If you’re used to the brilliance of the harpsichord music of Rameau and Scarlatti on the instrument for which it was intended, hearing it on the classical guitar for the first time is invariably disappointing. More often than not, this has less to do with the limitations of the instrument than the limitations of the performer. With its ability to evoke sound worlds far beyond its limited dynamic range and compass, the guitar almost requires a rhetorician more than a technician. Because of its Spanish flavour, there’s a rich tradition of playing Scarlatti’s music on the solo classical guitar – Rameau’s less so – although Sylvie Proulx’s all-Rameau recital (‘Les tendres plaintes’; Centaur, 2018) evinces a sense of style that matches anything Manuel Barrueco, John Williams or David Russell do in Scarlatti.

Rameau isn’t easy on the guitar. The copious ornamentation intrinsic to the music presents just one challenge. The other is to project a sense of orchestral colour in movements, such as ‘Les Sauvages’, which one also finds in operatic works like Les Indes galantes. Alas, Finbarr Malafronte makes it sounds as difficult as it is. He fares better in the Scarlatti. In Kk491, for example, he exhibits an impressive facility and imaginative sense of colour, let down only by the slightly boxy quality of the recording. He also imbues the F minor Sonata, Kk466, with a subtle dramatic quality.

That the arrangements are Malafronte’s own is commendable, and important to a consistent aesthetic. Listening, I just longed for more of the fluency, imagination and confidence of his erstwhile teacher Barrueco.