Customer Reviews

Guitarra Portuguesa

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

 

 

This is a great CD, where you get to know some of the standards for Portuguese Guitar, as well as some great compositions by this great player. Pedro Caldeira Cabral is, after Carlos Paredes, the best Portuguese Guitar player of our times. It's a great experience for those music lovers who enjoy virtuous playing. It's a must.

Cabral is the greatest living exponent of the Portuguese guitar. His own compositions -- many of which include uncharacteristic dissonances, harmonies and structures -- break new ground for the instrument. This CD is a studio recording and has better sound than the other available releases. His live performances on FMS and Netwerk are also worthwhile but are out of print, so grab them if you get a chance. Be advised, however, that a lot of the same pieces appear on all three CDs.

Pedro Caldeira Cabral music is just and always marvelous...i know his music since moe then 20 years and every friend i have shown it or offered a CD has always been completely surprised and entusiastic not beleiving how could he or she not have already discovered or know anything about such a beautiful cultural gem... there are certainly better recordings than this one, several also available through amazon, a few examples are available on Youtube, but not on best quality, just to have an impression(yet in my opinion not the most beautiful pieces) or just easy to find through consulting his homepage: [...]

Having been introduced to the Lisbon sound of Fado with the likes of Madredeus, Mariza, Christina Branco, Ana Moura, Dulce Pontes, Amelia Rodrigues, and a host of other fine singers and discs, I had always been impressed with the arrangements and accompaning guitar ensembles. For this reason I decided to perhaps broaden my exposure to Portuguese music and ordered this disc.

I was hugely disappointed. Not only does one song nearly sound like the next and the next and the next and almost seamlessly flow into each other (you can tell they end by the long pause between each one) but the overall recording quality of this disc is very poor.

I can not recommend this disc to anyone. Hey, that's my opinion, but isn't that what these reviews are about? For my money, I'd stick with known guitar ensembles and quality recordings from the likes of Madredeus.