SANZ: Suite Espanola; TRADITIONAL SPANISH MELODY: Romance D’Amour: SASLOW: Ragtime Melody: TARREGA : Lagrima ( Prelude): LAWALL: Gospelhorn; Erdig :BACH: Prelude from the Cello Suite No1 BWV 1007; Bouree from the Lute Suite No1 BWV 996; Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring from the Cantata BWV 147: PETZOLD: Menuet from the @Notenbuchlein fur Anna Magdalena Bach BWV Anhang 114: VILLA – LOBOS: Prelude No1 : EICHELMANN; Meditation from the Documentary film ‘The Flying Doctors’ BALLARD: Branles de Village:LERICH: Introduction and Serenade for Django: TRADITIONAL ENGLISH MELODY: Greensleeves: WILLIAMS : Classical Gas: BEHREND: Die Gitarren von Quimet: GREEK TRADITIONAL : Minstrels.
Hucky Eichelmann
AMI Records: AMI-CD-2012-23
This CD of Hucky’s is aimed fairly and squarely at the more general music/ guitar lover, as unlike most of his other recordings there are none from his adopted homeland and about 75% is music that most people will recognize. So we do find the popular Anonymous Romance D’Amour along with Lagrima by Tarrega, Villa – Lobos’ 1st Prelude, Greensleeves, and a great performance of Mason Williams ‘Classical Gas. The is nothing wrong with that of course because the collection features some of his favourite pieces from his huge concert repertoire, and along with those that you will probably know are quite a handful that you almost certainly won’t unless you have been lucky enough to hear him in concert.
So we find a set of five pieces by Gaspar Sanz, ending in the toe – tapping Canarios, and then we get a Ragtime Medley consisting of four fun pieces by Richard Saslow, which are lots of fun, and show off Hucky’s brilliant technique and musicality. Gospelhorn by Georg Lawall is another immediate piece, the humour and wit of which is great fun. His other piece Erdig , is every bit as good and those two make me wish I’d seen the sheet music for them, as they would go down a storm in a concert , or guitar club meeting!” The Bach pieces are of course elegant and exactly as they should be and the Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring is an arrangement that manages to get all the notes in that a lot of people manage to leave out. This version sounds like it should do! Hucky has written lots of music over the years , including pieces for films TV and the suchlike, and his Meditation is one such piece, and one of the standout tracks. Pierre Lerich as a name I have not come across before, and yet his piece in homage to Django ( Reinhardt) sounds for all the world like one of those jazz infused arrangements of a popular tune, for example the sort of thing that Laurinda Almeida might do. The only thing is, this is a piece that you won’t know, but it really is brilliant, so warm friendly and beautifully written. The two pieces by Siegfried Behrend, collectively called Die Gitarren von Quimet are also new to me, the first being a Danza Amazonica, which is a moody, serious piece with moments of low percussion, and is very atmospheric .The final Danza Mora is by contrast bouncy, full of very quick runs over a drone bass, and even some tremolo too, so both pieces are for me a good find.
I really can’t fault this CD, as it is stunningly played, with lots of variety in the music, and has a clear and vibrant recording, and as such I can heartily recommend it as well worthy of your attention.
Chris Dumigan