Customer Reviews

Spanish Guitar Favourites

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All of the music on this disc was recorded for Columbia Records between 1964 and 1970 for release on three 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)
JOHN WILLIAMS PLAYS SPANISH MUSIC (1970)

The final thirteen tracks here are from the 1970 LP and are presented in their original sequence. That album's third and eleventh tracks, Sanz's "Canarios" and Moreno-Torroba's "Madronos" respectively, are missing. Otherwise, JOHN WILLIAMS PLAYS SPANISH MUSIC, certainly one of his greatest LPs, would have been complete on this disc.

What follows is a complete list of the Spanish and Latin American pieces included on the two earlier LPs and in the original sequences. (There is no selection on this disc from 1967's MORE VIRTUOSO MUSIC FOR GUITAR even though it had Spanish music by Mudarra and Moreno-Torroba.)

COLUMBIA RECORDS PRESENTS JOHN WILLIAMS
"Sevilla"
"Recuerdos de la Alhambra"
"Fandanguillo"
"Soleares"
"Rafaga"
"El Testemen de Amelia"
"Scherzino Mexicano" (Ponce - not on this disc)
"El Colibri"

VIRTUOSO MUSIC FOR GUITAR
"Spanish Dance No. 5"
Etude No. 8 (Villa-Lobos - not on this disc)
"Homenaje a Debussy"

Everything Spanish from the first two LPs is here together with nearly all of the 1970 LP. I miss the "Canarios" and "Madronos", but what else to omit instead? "El Testemen de Amelia"? No, it's lovely. I confess I've always been bowled over by JW's approach to Spanish repertoire. His performances are absolutely afire but he himself remains cool and detached. Perfect!

Oh yes, the inclusion of the Venezuelan "Colibri" is a bit strange, but it's very brief, showy and can be loosely associated with Spanish guitar. I know a flamenco player who uses it as an exercise, so I guess that validates it!

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.

Another compilation disc from this same pool of recordings is also available on Amazon. Titled SPANISH GUITAR MUSIC and offered in three different packagings, its playlist is slightly different and does include a few pieces from the 1967 LP. Thank you for reading.

Wonderful music and performance. Nothing could be more soothing to the soul. Great gift for any spanish guitar lover! Buy it and enjoy!!!