Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez (CD review)

Also, music of De La Maza, Tansman, and De Visee. Thibaut Garcia, guitar; Ben Glassberg, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. Erato 0190295235710.

By John J. Puccio

It’s a testament, I suppose, to the enduring popularity of the Concierto de Aranjuez by Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999) that two new recordings of it appeared within days of one another. This one under review is by the young French classical guitarist Thibaut Garcia (b. 1994), conductor Ben Glassberg, and the somewhat unwieldy named Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. Garcia joins a cavalcade of guitarists who have tackled and recorded the Concierto, and while I enjoyed it, I can’t say it struck me as any better or any worse than a dozen others I’ve come across in the past few years. Nevertheless, Garcia’s fans should find the album a delight.

At the risk of needlessly repeating myself, I’ll begin with some background on the music. As you probably know, Rodrigo got his inspiration for the Concierto (1939) from the gardens at Palacio Real de Aranjuez, the spring resort palace and gardens built by Philip II in the last half of the 16th century. The music attempts to convey the feeling of another time and place by summoning the sounds of nature.

Rodrigo described the first movement Allegro con spirito as "animated by a rhythmic spirit and vigour without either of the two themes interrupting its relentless pace." Certainly, Garcia captures the rhythms of the movement well, and the orchestra radiates a suitable vigor. However, the entire ensemble is enhanced so much by the hall acoustics, it perhaps lends a bit too much bloom to the proceedings.

The composer said that the second movement "represents a dialogue between guitar and solo instruments” (cor anglais, bassoon, oboe, horn, etc.). What he didn’t say was how utterly beautiful it can be, something audiences have been saying for more than eighty years now. At its heart the music is a soulful, almost mournful dialogue between the guitar and various instrumental soloists, particularly the cor anglais. Taken too slowly, the movement can sound overly sentimental, even drippy, but taken too quickly it can lose some of its emotional appeal. Garcia approaches it with a delicate yet somewhat hasty hand. While he is a wonderful guitarist, no doubt, and handles all of the material easily, I didn’t feel as involved with the music as I have with some other artists.

The Concierto ends with a perky little closing tune, one that Rodrigo said "recalls a courtly dance in which the combination of double and triple time maintains a taut tempo right to the closing bar." It should be trim and lively, maybe a bit effervescent as well, and Garcia manages it well, both he and the orchestra fresh and alive.

As nice as Garcia’s recording of the Concierto may be, I continue to favor the work of Pepe Romero (Philips or Decca), Angel Romero (Mercury), and Narciso Yepes (HDTT) for their greater spark, originality, poignancy, and flavor, although I must admit it’s close.

Accompanying the Concierto are three additional collections of music for guitar by various other composers. The first of these are four short solo works by Regino Sainz de la Maza (1896-1981), the Spanish composer and guitarist who, interestingly, first performed Rodrigo’s Concierto. Following his pieces is a suite for guitar and chamber orchestra by the Polish composer Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986). And the final tracks are a suite of tunes by the Seventeenth-century French composer Robert de Visee (c. 1655-1732/33), transcribed for solo guitar by the artist, Thibaut Garcia. Of these selections, I preferred the Tansman suite most of all and found the de Visee suite a bit tiresome.

Producers Alain Lanceron, Hughes Deschaux, and Laure Casenave made the album at Halle aux Grains, Toulouse, France in 2019 and 2020. The sound is reverberant and the miking fairly close, producing a big, robust, yet not particularly detailed sound. The sound is, in fact, soft and soothing but doesns’t exactly glisten with transparency. The guitar is well centered, looms large, and tends to dominate the orchestra behind it. Overall, the sound comes across as something of a big clump rather than a collection of individual instruments meshing together. Still, I’m probably nitpicking. It’s big, warm, resonant sound and should please most listeners.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click below:

Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez (SACD review)

Also, music by Coll, de Falla, Albeniz, Harden. Jacob Kellermann, guitar; Christian Karlsen, London Philharmonic Orchestra; Norrbotten NEO. BIS BIS-2485.

By John J. Puccio

According to Wikipedia, “The modern word guitar, and its antecedents, has been applied to a wide variety of chordophones since classical times and as such causes confusion. The English word guitar, the German Gitarre, and the French guitare were all adopted from the Spanish guitarra, which comes from the Andalusian Arabic (qitharah) and the Latin cithara, which in turn came from the Ancient Greek. Kithara appears in the Bible four times (1 Cor. 14:7, Rev. 5:8, 14:2 and 15:2), and is usually translated into English as harp.”

So the origins of the modern guitar date back thousands of years. The surprise is that Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999) didn’t write what has become quite possibly the most-popular guitar concerto of all time, the Concierto de Aranjuez, until 1939. What’s more, it wasn’t even recorded until well into the 1940’s and didn’t achieve worldwide popularity until classical guitarist Narciso Yepes made the first of his several recordings of it a few years later.

Today, practically every notable classical guitarist in the world has either recorded the work or aspires to record it. The release we’re considering at the moment is the 2019 recording by Swedish guitarist Jacob Kellermann (b. 1984), with Maestro Christian Karlsen leading the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

As you no doubt know, Rodrigo got his inspiration for the Concierto from the gardens at Palacio Real de Aranjuez, the spring resort palace and gardens built by Philip II in the last half of the 16th century. The music attempts to convey the feeling of another time and place by summoning the sounds of nature.

Rodrigo described the first movement Allegro con spirito as "animated by a rhythmic spirit and vigour without either of the two themes interrupting its relentless pace." Kellerman and Karlsen provide the movement with plenty of the composer’s idea of “spirit,” while not going so far as to make the music sound reckless or hurried. What’s more, Kellerman conveys the temper of flamenco dance in the music, always a good move, although Kellerman refers to it in the booklet note as “a march.” Whatever, he handles it well.

The composer said the second movement "represents a dialogue between guitar and solo instruments” (cor anglais, bassoon, oboe, horn, etc.). What he didn’t say was how utterly beautiful it can be, something audiences have been saying for more than eighty years now. At its heart the music is a soulful, almost mournful dialogue between the guitar and various instrumental soloists, particularly the cor anglais. Taken too slowly, this movement can sound overly sentimental, even drippy. Kellerman takes it perhaps a shade too far in the other direction, however, losing some of the music’s poignancy along the way. It’s here, too, that the grandeur of the London Philharmonic threatens to overwhelm Kellerman’s guitar work.

Then there’s a perky little closing tune, one that Rodrigo said "recalls a courtly dance in which the combination of double and triple time maintains a taut tempo right to the closing bar." It seems to me it should be taut and lively, maybe a bit effervescent, sparkly. Here, we get Kellerman in an appropriately playful mood, and he closes out the show in good form.

Kellerman is a fine guitarist, and his Rodrigo is of a high order. However, I still think Pepe Romero’s 70’s recording for Philips (now on Decca) is the more well-rounded interpretation, and the Yepes accounts carry more authority (especially the 1959 release remastered by HDTT).

Accompanying Rodrigo’s guitar concerto are several shorter works for guitar by Francisco Coll (the contemporary work, Turia), Manuel de Falla (Hamenaje), Isaac Albeniz (Evocacion), and Pete Harden (another contemporary piece called Solace and Shimmer). I can’t say I liked the Coll music as much as I probably should have; it tries too consciously to imitate Rodrigo in a modern style I did not find attractive. The Harden work, however, shows more promise and demonstrates the influence of Rodrigo’s second movement. Still, why do so many modern composers eschew melody and rhythm as if they were some kind of mutant viruses?

Producer Hans Kipfer and engineer Jens Braun recorded the Rodrigo piece at Henry Wood Hall, London, England in October 2019 and the others at Studio Acusticu, Pitea and Sveriges Radio Studio 3, Stockholm, Sweden in 2017 and 2018. They made the recording in hybrid 2-channel stereo and multichannel SACD, the regular 2-channel stereo playable on any ordinary CD player and the SACD 2-channel and multichannel formats playable on an SACD player. As always, I listened to the 2-channel SACD layer.

I’ve always liked the sound of BIS recordings, and this one is fairly good, too. There is a modest reverberation in the hall that imparts a feeling of realism, and there is enough dynamic range to convey the excitement of the music. Most important, the guitar seems aptly lifelike, even with the modest reverb I mentioned before. If I have any concerns about the recording, it’s that the instruments loom a bit large, there is a little too much evidence of multi-miking, and there isn’t a lot of distance, air, or depth amidst the orchestral accompaniment.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click below:

Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez (CD review)

Also, Ponce: Concierto del sur; Garcia: China Sings! Junhong Kuang, guitar; Darrell Ang, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra. Naxos 8.579053.

By John J. Puccio

First, the contenders: The first stereo recording I ever heard of Rodrigo’s famous guitar concerto was by Narciso Yepes on a 1957 London (Decca) LP. So I have a fond affection for it, especially now that HDTT have remastered it. Then there is an equally good (and old) stereo recording from Angel Romero on Mercury and a later one on EMI that are also quite good; plus entries from Carlos Bonell (Decca), several from John Williams (Sony), several more from Julian Bream (RCA), another from Sharon Isbin (Warner), and still another from Christopher Parkening (EMI). The list pretty much goes on and on.

Now for the new contender: Junhong Kuang, with Darrell Ang and the Czech Chamber Philharmonic on Naxos. There is stiff competition for him, but the performance and recording quality certainly hold up their part of the show. Junhong Kuang is a young (b. 1999) classical guitarist who has won any number of competitions over the past decade and performed with a variety of topflight orchestras. The Rodrigo marks his second recording for Naxos.

You may remember that Spanish composer and pianist Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999) wrote the Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra in 1939, and it eventually established Rodrigo’s reputation as a leading composer for the classical guitar. I say “eventually” because it wasn’t until Yepes and Argenta recorded it in monaural in the late Forties that it really took off.

Rodrigo described the first movement Allegro con spirito as "animated by a rhythmic spirit and vigour without either of the two themes interrupting its relentless pace." Certainly, Kuang’s performance is spirited and animated. If anything, it appeared to me faster than most, which actually isn’t the case. It’s just that Kuang’s playing is so virtuosic, so dazzling, it sounds quicker than it really is. To be sure, Kuang is letter perfect (or note perfect) and remarkably precise, yet his remarkable precision loses a little something in nuance. I didn’t feel as affected by either of Kuang’s first two movement readings as I did with Yepes or the Romeros. In any case, under Kuang the first movement remains fun, and it’s assuredly lively.

Junhong Kuang

The composer said that the second movement "represents a dialogue between guitar and solo instruments” (cor anglais, bassoon, oboe, horn, etc.). What he didn’t say was how utterly beautiful it can be, something audiences have been saying for close to eighty years. Again, however, Kuang’s penchant for virtuosity works against him here more than anywhere else. I found his performance less sensitive than some of the aforementioned guitarists, although still graceful and lyrical enough.

Then there’s that perky little closing tune, the one Rodrigo said "recalls a courtly dance in which the combination of double and triple time maintains a taut tempo right to the closing bar." It seemed to me the best judged of the three movements Kuang recorded.

The couplings--Manuel Ponce’s Concierto del sur and Gerald Garcia’s China Sings--get the same treatment as the Rodrigo, with virtuosic playing from the soloist and warmhearted accompaniment from Ang and his Czech Chamber Orchestra. The Ponce work is almost as famous as the Rodrigo and charming, to be sure. The Garcia piece, dedicated to Kuang, is less Spanish in flavor than the others (two popular Chinese tunes were the inspiration) and played by Kuang with obvious affection.

Producer Kiri Stilec and engineer Vclav Roubal recorded the music at the Dukla House of Culture, Pardubice, Czech Republic in August 2019. You may recall that at one time the Decca record company was known for its “Decca Sound.” Perhaps we should label Naxos orchestral recordings as having a “Naxos Sound.” It’s slightly soft, yet fairly well detailed, and exceptionally big and widely spread out. The guitar is nicely articulated and realistically integrated with the orchestra, not too far out in front. Depth perception is somewhat limited, though, while dynamics are only moderate and the upper midrange can occasionally display some shrillness.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click below:

Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez (SACD review)

Also, Fantasia para un gentilhombre; Concierto madrigal for two Guitars and Orchestra. Narciso Yepes, guitar; Godelieve Monden, guitar; Garcia Navarro, Philharmonia Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra. Pentatone PTC 5186 209.

Spanish guitarist Narciso Yepes (1927-1997) practically made a career of performing and recording (mostly for Decca and DG) Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez. I'm familiar with several of these recordings firsthand: the HDTT remastering of his excellent 1957 Decca rendition with Ataulfo Argenta and the Spanish National Orchestra; his less-than-scintillating 1970 DG account with Odon Alonso and Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra; and the popular 1977 DG recording with Garcia Navarro and the Philharmonia Orchestra reviewed here, remastered by Pentatone for hybrid SACD.

Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999) wrote the Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra in 1939, and it eventually established Rodrigo's reputation as a leading composer for the classical guitar. I say "eventually" because it wasn't until Yepes and Argenta recorded it in monaural in the late Forties that it really took off worldwide.

The composer described the first movement Allegro con spirito as "animated by a rhythmic spirit and vigour without either of the two themes interrupting its relentless pace." A couple of things you notice right away about Yepes's performance, and it's indicative of his general style: First, it appears extremely well articulated, every note clearly and sharply delineated; second, he takes it at a fairly leisurely pace. The first movement, for instance, is rather more relaxed than the "con spirito" notation might suggest, so it may not exhibit quite the lively spirit some listeners would like to hear. The result, however, is a performance that is probably everything Yepes's fans love and his detractors dislike: It's a clean, well-executed interpretation, with the easygoing approach mitigated somewhat by the precision of its execution. Still, the performance may appear slightly distanced and colorless compared to other guitarists' renditions.

Rodrigo said that the second movement "represents a dialogue between guitar and solo instruments" (cor anglais, bassoon, oboe, horn, etc.). What he didn't say was how utterly beautiful it was, something audiences have been saying for close to eighty years. Certainly, it's in this second movement that Yepes scores over most of his rivals. His reading is passionate, lovely, and gracious, the mood always tranquil and fragrant.

Then there's that perky little closing tune, the one Rodrigo said "recalls a courtly dance in which the combination of double and triple time maintains a taut tempo right to the closing bar." Yepes emphasizes its delightful dance-like qualities, and, again, although Yepes and company take it at a moderately slow speed, they help it come sweetly together.

Narciso Yepes

Pentatone fill out the disc with Rodrigo's Fantasia para un gentilhombre for Guitar and Small Orchestra, Navarro again conducting but this time leading the smaller English Chamber Orchestra; and the Concierto madrigal for 2 Guitars and Orchestra, with Navarro back with the Philharmonia and the second guitar played by Godelieve Monden. It's really here that the program shines, especially in the work for two guitars, which sounds radiantly alive, Monden a first-rate partner in the piece. Together, Yepes and Monden bring the various little songs brilliantly to life, and it's a charmer, to be sure. Also of note, the Fantasia might use a smaller orchestra but it actually sounds lusher and richer than the Concierto. Go figure.

In all three works the Philharmonia and English Chamber Orchestras accompany Yepes splendidly, lending plenty of polished zip and sparkle to the proceedings.

The folks at Pentatone fill out the disc generously with almost seventy-six minutes of music, and they enclose the SACD case in a light-cardboard sleeve.

Producer Rudolf Werner and engineers Volker Martin and Joachim Niss recorded the music for Deutsche Grammophon at the Watford Town Hall and the Henry Wood Hall, London in April 1979 and June 1977. Polyhymnia International/Pentatone remastered DG's original multichannel tapes for hybrid SACD playback in 2015. You can listen to the music in SACD two-channel stereo or SACD multichannel if you have an SACD player, or you can listen to two-channel stereo using any regular CD player.

I listened in SACD two-channel stereo, where I found the guitar a tad close but nicely integrated into the orchestral framework without being too large or too far out in front. The sound has a pleasantly natural quality about it, never overly bright or dull, forward or recessed. The frequency response sounds well balanced with an especially well extended high end. The imaging places the soloist(s) and ensemble in a realistic perspective, with a moderate amount of depth and ambient warmth to give everything a lifelike feel.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez (CD review)

Also, Invocacion y Danza; Fantasia para un gentilhombre; Falla: Homenaje; Danza del Molinero. Milos Karadaglic, guitar; Yannick Nezet-Seguin, London Philharmonic Orchestra. DG/Mercury Classics B0020039-02.

Spanish composer and pianist Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999) wrote his Concierto de Aranjuez in 1939, and it has since become probably the most-popular guitar concerto in the world. As such, it is almost a written law that every classical guitarist worth his or her salt must record it at one time or another. In 2013 it became Montenegrin guitarist Milos Karadaglic's turn. Milos joins the ranks of such heavyweights as Narciso Yepes (HDTT, DG, Decca), Angel Romero (Mercury), Pepe Romero (Philips), Carlos Bonell (Decca), John Williams (RCA), Xuefei Yang (Warner), David Russell (Telarc), Julian Bream (RCA), Sharon Isbin (Virgin), Christopher Parkening (EMI), and about 800 other classical guitarists who have given us excellent performances of the work. Fortunately, Milos holds his own, and he will not disappoint his fans.

Milos's approach to the Concierto is notably romantic. Not that it's any slower or more sentimental than other player's have taken it; it just sounds a bit lusher and more luxuriant than most. There's nothing wrong with this approach; it rather fits the mood of the music. What Milos does best of all is to create a fine Spanish atmosphere for the music. We get a feeling for the ornate patios, sunlit terraces, and redolent gardens of the Aranjuez palace. What he does next best is present us with a lovely Adagio, haunting and evocative. This may not be the most thrilling or lively account of Rodrigo's work, but it is sweet and sensitive, and I think that's exactly what most folks would want from it, especially Milos's followers.

Next come two pieces for solo guitar by Spanish composer and pianist Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): "Homenaje," a homage to Claude Debussy, and "Danza del Molinero" from El sombrero de tres picos. Milos lends them an appropriately Spanish flavor, still well within the Romantic tradition but taking up the inflections and nuances of the landscape more than capably.

Then it's back to Rodrigo, starting with an appropriate transition, the "Invocacion y danza," a solo homage to Falla. It's one of the best pieces on the program, with Milos appearing greatly to savor the color and shadings of the music.

Milos Karadaglic

The album concludes with Rodrigo's Fantasia para un gentilhombre ("Fantasy for a gentleman"), which the composer wrote on commission for the great Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia and which Segovia premiered in 1958. It's essentially another concerto for guitar and orchestra, this time courtly and stylish, drawing its tunes from the seventeenth-century Spanish composer Gaspar Sanz. Milos handles it in a refined and stately manner, filling it with rich detail, without quite the romantic countenance he conveyed in the Concierto. The third-movement dances have a particularly zesty bearing to them.

Maestro Nezet-Seguin and the London Philharmonic know enough to stay out of Milos's way, lending a solid support without ever overshadowing the soloist's work.

Producer Sid McLauchlan and engineer Rainer Maillard recorded the music at Abbey Road Studios, Studio 1, London (Concierto, Fantasia) and Nikodemus-Kirche, Berlin (Homenaje, "Danza," "Invocacion") in August and September 2013. The recordists have captured a pleasingly agreeable sound, warm and comforting. In the orchestral pieces, the orchestra appears well spread across the front speakers, with the soloist centered in front of them. In terms of dimensionality, it isn't a particularly realistic sound, though, the guitar a bit larger than life and the orchestra somewhat lacking in depth. The transients are pretty soft, too, and in the solo numbers there's a fairly resonant environment, so don't expect audiophile-quality sonics. But, as I say, it's a pleasant enough sound, easy on the ear and matching Milos's romantic interpretation of the music.

Finally, and not that it matters, the folks at DG have chosen to include fully ten pictures of Milos on the packaging and in the accompanying booklet, plus a shot of his hands. And although Joaquin Rodrigo and Manuel de Falla are the featured composers on the program, there is nary a mention of them on the jewel-box cover. Just sayin'.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

Sojourn: The Very Best of Xuefei Yang (CD review)

Xuefei Yang, guitar. Elias String quartet; Eiji Oue, Orquestra Simphonica de Barcelona I Nacional de Catalunya. Warner Classics 2564 63662-1.

If you’re already a fan of Chinese classical guitarist Xuefei Yang, you probably won’t need this “Best of” album because no doubt you already have all the albums from which Warner Classics took the selections here. However, you are not familiar with Ms. Yang’s work, Sojourn: The Very Best of Xuefei Yang might be a great place to start.

Born in 1977 in Beijing, Ms. Yang started playing the guitar at the age of seven. By age ten, she was studying under the guidance of Chen Zhi, the Chairman of the China Classical Guitar Society. She made her initial public performance at the First China International Guitar Festival, and from there began winning various international prizes and awards. Subsequently, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Central Conservatory of Music, going on to become the first Chinese guitarist to study in the United Kingdom and the first guitarist to receive an international scholarship from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music for her postgraduate programme at the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating in 2002. She has been performing on the concert stage and recording for EMI (now Warner Classics) ever since.

Among the first things one notices about Ms. Yang’s playing is that it appears lighter, airier, more ethereal and delicate than many of her rivals. You won’t quite find the same kind of brawny musicianship you get with Julian Bream, John Williams, Milos Karadaglic, David Russell, Andres Segovia, or any of the Romeros. And one must count that a good thing; Ms. Yang is her own person, with her own style, casting her own magical spells on the listener. Certainly, she’s cast that spell far and wide if her record sales are any indication. So, in Sojourn you get a pretty good idea of what the appeal of her musicianship is all about.

Ms. Yang seems to have a penchant for sweet, romantic tones, amply demonstrated in the opening number, Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. It comes off very beautifully but more delightful than contemplative. Next, we hear Bach's Siciliano, a transcription from the Harpsichord Concerto in E. Again, Yang takes a smooth, graceful approach, certainly lovely but not entirely as biting or incisive as I would have liked. Obviously, personal taste is going to matter even more in appreciating Ms. Yang's guitar interpretations than it does in admiring many other kinds of performances.

And so it goes, each track apparently chosen for its comforting, spiritual qualities in order to sell new listeners on the beauty of Ms. Yang's view of music. Bach's Air on a G String from the Second Orchestral Suite, for instance, sounds as gentle as a feather, as does Bach's Prelude in C.

Perhaps best of all, though, and benefiting the most from Ms. Yang's manner of playing are the items taken from older Chinese works: The Butterfly Lovers, Plum Blossoms in the Snow, and others. They are quite delicious. I also enjoyed her playing of various Spanish pieces, among them Tarrega's Recuerdos de la Alhambra, Albeniz's Tango, and Rodrigo's Adagio from the Concierto de Aranjuez. Maybe it's all in the material, and maybe it's just me and I prefer Spanish music on the guitar. I dunno. Still, there are times when Ms. Yang's approach is just a tad too sentimental for my liking, but that's just me. Others will find it dreamily intoxicating, I'm sure.

The sound, recorded between 2006 and 2012, varies, of course, but not very much given that the tracks derive from a number of different recording sessions and venues over a decade or so of recording. Some of the selections sound a little soft, warm, and dry to me, but most of them sound rich, clear, and pleasantly resonant.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

LAGQ: Latin (UltraHD CD review)

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

Espana! (CD review)

Music of Albeniz, Falla, Mompou, Ravel, and Rodrigo. Various artists and orchestras. Harmonia Mundi 2908530.34 (5-disc set).

The one thing you won’t find in this five-disc set of Spanish and Spanish-inspired music is Chabrier’s Espana. What you will find are recordings selected from the past twenty-odd years of Harmonia Mundi’s back catalogue, and a whole lot of really well-performed and well-recorded music. The price is right, too, with HM marking down the set at much less than the individual discs would cost. Of course, if it’s only one or two items that interest you, you can still find the HM albums available separately.

Disc one contains a suite of twelve selections from the opera Pepita Jimenez (1896) by Spanish composer and pianist Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909). Here, we find performances by Susan Chilcott, soprano, and Francesc Garrogosa, tenor, with the Choeur d’enfants de la maitrise de Badalona directed by Montserrat Pi and the Orquestra de Cambra Teatre Lliure conducted by Josep Pons. I’m not sure why Harmonia Mundi chose to start the set with this particular music except that they arranged the composers alphabetically; the opera never became a hit for Albeniz, and there are only a few moments in it that seem very interesting. In fact, if the tracks HM include here are any indication, it’s no surprise why audiences never warmed to it. The orchestral introduction is the best part of the show.

Certainly, one cannot fault Ms. Chilcott or tenor Garrogosa, however, who give it their best; nor HM’s engineering team who recorded it in 1994. The sound is warm and expansive, with good detailing and dynamics. Voices are nicely round and natural, too, never bright or forward, and they are well integrated into the sound field.

With disc two we’re on more stable ground. It contains two pieces by Spanish composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946): El amor brujo (“Love the Magician,” the 1915 stage version, sung and spoken) and El retablo de Maese Pedro (1919, adapted from an episode in Cervantes’s Don Quixote). In the first piece, we find cantaora (flamenco singer) Ginesa Ortega, joined by soprano Joan Martin, baritone Inaki Fresan, and tenor Joan Cabero, supported again by Maestro Josep Pons and the Orquestra de Cambra Teatre Lliure.

The singing and performances in both Falla works sound committed and passionate, with a most-sympathetic orchestral support from Pons and his players. HM recorded the music in 1990, and while it is not as vivid as some other recordings I’ve heard, it is quite realistic. The playback level is slightly higher than on the first disc, the upper midrange is a tad brighter, and voices are a bit more recessed. Otherwise, we again get a warm, natural-sounding acoustic.

The Harmonia Mundi producers devote disc three to violin and piano works by French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). The soloists are Regis Pasquier, violin, and Brigitte Engerer, piano. The two primary works on the disc are the Sonate posthume pour violon et piano (1897) and the Sonate pour violon et piano (1927). Also on the program we find Kaddish, Tzigane, Habanera, and Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Faure.

Needless to say, the Ravel music is not really Spanish but Spanish-inflected. Close enough, I guess. The soloists play all of it beautifully, but their way with the sonatas is especially haunting, occasionally jazzy in a bluesy sort of way, and a touch melancholy. The sound, recorded in 1990, balances the two instruments quite well and adds a lifelike resonance to the proceedings.

On disc four we find two pieces for solo piano by Spanish composer and pianist Frederic Mompou (1893-1987). The most important of the two pieces is Musica callada (“Silent Music” or “Voices of Silence”), a series of twenty-eight movements Mompou wrote between 1959-1967 and played by pianist Javier Perianes. Debussy and Satie probably influenced the composer most, yet Mompou’s work is highly original on its own. It’s mostly quiet, contemplative music, with certain mystic overtones about it.

The Mompou music is, as I say, very quiet, sometimes almost silent, and always fascinating. Perianes plays the pieces with great sensitivity, making them appear ethereal, gossamer, otherworldly. While the piano sound, which Harmonia Mundi recorded in 2006, can be a mite soft and distant, it always seems appropriate to the gentle nature of the material.

Finally, on disc five we get what for me is the best music in the set, four guitar works by Spanish composer and pianist Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999), performed by guitarist Marco Socias, Maestro Josep Pons, and the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada.

Among my favorites is the popular Concierto de Aranjuez, and even though there are tons of good recordings of it, this one should rank high on anyone’s list. Socias’s playing sounds relaxed, unhurried, unforced, and purely entertaining. He communicates a vibrant tone and a gentle heart in all the music. Other works include the Fantasia para un gentilhombre, Musica para un jardin, and Tre viejos aires de danza.

Harmonia Mundi recorded the Rodrigo disc in 2001, with somewhat mixed results. The Concierto displays good orchestral depth, realistic imaging, a balanced frequency response, an extended high and low end, and a pleasant ambient glow. The guitar appears well integrated within the orchestral context. The other tracks, though, seem louder and brighter, not always to their benefit.

HM package the set in a sturdy slipcase, with each disc afforded its own cardboard sleeve. An accompanying booklet in both French and English complements the box.

To hear a brief excerpt from this set, click here:

JJP

Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez (HQCD review)

Also, Concierto serenata for harp.  Narciso Yepes, guitar; Ataulfo Argenta, Spanish National Orchestra; Nicanor Zabaleta, harp; Ernst Maerzendorfer, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. HDTT HQCD259.

First, a brief, and I think remarkable, coincidence. About three weeks before this writing, I was listening to the car radio and the station was playing Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. By whom I don’t remember, but it got me to thinking about the first recording I ever owned of the piece. It was by Spanish guitarist Narciso Yepes and conductor Ataulfo Argenta with the Spanish National Orchestra on a London LP that I bought sometime in the 1960’s, a recording I dearly loved but had long ago abandoned at the outset of the CD era, figuring to replace it with the equivalent silver disc. It didn’t happen, and I finally forgot all about it. So, after the radio reminded me of the recording, I set out to buy a CD copy, to no avail. Decca had either never released the Yepes performance on CD or it was so long out of print that nobody had even a used Decca or London copy available. It hugely disappointed me. Then I happened to check HDTT’s Web site, and lo and behold, they had just remastered it! Sometimes, I think I’m psychic. And hugely happy.

Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999) wrote the Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra in 1939, and it eventually established Rodrigo’s reputation as a leading composer for the classical guitar. I say “eventually” because it wasn’t until Yepes and Argenta recorded it in monaural in the late Forties that it really took off worldwide. Even though Yepes would record the work again several times, this 1959 Decca release remastered by HDTT is their best collaboration, and I still think one of the best versions, if not the best version, of it on record. Best of all, on HDTT it’s even better than I remembered, sonically and musically.

Anyway, despite the fact that Rodrigo always claimed the gardens of the Palacio Real de Aranjuez had inspired his writing the piece, one can’t help thinking that, given the year of its publication, the tragedy of the Spanish Civil War didn’t tinge it with melancholy. Rodrigo’s wife denied this, saying the slow movement drew on their happy days together and a miscarriage she endured. Whatever, it’s a lovely, evocative piece of music, and, as I say, nobody did it better than Yepes and Argenta.

The composer described the first movement Allegro con spirito as "animated by a rhythmic spirit and vigour without either of the two themes interrupting its relentless pace." Here, Yepes is lively but gentle, too, an ideal lead-in to the tenderness of the famous Adagio that follows.

Rodrigo said that the second movement "represents a dialogue between guitar and solo instruments” (cor anglais, bassoon, oboe, horn etc.). What he didn’t say was how utterly beautiful is was, something performances after performances have been saying for over seventy years. Yepes says it best with an interpretation filled with tenderness, naturally, and hushed passion. Some critics found Yepes too mechanical or even too lackadaisical, particularly during his later years. That may be; I haven't heard much from him. But not here. Finding a perfect partnership with Maestro Argenta, who helped tutor the young guitarist early in his career, Yepes produces one of the finest, most complete realizations of the score possible.

Then there’s that perky little closing tune, the one Rodrigo said "recalls a courtly dance in which the combination of double and triple time maintains a taut tempo right to the closing bar." Yepes takes it at a moderate gait, without going all crazy with it. It closes the piece adeptly, maintaining the light, flower-scented mood of the rest of the work. After all, Rodrigo had described the concerto itself as capturing "the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds, and the gushing of fountains" in the gardens of Aranjuez. Yepes takes him at his word.

Other guitarists have done justice to Rodrigo’s masterpiece, to be sure, and I would not want to be without Bonell, Williams, Bream, the various Romeros, and others. However, for an all-around engaging, entrancing, spontaneous realization in early though still state-of-the-art sound, it’s hard to beat this Yepes-Argenta partnership in its present remastering.

The disc’s coupling, the Concierto serenta for harp and orchestra (1952) seems to have been Rodrigo’s attempt to duplicate the success of Aranjuez, this time using the harp. Certainly, no recording of it has surpassed that of Nicano Zabeleta and conductor Ernst Maerzendorfer for pure, magical charm. It makes a most-attractive pairing.

HDTT remastered the Aranjuez from a London LP, recorded in 1957 and released in 1959, HDTT burning it to an HQCD. The sonics have an excellent depth of field, the listener able to hear sounds well back into the orchestra with a realistic sense of air and space around them. Transient attack is sharp and strong, the guitar a little close but still quite natural and lifelike. With the remastering engineer’s judicious use of noise reduction, the recording sounds as quiet, clear, and clean as any new product. Rodrigo’s Harp Concerto comes from a DG LP made a few years later than the Aranjuez. While the Harp recording doesn’t have as much transparency or immediacy as the Aranjuez, it is still pleasant in a slightly flatter, more hi-fi sort of way.

HDTT make the music available in a variety of formats for a variety of pocketbooks, from Redbook CD’s, 24/96 DVD’s, and HQCD’s to 24/96 and 24/192 Flac downloads for playback on high-end computer audio systems. For details, visit http://www.highdeftapetransfers.com/storefront.php.

JJP

Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez (CD review)

Also, Goss: The Albeniz Concerto; Albeniz: Espana; Rodrigo: Invocacion y danza. Xuefei Yang, guitar. Eiji Oue, Orquestra Simfonica de Barcelona I Nacional de Catalunya. EMI 50999 6 98361 2 1.

If the thought of a relatively young Chinese woman playing the solo guitar part in Rodrigo's most-famous concerto gives you pause, it shouldn't. Xuefei Yang (b. 1977) is a superb guitarist and presents a worthy, if slightly different, take on the music. What's more, she offers three other pieces on the disc that deserve attention. Let's take them one at a time.

First, there's the celebrated Concierto de Aranjuez, which Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999) wrote in 1939 and which pretty much established Rodrigo's reputation as a leading composer for the classical guitar. Despite the fact that Rodrigo always claimed the gardens of Palacio Real de Aranjuez inspired the writing, because he wrote it at the end of the Spanish Civil War, one can't help thinking that at least a part of it is tinged by the melancholy of those war years. Rodrigo's wife denied this, saying the slow movement drew on both their happy days together and a miscarriage she endured. Whatever, it's a beautiful, evocative piece of music, and Ms. Yang pulls it off nicely.

The opening movement is lively enough, yet Ms. Yang also brings to it a sense of great dignity and refinement. It's more than just pretty music; it's quite emotionally shaded. Still, it's Ms.  Yang's handling of the middle-movement Adagio that may raise eyebrows. I don't think I've ever heard it played with such heartfelt sentiment and delicacy. The guitarist seems to put her soul into each note she plays, and the listener cannot help coming away with a newfound respect for the concerto and for Ms. Yang. Rodrigo described the concerto itself as capturing "the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds, and the gushing of fountains" in the gardens of Aranjuez, and certainly the final movement, marked Allegro gentile (suggesting music played quickly, cheerfully, yet gracefully and genteelly), conveys just such a spirit most of all. Ms. Yang gives her thanks in the booklet note for having a real Spanish orchestra (Orquestra Simfonica de Barcelona I Nacional de Catalunya) supporting her in the music, the same orchestra that premiered the work so many years ago. It certainly doesn't hurt.

Among the other pieces on the program is The Albeniz Concerto by Stephen Goss (b. 1964). Goss wrote his concerto in 2009 as a tribute to Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909), the great Spanish pianist and composer, Goss using many of the man's piano themes for the piece, which Ms. Yang and the Barcelona Orchestra commissioned. While the work may not achieve the stature of Rodrigo's concerto or the virtues of Albeniz's piano music alone, it does have a pleasant style and goes down easily.

The final two pieces on the album are for solo guitar: Albeniz's Espana, Op. 165, with its prominent "Tango" the salient feature, here presented in a transcription for guitar and played as sensitively as I've ever heard it done on any instrument; and Rodrigo's Invocacion y danza (1961), probably the composer's most-popular solo guitar work, "a homage to Rodrigo's friend and mentor Manuel de Falla." It's a slightly gloomy but fascinating affair, and one Ms. Yang seems to know quite well.

Although it's hard not to enjoy Ms. Yang's music making, not everyone may appreciate the sound of the disc. EMI recorded it in 2010 at L'Auditori, Pau Casals Hall, Barcelona, placing a good deal of emphasis on the guitar. By that, I mean that while the orchestra is nicely reproduced, clean and clear, the guitar seems disproportionately large, looming out in front of the ensemble in a rather fat, bulbous manner. The fact is, the guitar doesn't sound well integrated with the orchestra but rather as though it were miked somewhere else and added later. I'm sure that wasn't the case, but with the guitar as big and soft as it appears, that's the impression it leaves. Otherwise, hardly a complaint.

JJP

Interchange: Concertos by Rodrigo and Assad (CD review)

Rodrigo: Concierto Andaluz; Assad: Interchange. Los Angeles Guitar Quartet; David Amado, Delaware Symphony Orchestra. Telarc TEL-31754-02.


This CD from Telarc is a "first" of several kinds: It's the first recording of a concerto by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet; it includes the world-première recording of Sergio Assad's Interchange for Guitar Quartet and Orchestra; and it's the compact disc debut of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. Oh, and there's also Joaquin Rodrigo's celebrated Concierto Andaluz at the center of things.  Not a bad deal.

The program begins with Rodrigo's Concierto Andaluz, a work the composer wrote in 1965 expressly for the Romeros, the first family of guitar virtuosos. Naturally, I used their old Mercury (1967) and Philips (1978) recordings of the Concierto as comparisons and did not find the LAGQ's version lacking. The LAGQ are, if anything, even more intense than the Romeros in the opening movement, marked Tempo de Bolero. Although the tempo seems at first a little too fast paced, it quickly grows on you. Then the LAGQ attend to the charming Adagio that follows, lovingly molding and caressing it in a way that would make any of their mentors among the Romeros proud. Finally, they launch into the closing Allegretto with enthusiastic vivacity, again taking the music at a healthy clip.

After Rodrigo's Concierto, we get Brazilian composer Sergio Assad's Interchange, which he wrote expressly for the LAGQ and whose content exactly matches the composition's title; namely, it's about the casual meeting of people on a four-level L.A. freeway interchange, the movements themselves referring to various roads and driving. The piece interweaves different musical styles from Brazilian to Spanish to Asian and Jewish, from Hollywood to jazz and blues, all of it tailored to the individual members of the Quartet.

Interchange gets off to a rousing start with "Sephardic Passage," a movement that reminds one of something by Rodrigo with a kind of Hebrew overlay. Frankly, I was afraid that the new work was going to be one of those contemporary, atonal, cacophonous, avant-garde things, but it isn't. It falls squarely into the traditional classical framework and should be highly accessible to most modern listeners.

I loved the flamenco and percussion elements of the second movement, "Gypsy Slopes," suggesting, perhaps, the ebb and flow of traffic. The quiet central movement, "Pacific Overlook," brings a note of tranquility to the proceedings with a pleasantly lilting melody; and that's followed by an even more leisurely jazz-inflected segment, "Forroblues Detour," that picks up steam as it goes along with an infectiously pulsating beat. Interchange concludes with a brief, colorful finale, "Crossings," that combines thematic threads from the four preceding movements.

As I say, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet along with Maestro David Amado and his Delaware Symphony Orchestra play the music as affectionately as one could want, combining commitment with fluency, grace, and high good spirits. And Telarc's audio engineers do their part in bringing the affair to disc with sound that is at once warm and smooth yet rich and acceptably detailed. While the stereo spread unfolds widely between the speakers, the four guitars appear nicely integrated into the whole without being unduly forward or engulfed by the orchestra. Still, as sweet as the sonics are, I kept wishing the Telarc disc possessed the kind of transparency and air displayed by the old Mercury recording of the Romeros. Ah, well, we trade ultimate definition for a realistically ambient bloom. Fair enough.

JJP