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Augustín BARRIOS (1885 - 1944] Guitar Music: Volume 2 Invocación a Mi Madre (1929) [4.29] La Catedral (1921) [7.14] Confesión (1923) [4.35] Canción de la Hilandera (1933) [2.55] Oración (plegaria) [3.50] Madrecita (c.1925) [2.06] La Samaritana (1922) [5.00] El Sueño de la Muñequita (c. 1925) [2.42] Contemplación (1922) [4.29] Oración Para Todos (3.02] Minuet in B (1928) [3.20] Minuet in E (c.1942) [2.55] Minuet in A (1924) [2.05] Minuet in C (c.1942) [1.24] Divagación en imitación al violín (1914) [3.26] Variations on a Theme of Tárrega (1939) [12.26] Enno Voorhorst, guitar Notes in English, German, and French. Recorded St. John’s Church, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, 27 February 2001 NAXOS 8.555718 [66.57]

Many consider Barrios to be the greatest guitar composer ever. Unfortunately he wrote down little of his music. Many important scores have had to be reconstructed from recordings, which accounts for the delay in his music coming to appreciation and currency. His music is distinguished by a Mozartean ingenuity at variations, his almost Bachian ability at the arpeggio prelude style, his rich melodic sense and adventurous harmonic sense. There are occasional clear echoes of Villa-Lobos, not surprising since Villa-Lobos was one of the great original stylists in Latin American guitar music; any guitarist of this period would expect to learn a great deal from him. However this is all highly original music. Barrios’s harmonies are all "white" with none of the African influence we expect to hear in Spanish and Latin American guitar music. This gives his music the sound of classical period keyboard music. Yet, almost all of this music is Romantic in feeling and introspective in mood. The titles of these pieces - Prayer to My Mother, Sleep of the Little Doll - may lead you to expect this music to be heavily sentimentalised, but that is not the case. Even Invocación a Mi Madre is thoughtfully lyrical without being maudlin. The first number from La Catedral (as well as several of the other pieces) resembles the "raindrop" etude of Chopin in both mood and texture, while the last number is a dazzling virtuoso work in style halfway between a Bach lute prelude and Albéniz’ Leyenda. Confesión is a clear, tuneful work. The guitarist skilfully encompasses these changes in style and the wide variety of techniques and shows a deeply personal sense of commitment. Paul Shoemaker see also review by Kevin Sutton Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage There will be NO VAT Rises [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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