El Bohemio Works by Barrios, Beethoven, Chopin, R Schumann Thibaut Garcia (guitar) Erato 5419772617 80:48 mins
Thibaut Garcia’s latest album is a project devoted entirely to the music of Agustin Barrios. Comprising original compositions and arrangements, it is curated to showcase the flexibility, depth and range of sonority of the classical guitar. The Paraguayan composer is quite beautifully interpreted by Garcia who manages to convey the tranquility and luminosity of this instrument in an apparently effortless fashion.
Exemplified in the first piece Un sueno en la floresta, the recording starts with a stately, but nevertheless breath-like introduction, adding lovely and subtle glissandos, space and light, before arriving at the tremolo section where the piece settles. These tremolo techniques are used throughout in a way that guides the tempos with masterful control and a sense of phrasing that really elevates the music.
Energy is also drawn from the many Paraguayan folk elements throughout, and the playful aspects of Maxixe and Danza paraguayabring a humour and lightheartedness to the whole, whilst Las abejas adds a fiery, Tarantella-like virtuosity. Barrios’s compositions, whilst proudly Paraguayan clearly draw on influences from further afield; unsurprising hints of Spanish and Greek music, arrangements of Chopin and Beethoven and possibly even some sniffs of Fauré in the mix.
The delicious use of harmonics, variety in tone and Romantic harmonies add to a recipe that is impossible not to like, though adding some of the more percussive, spicy techniques so effective on the guitar – rather than the classical arrangements – might have made for a more well-rounded programme.
Anne Templer