Well-known to fans of classical guitar music, but seriously overlooked for his chamber, orchestral, operatic, and vocal works, Fernando Sor (1778-1839) was one of the leading musical figures in Spain and France at the transition between the Classical and the Romantic periods. He was admired in his time as a virtuoso guitarist and as the composer of the once popular but now long forgotten ballets, Cendrillon (1822) and Hassan et la calife (1828), which took him on travels from London to Moscow. His Méthode pour la guitare (1830) was widely praised, and his career as a teacher won him lasting respect. But of his surviving works, many of which languish unperformed and unrecorded, more than a hundred guitar pieces have become an important part of the repertoire and continue to appear on recitals and albums today.

Try the samples below to hear some of Sor’s best guitar music, as well as a few other rarities that deserve some attention.
 
Andante maestoso for guitar
Thème varié in C major, Op. 15c
Divertimento, Op. 23
Fantaisie for guitar, Op. 58
Etude for guitar in B minor, Op. 35/22
Sonata for guitar No. 1 in D major, Op. 14, “Grand Solo”
L’encouragement, for two guitars in G major, Op. 34/4
Duet, for two guitars, Op. 62
Mazurka, for piano
O Crux, for chorus
Ti ricordi che giurasti, ariette
Lagrime mie d’affano, ariette
Il Telemaco nell’isola di Calipso, Preludio
Il Telemaco nell’isola di Calipso, “Care Selve”
Il Telemaco nell’isola di Calipso, “Mia dolce speranza”