Beyond the Guitar: Ricardo Gallén as Composer
Composition has long been a natural extension of Ricardo Gallén’s artistic world. Alongside his work as a performer, teacher and interpreter, he has gradually developed a compositional voice rooted in his intimate knowledge of the guitar’s expressive language, colour and resonance. His music reflects the same qualities that define his playing: clarity, depth, imagination and a strong sense of musical character.
Recent commissions for both jazz and world music recording projects have begun to draw wider attention to this side of his work. A particularly meaningful recognition comes with the forthcoming publication of one of his compositions by Schott Music, included in a collection curated by Thomas Fellow, Professor at the Hochschule für Musik Dresden, alongside works by close artistic collaborators. This marks an important step in the growing visibility of Gallén’s voice as a composer.
Im Park (To Diego Barber) was recorded by guitarist Diego Barber and pianist Craig Taborn on their acclaimed duo album Tales. Diego Barber and Ricardo Gallén share a friendship of nearly 25 years that has long since become family. Engaging with Barber’s own music has not only been a source of inspiration for Gallén, but has opened new sonic paths, enriching and expanding his classical vision of music in ways that continue to resonate in his own compositional voice.
Dancing with Dreams appears on Lost & Found, the debut album by guitarist Valeria Galimova — a recording that has received wide international attention since its release. The piece has a particularly personal origin: Galimova, then a student of Gallén’s in the Guitar Master’s programme at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar, commissioned the work after hearing some of his compositional sketches during her studies. What began as an informal creative exchange became a fully realised composition, and ultimately a recorded work on her debut album.
