Francisco Tárrega - Recuerdos de la Alhambra & Lágrima (1892-99)

Francisco de Asís Tárrega y Eixea (21 November 1852 – 15 December 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist of the late Romantic period. He is known for such pieces as Capricho Árabe, Recuerdos de la Alhambra and Gran Vals.

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1. Recuerdo de la Alhambra (1899). Improvisación ¡A Granada! Cantiga Árabe (0:00)
Dedication: Alfred Cottin (1863–1923)

2. Lágrima (1891-92) Preludio (5:34)

Giulio Tampalini, guitar

Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Memories of the Alhambra) is a classical guitar piece composed in Málaga by Spanish composer and guitarist Francisco Tárrega.It requires the tremolo technique and is often performed by advanced players.

The piece was written for and dedicated to Tárrega's patron Concepción Gómez de Jacoby in 1899, commemorating their visit to the Alhambra palace and fortress complex in Granada, Spain. It was originally titled Improvisación ¡A Granada! Cantiga Árabe. It became known through an early 20th-century publication edited by Tárrega and dedicated as an homage to the French guitarist Alfred Cottin.

The piece showcases a challenging guitar tremolo, wherein a single melody note is plucked consecutively by the ring, middle and index fingers in such rapid succession that the result is an illusion of one long sustained note. The thumb plays an arpeggio-pattern accompaniment simultaneously. Many who have heard the piece but not seen it performed mistake it for a duet.

"Lágrima" (meaning "Teardrop") is one of the most famous original compositions by Spanish guitarist Francisco Tárrega, composed between late 1891 and early 1892. Despite its brevity—only 16 bars long—it is celebrated for its emotional impact and is frequently performed by classical guitarists worldwide.