De Lhoyer: Duos et Concerto Pour Guitare

I recently found this interesting new recording of music by Antoine de Lhoyer, performed by the french early music group "Ensemble Matheus", and the guitar duo, "Duo Spinosi." Lhoyer had interested my since I heard the amazing recording of his guitar duos by Lorenzo Micheli and Matteo Mela. His music and biography reminded me of George Onslow, another wealthy French amateur composer, whose music has been mostly forgotten.

This new recording was disappointing. It features Lhoyer's only guitar concerto, which sadly, is not a work of the same quality as his guitar duos. The performance and recording quality also left something to be desired. It is one of those concerto recordings that sounds like you are hearing a string orchestra fifty feet away, and the soloist playing right next to you.

The guitar playing in the concerto seemed uninspired. It lacked any coloristic or dynamic shaping, and lacked the rhythmic buoyancy which I think is really needed in the quicker movements. The second half of the CD is a recording of the guitar duos, but their performance suffers from the same problems as the concerto, and I much prefer the Micheli/Mela recording.

Rare Julian Bream Recording

Jose Luis Gonzalez

I recently discovered this amazing guitarist, who I had never heard of before. I tried to find some more information about him on the web, but there wasn't much. All I found were a few old LP's, and an article which mentions his Spanish origins.

I love the different tones he gets from his Ramirez guitar, and his ability to separate voices. He also has that early twentieth century rubato which suits the music so well, and seems to be forgotten among many younger players.

Radio Series on Guitar Music (archived online)

The brazilian classical guitarist Fabio Zanon has hosted three great radio series on the guitar, which have been archived online. Even if you don't speak any Portuguese(like me) they are an invaluable resource.



"O Violão Brasileiro"

The most extensive series(over 150 episodes!) is entitled "The Brazilian Guitar." It is a history of brazilian guitarists and composers, from early figures like Joao Pernambuco, to contemporary guitarists. Especially exciting are the programs on early guitarists, which feature a lot of amazing old recordings that can be heard nowhere else.



"O Violão Espanhol"

13 programs on twentieth century Spanish composers for the guitar. Features some obscure works, and, in episode 12, the hard to find Montsalvatge concerto, with Pepe Romero as soloist.



"A Arte de Violão"

26 programs on famous modern guitarists. Features the recordings of Barrios, a great overview of Segovia, and a program on the incomparable Presti/Lagoya duo.

Fabio Zanon

New Roland Dyens CD

I recently got the new Roland Dyens recording, "Naquele Tempo." Recorded on the GSP label, it features his arraignments of songs by the great Brazilian composer Pixinguinha.

Roland Dyens' previous arraignments have ranged from harmonically straightforward yet virtuostic, as in his Felicidade arraignment, to radical re-imaginings of musical material, as in his treatment of Sor etudes. So I didn't really know what to expect with this recording. Furthermore, Pixinguinha composed for an ensemble of musician in a richly contrapuntal style, so I was interested in how Dyens would adapt the complexity of the music to the limited resources of the guitar.

In this recording Dyens sticks to the harmonic language of Pixinguinha, but uses all sorts of virtuosic guitar techniques to try and capture the counterpoint of the original material, and to make the guitar inhabit the sound world of a whole choro ensemble. In a recent interview with Acoustic Guitar he talks about some of these techniques, and how he tried to mimic the choro instruments, particularly the cavaquinho. This can be heard in the title track, where light strumming is magically combined with a fully realized melody and bass line.

I thought some of the arraingments were more successful than other. "Naquele Tempo" "Um x Zero" and "Proezas de Solon" were all stand out tracks. In others, he seems to try to do much at once. In attempting to capture to many simultaneous parts, the music seems to lose some of its natural rythmic ease, and the melodic parts lose their cohesiveness. When it works, though, it is great guitar music, beautifully performed, with Dyens' characteristic swing.