For Two Guitars
Program Notes by the composer
I wrote “Mercador de Sonhos” originally for myself to perform on piano. Later, the piece was arranged by my father Sergio Assad, and made into a 2 part composition for the Assad brothers to perform. They performed the piece live a few times and recorded on a live concert which was taped as part of a Brazilian guitar series that no longer exists.
The guitar transcription, a hand written score, was accidentally lost during my father’s many moves between continents and I was happy to have had at least the registered version on tape.
In 2005 I was approached by a guitarist named Paolo de Stefano, form Italy. He was a fan do the Assads and for some reason had gotten a hold of that old lost recording of Mercador de Sonhos. He asked for the score and I told him the story. He replied offering to transcribe the entire piece for him and his duo partner to perform and asked, in return, if I would be interested in writing a new piece for them.
I was exhilarated with the idea of having Mercador de Sonhos resuscitate after so long, and of course, to write a piece for the duo in return was going to be a wonderful collaboration. Thus, Brasileirinhas was born.
Mercador de Sonhos has been now recorded twice, by the Assad brothers and the Eterna duo, and still remains close to my heart, for the sheer fact that it was among the first, ever to be written.