Miguel Llobet, a guitarist
from Catalonia, was much more widely
recognized as a performer than composer
and he made the first electrical recordings
of the classical guitar. In total, he
published about 75 compositions of which
13 were original works. This seems to
be the only available disc devoted exclusively
to his music and is therefore welcome.
Although Llobet absorbed influences
from central Europe (suggested by Ronald
Purcell in the booklet to be Chopin,
Strauss and Wagner), his Spanish (or
perhaps I should say Catalan) origins
are invariably more prominent. He was
taught by Felipe Pedrell (whose pupils
also included de Falla, Granados and
Albeniz) and his music seems to represent
a logical progression from the works
of Fernando Sor (1778-1839) and Francisco
Tárrega (1852-1909).
Many of the Thirteen
Catalan Folksongs sound familiar from
other arrangements and contain wonderfully
atmospheric melodies. The rest of the
music is likely to be unfamiliar to
most listeners and, whilst they are
not masterpieces, these works are worth
getting to know. As one might expect,
this is not a taxing process – this
is a disc to relax with at the end of
a hard day. If you’re not convinced,
try Respuesta or the Sor Variations.
Lorenzo Micheli is
a persuasive advocate of the music and
communicates well. He is quite closely
recorded but, overall, the sound is
acceptable. The documentation is good
and price temptingly low.
A valuable addition
to the catalogue - this is worth checking
out.
Patrick C Waller
See also review
by Andy Daly