Rovshan Mamedkuliev : Laureate Series : CD

WALTON: Five Bagatelles: RODRIGO: Junto al Generalife ; En los trigales: BACH , J S: Partita for solo violin No. 2 in D minor, BWV1004 V. Chaconne: WILLIAMS J. Rounds: KOSHKIN: Guitar Sonata No. 2- I. Allegro Moderato ;  II.Adagio Con Moto ; III. Allegro.

Rovshan Mamedkuliev

Naxos: 8573669

Our guitarist was born in 1986 in Azerbaijan, with his family moving to Russia two years later where at the age of 11 he began taking guitar lessons, and immediately showing amazing talent for the instrument.

Well, that is immediately obvious the way that he throws himself into William Walton’s famous five Bagatelles, that I remember getting the sheet music for, and struggling enormously to make them playable. Well, Rovshan begins the opening Allegro with a phenomenal opening that really takes you by surprise. The slow second Bagatelle, is suitably calm and emotional while the 3rd, the Alla Cubana is again full of action and nothing appears to cause him any problems .After a beautiful Sempre Espressivo, comes the final Con Slancio, with the opening tremolo styled theme perfectly played, and a fine conclusion to what is our country’s greatest guitar works, and a    great opening for the programme.

Then we get two of Joaquin Rodrigo’s very individual solo works, again very tricky to bring off successfully, probably because he was not a guitar player, and so his musical ideas were never automatically playable on the guitar without some editing .Again, our performer has no problems and really brings out the truer musicality of these two very unique pieces of writing.

Then we get one of the greatest works arranged for the guitar, but not written for it, Bach’s 14 minute Chaconne, originally for the violin. Over the last 50 years I have heard many performances of this incredible piece of writing. Of course, to even attempt this unforgettable piece you have to have a wonderful technique and like the rest of his programme, this fits really well under his fingers, and the uniqueness of Bach’s astonishing music is given a fine performance.

Then we come across a piece from the film composer John Williams called Rounds, which is the only work on this album, I had not previously heard. Unlike his wonderful film music this piece is serious, dark, and immediately made me wonder why I hadn’t heard it, or of it before, because it is a fine piece that is nothing like any of his other music I have come across.

The recital closes with Nikita Koshkin’s 2nd Guitar Sonata, set in three movements. Russian born Koshkin is, at 69 one of our greatest guitar composers, and his modern but very acceptable Sonata is some of his most extensive writing. The opening Allegro Moderato is quite unlike anything else, and has moments of tremolo writing, others of large modern chords that take you by surprise and moments of quiet contemplation. The second movement is an Adagio which then moves into a Con Moto almost halfway through its 6+ minutes before returning to its serious opening as the movement nears its final section. The final Allegro is a mixture of fast staccato runs intermingled with moments of silence near the start. Again this is very serious almost spooky music that could be used in a film when something frightening is about to happen! The actual conclusion takes us back to the stop – start idea from the opening, but here even more so with a totally unexpected final few moments.

The playing is absolutely astonishing, the recording very clear and the programme diverse and completely enjoyable from start to finish. This album needs you all to listen to it! An astonishing performance all round.

Chris Dumigan