Customer Reviews

Bach: The Four Lute Suites

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Williams' was the first complete recording of the suites I'd ever heard and at that time I was just overwhelmed by the flawless technique. The recording captures a special time for me during my initial "guitar freak phase" and I still enjoy hearing it. But musically, I've heard so many expressive players on different instruments since (not the least of which Casals and Gould) that, as far as Bach on the guitar goes, I now prefer Sharon Isbin's recording of the suites on Virgin, both for her tone and phrasing. And if I'm in a lute-mood, Bream is still my guy. But Williams set the bar with this recording as far as I'm concerned and, for guitarists of all bents, it's a must have.

This is one of the best classical guitar recordings out there and in my opinion one of the great recordings of Bach's music written for solo instrument. A powerful, straight ahead reading of the lute suites. At some point you stop hearing the guitar and start hearing just the music itself. Buy this one.

This recording had to do some work to win me over, but it did. I'm not fond of transcribed music; I like music with original instrumentation. To me, lute music is for lutes, not guitars; harpsichord is for harpsichords, not pianos. This is the first transcribed album I liked well enough to buy at the first go around. It is simply marvelous; and while there are passages where I would prefer the quickness and sharpness of a lute, I have grown to love this one. I'm not much of a classical guitar fan, either, but I finally realized why this music appeals to me: It is the work of a real composer, with length and depth and variety and purpose.

I have always thought that when J.S. Bach imagined music, he imagined it on a harpsichord. I think this weakens his string music; the endless sawing away of violins on eighth and sixteenth notes--far better suited to a harpsichord--irritates me. But with the guitar or lute, it works much better. And when Bach (through Williams) slows down and lets the melody speak... heavenly.

What Williams has done, that matches the harpsichord paradigm, is play the guitar (as others have noted) with two voices, as with the upper and lower keyboards of a harpsichord. In this I think he has gotten inside JSB's mind, and understands what Bach was doing. I have never heard anyone else pull off the two-voice effect like this. Almost three-dimensional. Marvelous.

I own three different releases of this wonderful music. The oldest one marked CBS 1975, The pair of Bach Lute music CDs V1,V2 compiled 1997 by Sony, remastered by Bejun Metha, and this latest remastering and release Sony 2006.

Each of them has a different sound. The oldest one has a thin and sometimes metalic sound. Detailed yes, but does not sound like a real guitar. This one is labeled "re-mastered, mixed and edited by MikeRoss Treavor & John Williams. The newest one is an improvement, detailed, clear, and not as metalic sounding in the bass registers, but still a litle "hot." The one here is simply remastered using Sony Direct Stream Digital.

The best mastering is the middle set of two CDs. The instrument sounds like a real guitar, easy to listen to, non fatiguing, and at least to these ears, right. In addition you get considerably more music on the two CDs.

For sure the digital technology has changed over the 30 years, but the handling of the digital material, or perhaps in the tape transfer stage, there is a significant spread in the results.

Friends who have heard this album all love it -- even those who are not classical music fans. . . . .Product was in perfect condition. Shipping was fast and efficient.

Andre Segovia was the first classical, accoustic guitarist I ever heard. In my ignorance and innocence, I did not know Segovia saw the young John as being one of the "chosen." The first time I heard this album, there was a freak ice storm in Wilmington, NC. The house had an old sun porch--three sides of glass facing into the woods, near Bradley Creek Sound. It was a perfect day as the sun streamed through iced down trees creating rainbows and shimmers -- every colour your eye could capture; ice sparkles like the sun on an early morning ocean rolling. A slight breeze would take your breath. It was a Spirit Day, 1982 maybe.

I had an old record player with a major mechanical error. It stopped and replayed anything you put on it. The John Williams record had a big fat scratch at the end, that kicked that record arm back to start over and over and over again -- working beautifully with the mechanical malfunction. It was my first experience listening hard to classical guitar. It played over and over and over. It was one of those times of tuly hearing all the way down in your bones and deep inside your heart. My striped kitten, Ernie, lay on my chest all afternoon and tears fell down my cheeks the whole day from the exquisite magnitude of overwhelming beauty. Everything ever seen, felt, thought, heard the total mix was coming from fingertip to string to soul. This recording for someone brand new or someone with an old ear is perfection. I've bought it and given it away too many times to count. I will continue to do just that, but for now, it's my copy and I'm wearing it out. Priceless sound.

I have been listening to this recording since the late 80s and I am still blown away. If any recording deserves the five star treatment on Amazon, it's this one. The sound of his guitar, the flawless execution, the emotive quality- all add up to probably the finest Bach recording ever made, and certainly the best recording of the four Lute Suites available.

All Bach lovers, music lovers, and guitarists need to have a copy of this in their music collection.

The playing is absolute genius, a tour de force of subtle shaping, phrasing, articulation and architecture. Williams must have been possessed when he made this, because its his best work, and almost otherworldly in perfection and grace. It has an inner pulse, a 'drive' if you will, that floats and dances, that has totally surrendered to the inner pulse of Bach. I can almost hear echoes of the best of Gould here in the boney, strident tone (but still warm in a strange way), rhythmic drive, and the total control over each voice.

I don't think that John Williams is a Jack of all trades when it comes to classical guitar, but I do think that he is a great master of baroque music, especially music with such a cerebral component to it as Bach's.

Williams adds just the right measure of flourish and he understands the score well enough to make all its intricate layers come through. I can listen to the little fugue in the first track over and over again and it never fails to amaze me how good the separation of voices sounds.

Don't get me wrong, the pieces are melodically beautiful in themselves. The extra depth though that the composer has endowed them with and that the performer allows to develop raises them to their well deserved level of the masterpiece.

As an added bonus, the recording engineering on this release is excellent. Nothing is robbed of the wonderful sound of the guitar.

Along with Julian Bream's Granados and Albeniz CD and David Russell's Barrios collection this is one of my favorite guitar CDs. A great introduction to both classical guitar and baroque music for the uninitiated.

No classical CD collection is complete without this one. Wonderful performance and recording of the best music ever written! Of course I'm a Bach uber-fan but even if you just love classical guitar music you should buy this fast. Bach is actually baroque in his era but we tend to think in terms of "classical" music. You'll hear familiar melodies sprinkled throughout the lute suites and realize the origin of all those snippets of beauty that still find their way into our popular culture. Don't cheat yourself out the mother's milk of true masterpiece musicality and glory. And I'm not exaggerating one little bit in my praise. I actually love every single note in the lute suites.