Sharon Isbin Plays Baroque Favorites for Guitar

Antonio Vivaldi (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Tomaso Albinoni (Composer), Howard Griffiths (Conductor), Zurich Chamber Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Zurich Chamber Orchestra
• Conductor: Howard Griffiths
• Composer: Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Tomaso Albinoni
• Audio CD (April 22, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Teldec
• ASIN: B00008CLIT
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,161 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #32 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Strings > Lute
  • #70 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Strings > Guitar
  • #93 in Music > Classical > Ballets & Dances > Baroque Dance Suites

Track Listings

1. Lute (Chamber) Concerto, for lute (or guitar), 2 violins & continuo in D major, RV 93: Allegro

2. Lute (Chamber) Concerto, for lute (or guitar), 2 violins & continuo in D major, RV 93: Largo

3. Lute (Chamber) Concerto, for lute (or guitar), 2 violins & continuo in D major, RV 93: Allegro

4. Concerto for violin, strings & continuo No. 1 in A minor, BWV 1041: [Allegro]

5. Concerto for violin, strings & continuo No. 1 in A minor, BWV 1041: Andante

6. Concerto for violin, strings & continuo No. 1 in A minor, BWV 1041: Allegro assai

7. Adagio, for violin, strings & organ in G minor, T. Mi 26 (composed by Remo Giazotto; not by Albinoni)

8. Guitar Concerto, for guitar, strings & continuo in A major (arranged from Trio Sonata in C major, RV 82): Allegro non molto (quasi An

9. Guitar Concerto, for guitar, strings & continuo in A major (arranged from Trio Sonata in C major, RV 82): Larghetto

10. Guitar Concerto, for guitar, strings & continuo in A major (arranged from Trio Sonata in C major, RV 82): Allegro

11. Concerto for harpsichord, strings & continuo No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056: Adagio

12. Prelude for lute in C minor, BWV 999 (BC L171)

13. Cantata No. 147, 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben,' BWV 147 (BC A174): Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Likely to Become Bach Favorite for Guitar, April 29, 2003

By 

rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Sharon Isbin Plays Baroque Favorites for Guitar (Audio CD)

I've always enjoyed Parkening and others who do Bach on the guitar. Here, noted classic guitarist Isbin provides a beautifully crafted and performed set of baroque favs on guitar.

She plays with controlled passion and clarity, and to my ear her Bach is even more clean and phrased superior to Parkening's.

The selection is well chosen, with great addition to instrument's reportoire of Vivaldi's Concerto in A major.

I find her Albioni's Adagio very well done! The dynamics are well done as well as tempo in this spirited rendiiton.

Ms. Isbin certainly is one of the premiere performers of this instrument, and here is a well done collection from the baroque era, which many of us consider to be one of the best.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Relaxing, February 6, 2010

By 

Jason W. Weill "Meow 64" (Abbeville, La) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Sharon Isbin Plays Baroque Favorites for Guitar (Audio CD)

As someone who enjoys playing Classical Guitar and listening/playing Classical Music, Baroque is one of the most beautiful art forms. This is one of the most scholarly works that Sharon Isbin put together and is very relaxing to listen to. I especially enjoy the Vivaldi pieces and is on par with the Amadeus Duo.

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Deeply Disappointing, March 30, 2008

By 

J. H. Walsh (Nahant, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Sharon Isbin Plays Baroque Favorites for Guitar (Audio CD)

I heard this recording on NPR, starting midway through the second movement of the Vivaldi concerto. I have listened to this piece for fifty years and knew what it was within a second. I was zipping down the interstate in a relatively quiet car and was struck by Isbin's sensitive interpretation and scribbled a note to myself to order it right away. When it arrived I played it in the quiet of my home only to discover how devastatingly unbalanced the recording was. it was as if Isbin were standing two feet in front of you and an ensemble of talented little people accompanied her in another room.

Who could have made this terrible aesthetic mistake? Perhaps it's Isbin, because that's the way she hears it. But Vivaldi was writing for a sound created by the relationship between the solo instrument and an accompanying string ensemble (although I have heard a version for two mandolins). Try imagining the second movement of Beethoven's 9th from the point of view (point of hearing) of the tympanist. It might not be exactly what Beethoven had in mind.

My wife and I heard the BSO and Levine perform the Gurreleider on a Thursday night a few years ago. We were overwhelmed by its power and beauty. We couldn't wait to hear it again on the live radio performance the following Saturday night. What a disappointment! The soloists were heavily miked and you could have no sense that there were 150 singers and more than a hundred other musicians on the stage.

As with so much in life and in music, proportion is everything.

The Isbin lacks a sense of proportion to the ear. It does not succeed in presenting the music even though it shows her technical competence.