The titles of the sixteenth-century books of tablature by Cabezon and Henestrosa declare the music to be suitable for the vihuela (the guitar’s ancestor) or harp, an interchangeability that is easily understood in terms of the music itself. The twentieth century, however, is another matter – here the different characteristics of the two instruments affect the outcome. Thus, in the Concierto de Aranjuez, the harp turns scale passages into campanellas, losing their bite, and in the famous tune of the second movement the harp’s lack of vibrato diminishes its capacity for emotional intensity, and the passionate chord tremolos with which the guitar summons the orchestra on-stage near the end turn into (less imperious) arpeggios on the harp. The Concierto becomes a different work, more of a dream world into which Isabelle Moretti and, concomitantly, the Seville orchestra, enter with the utmost sensitivity.
In the Concierto serenata, a cheerful work with a few melodic and rhythmic echoes of Aranjuez and elsewhere in Rodrigo-land, the harp does what it does best. Moretti is a rather more assertive soloist than Nancy Allen. The solo role in the evocative Sones en la Giralda has been played on the guitar by Pepe Romero in his own arrangement (Philips, 11/86), but here it is the harp that reigns supreme with its more bell-like sound.
Isabelle Moretti is a fine harpist in every respect and she receives the best possible support from the RSOS. Some may prefer earlier recordings of these pieces, not least Zabaleta’s of the Concierto serenata, but those who relish the opportunity to have a whole harp-focused disc of Rodrigo’s works will in no way be disappointed by this recording.'