Naxos runs a Laureate Series under which rubric we find
this guitar entrant. Its protagonist is the young Nirse González,
first prizewinner at the 2006 Tárraga International Guitar Competition,
held in Benicásim. The programme runs from the expected Ponce,
transcribed Bach and Tárraga himself to some splendid vignette
pieces written by Joaquin Clerch and a big 1933 sonata by the
tragically short-lived Antonio José.
José
was born in 1902 in Burgos, the city in which he died in 1936, executed by a Falangist
firing squad. A friend of Dali he was also friends with Lorca,
who of course shared his melancholy fate. The sonata was rediscovered
in the late 1980s and from Graham Wade’s sleeve notes it appears
that only one movement was performed at its incomplete premiere
in November 1934, one given by Regino Sáinz de la Maza. The
sonata is in four movements. There’s considerable metrical freedom
in the opening Allegro moderato as it moves from reflective
intimacy to more obviously virtuosic runs. There’s some especially
fine control of dynamics from González and equally fine an array
of tone colours. The Minuetto has a songful, rather contemporary
sound, slightly jazz-inflected, lightly syncopated. The slow
movement is a slow Pavane (Pavana triste), lucid, warm
and redolent of harp balladry and the finale moves from quizzical
moments to all-out flamenco drive. That a sonata this exciting
and ear catching should have disappeared for so long has clearly
been a considerable loss.
Inspired
by, and dedicated to, Segovia Ponce’s Thème varié et finale
is by now mainstream guitar repertoire. The molto più lent
section is indeed a highpoint in any performance, and is so
here. The songfulness and harmonic interest seldom flag and
Ponce cannily avoids the trap of easy lyricism. The variations
are arresting in terms of timbre, rhythm and colours to be evoked
– Ponce relying on a full panoply of Segovian technique. The
challenges are well met by González.
Doubtless
it was Segovia who inspired the younger guitarist to try his
hand at the inevitable Bach transcription; here it’s the A minor
solo violin sonata. His articulation in the Fuga is impressive,
and dynamics are well shaded. And he brings real warmth to the
Andante without allowing the line to sag or cloy in any
way. Joaquin Clerch dedicated Estudio de acordes to González
and it’s the most technically demanding of the three pieces
by the composer presented here. One of the guitarist’s strongest
virtues is his capacity to generate warm sonorities in his playing,
something he does in Clerch’s En Volos. As an envoi we have
two characteristic pieces by Tárraga of which Adelita
is a charming Mazurka.
The
Naxos engineering team – Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver – have
had considerable experience in presenting their guitarists in
recital for Naxos and Kraft invariably secures a warm and well-balanced
sound, as here. Finely played throughout the José is the centrepiece
of the recital.
Jonathan Woolf
Nirse González
(guitar) 
