Guitar Recital
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Antonio Bibalo, Johann Kvandal, Benjamin Britten, John W Duarte
Magazine Review Date: 9/1988
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 59
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: PSC1031

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Nuages passantes |
John W Duarte, Composer
John W Duarte, Composer Stein-Erik Olsen, Guitar |
Guitar Sonata |
Johann Kvandal, Composer
Johann Kvandal, Composer Stein-Erik Olsen, Guitar |
Study in blue |
Antonio Bibalo, Composer
Antonio Bibalo, Composer Stein-Erik Olsen, Guitar |
Nocturnal after John Dowland |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Stein-Erik Olsen, Guitar |
Author: Christopher Headington
The guitar is an instrument that records beautifully, as Carlos Bonell's recent EMI recital of twentieth-century music demonstrated, and this new issue of more music from the same period is also satisfying as sound, although there is an acceptable degree of background. The one work in common between the two CDs is Britten's haunting, darkly-coloured Nocturnal: Bonell plays it with sensitivity, fine pacing and a keen sense of drama. Though the performance by Stein-Erik Olsen has less sheer urgency and intensity, it is still a very good one that brings out the varied tonal beauties and subtle textures of this important work created for Julian Bream and reflecting the skills of that major artist. However, in comparison with Bonell's choice of Falla, Ginastera and Walton, the other music on this Simax disc is rather less striking. John Duarte's Nuages passants is a set of seven variations based on Django Reinhardt's famous tune Nuages, and is idiomatically written for the guitar, but the fluent and agreeable music does not make a really strong impression, and the same may be said of the Norwegian composer Johan Kvandal's Sonata. Antonio Bibalo comes from Trieste but now lives in Norway: his Study in blue is declamatory and quite powerful without, again, saying anything especially memorable given its length of nine minutes. But the playing here is compelling.
The notes for this issue, like that of the Bonell have been informatively written by John Duarte, who manages to say something slightly different about the Britten work common to both. He also points out, rightly, that the guitar no longer belongs exclusively to Spain and its idioms, as this record demonstrates, though inevitably there are Iberian echoes in the music. Good recording.'
The notes for this issue, like that of the Bonell have been informatively written by John Duarte, who manages to say something slightly different about the Britten work common to both. He also points out, rightly, that the guitar no longer belongs exclusively to Spain and its idioms, as this record demonstrates, though inevitably there are Iberian echoes in the music. Good recording.'
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