The Spanish composer Manuel Castillo wrote prolifically in a wide range of genres. His works for guitar, many of which are unpublished, reveal a keen awareness of the instrument’s expressive and virtuosic potential, whether in the passionate energy of the Sonata or the evocative imagery of the beautiful Kasidas del Alcázar, inspired by the kasidas (an Arabic poetic form) of the 20th century Sevillian poet Joaquín Romero Murube. The masterly Quintet with Guitar is an important addition to the small body of twentieth-century works for guitar and string quartet.

This is part of Naxos’s Guitar Collection. Castillo’s guitar works are rare on disc, given that very little was actually published and much still remains in manuscript. His piano works are significantly better known. Castillo trod a mid-path, neither lapsing into Late-Romanticism nor embracing the avant-garde. His guitar music is highly approachable and full of expression and colour. The Quintet with Guitar is a very rare example of this combination in the twentieth-century of guitar with string quartet and should make an immediate appeal.