A Catalan-born composer who built a career across Spanish, French, and British concert stages, Sor was regarded by contemporaries as one of the finest guitarists in Europe at a time when the instrument was mostly heard in taverns and salons. His etudes and sonatas — the B minor study above all — borrowed the clarity of Classical-era piano and violin writing, and later generations of Spanish guitarists treated them as the instrument's core curriculum.

the sound in question

1828

Etude in B minor, Op. 35 No. 22Fernando Sor