This new release by
guitarist Tilman Hoppstock comprises
the work of three different composers
each of whom lived from the latter part
of the 18th century to the
middle of the 19th century.
Franz Werthmuller (1769-1841)
is not a name associated with the guitar
or indeed the classical music world
at large. The Sonata in A Major presented
here is believed to have originally
been for piano and subsequently transcribed
for the guitar by Pfeifer. This is the
first time it has appeared on a commercial
recording
In contrast the six
Bagatelles from Opus 4 are original
compositions for guitar by Heinrich
Marschner (1795-1861). They are not
part of familiar guitar repertoire.
Fernando Sor (1778-1839)
was the foremost guitarist/composer
of his time. His works include songs,
masses,operas, diverse chamber works
and above all a large body of works
for the guitar. Of particular interest
to guitarists are his studies that have
challenging technical development components
often combined with exquisite musical
content. The best rank with the equivalent
works of Chopin and Scarlatti. Twelve
studies and nine minuets for guitar
are included in the programme.
Tilman Hoppstock. (b.Germany
1961) is a very good guitarist with
excellent credentials. A prolific recording
artist, Mr Hoppstock has more than twenty
items in his discography. The programme
from this disc may lead one to the conclusion
that he is running out of material to
record.
Given the compositional
nature of the programme, it is understandable
why Francisco Tarrega made extensive
arrangements for guitar of piano music
by the famous composers; why Andres
Segovia also made extensive transcriptions
and arrangements of music from other
instruments and appealed to composers
of his day to write originals works
for the guitar. The task still incomplete,
Segovia’s successor Julian Bream also
pursued contemporary composers to write
original compositions for the guitar
and when listening to such masterpieces
as Nocturnal Op.70 by Benjamin
Britten, we concluded with magnificent
success.
While Mr Hoppstock
gets full marks for thematic consistency,
as a collection of 32 tracks this programme
is rather lack-lustre. There are fine
moments in some pieces eg Werthmüller’s
Ronda and the Sor studies [10] and minuets
[23] but these are offset by too much
of "more of the same" Of all
the items presented, several combined
with works of greater depth and overall
variety-appeal would place them in a
different light, lifting the pall of
dullness that suffocates this recording.
This new release on
the Christophorus label will have special
appeal to students of the guitar who
wish to listen to excellent renditions
of selected studies and minuets by Fernando
Sor. For reasons primarily of programming,
aficionados at large it will not see
it as a candidate for "guitar disc
of the year."
Zane Turner
Tilman Hoppstock (guitar) 
