And still they come:
these fantastic, young guitarists, winners
of important guitar competitions and
then picked up by Naxos and presented
in their ever-growing Laureate Series.
Spanish born Pablo Sáinz Villegas,
still in his mid-twenties, is merited
indeed: he is a winner of fourteen (!)
international competitions, the booklet
text tells us, most recently last year’s
(2003) Francisco Tarrega Competition,
so it is fitting that he ends this generously
timed recital with Tarrega’s Maria,
probably the most well-known
piece on the disc. The rest of it is
filled with music by many of the great
Spaniards from the last century, but
not much belongs to the standard repertoire,
which also shows that Pablo Sáinz
Villegas is an adventurous programme
setter, even including two substantial
works that are world première
recordings. One of them is the Sonata-Fantasia
by Federico Moreno Torroba, which was
found as recently as in May, 2001 among
Segovia’s manuscripts . The 17-minutes-long
work is in three movements, where the
first takes 10’.It is rather impressionistic
and colourful, just as is Torroba’s
orchestral music. There is a Homenaje
(Homage) à la seguidilla
for guitar and orchestra by Torroba,
which was recorded by EMI in 1982 with
Angel Romero as soloist and the composer
conducting the English Chamber Orchestra.
Torroba was 91! I don’t know if it is
available today; I have it in LP format,
but it is well worth seeking out in
second-hand shops.
Mark Delpriora, author
of the very informative and valuable
booklet text, states that the Sonata
is a masterpiece, but he tends to be
over-generous with superlatives about
the quality of most of the works here.
Anyway it is attractive music, as is
his Suite castellana, also a
three-movement work. His Torija
(Elegy) from Castillos de España
is a very beautiful simple little song,
filled with melancholy.
The other world première
recording is a piece (or rather five
pieces) by the master guitarist himself,
Andrés Segovia. He is not very
well known as a composer, but pieces
by him, notably Estudio sin luz
appear in recitals now and then. The
5 Anecdotas premiered here were
published as early as 1947. It is agreable
and, of course, highly guitaristic music
with some unexpected humoristic turns,
but hardly indispensable masterpieces.
Still it was a good idea to have these
two world premières on this same
disc, since there is a connection between
them. And that’s not the only connections
on the disc. We also get Rodrigo’s Invocación
y danza, which is a homage to Manuel
de Falla, directly followed by de Falla’s
homage to Claude Debussy. Both of them
are fine compositions, both are mainly
dark in character; the Rodrigo piece
partly dissonant. Early in the recital
Villegas plays Turina’s Hommage à
Tárrega, an appropriate choice
for a winner of the Tarrega Competition,
so there is a lot of sensible programming
on the disc. Turina didn’t write much
for the guitar, he is most known for
his colourful orchestral music and his
songs, but when writing for the guitar
he is influenced by the flamenco.
Roberto Gerhard is
in a way the odd man out on this recital,
since he certainly was born in Spain
but of non-Spanish parentage. Still
he regarded himsalf as Catalan, he studied
with Granados and later with Schönberg,
whose assistant he became. The Fantasia,
played here, is actually an interlude
for his Cantares, a set of songs.
It is a fascinating work, showing several
different styles and it is partly almost
hypnotically rhythmic.
I have so far only
mentioned the music and not the musician,
who of course is the main concern in
a recital like this one. Sometimes when
I listen to a musician, be it a pianist
or guitarist or any kind of instrumentalist,
I am either impressed by the technique
or annoyed by some less beguiling feature.
In this case the playing felt so at
one with the music that I didn’t think
of the player, just what he played.
And isn’t that what really good music
making is about?
With good sound, as
always when Norbert Kraft is involved,
an interesting, unhackneyed programme
and, as I have implied, a superlative
young artist, this is yet another feather
in Naxos’ already well-filled cap. And
there is more already in the can: he
has, also for Naxos, recorded Berio’s
Sequenza XI for a complete issue
of the Sequenzas. I can’t wait
to hear it!
Göran Forsling
Pablo Sáinz Villegas (guitar). 
