Thibaut Garcia : Bach Inspirations : CD

AGUSTIN BARRIOS MANGORE: La Catedral: J.S. BACH : Chaconne BWV 1004 ; Choral "Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns Die Stimme: BWV 140; Choral "Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude" BWV 147  : GOUNOD: Ave Maria : ALEXANDRE TANSMAN: Inventions ( Hommage A Bach ); Piece En Forme A Passacaille:HEITOR VILLA – LOBOS : Aria from Bachianas Brasileiras No5; Prelude No3 ( Homenagem A Bach ): DUSAN BOGDANOVIC : Suite Breve I – V.

Thibaut Garcia (with Soprano Vocals –Elsa Dreisig  on Gounod -  Ave Maria ), and Villa – Lobos – Aria )

Erato : 9029 56052-6

This set of recordings not only has some Bach, but pieces that have apparently been inspired by the great man. Thibaut Garcia is French/Spanish and the immediate thing you notice is how beautiful the sound is on this album.

He begins with Agustin Barrios Mangore’s La Catedral, which is a brilliant start to this album. The three very varied movements are emotional and very expressively performed .The final movement is at a considerable speed, and yet he plays it effortlessly.

Then we get the first and perhaps the greatest piece of Bach that it is possible to play on our guitar, the mind – blowing Chaconne from the Violin Partita No2 in Dm, first arranged by Segovia many decades ago, and since played and arranged by many a player, providing they have a wonderful technique, which is definitely needed for this 15 minute piece, and Garcia certainly proves he has that in abundance, using as he does, his own arrangement of this astonishing piece of writing. This is definitely one of the best versions I have ever heard.

The Bach/Gounod Ave Maria is absolutely stunning. It of course is based on the 1st prelude from the first book of the Well – Tempered Klavier, of Bach onto which Gounod added the Ave Maria words., which are exceptionally sung by Elsa Dreisig, in her beautiful soprano voice.

The five – movement Tansman Inventions (Hommage A Bach) is a wonderful suite published by Berben and collated by Angelo Gilardino, in a set of publications that went back to Segovia’s archive of music that was left unpublished after his death. The resulting set of books is a real beautiful group of pieces that every guitarist ought to have (as I have!)The Tansman suite is very closely designed like Bach would have done, and the sound world is very much in the baroque style. The five movements are Passepied, Sarabande, Sicilienne , Toccata A Deux Voix and Aria, and one wonders why it took SO long for them to appear in print! The performance, like the music, is gorgeous and exceptionally played. The other Tansman piece , Piece en Forme a Passacaille has a similar history to the previous Tansman piece, and was published in the same book in 2003.Again, this is very Bach – like in its sound and structure, and together with the other Tansman piece, should be heard and played more often!

The other piece that involves the soprano Elsa Dreisig is the well – known Aria from Villa – Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileras No5, which again is a beautiful performance with Elsa really adding a lovely vocal to this moving piece of music. I haven’t heard a better performance of this before.

The Prelude No3 of Villa – Lobos is surely one of his most well – known pieces of solo guitar, and again gets an exceptional performance from our performer.

Dusan Bogdanovic’s Suite Breve is in five movements, Toccata, Fugue, Sarabande, Chaconne and Gigue, and whereas the titles are Baroque based, the music is much more modern , although written in certain ways to duplicate the sort of part – writing that Bach used. The five pieces are all less than two minutes each and so therefore the title of ‘Breve’ is quite true!

The album finishes with two well – known Bach pieces, "Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns Die Stimme: BWV 140 and the Choral "Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude" BWV 147, both lovely performances and a superb conclusion to what is a really fabulous album of lovely music, exceptionally performed and with a very clear and close recording. Superb in every way! Give it a listen!  

Chris Dumigan