CASTELNUOVO – TEDESCO : 24 Caprichos de Goya Op195 : 1) Capricho No. 1: Francisco Goya y Lucientes, pintor (Francisco Goya y Lucientes, painter) 2) Capricho No. 5: Tal para cual (Two of a kind) 3) Capricho No. 6: Nadie se conoce (Nobody knows himself) 4) Capricho No. 7: Ni así la distingue (Even thus he cannot make her out) 5) Capricho No. 11: Muchachos al avío (Lads making ready) 6) Capricho No. 10: El amor y la muerte (Love and death) 7) Capricho No. 13: Están calientes (They are hot) 8) Capricho No. 16: Dios la perdone: y era su madre (For Heaven's sake: and it was her mother) 9) Capricho No. 17: Bien tirada está (It is nicely stretched) 10) Capricho No. 33: Al conde palatino (To the count palatine ) 11) Capricho No. 18: Y se le quema la casa (And the house is on fire) 12) Capricho No. 24: No hubo remedio (There was no help) 13) Capricho No. 27: ¿Quién más rendido? (Who more is surrendered?) 14) Capricho No. 32: Porque fue sensible (Because she was susceptible) 15) Capricho No. 37: ¿Si sabra más el discípulo? (Might not the pupil know more?) 16) Capricho No. 38: ¡Bravísimo! (Bravissimo!) 17) Capricho No. 40: ¿De qué mal morirá? (Of what ill will he die?) 18) Capricho No. 43: El sueño de la razón produce monstruos (The sleep of reason produces monsters ) 19)Capricho No. 44: Hilan delgado (They spin finely) 20) Capricho No. 47: Obsequio al maestro (A gift for the master) 21) Capricho No. 53: ¡Que pico de oro! (What a golden beak!) 22) Capricho No. 61: Volavérunt (They have flown) 23) Capricho No. 68: Linda maestra (Pretty teacher) 24) Sueno de la mentira y inconstancia (Dreams of lies and fickleness)
Frank Bungarten
MDG : MDG 3050725
Los Caprichos is a set of 80 prints in aquatint and etching created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797-1798, and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya's condemnation of the universal follies and foolishness in the Spanish society in which he lived. Goya’s satirical etchings included a grotesque cast of supernatural beings and subhuman characters. Originally conceived for Andrés Segovia, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s 24 Caprichos de Goya written in 1961 has seldom been recorded complete, but here is one such complete set by German – born Bungarten. This is a huge undertaking never to be taken lightly, and although the sheet music from Berben did not actually show any of the prints, the very definite titles of the various 24 pieces are obviously what set Castelnuovo – Tedesco to write what he did, and therefore the often very unusual music is what the player is left with when trying to give the listener an idea of the music he was trying to convey and one can see from the list above , where I have also entered the particular Capricho number that the titles without the pictures are enigmatic to say the least! Incidentally the final piece on the CD , No24, appears not to actually have been one of the Caprichos , but was a sketch that he never went further with , and so is not actually one of the 80 Caprichos.
The pieces themselves are an exhaustive workout for guitarists, particularly as the sheet music has multiple places in every piece where two variants are printed above each other, in case the player cannot cope with one of them, as Castelnuovo – Tedesco was not a guitar player and all his guitar music needed editing to a greater or lesser amount. So the very fact that this set is of 24 pieces can only tell you just how difficult this set can turn out to be for the player.
The good news therefore is to state that Bungarten is a very talented guitarist who makes the absolute best of the job at hand and makes these often rather un – guitaristic pieces sound utterly guitaristic from start to finish. The recording quality too is very clear, accurate and realistic and so this set then becomes one that the lover of this music really ought to seek out and get hold of, and as such I can heartily recommend it especially as it is still one of the very few complete sets of this work .
Chris Dumigan