Luminoso for guitar and sampled sounds was written for Enrique Lop and created in the studios of the IUA/Phonos Foundation in Barcelona, Spain. It is the third work in a series of compositions for solo instrument and electronics. The guitar part combines flamenco and classical guitar techniques with percussive sonorities played on the body of the instrument. The electronic part of Luminoso is comprised entirely of acoustic guitar sounds, some of which are easily identifiable, and others of which have been processed into completely different forms using a variety of software tools. The title refers to the quality of sunlight in Barcelona, which I found myself trying to capture in this music.
Luminoso is available on Innova Recordings 662 (Alexandra Gardner, Luminoso)
Enrique Malo Lop, guitar
classical guitar
pre-recorded electronics (CD or laptop)
Duration: 6 minutes
Premiere: May 8, 2003
Enrique Malo Lop at Auditorio SGAE, Barcelona, Spain
The New Yorker | Alex Ross
"In Gardner's Luminoso, flamenco strummings are digitally processed in a way that evokes a lone guitarist wandering around a sun-baked ruin."
read the complete article
NewMusicBox | Molly Sheridan
"If the darkness of brief winter days is getting you down, Alexandra Gardner has proffered a cure. Luminoso, a six-minute work
for guitar and samples which also lends its title to this disc of "solo with sounds" pieces, is inspired by the sunlight in Barcelona. The rhythms and
timbres of flamenco-style guitar playing dominate the opening measures, but the bed of processed guitar sounds underneath pull things in a more
ethereal direction.....the music's movement - both in the acoustically finger picked and in the electronically crafted - generates an inherent warmth."
Give Me Take You
"It's not often that I'll post a promotional mp3 on this site, but this fine album's title track,
Luminoso, deserves it, being in my estimation more likely than most to break through
the slurred imposition of surfing the net and all the content that goes with it."