COMPOSERS: Falla,Sor,Turina,Villa-Lobos & Moreno Torroba
LABELS: DG Westminster
ALBUM TITLE: Collection: Spanish Guitar Music
WORKS: Works
PERFORMER: Julian Bream (guitar)
CATALOGUE NO: 471 236-2 ADD mono Reissue (1957)
A chance to hear the young Julian Bream in a recital of core repertoire – not all strictly Spanish. Brazilian Villa-Lobos’s inventive and idiomatic Preludes are musically the most interesting and best show off Bream’s eloquent, colourful playing, along with Falla’s brooding Homenaje.
Bream performs everything with his customary technical mastery and singing tone, but a little of guitarist-composer Fernando Sor’s Classical salon music goes a long way, and the Turina and Torroba pieces are pleasant, but lightweight. Recorded sound is close, emphasising string squeaks and breaths, and there is a distracting background hiss. A collector’s item. Emma Baker