Guitar Music of Argentina

This is Victor Villadangos’s first recording for Naxos and I hope it is not the last as we are treated to some beautifully clear articulated playing that extracts just the right nuances from this music of the Argentine. Most of the pieces are new to me, although I am familiar with the "Serie Americana" of Hector Ayala, firstly through an early vinyl recording by Narciso Yepes and recently on CD by Eleftheria Kotzia. This rendition by Victor Villadangos, with its firm rhythms and fine clarity, is, I feel, the superior version.

"In the summer of 2019, I travelled to Mexico to compete in the IX International Carlos Prieto Cello Competition, and little did I know, the trip would transform my life musically. At the time I was very well acquainted with Latin American music, but after having the great fortune of winning first prize and returning to Mexico multiple times for performances, I fell in love with the music of Latin America, the culture, the history, and the Spanish language. This album takes the listener on a musical tour through Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico. The centrepiece of the programme is the Sonata in G minor by Manuel Ponce, who is most famous in the classical world for his song Estrellita popularised by Jascha Heifetz. Ponce was keen to reunite the concert world with Mexican folklore and traditional songs, as listeners can hear in the romantic, longing title-track Por ti mi corazon. Spanning over 140 years of Latin American music culture, this album takes us from Ponces unique traditional voice and Villa-Lobos Chopinesque style to music by still-living Cuban guitarist Leo Brouwer his innocent lullaby Cancion de Cuna. Other highlights include Astor Piazzollas timeless Oblivion and Le Grand Tango and Egberto Gismontis Agua e Vinho. As the title suggests, this music pulls at the heartstrings and exudes romance and passion."

Agustín Barrios - Obras completas de guitarra (Complete guitar works) - Philippe Lemaigre (1999) {5CD Set Ricercar RIC 148}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.36 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 811 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 177 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1999 Ricercar | RIC 148 / 207392
Classical / Classic Guitar / Chamber Music / Modern / Early 20th Century

Agustin Barrios was both a virtuoso and a brilliant composer. Some of his pieces, always the same, are repeated by guitarists from time to time. But Philippe Lemaigre began to engrave the complete parts found of the Argentine master, for the happiness of those who have been able to obtain the rare box of 5 CDs. The work is exceptional, absolutely sublime interpretation, on a magnificent instrument. No equivalent in the history of the guitar.

The new box contains no fewer than three different Williams recordings of that most popular of all guitar works, Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez – from 1964 with the Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, from 1974 with Barenboim and the English Chamber Orchestra, and from 1983 with Frémaux and the Philharmonia Orchestra – plus a performance of its much-loved Adagio in Williams’s celebrated 1993 “Seville Concert”. That entire concert is presented here too, on both CD and DVD – the latter also including a bonus documentary portrait of the artist. Reviewing his second studio recording of the concerto, Gramophone in January 1975 proclaimed: “John Williams himself has already made one of the finest [versions], yet if possible even more conclusively this new one must be counted a winner, irresistible from first to last.