John Williams Spanish Guitar Music

John Williams (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 5, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000277B
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,141 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. No. 5, Asturias

2. Tango

3. Canarios

4. No. 1 Fandango

5. Nocturno for guitar in A minor

6. El Colibri for guitar ("The Hummingbird")

7. Sonata for piano in D major, Op.13

8. Dance of the Corregidor

9. Fisherman's Song

10. Miller's Dance "Farruca"

11. Madroños for guitar

12. La Nit de Nadal

13. El Noy de la Mare

14. Asturias

15. La Maja de Goya

16. Fantasia que contrahaze la harpa en la manera de Luduvico

17. No. 4, Cordoba

18. Recuerdos de la Alhambra, for guitar

19. Andaluza (Playera), for guitar or other instrument (arrangement of No.

20. El testament d'Amelia

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Technical Mastery, March 26, 2000

By 

Louis B. Dina (Birmingham, AL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: John Williams Spanish Guitar Music (Audio CD)

Spanish Guitar Music is an older recording, done at Williams peak. He is a technical master. The Miller's Dance is exquisite...in fact, it is hard to believe anyone could possibly play this piece with the energy and accuracy Williams displays. Classical guitarists and enthusiasts alike will appreciate his artistry. It has been one of my favorites for years.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Classical Guitarist in the World, August 27, 2007

By 

Stuart Paine (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: John Williams Spanish Guitar Music (Audio CD)

All of the music on this disc was recorded for Columbia Records between 1964 and 1970 for release on four different LP albums. These are those albums (and I've had them all for 35 years):

COLUMBIA RECORDS PRESENTS JOHN WILLIAMS (1964)
VIRTUOSO MUSIC FOR GUITAR (1965)
MORE VIRTUOSO MUSIC FOR GUITAR (1967)
JOHN WILLIAMS PLAYS SPANISH MUSIC (1970)

Fourteen of the first fifteen tracks here are from the 1970 LP and are presented in their original sequence. Track 6, "El Colibri" by Segreras, is not from that LP. It here replaces the proper sixth LP track, "Valses Poeticos" by Granados, which strangely has been omitted from this collection entirely. Otherwise, the album, certainly one of Williams's greatest, would have been complete on this disc.

What follows is a complete list of the Spanish and Latin American pieces included on the three earlier LPs and in the original sequences (* signifies omission from this collection):

COLUMBIA RECORDS PRESENTS JOHN WILLIAMS
"Sevilla"
"Recuerdos de la Alhambra"
"Fandanguillo"
"Soleares" (Turina) *
"Rafaga" (Turina) *
"El Testemen de Amelia"
"Scherzino Mexicano" (Ponce) *
"El Colibri"

VIRTUOSO MUSIC FOR GUITAR
"Spanish Dance No. 5"
Etude No. 8 (Villa-Lobos) *
"Homenaje a Debussy"

MORE VIRTUOSO MUSIC FOR GUITAR
"Fantasia..." (Mudarra)
"Diferencias Sobre el Conde Claros" (Mudarra) *
Prelude No. 4 (V-L)
Prelude No. 2 (V-L) *
"Aires de la Mancha" (Moreno-Torroba) *

Better choices could have been made from this pool. I myself would have included the "Valses Poeticos" and left out the Villa-Lobos. I've always been bowled over by JW's approach to Spanish repertoire, but don't find him completely convincing with Villa-Lobos' music which in my opinion benefits greatly from a "warmer" touch (like Bream's). Most certainly, the inclusion of these Segreras and Villa-Lobos pieces in a "Spanish" recital is a bit strange, although they're both showy and can be loosely associated with Spanish guitar. Turina's "Rafaga" is one of JW's most fiery performances and could have made the cut. One could in fact make a compelling case for all three Turina pieces from the first LP. Happily, another JW disc which draws from the same recordings, SPANISH GUITAR FAVORITES, does have both the "Valses Poeticos" and all the Turina, and is also available on Amazon.

Quibbling aside, these performances were at the time (and still are) STARTLINGLY good. It's difficult to convey nowadays just how impossible it seemed in 1970 that a human being could play like this. This music is difficult to play and nobody had ever done it with such confidence and ease. I'll never forget seeing JW in 1971 and looking around the hall to see faces uniformly agog.

There are three different packagings for this same disc. I have not heard them all and am in no position to comment as to their relative value. Thank you for reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Technical Mastery., September 14, 2000

By 

Matthew Richard (Canton, Il) - See all my reviews

This review is from: John Williams Spanish Guitar Music (Audio CD)

I'm 16, and an amateur classical guitarist. This C.D. is one of williams best, he is the apex of guitar evolution. There is no better at technical development than he. I especially enjoyed the fisherman's song, a definate reccomendation, 5 stars