My passion for building classical guitars of stems from an enormous passion for music. Just by attending two recent guitar festivals, West Dean and Brno Guitar Festival, I crossed paths with some of todays leading composers who write for guitar. I was inspired to write this article, exploring who they are and their music. I focus very much on building guitars for today’s guitarist, based on what the guitarists are wanting from their instruments, so it makes sense to be in tune with what today’s composers are doing. I will be exploring the lives and music of Stephen Goss, Vincent Lindsey Clarke, Mark Houghton, Badi Assad, Maximo Diego Pujol, and Stepan Rak.
Stephen Goss
Stephen Goss (b. 1964, Wales) is a British guitarist, composer, and educator. His music has been very widely recorded and is performed often all around the world. Goss is also deeply involved in guitar education and research. He is a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, and along with John Williams founded the International Guitar Research Centre (IGRC) at the University of Surrey, where he fosters scholarship, performance, and innovation in the classical guitar world. I have been in London only half a year, but already can see what a special place the Royal academy is - it must be a very inspiring place to be based as a composer!
While writing this, I listened to ‘River Fragments’ by Stephen Goss.
Vincent Lindsey Clarke
Vincent Lindsey Clarke is a British guitarist, composer, and teacher of the classical guitar. He was born in 1956 and studied at the Royal College of Music. During the 90s, he was a regular on stage performer for the Royal Ballet. He has played all over the world, performing has music. His music is performed and recorded widely. He teaches guitar at the Centre for Young Musicians in London and at Eton College.
Mark Houghton
Mark Houghton was born in Liverpool and started playing guitar age 7. He studied at the Royal College of Music. His works have received premiere performances by leading performers in the classical guitar world.He is also active in guitar education, promoting the instrument through teaching, workshops, and collaborations with guitar ensembles. He is a prolific composer and his works are well know in the guitar world. He also specializes in writing music for guitar ensembles as well as for solo guitar.
Badi Assad
Badi Assad (b. 1958, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is a Brazilian guitarist, singer, and composer known for her virtuosity, innovation, and fusion of Brazilian music with jazz and contemporary styles. Badi studied classical guitar at the University of Rio de Janeiro.
She is celebrated for her distinctive percussive guitar techniques, vocal experimentation, and ability to blend rhythm, melody, and texture in unique ways.
Assad began her career as a classical and jazz guitarist but quickly gained international recognition for her genre-defying work, which often incorporates elements of samba, bossa nova, choro, and improvisation. Albums such as Chameleon (1998) and Nowhere (2001) showcase her inventive guitar playing and expressive voice.
Beyond performance, Badi Assad is also a composer for theatre, film, and contemporary ensembles, and she collaborates widely with musicians across jazz, classical, and world music. She is regarded as one of the most influential and innovative Brazilian guitarists of her generation. I personally love to hear the classical guitar used how Badi uses it - all barriers usually put around ‘classical guitar’ are removed; it just happens to be her chosen vessel for creating music.
Maximo Diego Pujol
Máximo Diego Pujol (b. 1957, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a leading Argentine guitarist and composer, celebrated for his works that blend classical guitar techniques with the rhythms, harmonies, and spirit of Argentine folk and tango music. He is fiercely inspired by his native Argentina in all aspects of his music. Him and his compositions are greatly loved in the classical guitar world and beyond; in 1989 he was awarded the Argentine Composers' Union prize as 'Best Composer of Classical Music
He studied harmony and composition under Leónidas Arnedo and participated in master classes and seminars by the likes of Antonio de Raco, Abel Carlevaro, and Leo Brower.
Stepan Rak
Štěpán Rak (b. 1945, Prague, Czech Republic) is a distinguished Czech classical guitarist, composer, and educator, recognized for his technical innovation and expressive performances. Throughout his career, in a time when many classical guitarists played in the same way on the same pieces, Rak has been admired for writing his own compositions and performing with his own unique style. He also helped to formalise the study of classical guitar in his native country, the Czech Republic, and is professor at the main conservatoire in Prague.
Music that has and still inspires me:
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, I am first and foremost a lover of music. In this second half of the article I will go into the classical music that inspires me. It’s not all guitar music either. I think it is quite relevant because this music does inspire my guitar making too, not directly but in various ways. Sometimes it’s the balance of the pieces and instrument that provokes ideas in my own instruments. Sometimes it’s the composers themselves, and reading about their lives. Sometimes it’s just listening to the tone of other musical instruments - it is often said that the guitar is a mini orchestra, and I often feel that tones resembling these different instruments lie hidden within the classical guitar. I believe that a broad knowledge and genuine passion for all kinds of music/instruments guide my decisions in shaping the sound of my guitars, keeping my work firmly rooted in musicality.
With great nostalgia, I can remember the first pieces of classical music that really spoke to me. First came Beethovens late string quartets. I remember my first listening attempts. There was something strange and otherworldly about the melodic lines, something dissonant in the harmonies. For me around 16 it was like discovering a new colour. I still have the feeling of ‘it can’t possibly get better than this’, which is a marvel because they were written 200 years ago, while Beethoven was practically stone deaf. These quartets led to a love of string quartets in general, especially those of Dvorak and Brahms. It is interesting to me to think of the string quartet ensemble as a single instrument, and compare the overall balance of bass/treble to that of the classical guitar.
When I was around 18 I discovered music from the renaissance, in the form of Palestrina’s magnificats. The wonder of counterpoint completely entranced me and I really delved into this music. Not only Palestrina, but music from William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, Cristobal Morales, Victoria, and my personal favorite Josquin des Prez. Josquin reminds me of Beethoven, in that he was simply the best - and even composers writing 150 years later in the same style never surpassed him.
During a period of 2 years when I lived in a town called Lincoln, I enjoyed frequenting the cathedral where they would sing motets in this renaissance style, as well as English written anthems for evensong almost everyday. English cathedrals are extremely beautiful and incredible acoustic spaces and their choirs are of incredibly high quality. Later church music was written not only for the choir but for the organ as well. As a maker of musical instruments, it is difficult not to be impressed and inspired by the organ. Unfortunately, music written for the organ hasn’t generally spoken to me. Though some exceptions include Edward Bairstow’s Blessed City Heavenly Salem, Durufle’s Suite Op.5. I do love the range of tones possible to the organ. I love how it utilises the whole building it is in. It is an interesting instrument to consider because it is so tied to the church and religion.
Lincoln cathedral, interior showing organ
In the world of symphonies, I really love Mahler’s 5th symphony. I love the huge form, the complexity of his music, and the textures in his music.
It is nice to return then to the classical guitar after having listened to lots of other instruments, and I think it’s then easier to see the classical guitar in context, and appreciate its unique qualities, intimate sounds and tone colours. I think the next classical guitar composer I will explore thoroughly is Leo Brower. I have heard his pieces so often and for so long, but never actively delved into his work. It’s strange, some of his pieces have that quality of sounding like you already know them. For example I recently heard La Gran Sarabanda for the first time, and I basically presumed it was one of those old staple guitar showpieces, like Asturias or La Catedral - but on reflection I realised that was the first time I’d heard it, and it was only written around 2017/18. It is a seriously extraordinary piece, and I find it so encouraging and motivating that eternally great pieces like that one are being written today. The classical guitar is alive, with extraordinary new works that prove it is vibrant, evolving, and full of possibility.