Originally composed in 1933 for Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia, Swiss composer Frank Martin's Four Short Pieces for Guitar also exist in versions for piano and, unlikely as it may seem (and it seems even more unlikely after one has heard the originals), full orchestra. Both alternate versions date from around the same time as the original. True to their title, they collectively take only about eight minutes to perform. But they make up for their slight builds with genuine lyric charm and quasi-Baroque formal grace, and they deserve their place in the modern guitarist's repertory.

The first of the four pieces, Prélude, is flexible in tempo, moving from the opening Lent to quicker musical paragraphs (Plus vite, or Vite) and then back and forth again. It is in B minor but is quite chromatically colored, and the whole of it spins out from a single opening gesture in 12/8 time. No. 2, Air, is marked Lent et bien rythmé and moves along charming, modal C sharp major lines (there are four sharps in the key signature, but Martin insists on the major tonic rather than the C sharp minor that one would expect from a four-sharp key signature). The main dance idea is lightly syncopated, and prefers to display itself quietly, but there is a short-lived forte climax near the end. The third piece, Plainte, is a thick-textured, steady-pulsed dance that accelerates as it moves towards its conclusion (Sans lenteur becomes Quasi allegro and then finally Vite) until there is in the final measures nothing but a rapid sextuplet tremolando on the lowest note of the instrument. Comme une Gigue, No. 4 (Con moto), moves back to the modified B minor tonality of the first piece; it is in 6/8 time but has a built-in cross rhythm (three-against-two) that manages to work itself so deeply into the music that the entirety of the middle section is written in 3/4 time. The final bars are made Plus lent très déclamé, fortissimo, to draw a firm closing cadence.

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