David Starobin returns to the music of leading Italian composer/guitarist, Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829), with a disc featuring Giuliani's solo and chamber music. Among the rarities are Two Rondos, op. 68, for piano and guitar, performed with the Israeli pianist, Inon Barnatan; Variations, op. 24a, played with Amalia Hall, winner of the Postacchini International Violin Competition (2013); and Variations on a March by Cherubini, arguably the finest solo of the composer's late period. The Italian journal Il Fronimo (Milan) wrote of Starobin: "David Starobin has grasped the authentic spirit, aided by his perfect instrumental technique. Here, the music acquires its truest meaning, exalting the quality of phrasing as it is rarely ever heard. Starobin's is a truly influential artistry, a great personality who does honor to both music and the guitar." - Bridge Records
Albeniz, Boccherini, Et Al / Rey De La Torre, Et Al
Bridge Records
CD
$18.99Apr 25, 2006
In the decades since the review disc material was originally recorded there has been exponential growth in interest in the classical guitar. Paralleling this are the numbers of people who play to concert standards and of those preoccupied with the short history of the instrument and its past champions.
During the period from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s the great José Rey de la Torre made twelve commercial recordings none of which are currently available. The review disc comprises material originally released in late 1950 or 1951 on the Philharmonia label (PH 106), later re-released on Elektra (EKL 244) and then again on Nonesuch (H-7123). It also includes a 1950 rendition of the Boccherini Quintet in D major featuring the Stuyvesant String Quartet (Philharmonia PH 101). The final track is a previously unissued live performance of Etude No. 11 by Villa-Lobos.
Rey de la Torre was born in Gibara, Cuba in 1917 and died on 21 July 1994 in San José, California. A child prodigy, he studied guitar in Havana with Severino Lopez, a student of Miguel Llobet. In 1932 his family sent him to Barcelona to study under Llobet.
On 9 May 1934 Llobet presented him in a concert at the Academia Marshall together with a pianist and then shortly after in a solo recital. Both received rave reviews from the tough Barcelona critics. Catalan composer and critic Jaime Pahissa described Rey as the most complete guitarist he had heard. Another critic compared him not only with Llobet but also with Pablo Casals.
Rey moved to the U.S.A. in 1937 or 1938 to establish his concert career. Motivated in particular by homesickness he made several return trips to Cuba to give concerts after which his family moved from Cuba to New York to support him.
Around 1961, right at a time when his career was flourishing, he suffered a setback: the middle finger of his right hand became less responsive and was a challenge for a number of years until Marianne Eppens, a physical therapist, was able to isolate the cause and offer a remedy. In 1969 they were married and moved to California. In 1975 at the zenith of his career Rey was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, a disease which ended his performing career a year later.
The guitar playing on the review disc is quite inspiring. Informative and comprehensive notes accompanying this disc refer to Rey’s ‘poetic, precise, playing still evident half a century on - his rich resonant tone, his exquisite phrasing and sense of line, his bravura technique and profound musicality’. Testimonial of these qualities is readily found on the disc including a splendid rendition of Albeniz’s Torre Bermeja - The Crimson Tower [2]. We are reminded in the notes that, unlike much of what is recorded today, this particular recording was made without any edits.
Rey premiered Six Variations on a Theme by Milan [5] by composer/pianist Joaquin Nin-Culmell on 10 November 1947. Of him the composer said: ‘As a young player he was astounding. His playing was aristocratic and exact, quite different from the romantic, improvisational school of Segovia.’
The hitherto unreleased live performance of Etude No. 11 by Villa-Lobos is highly evocative of actually being at that very concert, coughs and all - not to mention the beautiful live guitar playing.
Given the vintage of the recordings the overall sonic qualities are quite good. No master tape was available for the solo recording so it was restored from a copy of the Elektra LP. The live recording of the Villa-Lobos Study has an eerie life-like quality.
Particularly touching is the great reverence, admiration and affection with which students, friends and associates refer to Rey de la Torre - also known as José, or Che - by that select group. Much of this is encapsulated in what ex-student Anthony Weller wrote in the accompanying notes: ‘Sometimes it is difficult to grasp how very quickly the vagaries of time can erase a performer’s legacy; the familiar name becomes an unfamiliar ghost. Now the classical guitar audience will have one of the instrument’s greatest poets, at his magnificent best, before them again, more than half a century later. May he never be forgotten.’
We can only hope that, like Mr Weller, future champions will emerge to ensure that past great exponents of the guitar, such as Jose Luis Gonzalez (1932-1998) will never become unfamiliar ghosts but forever be remembered for their magnificent contributions when the guitar had so few of their kind.
This is a highly important historical recording by one of the instrument’s greatest exponents.
Traveling Sonata: European Music For Flute & Guitar
Reference Recordings
CD
$18.99Jan 01, 2012
An adventurous program of European masterworks for flute and guitar from scintillating young artists Viviana Guzman and Jeremy Jouve, captured brilliantly by Grammy®-winning recording engineer Keith O. Johnson. A winner for all audiophiles and music lovers! This album is a musical journey full of emotion, from the soothing and mellow music of Fauré and Satie, and the driving excitement of “Bolero” and “Carmen,” to thrilling modern music by Dyens, Duplessy, and Ourkouzounov.
Described by the New York Times as “an imaginative artist,” Chilean-born flutist, Viviana Guzmán performs over 80 concerts a year throughout the world. She has been featured on programs for PBS, NBC, and NPR, seen on the cover of Latina Style Magazine, and in COSMOPOLITAN en Español and has played in 118 countries including South Africa, Ireland, Spain, Brazil, Bali, India, Peru, and Greece featuring flutes from her collection of over 100 gathered from concert tours.
This album features two guitar arrangements of Mexican traditional music, performed by the Aleph Duo, made up of Gustavo Camacho Gomez and Eric Trejo Santiago. Gustavo Camacho Gomez holds a Bachelor in Classical Guitar from the Superior School of Music of the INBA. He is currently studying for his Master’s Degree at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, Austria. He teaches at the State School of Music of Tabasco, and is an undergraduate professor at the State Institute of Culture of the State of Tabasco. Eric Trejo Santiago holds a Bachelor in Classical Guitar from the Superior School of Music of the INBA. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Hochschule fur Musik “Hanns Eisler” zBerlin, where he is a beneficiary of the FONCA-CONACYT Scholarship Program for Study Abroad. Along with his classical training, he practices different currents of contemporary music, free jazz, and free improvisation. In 2010, he was part of the free improvisation quintet Synergia Ensemble with which he gave two concerts at the International University Music Festival in Belfort, France.
Jean-Philippe Rameau was perhaps the greatest of all French composers of the Baroque. Sylvie Proulx presents an exceptional program of Rameau's works in transcriptions for guitar. Canadian virtuoso guitarist, Sylvie Proulx has concertized throughout Canada, the United States and England. A champion of new works for the guitar, she has presented numerous Canadian world-premieres. Acclaimed for her exceptional musicality and remarkable technique, her repertoire reflects a wide range of periods and styles. In addition to solo and orchestral work, Ms. Proulx always enjoys the collaborative aspect of chamber music, welcoming new and challenging pieces for that genre.
Gnattali: 4 Concertinos for Guitar & Orchestra / Salcito
Brilliant Classics
CD
$13.99Jul 21, 2017
Radames Gnattali, son of Italian immigrants, is one of the most popular and famous composers of his native Brazil, where he is mentioned in the same breath as Villa-Lobos. His music is the perfect fusion of the high and the low, of formally structured classical music and the vibrant multi-colored folk culture of Brazil. The 4 Concertinos for guitar and orchestra are medium-sized, 3-movement works, highly entertaining and brimming with good tunes, groovy rhythms and brilliant instrumentation: a real discovery! Played with infectious enthusiams by guitarist Marco Salcito and the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese conducted by Marcello Bufalini.
Weber: Complete Songs for Voice & Guitar / Cigna, Sebastiani
Brilliant Classics
CD
$13.99Feb 23, 2018
The German tradition of Lieder accompanied by guitar is overlooked but surprisingly rich. Several of the great Lieder singers have recorded Schubert songs with guitar (Christoph Pregardien and Peter Schreier principal among them), and to highly expressive effect. In many ways the change of instrument draws back these songs to their medieval heritage, to the Minnesänger (minstrels, or troubadours) who fulfilled courtly functions, or at a more humble level travelled from town to town, lute slung over the back, entertaining nobles and commoners alike with tales of love and war.
It is this tradition that Patrizia Cigna and Adriano Sebastiani have tapped into with the first complete recording of the Lieder composed by Carl Maria von Weber for which he had a guitar in mind. In fact Weber, more than most of his native contemporaries, nurtured a great affection for the instrument while it was more celebrated abroad – notably in the Classical tradition by Mauro Giuliani, and we should not forget that the guitar was the first instrument of Hector Berlioz. Weber would accompany himself like a early-Romantic troubadour in his own songs, and he scored for the guitar in several of his stage-works such as Abu Hassan.
The Op.25 Lieder bring together these two strands, written as incidental music for August von Kotzebue’s one-act play Der arme Minnesänger (The Poor Minstrel). Some of the songs here such as the Op.13 set and the Op.29 Canzonettas were written with either keyboard or guitar accompaniment in mind, for obvious, commercially attractive reasons, but the standalone Mayenblümelein was only ever intended for the guitar, as was the lovely, polyphonic Sagt, woher stammt Liebeslust which calls for two sopranos, a three-voice female choir, and a guitar accompaniment. These, like several other songs on this recording, have no rivals in the current catalogue, making this a new recording an essential acquisition for all lovers of Romantic Lieder.
-----
REVIEW:
The songs are utterly charming, lyrical and dramatic, on a par with Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte and early Schubert songs. The guitar freely and independently interacts with the melodic lines, never being a mere accompaniment.
Of all Cristiano Porqueddu’s adventurous guitar-music surveys on record for Brilliant Classics, the latest may be the most invaluable and enlightening for listeners who may never even have suspected that Russia had a rich guitar tradition of its own. As a detailed booklet essay complementing this new recording explains, the guitar flourished during the first half of the 19th century in Russia. Towards the turn of the 20th century, it became more of a folk instrument, a trend further exaggerated by the cultural demands of the Russian revolution which repurposed both instruments and musicians to vernacular ends for songs and marches to raise the spirits. However, a renaissance took place in classical guitar composition following the triumphant tour of Andres Segovia across Soviet Russia in 1926. The impact of that event may be felt not only in the work of Boris Asafiev, who saw Segovia play, but even two generations later in the Hispanic flair of Edison Denisov’s Sonata, with its edgy opening Toccata, gently swaying Berceuse and picture-postcard ‘Souvenir d’Espagne’; in itself this revives the kind of naturalistic love-affair of Russian artists with the country that had produced Glinka’s Jota aragonesa and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol. But there is much more here than picture-postcard imitation and love in a cold climate. Local Georgian rhythms and traditions may be savoured in the sonata of Gherman Dzhaparidze; there are two early, vibrant miniatures of Sofia Gudaidulina; the work of more guitar-specialised composers such as Vitaly Kharisov, Valeri Kikta and Viktor Kozlov is much less well-known outside their native land. To all of them Cristiano Porqueddu brings the technical mastery and interpretative conviction which has distinguished his work for Brilliant Classics, in boxes such as the set of 20th-century guitar sonatas (BC9455) which includes an earlier recording of the First Sonata by Evgeny Baev
Italian composer and guitarist Francesco Di Diuseppe presents a highly personal program of solo guitar works. His work draws heavily from his Florentine experience, and he has developed new harmonies, melodies and rhythms inspired by his pictures and memories of Florence, as well as flashbacks to his childhood in his beloved Naples. Born in Naples in 1979, Francesco Di Giuseppe majored in Classical Guitar at the Conservatorio “San Pietro a Majella” in Naples, under the direction of Maestro Aniello Desiderio. He also studied piano and composition with Maestro Aldo Cusano, and has won several national guitar competitions. An eclectic and curious musician, over the years Francesco has enjoyed delving into a variety of genres, from classical music to punk rock, from tango to traditional Neapolitan music.
This album is a sequel to ‘Café 1930’, which also featured Piercarlo Sacco and Andrea Dieci in violin/guitar arrangements of Piazzolla. Released in 2014, ‘Café 1930’ was praised for the virtuosity of Sacco and sensitive partnership of Dieci: ‘The record is a great gift for any party and every occasion, even for oneself when looking for something out of the ordinary, but full of charm and interest.’ (www.saltinaria.it) ‘In a new exciting mix of the traditional dance with jazz and classical music influences… All the pieces are played with energy, drive and an innate feeling for the characteristic Tango spirit by Piercarlo Sacco and guitarist Andrea Dieci.’ (www.neuguitars.com) Their sequel opens with the title track, one of Piazzolla’s best-known tangos, named after the street where he lived during his years in New York. Imágines 676 is an explicit reference to a club in Buenos Aires located in Calle Tucuman 676, where he used to play with his quintet, alternating with musicians such as João Gilberto and Stan Getz. For Fièvre and Détresse, Sacco has matched the melody with the smokier, rough-breathing sound of the viola. Several out-of-the-way Piazzolla tangos are included here, such as Psicosis, Suavidad, Dernier lamento, Tango choc and Made in USA, again in the free and passionate arrangements that made their first album a critical success.
Denis Azabagic may not be a household name just yet, but judging from what is heard on this disc, that will soon change. Azabagic was born in Bosnia Herzegovina and in 1993 became the youngest musician to win the Jacinto e Inocencio Guerrero competition in Madrid. Since then, Azabagic has won virtually every major international guitar competition, including the prestigious Foundation of America award. This recording features Azabagic in a program devoted to the music of Spanish composers. Azabagic's masterful performance of Federico Moreno's 'Torroba's Sonatina' balances the works rhapsodic soul with flights of technical fancy. This young guitarist's repertorial choices are fascinating. The darkly colored tone poem 'La Catedral' by Augustín Barrios Mangoré impresses with its pious eloquence. Azabagic's playing is especially impressive in the work's surging Andante religioso second movement. This is a most impressive recording by a startlingly talented young musician with a very promising future.
Swiss guitarist Christoph Denoth explores the enchanting lute music of JohnDowland using his own arrangements made from Dowland’s original handwritten scores. + “Dowland, the melancholic poet of the lute, is free of any instrumental limitation. The melodic, contrapuntal and harmonic approach of his music is both wondrous and unique. Its expression is one of noble sadness, melancholy and genuine beauty. - Christoph Denoth
Homages and dedications often have a veiled mystique: the relationship between the composer and somebody else, a story and emotional experience hidden in the music. + Homages are created from the heart; to whom they are dedicated is not always easy to fathom, but they can speak and bloom as though they were only written for oneself, creating a poetry and beauty which fills the hearts of listeners. + Available on Signum, “Homages” is an album by Swiss-born guitarist Christoph Denoth featuring works for guitar solo by Villa-Lobos, de Falla, Turina, Rodrigo, Sor, Malats, da Narvaez and Llobet.
This new release presents an absorbing portrait of Abel Carlevaro (1916-2001) through his music as performed by Cristiano Poli Cappelli, an Italian guitarist making his second album for Brilliant Classics. The first was of guitar music by another relatively forgotten figure, Alexander Tansman, and it was enthusiastically reviewed by Classical Guitar magazine: ‘Highly recommended!’ Like Tansman, Carlevaro studied with Andres Segovia, the father of the modern guitar, during the 1930s. However, he broke away from his master’s teachings in order to make his own experiments in both guitar manufacture and composition. His music caught the ear of Heitor Villa-Lobos, another South American innovator, and it embraces the widest stylistic range captured by Poli Cappelli on this album, from the delicate watercolours of the Preludios Americanos (1969-74) to the vivid brushstrokes and abstract form of Cronomias (1972). Carlevaro’s later music returned often to the milonga, a tango-related dance popularised in the classical sphere by Astor Piazzolla. Milonga para Ling (1999) is brief but saturated with melancholy, while to the Milonga Oriental (1994) belongs one of the composer’s happiest melodic inspirations. Later still, a pair of milonga suites describe a peaceful return to the composer’s heritage. An essential acquisition for guitar aficionados, but also a collection of beautiful South American melodies that deserve to travel more widely.
Piazzolla: El Otro Astor - Music For Guitar And Strings
Brilliant Classics
CD
$13.99Oct 30, 2015
Astor Piazzolla, the undisputed master of Argentine tango, recorded more than 500 pieces across his career and composed many, many more. The present recording features Italian guitarist Alessio Nebiolo, winner of numerous international guitar competitions, alongside the acclaimed string quartet Quartett Orfeo with Nadio Marenco on accordion and Alessandro Schillaci on the double bass in the same ensemble formation in which Piazzolla himself often performed. This fascinating album contains some of Piazzolla's lesser known music, The Five Tango Sensations, the Concerto for Bandoneon, the Ave Maria, and the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, all of which breathes with the pulse of Buenos aires.
