LLOBET: Variaciones sobre Un Tema De Sor: ALBENIZ: Cordoba; Sevilla; Mallorca; Torre Bermeja: RODRIGO: Tres Piezas Espanolas; Invocacion Y Danza.
Guillaume Gibert
This latest album of Spanish material certainly shows how good Gibert’s technique is, because, just starting with Miguel Llobet’s wonderful but very difficult set of variations on Fernando Sor’s theme, this first track really sets the scene well. Llobet does not make anything easy for the player but our guitarist does a wonderful job of the many difficulties Llobet introduces into the piece.
Then we get 4 pieces by Isaac Albeniz, all of course originally piano works, which is often a surprise to anyone who doesn’t know that because they sound so guitaristic. Of course the pieces are extremely well known as guitar works, because many guitarists have been playing them for decades, so these four will almost certainly be known to you as the fine pieces they are. I gather that these are Gibert’s own arrangements because there were several places where the little details were a tad different to what I have heard before, but all still superbly played.
Then we jump from a composer who didn’t write for the guitar, to one who did but never played it, Joaquin Rodrigo. His Tres Piezas Espanolas is one of the most important sets of pieces written in the 20th Century, and like many other people I first discovered them on a John Williams recording from several decades ago. The opening Fandango complete with its discordant opening chords, a style which Rodrigo put into all of his guitar works , sounds fine, if not quite as dynamic as the John Williams album , but then again you might disagree entirely, for Gibert certainly does a fine job whether or not. The Passacaglia based on a ground bass theme is nicely played as is the energetic Zapateado that closes the suite in a very frenetic way, but then surprises the listener by having a very unexpectedly quiet final chord.
The final track is Rodrigo’s Invocacion Y Danza has many fine moments and again many places where the harmonies are unexpected if you haven’t come across this work before. Its nearly eight and a half minutes of music provides a fine conclusion to what is a well thought out album of pieces that many will already have a number of but that should not put you off wanting to try out this beautifully recorded CD and one which is played superbly throughout.
Chris Dumigan
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