera, Province of Cádiz, Spain. It was the site of the Battle of Barrosa in 1811. It is separated from the Playa de Sancti Petri by a cliff. The resort of Novo Sanc ...

in the

Province of Cadiz A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

Torre Bermeja, playa de la barrosa, chiclana de la frontera

Originally written for piano, since it has been transcribed for classical guitar by

Miguel Llobet Miguel Llobet Solés (18 October 187822 February 1938) was a classical guitarist, born in Barcelona, Spain. Llobet was a renowned virtuoso who toured Europe and America extensively. He made well known arrangements of Catalan folk songs for the ...

it has become an important work for classical guitar. It has been played and recorded by guitarists such as

Andrés Segovia Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students. Segovia's contribution to the m ...

Julian Bream Julian Alexander Bream (15 July 193314 August 2020) was an English classical guitarist and lutenist. Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public per ...

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

and many others. The piece is most distinctive for its rapid

D Major D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor. The D major scale is: : Ch ...

and A7 arpeggios at the beginning before going into the key of

D minor D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major. The D natural minor scale is: Changes needed for t ...

. ''Records in Review'' said about the piece, "The Albeniz Torre bermeja, a piano work nowadays heard more frequently on the guitar, makes much of

pizzicato Pizzicato (, ; translated as "pinched", and sometimes roughly as "plucked") is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument : * On bowed ...

, chordal runs, quick arpeggio passages, and

harmonic A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...

References

External links

Torre Bermeja
by John Williams Compositions by Isaac Albéniz Spanish compositions for solo piano {{classical-music-stub