Concert de Gaudí

The work was jointly commissioned by Norddeutscher Rundfunk and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for the guitarist Sharon Isbin, with additional contributions from Richard and Jody Nordlof, to whom the piece is dedicated.

I then proceeded to "melt," "bend," and otherwise transform this material into something I hoped would be musically akin to the way in which Gaudí would take a traditional design and add fanciful, phantasmagoric touches to make it unlike the work of any other architect.

"[3] Daniel Buckley of the Tucson Citizen wrote, "Quiet and reflective to spell-like and mysterious, the 1999 score features beautiful writing for both the solo instrument and the orchestra.

"[4] John Henken of the Los Angeles Times praised the balance of the piece and wrote, "In the first movement, that seemed to mean a collage of guitaristic gestures, more desultory than surreal.

"[5] Gramophone declared the piece to be "as spectacular and unconventional as its eponym’s cathedral in Barcelona" and added, "It is perhaps the most remarkable work yet written for guitar and orchestra.