ALBENIZ: Suite Espanola Op47: No1 Granada ( Serenata) ; No3 Sevilla ( Sevillanas) ;No5 Asturias (Leyenda): ANONYMOUS : Romance : TARREGA: Recuerdos de la Alhambra; Adelita; Capricho Arabe; Lagrima: DOMENICONI : Koyunbaba Op19: THEODORAKIS: Epitafios Nos, 3 and 4:LLOBET: El Testiment De Amelia ( Catalan Folk Song: GRANADOS: DANZAS ESPANOLS No2 Oriental; No5 Andaluza.
Milos Karadaglic
Deutsche Grammophon : CD
This was the premiere recording of this now famous guitarist, who often appears on Classic FM, and even occasionally on the TV, and he wanted for his first outing in the CD world to play music that was, for the most part, popular and exceedingly well – known, the exceptions perhaps being the Theodorakis, and maybe the Domeniconi too which are not as often recorded or performed as the remainder of the recital.
Of course the famous works are all effortlessly played, as one would expect, the Tarrega set sounding just fine, with the Recuerdos having a lovely tremolo, the Albeniz works also sounding beautiful and not giving our player any difficulties whatsoever, and the famous Anon Romance that just about every guitarist in the world has had a go at at one time or another is fine also but this one has an orchestral accompaniment to it that sets it a little apart from the usual recordings. Carlo Domeniconi’s Suite Koyunbaba is not as often played as it used to be, perhaps owing to the unusual tuning of the guitar, namely a C#m chord (C#, G#, C#, G#, C#, E, from 6 to 1 )which would usually necessitate any recitalists taking a separate guitar just set already in that tuning. Karadaglic makes this very exotic work, compelling and nothing like as difficult to play as it really is. The Theodorakis Epitafios has an interesting history, as it was originally a work for voice and guitar and had 8 movements. Decades ago John Williams arranged four of them for solo guitar, but since then many people have had a go, and this latest pairing is different again from the Williams versions. Best known perhaps for his Zorba’s Dance, the Epitafios show him at a more reflective and emotive side, and work really well on solo guitar. The wonderful Llobet arrangement of El Testament de Amelia is always a welcome piece as is the whole set of Catalan folk songs that Llobet produced. This latest version is finely done, with plenty of emotion and warmth. The closing two pieces by Granados, are of course very popular and beautifully played, especially the Oriental which remains one of the finest works ever played on classical guitar.
Karadaglic is a superb player, as this CD proves. The fact that so much of it is liable to be already in many listener’s CDs in perhaps numerous versions already makes me think that this could detract from such fine playing as this, but it shouldn’t .
Chris Dumigan