Classical Guitar Scores. 10

This release is a source of pride for guitarist Alberto Mesirca for several reasons. First, it’s the culmination of a recording endeavour begun in 2016, which sprung from an idea Mesirca had during an after-concert dinner with his beloved, late mentor, violist Vladimir Mendelssohn, who particularly loved yet had never performed Paganini’s 15th Quartet (more like a viola concerto with strings and guitar accompaniment). Mesirca then managed to convince Vladimir Mendelssohn to prepare scores for the complete repertoire.

Eleni Karaindrou – “Greece’s most eloquent living composer” in the words of Time magazine – was born in Teichio, a mountain village in central Greece. She still retains vivid memories of the sound world of her childhood: "the music of the wind, rain on the slate roof, running water. The nightingale's singing. And then the silence of the snow." Sometimes the mountains would echo to the sound of flutes and clarinets played at village festivals. “I still have a strong memory of the Byzantine melodies I heard in church and the continuous voices of the men accompanying the chanter," she has said. Resonances of this sound world, imbued with the history and suffering of her native land, have found their way into the many scores she has composed for film, TV and theatre in the past four decades.

Decca's Kaori Muraji Plays Bach doesn't make any pretensions toward representing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in his historical element as has become commonplace…