Document

  1995
    December 1995
        Orchestral
                Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez. Concierto para una fiesta. Fantasia para un gentilhombre.

Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez. Concierto para una fiesta. Fantasia para un gentilhombre. Alfonso Moreno (gtr); Mexico State Symphony Orchestra / Enrique Batiz.

ASV (Full price) (CD) CDDCA887 (69 minutes: DDD).

The popularity of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez and Fantasia para un gentilhombre is evident in the number of recordings listed in The Gramophone Classical Catalogue; his only other solo guitar and orchestra work, Concierto para una fiesta, has previously been recorded only by Pepe Romero, its dedicatee (on a three-disc Philips set). I am surprised that it has taken so long for someone to get round to putting all three on a single disc.

When the Concierto para una fiesta was first recorded, Pepe Romero (who is justly proud of his facility) and Rodrigo chuckled over the prospect of watching, from heaven, others struggling to play the work. Well, neither of them is up there yet but Moreno spoils their fun by despatching it with what sounds like the greatest of ease – and without the help of any slower tempo. He is equally the technical master of the other two, more familiar works. The downside is that Moreno's tone is often two-dimensional and his delivery is sometimes rough and more peremptory than expressive. If beauty of sound and flexibility of line are what you value first and foremost, there are many better recordings of Aranjuez and the Fantasia to be had (reviews of earlier versions will readily reveal them), and Romero's of Concierto para una fiesta. Rodrigo's taste for high-pitched orchestral sounds, useful in keeping the guitar in a separate 'layer', is italicized by the 'toppy' recording in which the strings occasionally sound somewhat acidic.

If this were a school report I'd add "Good, but could be better". However, as a neat package containing all three works, played with spectacular virtuosity and with adequate orchestral support, with the soloist audible in places where some recordings fail to rescue him from drowning in an orchestral sea (as at 3'40" in the opening movement of Aranjuez), this disc will be attractive to many collectors of this genre of music.

JD



		The popularity of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez and Fantasia para un gentilhombre is evident in the number of recordings listed in The Gramophone Classical Catalogue; his only other solo guitar and orchestra work, Concierto para una fiesta, has previously been recorded only by Pepe Romero, its dedicatee (on a three-disc Philips set). I am surprised that it has taken so long for someone to get round to putting all three on a single disc.



		When the Concierto para una fiesta was first recorded, Pepe Romero (who is justly proud of his facility) and Rodrigo chuckled over the prospect of watching, from heaven, others struggling to play the work. Well, neither of them is up there yet but Moreno spoils their fun by despatching it with what sounds like the greatest of ease – and without the help of any slower tempo. He is equally the technical master of the other two, more familiar works. The downside is that Moreno's tone is often two-dimensional and his delivery is sometimes rough and more peremptory than expressive. If beauty of sound and flexibility of line are what you value first and foremost, there are many better recordings of Aranjuez and the Fantasia to be had (reviews of earlier versions will readily reveal them), and Romero's of Concierto para una fiesta. Rodrigo's taste for high-pitched orchestral sounds, useful in keeping the guitar in a separate 'layer', is italicized by the 'toppy' recording in which the strings occasionally sound somewhat acidic.



		If this were a school report I'd add "Good, but could be better". However, as a neat package containing all three works, played with spectacular virtuosity and with adequate orchestral support, with the soloist audible in places where some recordings fail to rescue him from drowning in an orchestral sea (as at 3'40" in the opening movement of Aranjuez), this disc will be attractive to many collectors of this genre of music.