Alexander Tchekhov first studied all but one of the pieces in this recording in Russia, before leaving to live in Berlin; the exception is that of Kouznetsov's "Faraway", an appropriately sentimental expression of nostalgia - traces of which are to be found in some of the other works! Romanticism and Neo-Romanticism pervade the programme, even when they are blended with elements of jazz and humour, as in the works of Dyens, Koshkin, and Duarte. All the music speaks directly to the listener, without need for analytical explanation; the notes therefore concentrate on the composers themselbes, an international 'family' indeed!

Maria Luisa Anido (b. 1907) is one of the grandes dames of the guitar. After her early studies (she was an infant prodigy) with Domingo Prat and Miguel Llobet she made her debut in Buenos Aires in 1918, taight in her native Argentina, made many recordings - including some in duo with Miguel Llobet (ca 1925), and concertized in many countries; her many visits to Russia reflect her popularity there. In 1986, she moved to Havana, where she taught, and she now lives in Spain.

Antonio Ruiz-Pipó (b. 1934) is a Spanish composer-pianist-teacher who now lives and works in Paris. He has written a numberof works for the guitar, of which the "Canción y Danca No.1" is clearly the most popular; the bittersweet nostalgia of the 'Canción' (song) is offset by the infectiously driving rhythm of the 'Danza'. As Ruiz-Pipó played the guitar in his youth his writing is always as comfortable to play as it is attractice to listen to.

Gerald Garcia was born (1949) was born in Hong Kong. He graduated in Chemistry from Oxford University in 1971, but turned instead to the guitar, giving his London debut eight years later. Through his wide variety of talents he is involved in a wide spectrum of music-making, in addition to which he teaches, lectures, and tours widely as a soloist and in ensembles.

Emilio Pujol (1886-1980) was a student and disciple of Francisco Tárrega (1846-1909), the 'father' of the 20th-century renaissance of the guitar. Although he had an international career as a soloist - which might have been even more successful if he had not lived in the shadow of Andrés Segovia, he spent most of his life in his native Spain, acquiring a strong reputation as a teacher, musicologist and composer for the guitar. The 'buzzing' activity of the second of these two of his Studies is explained in its title, "El Abejorro", the bumblebee.

Roland Dyens was born (1955) in Tunisia but now lives in France, where he studied the guitar with Alberto Ponce. Dyens is an accomplished guitarist, the winner of numerous international awards. He is also a composerm whose works are often marked by novel and striking effects, and a fluent improviser - a talent that may stem from his ethnic origin, since middle-eastern music is largely based on extemporisation. His "Tango en Skai" has the air of an improvisation - and of a tongue-in-cheek parody, 'fun' music!

The Brazilian guitarist Joao Guimaraez (1883-1947), also known as "Pernambuco" (the name of the city of his birth), is best remembered for his "Sons de Carrilhões" (Sounds of Bells). It is in the style of the 'maxixe', a popular Brazilian dance that originated in the 19th century, a fusion of African and Portuguese cultures. The piece is often misattributed to Heitor Villa-Lobos as a chôro.

Guido Santórsola was a Uruguayan violinist, conductor and composer of Italian birth. Living in South America he was perhaps inevitably drawn into writing for the guitar. After World War II he adopted the twelve-tone system of composition to his own Latinate purposes, as in his Concerto for Two Guitars and Orchestra, but before that his style was Neo-Romantic - that of the "Suite Antiga" (Suite in Old Style), of which the beautiful Prelude is frequently played as a separate item.

Augustín Barrios Mangoré (1885-1944) was born into a musical and distinguished Paraguayan family, and was well educated in music. From his array of talents he chose to follow that of a guitarist and composer. His international career was like that of Pujol, overshadowed by the presence of Segovia, so that it was not until the 1970s that his genius was fully recognized. Barrios was te first guitarist to make recordings, and the first to perform and entire Suite of Bach on the guitar. The core of his legacy is a multitude of fine compositions, many of which were not written down and had to be transcribed from recordings; in their complete aptitude for the instrument and their musical quality they reveal him as the 'Chopin of the guitar', the last of the great guitarist-composer romantics.

Alexander Ivanov-Kramskoi (1912-1973) was the pioneer of the classic guitar in soviet Russia, without whose work the seven-string indigenous instrument might still be dominant, as it was when he began; it was he who brought Russia into the world's classic-guitar mainstream. He was also a conductor and a composer who wrote original works for the guitar (including two concertos) as well as making many transcriptions. Alexander Varlamov was a nineteenth-century composer, on whose famous Romance, "Don't Awaken Her at Dawn", Ivanov-Kramskoi's Variations are based.

John W. Duarte (b. 1919), an English guitarist, pedagogue and composer, wrote his English Suite at the request of Segovia. Original themes are alternated with folk songs: "Lowdown in the Broom" (central section of the Prelude), "The Cuckoo" (main theme of the "Folk Song"), and "The Ballad of Robin Hood" (central section of the "Round Dance"). "Sua Costa" (His Thing) is a tribute to the great jazz guitarist, Wes Montgomery, reflecting both Montgomery's style, quoting from one of his favorite pieces ("Mia Costa" - My Thing) in its middle section, and recalling Duarte's own origins as a jazz musician.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney are named that are too well-known to need introduction - the "George and Ira Gershwin" or "Rogers and Hammerstein" of the 1970s, whose with the The Beatles changed the face of popular music. The arrangements of "Yesterday" and "And I Love Her" were made by the Russian guitarist Vladimir Pakhomov, and that of "Honey Pie" by the late Australian guitarist Joe Washington.

Nikita Koshkin (b. 1956) a Muscovite, achieved international fame with his fairy-tale Suite, "The Prince's Toys". His works are always vividly expressive, often making imaginative use of the guitar's 'special effects'. "Parade" is in effect a good-humoured salute to the music of George Gershwin and his times.

Vadim Kouzentsov (b. 1961) is one of the best young guitarists in present-day Russia, and winner of several local and international competitions. "Farawar" is based on one of his own songs, inspired by a sad, nostalgic poem by R. Bogrand; it was commissioned in 1994 by Alexander Tchekhob and this is its first recording.

Alexander Tchekhov (b. 1959) studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and then continued his studies there with Alexander Frauchi at the Gnessin Institute. Since 1984 he was a soloist of Moscow Philarmonic Society and Estonian Philarmony. Tchekhov has given recitals at capital cities of most Soviety republics, in Europe and Israel. He has played also chamber music with well-known instrumentalists and guitar concertos with many orchestras, has made many broadcast and TV recordings and took part in international guitar and chamber music festivals in England, Estland, Germany, Holland, Israel, a.o. Many composers dedicated him their new works, among them C. Domeniconi, J. W. Duarte, W. T. Heyn, F. Kleynjans, N. Koshkin, J. M. Zenamon. Currently, Tchekhov is living in Berlin.