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
November 15: Antigoni Goni, Adam Levin, Radoŝ Malidžan, Black Cedar, Lou Marinoff, Antonio Malinconico
November 22: Marcelo de la Puebla, ChromaDuo, Carsten Pedersen, Thibaut Garcia, Yiannis Giagourtas
Local Objects
Zsófia Boros
(ECM)
A Hungarian guitarist living in Vienna, Zsófia Boros has recorded an inspired second album, with plenty of variety and stirring textures. A great take on Carlo Domeniconi’s suddenly popular Koyunbaba suite and Franghiz Al-Zadeh’s Fantasie are just two of the fascinating and exotic pieces here. Look for the lead review of this CD in the Spring 2017 issue of Classical Guitar, out in February.
Nocturne (Duplessy); Celebração (Gismonti), Koyunbaba (Domeniconi); Milonga (Cardosa); Vertigo Shadow (Di Meola); Fantasie (Ali-Zadeh); Inspiração (Sardinh); Gothenburg (Pinter)
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Sample and buy through Amazon or iTunes.
Firewire
Steven Joseph
(self-released)
Felicidade (Jobim); Hinchinbrook Riffs (Westlake); Nuages (Reinhardt), Railroad (Ryan); Firewire (Ward); Whirler of the Dance (Rivera); Variations on a Catalan Folk Song (Duarte); Voyager (Joseph)
Interesting and diverse collection of very well-performed modern pieces in many styles from English guitarist. Jobim’s Felicidade and Django’s Nuages both feature Roland Dyens’ wonderful arrangements. Also particularly notable are Gary Ryan’s Railroad, Nigel Westlake’s wonderful Hinchinbrook Riffs, and Joseph’s own Windham Hill-ish Voyager.
You can sample and buy a download of the album through Amazon, or buy a CD through Steven’s website.
Villa-Lobos: The Complete Guitar Manuscripts
Andrea Bissoli, guitar (plus various singers, ensembles and orchestras)
(Naxos)
Historically important set contains all of the well-known solo guitar pieces, of course, but also rare and recently discovered works, including guitarist Bissoli’s “completion” of an unfinished concerto. Solo pieces are joined by others featuring small ensembles, an orchestra, and few with two different sopranos. Splendid recording and energetic playing throughout; several world premieres.
Disc 1: Guitar Concerto; Simples; Valse-Choro; Cirandas: No 1; Cirandas: No. 14; Floresta do Amazonas: Canção Amor; Floresta do Amazonas: Veleiros; Canção do poeta do sécolo XVIII; Serestas: No. 5; Valsa; Motivos Gregos; Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5
Disc 2: Dime perchè; Valsa Concerto No. 2; Sexteto místico; Introdução aos Choros; Choros No. 1; Choros No. 6; Canção do Amor
Disc 3: Tarantela; Douze Études; 14 folksong arrangements from Guia prático; O papagaio do moleque
Click on disc numbers above for Naxos info on each disc and for streaming and buying. Or purchase through Amazon.
Below, Bissoli shows his mastery of Villa-Lobos on Choros No. 1, from Disc 2:
Aqua Blue
Carlos Dorado
(Acoustic Music)
An Argentina-born guitarist and composer living in Switzerland since 1989, Carlos Dorado crafts gorgeous melodies that tap into folk and jazz influences on this latest CD of ten short pieces. His tone is exquisite, his playing immaculate. Dorado’s son Lucas offers some interesting vibraphone coloring to a pair of tracks, and percussion to another. Carlos also plays charango on one piece for a nice change of pace, and adds his own Argentinean-style percussion to a couple more. A truly lovely outing from top to bottom.
South Wind; Suburbio; But Beautiful (Van Heusen and Burke); Berlinés; Las Gaviotas; Danza del Maíz Maduro (Yupanqui); Manuel; Pampa; Aqua Blue; A Long Winter
Available from iTunes, Amazon, and from the Acoustic Music label.
Schubert Sessions: Leider with Guitar
Philippe Sly (bass-baritone) and John Charles Britton (guitar)
(Analekta)
French-Canadian singer Sly and Texas-raised guitarist Britton take on 16 German lieder/songs written by Franz Peter Schubert (1797–1826), in arrangements by Britton. These are more commonly heard as piano-voice pieces, but Britton’s guitar matches the voice here beautifully. There are dark tunes and sweet lullabies, but an appealing lyricism throughout. Check out the deep version of the famous Erlkönig.
Auf dem Wasser zu singen (To Sing on the Water); Alinde; Du bist die Ruh (Thou Art in Repose); An Sylvia (Who is Sylvia?); Erlkönig (The Erlking); An die Musik (To the Art of Music); Ständchen (Serenade); Wohin? (Where to?); Der Müller und der Bach (The Miller and the Brook); Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man); Der Doppelgänger (The Spirit Double); Der Lindenbaum (The Linden Tree); Der Jüngling an der Quelle (The Youth by the Spring); Du liebst mich nicht (You Do not Love Me); Des Fischers Liebesglück (The Fisher’s Joy in Love); Der Tod und das Mädchen (Death and the Maiden)
Stream the album on Spotify or purchase through Analekta or Amazon.
Below, Philippe Sly and John Charles Britton perform Schubert’s Ständchen: