Jose Maria Sierra-Fortuny (1925-1998)

Sierra was a student of Emilio Pujol. He grew up in Spain in the 1930s and recalled seeing, as a student, his teachers shot by Franco’s forces. He later moved to France after losing his wife and two children.¹ He seems to have been a very active performer and teacher in Paris. He would often play in a duo with Ramon Cueto, another student of Pujol (but who played with nails). Unfortunately, he suffered from Dupuyten’s disease in his right hand, and so his playing deteriorated and his performing career was cut short.

There are a number of reviews of his concerts in the earlier issues of Guitare et Musique. For example:

‘The young Spanish guitarist enjoyed a magnificent success and was frequently encored.’³

‘Not only did he prove that he had a very good technique, that his playing was sure, that everything was well in place and seriously prepared, but he also showed that he had acquired perfect mastery and real musical maturity.

‘Too bad Sierra does not use his nails, his right hand would become, I am sure, equal to his left hand, because it is enough to see him play to guess that his possibilities are immense but insufficiently exploited, that he could considerably improve the purity of the timbre, because, if the sonority is very beautiful in the detached notes to which he can give all their breadth, I like him much less in the fast movements and the arpeggios where he cannot achieve this lightness that only the nail can allow to obtain.’⁴

‘Sierra showed that the interest of the different movements [by Bach] was sustained on the guitar as well and probably better than on the violin, from the andante, interpreted with a very pure musical feeling, to the allegro, carried away with remarkable brilliance […]

‘Jean Lafon, who also declared himself enchanted by this recital, was able to express some reservations about the interpretation of Manuel Ponce’s “Sonata No. 3” where it seemed to him that the help of the nail would have allowed Sierra to obtain more relief. For my part, I believe that Sierra gave a good performance of this monumental piece as well as of Torroba’s graceful “Sonata”. But let’s not forget that this is only the beginning. Sierra needs to believe in his own effectiveness.

‘As for the technique of the right hand, the use of the pulp did not prevent Sierra from achieving astonishing speed, notably in Bach’s “Allegro”, nor from drawing from the guitar a surprising variety of timbres in brilliant pieces such as Torroba’s “Sonata”. Sierra having victoriously passed the formidable stage of the first recital, let us be assured that he will keep his promises, and will reserve other surprises for us.’⁵

A recording from c. 1960: