Book excerpt: Born in 1956 in Moscow, guitarist Nikita Koshkin is one of Russia's leading composers, teachers and concert artists. This collection includes works from throughout his 30-year career as a composer including his three-movement Hispanic Suite, one of his earliest compositions. the other compositions included in this volume are: Pan, Tristan Playing the Lute, Romance, and a five-movement suite called the Ballads: Suite for Solo Guitar. Koshkin uses dropped-D tuning in several of these pieces and favors rhythmic variety and stylistic diversity. These intermediate to advanced compositions appear in standard notation only with suggested left-hand fingering and generous performance notes.