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This journey began when I compromised on recording an original interpretation of the great Sonata para guitarra by the Spanish composer António José.

Recognized as the most difficult sonata to play on guitar, this record would finally make justice to the truest colors and intentions of the composer. Trough the creation of a sequence of static tuning on the instrument I realized it would be possible to reproduce the entire piece, respecting all its harmonic and polyphonic character, something never achieved before.

Completely emerged on this monumental work for guitar I was also able to dedicate myself on listening several orchestral pieces of the composer with the intention to fully comprehend, to its core, his unique impressionist language. During the process, going trough his biography, I found out Antonio Jose was murdered during the Spanish civil war at 33 years old.

This tragic death leaded me to a deep research about the details regarding his assassination to become aware that there was a political motus behind it that lead the composer to a suffering and injustice grind trough the final days of his life.

I asked myself how was it possible for something of this magnitude to happen and still be an unknown fact by the majority of on the artistic world as well of the public in general.

Further research led me to an overwhelming yet terrifying discovery, a record of roundabout 150 composers that lost their lives on war situations.

The initial idea to record Antonio Joses’ sonata changed to a wider concept, develop an philanthropic project that aims to share this cultural legacy recording a discographic collection including the pieces of all these men, classical musicians, mostly forgotten, honoring them, recognizing their efforts and masterpieces trough time.

A complex journey then started, redeem every single music sheet that survived to the hostilities of the extremists and dictatorial regimens. with the purpose of analytical study about their current state, editing treatment and finally executing them. A two years study combining individual with collective research that counted on collaboration with 93 international entities across the whole wide world. Foundations, Institutions, Libraries, Universities, Professors, Musicologists, Professional musicians, writers and relatives of the composers, trough physical and digital documentation we ended up rescuing a total of 585 music sheets to rely and develop this project.

Due to the philanthropic nature of the project I invited several professional musicians, with national and international renounce, to take part on the recording sessions, making possible for everyone to collaborate for the first time.

- Mickael Viegas