Comparison
Recordings:
Barrios, guitar music Enno
Voorhorst, Naxos
8.555718
Villa-Lobos, Preludes: Julian Bream [AAD] MCA MCAD2-9830
Villa-Lobos, Preludes. Fabio Zanon
MusicMasters 01612-67188-2
Kayath can play two independent lines of counterpoint with astonishing clarity,
and then add a third voice, all with very little of the scrapy
finger noises which betray a struggle
with the instrument. In addition Kayath
plays with great verve and affect. This is some of the finest
Piazzolla playing I’ve heard, with all of the subtlety, as well
as bold rhythmic and sonic effects, one expects.
Enno Voorhorst on this recording plays all different
pieces by Barrios, concentrating on the scholarly and classical
sounding, lyrical items, especially the unpublished ones which
had to be restored from recordings. Kayath
plays more of the published pieces, and especially those with
identifiable South-American ethnic musical characteristics.
Manuel Ponce identified with the great pre-baroque lutenist
school. Almost all of his pieces have classical titles, and,
like Fritz Kreisler, he occasionally “discovered” pieces by
the great lute composers and performers, such as Sylvius Leopold
Weiss. His colleagues teased him by referring to his “secret
Weiss.”
The Villa-Lobos Preludes
are among the composer’s very finest works and have become cornerstones
of the classical guitar repertoire because of their range, originality
and difficulty. They obviously invite comparison with the Preludes
of Chopin and ultimately those of Bach. Bream approaches the
music as though it were in fact by Bach, playing the notes as
written with no extra-musical presumptions. Utilising very close
microphone technique he achieves extreme dynamic range, but
as a consequence his recording has the most extraneous finger
noise of all; plus, his harmonic notes sound excessively breathy.
Both the Brazilian guitarists add considerable ethnic style
to their interpretations, making the music sound more lyrical,
more “popular”, and also making it sound much easier to play
— deceptively, of course. For years the standard recording of
the Villa-Lobos Preludes
has been the Zanon version, one of the finest guitar recordings
ever made. The race is very close; Kayath
may have a slight edge in technique, but Zanon wins for overall
drama and style (although he observes a deep cut in No.3). But
if you’re a serious guitar student, you’ll have them both.
Paul Shoemaker
