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.
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