I am currently working on two projects. This one I call the “Classical/Romantic Era” project.
As a classical guitar student, I worked my way through many method books and anthologies including those by Aaron Shearer, Anzaghi, Julio Sagreras, Mauro Guiliani, Matteo Carcassi and the Royal Conservatory of Music. Included in those publications were pieces written by composers which I consider to be in the first golden age of the guitar (about 1790 to 1860) before it was overtaken by the rise of the popularity of the piano forte.
I played many pieces by Ferdinando Carulli (1779-1841), Fernando Sor (1778-1839), Matteo Guiliani (1781-1829), Dionisio Aguado (1784-1849), Matteo Carcassi (1792-1853) and others, and still play them today. So, I searched my music books and recordings to identify the best pieces used for teaching, yet are still enjoyable as miniatures on their own. Of course, most technical studies were eliminated but there were many pieces to include and I am searching out the original folios and then arranging them for ukulele.
The selected pieces are all beginner to intermediate level (roughly RCM grades 1 to 3). There are plenty of more advanced pieces by these composers but I experimented playing them on ukulele and they sounded “thin” as there are fewer strings on the ukulele, so I did not consider these for inclusion.
I posted a sample on Facebook and on YouTube. It’s the Country Dance by Ferdinando Carulli. After technical exercises, it was the second piece I ever played as a student. Enjoy!