Customer Reviews

Latin Guitar Festival

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

 

 

This CD is proof that price has no correlation with quality when it comes to music CDs. This CD is full of short guitar pieces by masters such as Villa-Lobos, etc, and every song is beautiful and well crafted. None of the music featured on this CD is cheap - it is top quality latin classical guitar music. Another reason to get this CD is that many of the songs featured on this CD are rare and not easy to find. Lastly, the sound quality is surprisingly good and most audiophiles won't be disappointed.

Currently on amazon, this CD is going for 99 cents used. Spend a buck and get one of the best CDs of your guitar music collection.

The previous reviewer is absolutely right: this is a superb collection, superbly played, by some of the very best guitarists you will ever hear performing this repertoire. Demonstration quality sound. A joy from first to last.

I should state at the outset that I don't possess this album. I do, however, possess all the recordings on it in other manifestations, so I can say with confidence that (at under $6.00 as I write) this is stunning value.

What it is, is the entirety of Konrad Ragossnig & Walter Feybli's The Latin American Guitar -- itself an excellent (originally) budget-priced CD -- plus Manuel Barrueco playing Villa-Lobos's Popular Brazilian Suite, bringing the total time to 59'40".

RAGOSSNIG/FEYBLI

The Ragossnig/Feybli album, originally recorded in 1973, consists of 44 minutes of eminently listenable and charming Latin American guitar solos and duets, and as such has been issued many times on many labels under many titles -- usually budget-priced, but I see the second-hand prices are being inflated, as is considered customary for deleted items.

Konrad Ragossnig, although little known outside his native Austria, is an excellent guitarist (and lutenist); Walter Feybli is otherwise unknown to me, but here appears as a fine guitarist in his own right.

A few pieces are solos by one artist or the other, and the remainder are duets. All the pieces are rhythmic and firmly tonal, and thus suitable for the general listener, even the Ponce.

The solo pieces are indeed staples of the classical guitar repertory. But the gems of this album are the eleven South American Folksongs arranged by the late Len Williams, which (as far as I'm aware) have never been recorded elsewhere.

The last-named is of course best known as the father of John. What is not so well known is that he was a first-rate arranger for guitar, and especially for two guitars (which I can also attest as former student of his Spanish Guitar Centre in London).

The "Album of Spanish and South American Folk Songs for two guitars", to give it its full title (published by Schott, GA91) is a triumph of the arrangers art: the pieces are so simple to play that even near-beginners can manage them; when played by masters -- as here -- they are delightful.

MANUEL BARRUECO

Cuban Manuel Barrueco is one of my favourite guitarists of all time; not because of his rock-solid technique (which is becoming less uncommon these days) but because of his amazing musicianship and beautiful sound. He is equally at home with Romantic, Baroque or modern music, and the Popular Brazilian Suite fits right in with the rest of the album.

SUMMARY

Unless you hate Latin music on the guitar, you can't go wrong with this disk.

Just a short note here - This disc is an unbelievable bargain because it has the best of the Ragossnig & Feybli Spanish guitar favorites. Can't figure out why is it going so cheaply in ANY condition, but it is not to be missed if you are looking for these two artists. We are pleased that other reviewers feel the same about this recording. You won't regret adding this one to your classical guitar collection!