Cuban composer Leo Brouwer's three-movement work El Decamerón Negro (Black Decameron) rapidly became recognized as one of the most important additions to the solo guitar repertory of the last quarter of the twentieth century.

Brouwer (b. 1939) studied in the United States during the last half of the 1950s at the University of Hartford and at the Juilliard School of Music and studied composition with Stefan Wolpe and Vincent Persichetti. He held a number of important posts in Cuban musical life and beginning around 1962 he became a leader of avant-garde music in Cuba and was frequently heard at the Warsaw Autumn festivals, one of the leading venues for new music. He used serial (12-tone) and aleatory (chance) devices in his music of this period. The guitarist has written a notable body of works for that instrument, though he has much music for other instruments as well.

Around 1980, just before this piece was composed, he began to edge away from the avant-garde vocabulary of his earlier works. He succinctly described the course of the music of his time, as it affected his stylistic development, as follows: "The avant-garde put an end to a monotonous dialogue which existed in music and replaced it with very aggressive language, which became too aggressive and which lacked equilibrium. Human beings, today, need a more cordial form of expression, more warm, more tangible."

Composition of this suite stems from his hearing the playing of the Canadian guitar virtuoso Sharon Isbin in 1975, "I was possessed by the clarity and poetry in her playing, as well as by her technical accuracy and perfection—her musicmaking was sheer pleasure." He added, "from the very first two notes I had found the interpreter: Sharon Isbin." Brouwer composed the music and dedicated to Isbin without telling her, "just imagining how it would sound in her hands." She premiered it in 1983.

The suite is neo-Romantic in style, Brouwer says, and is programmatic. It is based on love stories from Africa, collected from folk sources during the nineteenth century by the German anthropologist Leon Frobenius. It is in three movements, which may be played in any order. These notes follow the order recorded by Isbin.

"El arpa del guerrero" (The Warrior's Harp) contrasts dramatic and rhythmic passages with lyrical moments. A warrior is banished because he has taken up playing the harp. But he returns to lead his people in battle when invaded. After his victory, he is condemned to exile again, but escapes with his lover.

"La huida de los amantes por el valle de los ecos" (Flight of the Lovers through the Valley of Echoes) seems to follow their flight. Horseback rhythms alternate with love music, and there is a dazzling portrayal of the sound of the horse's hooves echoing off the valley walls.

"Balada de la doncella enamorada" (Ballad of the Young Girl in Love) is a passionate rondo using one of the love tunes of the prior movement.

© Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide