Ponce; Rodrigo; Villa-Lobos: Guitar Concertos

Advantages: amazing interpretation of a classical piece
Disadvantages: Let me think about that.....hmmmmmm...........aaaaaaaaa...no

..., John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Jimi Hendrix if he was not dead and many many others that I would need pages to enumerate them(actually 10 lines would be sufficient but anyway). It is in the late 50's when Miles after he introduced the cool jazz idiom as a kind of an answer to the hard-bop idiom of the time, he decides to reorchestrate the whole "Concerto d' Aranjuez" for guitar, by Rodrigo, in a more Miles way. His main assistant? Famous jazz orchestrator and composer Gill Evans, not to be mistaken with the other great jazz pianist Bill Evans, who also as mentioned above collaborated with Miles from times to times. The result is a completely personal interpretation of a classical piece of music, that for sure stands at least as equal to the original concerto. Gill's orchestration throughout is ideal(I love those bell chimes... Read review

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Advantages: Hugely enjoyable music, fresh and free of pretence
Disadvantages: Unfamiliarity?

...Brazil’s most celebrated classical composer wrote some two hundred works for piano, many of which sadly languish in the wilderness. This disc will do much to advocate his appealing musical personality. The collection begins with the suite “As Tres Marias,” a trio of movements lasting barely three minutes. Based on the stars of Orion’s belt, it is one of Villa-Lobos’ most popular pieces, here played with great panache by the Canadian virtuoso Marc-Andre Hamelin. The closing Rudepoema, a fiercesome score from the 1920s dedicated to Arthur Rubinstein, paints a completely different sound picture. It’s a concentrated work, powerful and uncompromising, and perhaps surprisingly it delves into the world of polytonality as realised by Milhaud in the same decade. It takes several listens to fully appreciate the larger scale that Villa-Lobos... Read review

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Advantages: Everything you could ever want from a classical CD
Disadvantages: none

...Beethoven 5. Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in A Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 6. Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in E minor Composed by Sir Edward Elgar 7. Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Composed by Sergey Rachmaninov 8. Concierto de Aranjuez Composed by Joaquín Rodrigo 9. Swan Lake Composed by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky 10. Symphony No. 9, "From the New World" in E minor Composed by Antonín Dvorák 11. Variations on an Original Theme, 'Enigma' Composed by Sir Edward Elgar 12. Sonata for Piano No. 14, 'Moonlight' in C sharp minor Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven 13. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in C minor Composed by Sergey Rachmaninov 14. Adagio for Strings Composed by Samuel Barber 15. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 21, "Elvira M in C Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 16... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful