Mikhail Pochekin

"Spanish music has always had a special interest to me. And the composer Isaac Albeniz, of course, holds a very special place. The richness of colors typical of his music, lyricism, interesting rhythmic base… All this makes his music very expressive and colorful. “Asturias”, is probably one of his most representative pieces. It was originally written by Albeniz for piano solo, but the first time I listened to it it was performed by the great guitarist Andrés Segovia. And I must say that his interpretation of the guitar inspired me to transcribe this piece for violín solo because it was very clear in my mind how it should sound on my instrument.

I adapted it to D minor in order to make a more natural sound on the violin so that I could use open strings. With some bow strikes, I tried to imitate as close as possible the sound of the guitar. This requires a virtuoso performance from the violinist."