In this book, guitarist and music historian David Grimes presents 20 “small sonatas” or sonatinas, complete with detailed performance notes and bio sketches of each of the contributing composers: Leonhard von Call, Matteo Carcassi, Ferdinando Carulli, Mauro Giuliani, Francesco Molino, and Antonio Nava. While flexible, the early 19th-century sonatina form usually consists of 2 - 4 contrasting movements, here in guitar-friendly keys, making these pieces ideal for performance by intermediate-level students. In all but the most challenging passages, Grimes has intentionally kept fingering to a minimum to allow students to form their own concept of this critical skill. Then, as many bass notes in these pieces are played on open strings, the player must develop a sense of when to selectively damp dissonant tones or observe a rest— exposing and overcoming yet another shortcoming in the education of many guitarists. Most classic guitar teachers are familiar with the easy didactic studies by Carcassi, Carulli and Giuliani; Favorite Sonatinas offers more highly developed, but not yet virtuoso pieces by the same Italian triumvirate— plus three more composers in a similar vein— promoting confident, enjoyable sight-reading by guitarists of all levels.

Sonatina is the grand-prize winner of the 2010 Boston GuitarFest Composition Competition. While the designation “sonatina” typically suggests simplicity or reduced scale, the musical and technical demands that pervade this fifteen-minute work suggest a far more ironic meaning. Written in three-movements in a conventional sonata form, it was conceived as a recital or competition tour-de-force for Serbian-American virtuoso Nemanja Ostojic.

A three-movement work. The greatest Barrios composition for solo guitar.