In the decades since
the review disc material was originally
recorded there has been exponential
growth in interest in the classical
guitar. Paralleling this are the numbers
of people who play to concert standards
and of those preoccupied with the short
history of the instrument and its past
champions.
During the period from
the late 1940s to the mid-1960s the
great José Rey de la Torre made
twelve commercial recordings none of
which are currently available. The review
disc comprises material originally released
in late 1950 or 1951 on the Philharmonia
label (PH 106), later re-released on
Elektra (EKL 244) and then again on
Nonesuch (H-7123). It also includes
a 1950 rendition of the Boccherini Quintet
in D major featuring the Stuyvesant
String Quartet (Philharmonia PH 101).
The final track is a previously unissued
live performance of Etude No. 11 by
Villa-Lobos.
Rey de la Torre was
born in Gibara, Cuba in 1917 and died
on 21 July 1994 in San José,
California. A child prodigy, he studied
guitar in Havana with Severino Lopez,
a student of Miguel Llobet. In 1932
his family sent him to Barcelona to
study under Llobet.
On 9 May 1934 Llobet
presented him in a concert at the Academia
Marshall together with a pianist and
then shortly after in a solo recital.
Both received rave reviews from the
tough Barcelona critics. Catalan composer
and critic Jaime Pahissa described Rey
as the most complete guitarist he had
heard. Another critic compared him not
only with Llobet but also with Pablo
Casals.
Rey moved to the U.S.A.
in 1937 or 1938 to establish his concert
career. Motivated in particular by homesickness
he made several return trips to Cuba
to give concerts after which his family
moved from Cuba to New York to support
him.
Around 1961, right
at a time when his career was flourishing,
he suffered a setback: the middle finger
of his right hand became less responsive
and was a challenge for a number of
years until Marianne Eppens, a physical
therapist, was able to isolate the cause
and offer a remedy. In 1969 they were
married and moved to California. In
1975 at the zenith of his career Rey
was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis,
a disease which ended his performing
career a year later.
The guitar playing
on the review disc is quite inspiring.
Informative and comprehensive notes
accompanying this disc refer to Rey’s
‘poetic, precise, playing still evident
half a century on - his rich resonant
tone, his exquisite phrasing and sense
of line, his bravura technique and profound
musicality’. Testimonial of these qualities
is readily found on the disc including
a splendid rendition of Albeniz’s Torre
Bermeja - The Crimson Tower [2].
We are reminded in the notes that, unlike
much of what is recorded today, this
particular recording was made without
any edits.
Rey premiered Six
Variations on a Theme by Milan [5]
by composer/pianist Joaquin Nin-Culmell
on 10 November 1947. Of him the composer
said: ‘As a young player he was astounding.
His playing was aristocratic and exact,
quite different from the romantic, improvisational
school of Segovia.’
The hitherto unreleased
live performance of Etude No. 11 by
Villa-Lobos is highly evocative of actually
being at that very concert, coughs and
all - not to mention the beautiful live
guitar playing.
Given the vintage of
the recordings the overall sonic qualities
are quite good. No master tape was available
for the solo recording so it was restored
from a copy of the Elektra LP. The live
recording of the Villa-Lobos Study has
an eerie life-like quality.
Particularly touching
is the great reverence, admiration and
affection with which students, friends
and associates refer to Rey de la Torre
- also known as José, or Che
- by that select group. Much of this
is encapsulated in what ex-student Anthony
Weller wrote in the accompanying notes:
‘Sometimes it is difficult to grasp
how very quickly the vagaries of time
can erase a performer’s legacy; the
familiar name becomes an unfamiliar
ghost. Now the classical guitar audience
will have one of the instrument’s greatest
poets, at his magnificent best, before
them again, more than half a century
later. May he never be forgotten.’
We can only hope that,
like Mr Weller, future champions will
emerge to ensure that past great exponents
of the guitar, such as Jose Luis Gonzalez
(1932-1998) will never become unfamiliar
ghosts but forever be remembered for
their magnificent contributions when
the guitar had so few of their kind.
This is a highly important
historical recording by one of the instrument’s
greatest exponents.
Zane Turner.
for
details 
Jose Rey de la Torre (guitar) 
