The selling point here
is of course the Aranjuez Concerto,
which probably is the most played and
most recorded of all 20th
century concertos. It was written just
before the outbreak of World War II,
and an interesting fact is that the
guitar player who dominated the greater
part of the last century and who even
can be held responsible for the revival
of the guitar as an instrument for serious
music making, Andrés Segovia,
never played it. Obviously he objected
to Rodrigo dedicating the work to another
player. It is a fine composition and
the beautiful Adagio movement
must be known to most music lovers and
to many other. It has also appeared
in a lot of different arrangements;
most famous of them all the Gil Evans
– Miles Davis version on the early 1960s
album "Sketches of Spain".
That’s where I first learnt this music.
I had a student friend who also was
an amateur painter – very good indeed
– and he used to put this particular
tune on the turntable while painting.
I can still see the painting he worked
on for weeks: a white landscape in the
foreground, separated from a similarly
white sky by a thin horizon, but that
horizon grew thicker the further to
the right you looked, and there, in
that thickness, he worked hour after
hour, inspired by Rodrigo’s music, with
different colours. It was all very fascinating
and I think I heard that particular
track of the already worn record literally
hundreds of times. When I finally bought
a CD with "Sketches of Spain"
it meant a return to these hours of
painting. A reunion with a very good
friend.
There are other versions.
Rodrigo himself, as late as 1986, turned
it into a lovely song, with lyrics,
in French, by his wife Victoria Kamhi.
It is entitled Aranjuez, ma pensée,
and I heard it quite recently, sung
by a young and very promising Swedish
dramatic soprano, Ulla Westlund, who
is auditioning for Covent Garden this
autumn (2004).
I have long treasured
a CBS LP from 1974 with John Williams
and English Chamber Orchestra conducted
by Daniel Barenboim. I listened to it
again before delving into this Mercury
disc. Of course there are differences,
but not very important. Williams – Barenboim
are a little slower in all the movements.
In the Adagio that creates a
more dreamlike atmosphere, but I am
not sure it’s the tempo differences
that matter most; the whole sound picture
is softer, the cor anglais, presenting
the celebrated melody, is more withdrawn,
superbly played by James Brown. The
unnamed player on the Mercury disc is
also very good. The ECO strings are
more sophisticated, more silken in tone,
than the San Antonio group, which sounds
bigger – and maybe more Spanish. After
all San Antonio is not that far from
the Mexican border and the orchestra
may include some Spanish-speaking members,
if that is of any importance. The guitarists
are both world class, both play the
Adagio in an improvisatory way
that is very appealing. Both performances
are excellent. The old Williams LP has
on the reverse-side the Villa-Lobos
Concerto, which also is a masterpiece.
But The Romeros have another trump card:
another work by Rodrigo, and, besides
that a world premiere recording.
In 1967 Celedonio Romero,
the father, asked Rodrigo for a concerto
for himself and his three sons. The
result was this Concierto Andaluz,
which was first performed by the Romeros
and the San Antonio Symphony in November
of that year and subsequently recorded.
In the booklet the composer himself
describes the music. It was inspired
by Andalusian music, but contains no
authentic folk melodies. It is written
in a popular vein, partly very colourful,
partly aiming at displaying the brilliance
of the soloists. The first movement,
Tiempo de Bolero, is definitely
captivating, and there is a catchy tune
in the strings that I had to play all
over again, one that was singing in
my head even after going to bed; just
like a really good pop-tune. But after
a while the movement idles – it feels
over-long, but that bolero-rhythm saves
the day. The Adagio isn’t very
memorable; a cute theme in the strings
appears halfway through the movement
and returns near the end; and the Allegretto
is lively – of course, it is an allegretto.
Then there is a mischievous trumpeter
elbowing his way out of the orchestral
texture now and again. That’s great
fun. And of course the solo playing
is excellent. But this concerto isn’t
in the same league as the Aranjuez.
Still it is good to have heard it and
the Bolero is something I will
return to, and play to my friends.
There is quite a substantial
"filler": 30 minutes of Vivaldi.
Of course Vivaldi never wrote a guitar
concerto, but through the centuries
many of "the Red Priest’s"
450-odd concertos have been subjected
to arrangements and transcriptions by
great and less great colleagues (J.S.
Bach being one of the first). Here we
find two works, originally written with
the mandolin in mind, and the well-known
concerto for four violins (from "L’Estro
Armonico"). None of them really
turned me on. The solo playing is beyond
reproach but the orchestra feels a bit
heavy-footed.
Technically this is
an SACD three-channel disc, originally
recorded in that format back in the
1960s, but never before released in
that shape. I have only been able to
listen on my old two-channel equipment,
but it sounds good even there. The sound
picture is clean and analytical without
highlighting the individual instruments
unduly. I enjoyed listening to it, even
with headphones, where the stereo spread
can sometimes be too much of a good
thing.
I may have sounded
less than enthusiastic about this disc,
but it is still a good one. The timing
is generous; if it is the Aranjuez
concerto you are after you can’t do
much better in a crowded field than
getting this one, and getting the Andaluz
concerto on the same disc is no bad
thing. The Bolero is exciting
and you may well react more positively
to the rest than I did.
Göran Forsling
See also review
by Rob Barnett
The Romeros (Celedonio, Celin, Pepe and
Angel) guitars 
MERCURY
475 6184 MSA [76:47]