Spanish Guitarist Narciso Yepes Dies

Mon., May 5, 1997

Compiled From Wire Services

Narciso Yepes, a Spanish guitarist who expanded his instrument from its normal six-string configuration to a setup using 10 strings and who made dozens of recordings of a repertory that ran from Renaissance to contemporary works, died here Saturday. The Spanish news agency EFE said the cause was cancer. He was 69 years old.

As a performer, Yepes had a deeply personal interpretive style in which individual notes were sharply delineated. Compared with the more flowing style of his older contemporary, Andres Segovia, or the younger players who were influenced by Segovia, Yepes’ style could sound oddly clipped, yet his admirers pointed out that his approach allowed counterpoint to emerge with a clarity unusual on the guitar.

He made the first commercial recording of Joaquin Rodrigo’s popular “Concert of Aranjuez” in 1955, and composed a score for “The Girl With the Golden Eyes” in 1961.

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Spanish Guitarist Narciso Yepes Dies

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