Customer Reviews

British Guitar Music

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
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Thanks to Naxos for bringing us more great repertoire, impeccably presented and recorded by an ace musician. Recordings of the Walton are easy to come by, but the collection of all of Berkeley's solo guitar music on one disc, along with the spooky Rawsthorne which I haven't seen outside Bream's out-of-print recording, and the ingenious and also-rare Bennett Impromptus, makes this an extremely important collection. And that's just on academic merit alone. It's also a totally happening set of music. The playing is passionate but clean as a whistle, thoughtful but also lively. Devine's interpretations are full of detailed ideas, yet he's also in command of the big picture. You get the feeling he identifies with and actually LIKES this music. A lot. The Kraft/Naxos sound is in full effect: pristine, clear but not cold, not too room-y, not too much jiving with reverb or other b.s. For me the best surprise is Berkeley's recently exhumed "Four Pieces:" like this composer's solo piano miniatures, these are elegant, idiomatic pieces full of sunny wit in some places, gorgeous melancholy in others. And the Naxos price, under 10 bucks. What are you waiting for?

I bought this for the sakes of music, but discovered a great player. Never heard this name, Graham Anthony Devine -- but turns out this guy is outstanding. Music, actually, is so-so: the well-known Walton is nice; the rest I'm not so crazy about. Still I recommend this piece 'cause I bet you'll like the performer. I'm gonna get me more of his records: he's REALLY good! How come I never heard of him? Amazing... thanks to Naxos once more for this series. I might add more to this, admittedly, somewhat bare review once I've lived with this record a month or two; I just wanted to issue an advance warning sort of thing about the guy. He really stands out, at least in my opinion.