The album is described as Vol. 1 of the “Complete Works for Guitar” but “with guitar” might be more appropriate since several are for various ensembles in which the guitar merely plays a part; one of these latter is the first item on this disc, enjoying its maiden recording. In 1929 (the year of his 12 Etudes), Villa-Lobos completed his cycle of 13 Choros, only the first of which was for the guitar. He then returned ‘full-circle’ by writing the Introduction to the Choros, a sort of overture containing quotations from the first Choros, in which the guitar has an important solo role with many germinal precursors of his later solo-guitar works – 13 minutes of Villa-Lobos in lush and expansive vein. The Guitar Concerto has had many recordings, amongst which this may be counted as a good but not exceptional one.
There have been more compelling versions of the Etudes, revolutionary in their time, and though Korhonen plays them cleanly enough his tempos are mostly on the slow side – No. 1, for example, lasts for 2'35'' but Segovia, who was in direct contact with the composer and who was not addicted to high speed, dispatched it in 1'56''. Hesitations to accommodate left-hand position shifts (‘expedient interpretation’) obstruct the flow, as early as in No. 2. The cumulative impression is one of heaviness (No. 4 verges on the eccentric in the distortion of its written note-values) and it would be hard to recommend this as one’s only integral recording of the set. There should be much more to come if all the available works are recorded and the set should ultimately prove attractive by virtue of its completeness.
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