Here’s our bi-weekly listing of some of the CDs that have come into the Classical Guitar office recently.
If you have a CD you’d like to submit to us, here’s our address:
Classical Guitar
501 Canal Blvd. suite J
Richmond, CA 94804-3505
Some of these will be reviewed in the magazine, some not. But we want to at least mention them all.
To see our previous listings:
October 4: Jacob Cordover, Oleg Timofeyev and John Schneiderman, Arkaïtz Chambonnet, Matthew Fish, Gidi Ifergan
October 18: Norbert Kraft and Jeffrey McFadden, Steve Cowan, Katrin Endrikat, Jason Vieaux and Julien Labro, Yenne Lee, Emanuele Segre
All About Bach, Volume 1
Virginia Luque
(Iberia Productions)
Duo Virtuosi
Bojidara Kouzmanova and Virginia Luque
(Iberia Productions)
Two more from the label run by New York-based Spanish guitarist Virginia Luque. All About Bach consists of solo guitar versions of selected movements from various cello and lute suites, violin partitas and a violin sonata. Duo Virtuosi (that’s the cover at the top) nicely pairs Luque with Bulgarian violinist Kouzmanova on selected movements from pieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados, Astor Piazzolla, and Federico Garcia Lorca, as well as a premiere written by Luque herself.
Bach:
Cello Suite No. 1 BWV 1007: “Prelude”; Lute Suite No. 2 in C minor BWV 997 (mislabeled on the CD as BWV 996): “Prelude,” “Gigue,” “Double”; Violin Partita No. 2 BWV 1004: “Chaconne”; Violin Partita No. 1 in B minor BWV 1002: “Double,” “Tempo do Borea”; Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor BWV 1003: “Grave,” “Andante,” “Fugue”; Suite in E minor for Lute BWV 996: “Bourée”; Violin Partita No. 3 BWV 1006: “Prelude”
Virtuosi:
Alma argentina (Luque); “Cantilana” (Villa-Lobos, from Bachianas brasileiras No. 5); “Paño Moruno,” “Asturiana,” “Nana,” “Canción,” “Polo” (de Falla, from Siete Canciones Populares Españiolas); “De aquel majo amante” (Granados, from Maja dolorosa); La Maya de Goya (Granados); “El café de Chinitas,” “Nana de Sevilla,” “Sevillanas del siglo XVIII” (Lorca, from Canciones Populares); “Bordello 1900,” “Café 1930” (Piazzolla, from Histoire du Tango); Libertango (Piazzolla)
Click to preview and/or purchase All About Bach and Duo Virtuosi.
Edges of Thought
Jon Gjylaci
(Manchester Strings Records)
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Wonderful outing by Albanian guitarist living in England dips back to Albéniz, Chopin, and Satie, but also a diverse group of contemporary composers, such as Leo Brouwer, Jorge Morel, Gary Ryan, and Miroslav Tadić. The Manchester UK–based Northern String Quartet and percussionist Michael Walker add significant color to a number of tracks.
Asturias, Rumores de la Caleta (Albéniz); Valse, Op. posthume 69 No. 1 and No. 2 (Chopin); Indifference (Colombo/Murena); Un Die de Novembre (Brouwer); From Laments, Dances and Lullabies, Vol. 1: “Rustemul,” “Macedonian Girl,” “Walkdance” (Tadić); Benga Beat, Hot Club Français (Ryan); Danza Brasilera (Morel); Gnossienne No. 1 (Satie)
Physical CD is available from Jon’s website; digital download from Amazon.
Watch Jon play Gary Ryan’s Hot Club Français below:
¡Latinoamerica!
Fabiano Borges
(self-made)
Ambitious and highly satisfying double-CD set by versatile, award-winning Brazilian 7-string guitarist and composer contains many pieces by Borges, as well as varied contributions from other Brazilians, and writers from Argentina, Bolivia and Peru; a veritable musical tour of South America. Scattered harmonica, second guitar, guitar quartet, percussion, and bass clarinet, add richness to a number of tracks.
Disc 1: Gaúcho Sem Fronteira (Borges); Dos Piezas Latinoamericanas (Borges), Duas Peças Brasileiras (Borges); Sanfona (Gismonti); Sons de Carrilhões (Pernambuco); El 180 (Chazarreta/Acuna/Ruiz); Payadora (Plaza); Evocando Manuel Bandeira (Tacuchian); Estudio de Concerto (Zedog); Brumas (Cáseres); Valsa-Chôro (Borges)
Disc 2: Suite Sudamericana (Borges); Apanhe-te, Cavaquinho (Nazareth); Pequena Suite Nordestina (Borges); Homenaje a Eduardo Martin (Castillo); La Humilde (Diaz, Valles); Milena (Caelano); Cabeza Loca (Castro); Janelas da Alma (Borges)
Click to hear samples and purchase through Tratore or iTunes.
Sauguet: Complete Music for Guitar
Alfonso Baschiera
(Brilliant Classics)
French composer Henri Sauguet (1901–1989) was a student of Erik Satie’s early on and eventually wrote chamber music, symphonies, ballets, operas and some pieces for guitar (beginning in the late 1950s). One of the four main multi-part pieces features flute, another cello. Plenty of intriguing miniatures within these modern but always accessible works.
Cadence; Trois Préludes; Six Pièces facile; Musique pour Claudel No. 1; Musique pour Claudel No. 2; Soliloque; Reverence a Johann Sebastian Bach
You can sample and buy the CD or digital album here. And here are the individual tracks on YouTube.
In Swirling Modes: Music by Atanas Ourkouzounov
Miscelanea Guitar Quartet
(Doberman-Yppan)
The Salzburg, Austria–based Miscelanea Guitar Quartet—Kostas Tosidis, Alejandro Diaz Bandres, Yorgos Pervolarakis, and Manos Anastassakis—specialize in pieces by contemporary composers and this disc is devoted entirely to tres moderne works by the prolific Bulgarian composer/guitarist Atanas Ourkouzounov. Most of the pieces written were written since 2012 and two were commissioned by Miscelanea. Off-kilter rhythms, dissonant clashes, harmonics galore, and deep silences mark this challenging outing by the talented quartet.
Cinq illusions sonores; Swirling Modes; Divertimento, Broken Dance, 4 figures acoustiques; Revolving Lantern
You can listen to samples and purchase the CD here.
Solo Flight: The Music of Lenny Breau and Django Reinhardt
J.P. McShane
(jpmcshane.com)
New York–based classical guitarist/teacher J.P. McShane offers fresh, inspired interpretations of five pieces either written or recorded by late jazz guitar great Lenny Breau (including McCoy Tyner’s “Visions”), and five more based on improvisations by Django Reinhardt. New York City features singer Jaclyn Taylor.
Days of Wine & Roses, Visions, Batucada, Celtic Dream Stream, New York City, Five Improvisations
Hear samples and buy here.