Marco Musso plays capriccio n18 “El sueño de la razón produce monstruos“

Among Goya’s most famous images, this has been considered as one of the artist’s self-portraits. The man, either sleeping or dreaming (sueño in Spanish carries both meanings), is surrounded by evil-looking owls, a sinister lynx with pointed ears, and bat-like creatures. The music takes the form of a short Chaconne with five variations. Variation 1 deploys rapid arpeggios accompanying the Chaconne theme. Variation 2 moves into triplet patterns while Variation 3 uses the Chaconne in the bass against treble scale passages. The next Variation brings the theme back into the treble against a busy accompaniment before Variation 5, marked con fuoco (with fire) offers a chordal exploration in quavers of the insistent theme. The final recapitulation is ‘very slow and solemn’.