LLOBET: Leonesa;13 Popular Catalan Songs; Scherzo – Waltz; Mazurka for Federico Bufaletti; Romance; Variations on a Theme of Sor; Mazurka; Prelude ( a Rosita Lloret); Prelude in A; Prelude in D ( a Maria Luisa Anido); Original Prelude; Prelude in E; Thre Argentinean Folk Songs ( in Em, F#m, and D) ; Etude – Caprice; Etude in E; Respuesta.
Giulio Tampallini
Brilliant Classics: 94335
With 41 tracks om this album, you may wonder how it all fits onto one CD of 63 minutes in length, but a great number of these wonderful works are very short indeed, as anyone who knows this master’s writings will know. Mind you, short, does not mean easy to play, as, again, many of you who, like me, possess this large collection, will be able to agree with. Add to that the fact that their publication in print was for a long time, far from complete, and you end up with a fascinating collection of absolutely some of the best music ever written for the classical guitar.
Of course the set of pieces that he is most well – known for are the Popular Catalan Songs , and particularly El Noi De La Mare, El Mestre, Canco del Lladre, and El Testament d’Amelia, four of the 13 pieces here recorded. The fact that all 13 only take up a few seconds over 19 minutes in total shows you their brevity. Very much a larger piece is his Variations on a Theme of Sor, which consists of the Theme, Variations 1 to 6, an Intermezzo, and finally variations 7 to 10.This hugely complex and our player makes a wonderful job of its immense technical difficulties.
There are far too many pieces here to mention individually but suffice it to say that this album is a MUST, if you like any of Miguel Llobet’s guitar music at all, because nothing on here disappoints; it is all fabulous, written by a master of his art, and played by a wonderful performer. This is definitely one to look for!
Chris Dumigan
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