Viva! Rodrigo

Another Aranjuez - but there is powerful and elegant playing here

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Joaquín Rodrigo

Genre:

Orchestral

Label: Decca

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 64

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: 478 0076

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Concierto de Aranjuez Joaquín Rodrigo, Composer
Galicia Symphony Orchestra
Joaquín Rodrigo, Composer
Kaori Muraji, Guitar
Victor Pablo Pérez, Conductor
Sones en la Giralda, 'Fantasía sevillana' Joaquín Rodrigo, Composer
Galicia Symphony Orchestra
Joaquín Rodrigo, Composer
Kaori Muraji, Guitar
Victor Pablo Pérez, Conductor
Concierto para una fiesta Joaquín Rodrigo, Composer
Galicia Symphony Orchestra
Joaquín Rodrigo, Composer
Kaori Muraji, Guitar
Victor Pablo Pérez, Conductor
Recording yet another version of one of the most popular concertos of all time isn't without risk; better, then, to hedge your bets by offering a programme that's attractive in its own right. Which is what Japanese guitarist Kaori Muraji has done by separating Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez and Concierto para una fiesta with the guitar version of the composer's harp concerto, Sones en la Giralda.

Muraji might lack the palette of a Bream or the varied articulation of a Russell but her artistry is of a high order and she certainly has something meaningful to say. In the Concierto de Aranjuez she and conductor Victor Pablo Pérez give the music a forward propulsion that is both elegant and powerful. This is most obviously felt in the second cadenza of the Adagio and its rush towards the glorious orchestral tutti.

Sones en la Giralda was inspired in part by the bell tower of Seville Cathedral, and is more a tone-poem than a concerto. Both soloist and orchestra invest the atmospheric first section with colour and mystery, while the second section blazes up with a satisfying majesty. Rodrigo's last work for guitar and orchestra, the Concierto para una fiesta, is here distinguished by orchestral playing of great refinement, as well as by Muraji's ability to milk a technique that seems to have its basis in a seamless legato.

Recorded sound is excellent; Paulino García Blanco's booklet-notes, prefaced by a testimonial from Rodrigo's daughter Cecilia, are brief yet highly informative.

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