The Spanish composer Francisco Guerrero Marín had a rare talent: he was a master of beginnings. More often than not, his pieces start with textures of blinding, gripping intensity. From there, they explore musical landscapes similar to those of Giacinto Scelsi at his most rugged and alpine. One Spanish critic described Guerrero Marín’s music as “choleric, ambivalent, rapturous, and unparalleled.” “Highly disturbing, of constellations and cataclysms,” wrote another. Guerrero Marín was born in 1951 in the Andalusian city of Linares. He studied organ and composition, then worked in programming for Spanish national radio. The difficulty of his music, and his personal “intransigence,” mean that his work is rarely performed today.
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