Having
reviewed volumes 2–6 in this series it was a relief to
get, eventually, the first volume as well, thus completing
the picture of Segovia’s activities in the studios in New
York during the 1950s. It is a comprehensive oeuvre, ranging
from the renaissance to his own time and including several
works written specifically for and premiered by him. With
this disc we get the missing period, the 18
th century,
and the bulk of it consists of his Bach transcriptions.
It was also as a Bach player I first got to know the art
of Segovia through a crackly and dimly reproducing LP sometime
in the mid-1960s. I was fascinated then by the music, although
I knew that they were transcriptions and that Bach presumably
never heard these works – and never intended them to be – played
on guitar. Younger guitarists with deeper insight into
authentic performance practice have yielded even more.
But it was just as much the playing of the master that
caught me and the reason this series is being issued is
that a lot more music-lovers beside me are still fascinated
by Segovia.
I
also believe that the best way of approaching these recordings
is to disregard the issue of authenticity and accept that
this was Segovia’s ‘authenticity’ and that he probably
contributed in no small amount to a wider interest in Bach’s
music. He preferred to play isolated movements while today’s
guitarists tend to play entire works. Not being an avid
collector of Bach’s music for plucked instruments I still
have some recordings, among which those by Göran Söllscher
and Pepe Romero have a special appeal. Segovia is heavier
and more accented in a romantic style and once one gets
used to this approach it is very easy to just be carried
away by the superlative playing.
Considering
that some of these recordings are not far off sixty years
old the sound is splendid and allows us to revel in the
rich colours and live rhythms of Segovia’s playing. The
sicilienne from the G minor violin sonata (tr. 5) is one
of the finest things here, exploring the sonorities of
the calm and beautiful music. The real challenge – for
violinists and guitarists alike – is however the chaconne
from the D minor partita (tr. 9). In Segovia’s transcription
it was first performed in Paris on 4 June 1935, almost
twenty years before this recording was made. His technical
superiority is never in question but also as an almost
transcendental
reading of the music it has a lot
to offer. It seems that he comes closer to the heart of
the matter than any other guitarist – or violinist for
that matter. Among the lesser pieces the loure from the
third cello suite (tr. 10) has a drive that is infectious – and
so has the fugue from the G minor violin sonata (tr. 11).
The
non-Bach pieces also have their rewards. Handel’s minuet
in D (tr. 13) is a charmingly melodious piece and this
also goes for the short gavotte (tr. 15). C.P.E. Bach’s
siciliana has some surprising dissonances, the well known
ballet from
Orfeo ed Euridice is a lovely encore
piece in Segovia’s sensitive and varied reading and it
is followed by Haydn’s charming minuet which has an elegant
contrasting trio. The liner-notes by Segovia’s biographer
Graham Wade are as always deeply satisfying. This issue
is as self-recommending as the later five (see review link
below).
Göran
Forsling
Reviews of other Segovia recordings on Naxos Historical
Andrés
Segovia (guitar) 
