Who is the composer you feel is underrated in the guitar world?
Every guitarist has that one composer—the one who writes beautifully for the instrument but doesn’t get nearly enough recognition. Maybe their works are hidden gems that rarely make it onto concert programs, or maybe they wrote just one brilliant piece that deserves more time in the spotlight.
💬 Which composer do YOU believe is criminally underrated in the classical guitar community?
What makes their music special to you?
Is there a particular piece you'd recommend others to try?
Why do you think they’ve been overlooked?
Whether it’s a forgotten Romantic, an overlooked contemporary voice, or a regional treasure, we’d love to hear your pick and why they deserve more love! Let’s build a list of hidden gems together 💎🎶
👉 Bonus: Share a short recording or video if you’ve played something by them!
32 replies
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Dear Martin,
I hope this message finds you well.
My name is Sekhar Screenevasan, writing from Singapore. I would like to submit a guitar music recording featuring Mr. Harry Martinez, which includes several of his original compositions. This recording was originally made on a cassette tape, with approximately 30 minutes of music on each side. It was personally gifted to me by Mr. Martinez in 1982, during the time I was his student (from 1981 to 1984).
Although the sound quality of the original cassette has naturally deteriorated over time, I had it digitised several years ago into two separate audio files. I would be pleased to share these recordings with you for consideration in your work highlighting underrated composers in the guitar world.
Additional information on Mr. Martinez can be found via the National Archives of Singapore, under the following reference:
MARTINEZ, Harry Joseph. Performing Arts in Singapore (Music), Accession Number 001130
https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/oral_history_interviews/interview/001130Other references:
Attached are the audio files. I look forward to your thoughts and I hope Mr. Martinez’s work will be of interest to your project.
Warm regards,
Sekhar Screenevasan
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Hi, guys
There are many underrated composers that professional and ameteur guitarists missed out. Most of the guitarists performed the same standard guitar repertoires recommended by music conversatory and music colleges. They are very bias in selecting the pieces to be performed such as ABSRM, Trinity college, etc. which selected most of the Biritish composers in their syllabus or curriculum for dilopma , or Bachelor of Music. There were many beautiful Latin American composers never appear in the guitarist recitals or orchestra or ensemble. The classical guitar world was and is a very boring world for guitarists and listeners compared to modern Acoustic guitarists play contemporary music and jazz fusion, etc. This was my observations for the past 35 years following and playing classical guitar music.
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Here is another living composer and guitarist from Argentina, Narciso Saul who composed many interesting and amazing Tango music. I do not know how many guitarists or musicians listened and played his music. I love all his original Latin America music and unfortunately his music scores are not available online or for sales in his website.
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here is the solo version of Boulevard San Jorge composed and performed by Narciso Saul.