alternatively Crotchet

Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez shares at least one thing in common with other favourites of the classical repertory: within the recorded music catalogue there are copious examples and new ones being added regularly. Given this oversupply one may speculate as to why no one has made a commercial recording of this concerto with guitar and piano. The combination sounds marvellous when done well; the reduced score is readily available and the relatively short length of the work makes it ideal for adaptation. 

Cellist Jian Wang is a man after my own disposition: when offered an opportunity to make a recording of his favourite repertoire he took the initiative to depart from the predictable- and oversupplied- cello and piano. Because of its very intimate sound the guitar became Jian’s first choice. 

Swedish guitarist Göran Söllscher was invited to work with Jian Wang on this project and was delighted to accept because the latter’s musical sensitivity fits his own exactly. Söllscher is no stranger to this type of collaboration having only recently made a recording of music by Schubert with violinist Gil Shaham (DG CD 00289 471 5682). 

The very first thing one notices about the review disc is that the cello sounds ‘different’- and with good reason. From the inception of the project Jian Wang realised he may have to adapt his technique to complement the guitar. He practised for a few months to try and match the purity and simplicity of the guitar. There has been a conscious effort to reduce vibrato and avoid overwhelming the lack of sustain characteristic of the guitar. 

Göran Söllscher plays both standard six-string guitar and an eleven-string version; the latter is particularly suited to Baroque music although he has used it in such diverse applications as interpretation of music by the Beatles. Which guitar is used is not nominated by track and one must listen carefully to identify between the instruments, the bass notes often being a guide. 

The title of the review disc, Reverie, is indicative of what we may anticipate in the programme. The liner-notes remind us that reverie can suggest melancholy as well as dream. There will be those with musical adhedonia who cynically view the programme as a marketing exercise to the masses, but I enjoyed it. 

It is appropriate that the very last track is the most resent composition – ‘Memory’ from Cats by Andrew Lloyd Weber. Other selections encompass music from the seventeenth century to mid-twentieth. 

The disc was essentially a cello project and the guitar was invited to participate. While the cello plays a dominant role it is probably more than coincidental that track 14, Mazurka-Choro by Villa-Lobos, is for solo guitar and the only solo item to appear; a thematically apposite piece of music, it is played to perfection. 

I did not find this recording the sonically sharpest I have heard, but there are other sonic delights that more than compensate: the gorgeous plucked cello notes in Piazolla’s Milonga del Angel [9] will have strong visceral effect when played on capable reproducing equipment and the last note of Tchaikovsky’s Octobre: Chant d’automne [13] is the most sustained I recall hearing on a recording - an irresistible urge to grab for the rewind button and savour it again. 

The note attached to the front of this CD describes the contents as ‘music to get lost in.’ This is an eclectic selection of beautiful music superbly played by two modern masters.

Zane Turner 

 

 

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