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. You can listen to a lot of these on various of streaming services, but we always encourage you to support the artists by actually buying anything you like!
—Blair Jackson
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
November 1: Virginia Luque (and Bojidara Kouzmanova) Jon Gjylaci, Fabiano Borges, Alfonso Baschiera, Miscelanea Guitar Quartet, J.P. McShane
Hymn to the Music
Antigoni Goni
(Timespan)
Though subtitled “Greek Music for the Guitar,” this is definitely not your stereotypical Zorba the Greek-style outing (though Mikis Theodorakis is one of two Greek composers represented on the disc); rather Antigoni Goni‘s latest is a quite modern exploration of everything from Greek mythology to the Greek alphabet, some of it clearly influenced and inspired by ancient Greek songs and more modern Greek folk music, but much of it not. A varied, stimulating, and impressive disc.
Hymn to the Muse (Bogdanović); Four Greek Miniatures (Ourkouzounov); Giocondas’ Smile (Hadjidakis); Two Epitafios (Theodorakis); Three Greek Letters (Assad); Eridos (Silverman)
Hymn to the Muse can be downloaded from Amazon or iTunes or purchased as a CD from Timespan. Here’s a short promotional film about the project, with music and an interview with Ms Goni.
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21st Century Spanish Guitar 2
Adam Levin
(Naxos)
As with the “Greek music” above, this is perhaps not what you’re expecting when you read the words “Spanish Guitar.” In this case, the second volume of American Adam Levin’s ongoing series of contemporary pieces by Spanish composers, all written from 2010–2014, and all but one dedicated to Levin, is by turns redolent with Iberian flavors in places, but also goes well beyond that sobriquet in so many ways, always with compelling results.
Caprichos No. 11 (Abstractions of Granados) (Balada); Interiores (Torres); Dos Cantares (Abril); Turris Eburnea (“Ivory Tower”) (de Pablo); I’ve Got You Under My String (Soutullo); Upon 21 (Durán-Loriga); Tres piezas para guitarra (Casablancas); Orión (Ruiz)
You can hear the music and buy it through Naxos.
Life and Music
Radoŝ Malidžan
(Montenegro Guitar Foundation)
Montenegrin guitarist Malidžan does a fine job on an eclectic program highlighted by the suddenly ubiquitous Domeniconi Koyunbaba Suite, two Barrios pieces, Catselnuovo-Tedesco’s Capriccio diabolico, and an intriguing pair by contemporary Italian Nuccio D’Angelo.
Koyunbaba Suite Op. 19 (Domeniconi); Contemplación (Barrios); Valse Op. 8 No 3 (Barrios); Rondeau de Concert Op. 12 (Coste); Due Canzoni Lidie (D’Angelo); Capriccio diabolico Op. 85 (Castelnuovo-Tedesco); Introduction et Caprice Op. 23 (Regondi)
The album can be sampled and purchased here.
A Path Less Trod
Black Cedar
(TOL/That Other Label)
Billed as “new music for flute, cello, and guitar” the imaginative Black Cedar chamber trio—Kris Palmer (fl), Nancy Kim (vlc), Steven Lin (gtr)—delve into some fascinating contemporary pieces on this disc (half commissioned by the group), giving each player many chances to shine individually, and also coming together seamlessly as a potent trio. It’s a marvelous blend of styles and textures.
Miscellaneous Music (Hsieh); Hungarian Trio (Kolosko); Debussyana (Stahmer); Of Emblems (Schatzer)
On the group’s website you can stream the entire album (though track 9 was not working when I checked the stream).
Check out Black Cedar playing “Ancient Melody,” from Nathan Kolosko’s Hungarian Trio:
Classical Journey
Lou Marinoff
(self-released)
Dated cover graphics notwithstanding, this CD offers a nice selection of movements and short pieces from the likes of Bach, Sor, Carcassi, Lauro and others. The recordings span more than 30 years and the quality of the recordings varies somewhat, but the performances are solid.
Prelude, First Cello Suite (Bach); Bourée, Partita in B minor (Bach); Sinfonia No. 3, No. 5, Inventio No. 14, Sinfonia No. 4 (Bach); Pavane, Canarios (Sanz); Study No. 3 A major, Study No. 7 A minor (Carcassi); Fantasy Op. 7, Rondo, Grand Sonata, Op. 22 (Sor); Vals Criollo No. 1, Vals Venezolano No. 2, Vals Criollo No. 3 (Lauro); Torija (Torroba); Sicilian Dream (Mascagni); Elogio de la Danza (Homage to Stravinsky) (Brouwer)
For samples and/or purchase, click here.
Cambio de Cuerdas
Antonio Malinconico
(Malin Music)
Malinconico is a Swiss guitarist whose family has roots in Italy, but he mainly plays South American music: On this varied and beautifully played outing, it’s dominated by Brazilian-flavored pieces (Machado, Müller, Gismonti), but there’s also Venezuelan (Lauro), Chilean (Contreras), Argentine (Cardoso), Cuban (Brouwer), and more.
Parazula (Machado); Amazonas (Müller); Tren de Tiempo (Contreras); Vidala (Cordoso), Rivette D’Amore (Gattaz); Baiao (Müller); Samba (Müller); Agua e Vinho (Gismonti); Andreína (Lauro); Natalia (Lauro); Un Día de Noviembre (Brouwer); Mil Familias (de Haes); Carillon (Terzi)
We couldn’t find audio samples online yet, but the CD can be ordered from his website.