5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lush romanticism, October 13, 2001
This review is from: The Romantic Guitar (Audio CD)
Raphaella Smits is a competent player with a lush, expansive tone and panache for grand, romantic interpretation. This approach to Mertz is absolutely gorgeous. The Mazurka, "Souvenir de Choulhoff," and the Schubertian songs, "Standchen" and "Liebesbotschaft," are especially powerful. Giuliani is of the generation before Mertz, the age of sprightly high classicism and rigid adherence to sonata-allegro form. Unfortunately, while the Smits' aesthetic enhances Mertz's compositions, interpreting Giuliani in this way seems somehow constricting. The Grand Ouverture in particular comes off as almost lethargic.
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