Carmen suite and
others. Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. FIM LIM UHD 070 LE.
The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ) is probably the best
guitar ensemble since the Romeros. Which
isn’t hard to understand when you consider that in 1980 Pepe Romero oversaw
their formation. Since then, the LAGQ have recorded a slew of albums, winning a
Grammy in 2005 for Best Crossover CD, Guitar
Heroes. They recorded the present album in 2001 for Telarc, and FIM
remastered it to the best possible audiophile standards in 2012. If you like
guitar music, you’ll like the LAGQ.
Although Matthew Greif replaced Andrew York in 2005, the
group has remained pretty much the same for over thirty years, this Telarc/FIM
disc featuring original quartet members John Dearman, William Kanengiser, Scott
Tennant and Andrew York. The fellows generally play on guitars using nylon
strings in order to reflect the sounds of numerous other instruments and
effects. Indeed, on some occasions they appear to be imitating the sounds of an
entire symphony orchestra.
On LAGQ: Latin
the quartet performs seventeen tracks, starting with Sting’s Latin-inflected
tune Fragile in an arrangement that
includes Tim Timmerman on percussion. The LAGQ’s rendition is gracefully
touching. Next is Eduardo Martin’s Hasta
Alicia Baila (“Until Alicia Dances”), a sort of Cuban rumba with an
infectious beat.
Then we get the centerpiece of the album, a suite of
numbers from Bizet’s Carmen. It’s
delightful and should please guitar fans as well as Bizet admirers. The opening
Aragonaise shows true panache, the Habanera has a lovely lilt, Seguidilla displays a sweet gentleness,
the Toreadors provides a thrilling
energy, the Entr’acte is simply
gorgeous, and the Gypsy Dance closes
the suite in a colorfully spirited fashion.
Following the Carmen
Suite, we find a whole series of Cuban, Spanish, Central, and South
American numbers. One fascinating item is Leo Brouwer’s Cuban Landscape with Rain, containing--you guessed it--the sounds
of rain from the guitars. There is also a delicious performance of Aaron
Copland’s Paisaje Mexicano (“Mexican
Landscape”) that is quite lyrical. And so it goes, each tune a little gem, each
one beautifully, expertly executed by the LAGQ.
The program ends with a reimagining of the second movement
from Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de
Aranjuez that floats softly, poetically, as on a light breeze.
Telarc Record’s producer Robert Woods and engineer Robert
Friedrich made the recording at Studio A, O’Henry Studios, Burbank, California
in 2001, and FIM producer Winston Ma and the recording’s original engineer
Robert Friedrich remastered it in 2012 using the Ultra High Definition 32-bit
mastering system and FIM’s PureFlection replication process.
The sound is, not surprisingly, sublime, one of the better
guitar recordings I’ve heard. Not only is it ultra clear and ultraclean, it’s
ultrasmooth as well. Each plucked or stroked note stands out transparently,
with its own richness and warmth. As important, the dead-quiet spaces between
the notes sets off each sound in sometimes startling contrast.
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:
JJP
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