The Francisco Tarrega Collection Book Survey This is a wonderful collection of the greatest classical style composer of our time. Paul Henry continues his excellence in teaching aids. My only complaint is that tablature is included and for me it clutters up the score. But, for others the tablature may be helpful. Thank you Paul Henry! This is a great book. Tarrega was one of the most important Spanish composers and his work is very important to be familiar with. The only complaint I could make is that this is not really a book for beginners and therefore should not have tablature included. Otherwise it's nicely edited and fingered. Before I bought this volume, I knew some of Tarrega's easier pieces, like Lagrima, a pretty piece, apropriate for my level. When I got this collection I realized that the rest of his work is significantly harder. I have to choose a number of stars, and for mee it is more like 2-3 stars, but for those who possess the required skill, this is an 5-star collection of beautiful pieces for guitar. But I have not been able to learn much of it. I've had this book for several months and I'm very pleased with it - the print is clear, the fingerings seem reasonable, and I haven't come across any typos. Some of the performances on the accompanying CD are uninspired, but that doesn't mean the CD won't be a useful primer for players who are approaching a piece for the first time. Like others I'm puzzled by the inclusion of tab when the level of difficulty here is pretty high. I don't mean to be a snob about it, and if there are people who find it useful, then so much the better. But here's the thing: the tab is interleaved with the traditional notation, doubling the number of staves on a page. This means, for example, that the Capricho Arabe and the Recuerdos both run to six pages, with two page turns each, which is a nuisance. I highly recommend this book for any guitarist. Of course these songs were meant to be played on a classical guitar, but I first began learning them on a steel-stringed acoustic. The selection of songs is a virtual encyclopedia of guitar technique, in the guise of absolutely beautiful music. The composition is absolutely inspiring and the fingerings are brilliant; Tárrega truly found a way to eke out almost every bit of expressive power from the instrument. The songs range in difficulty from fairly easy (Adelita and Lágrima) to quite difficult (Recuerdos de la Alhambra). There's something for everyone. The recordings alone are worth the price--I listen to them quite frequently on their own. The scores are easy to read and quite accurate. The only thing I can even begin to criticize is that the book doesn't include any performance tips or commentary, which would be nice for Romantic compositions of this sort. But I won't let that detract from an absolutely fantastic product.
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