A richly enjoyable
recital, which deserves to win a high
place in the canon of baroque guitar
CDs.
Santiago de Murcia’s
compositions are central to such knowledge
as we can have of the Spanish guitar
repertoire in the baroque era. Sadly,
only a small proportion of the extensive
repertoire for the instrument by Spanish
composers in the seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries seems ever to have
been written down. Judged on the evidence
of what survives, de Murcia might reasonably
be thought to mark a culmination of
one phase of the instrument’s history
in Spain. His work has been the subject
of considerable study in recent decades
and, excitingly, new sources of his
music continue to be discovered. In
the May 2007 issue of Early Music
(Vol.XXIV. no.2) Alejandro Vera reports
describes the discovery of a new manuscript,
dated 1722 and entitled Cifras Selectas
de Guitarra (in Chile). This can
be added to the three existing sources:
the Resumen de acompañar
la parte con la guitarra, published
in 1714, the 1732 manuscript entitled
‘Passacalles y obras de guitarra’ (discovered
in Mexico and now in the British Library,
Add. Ms. 31640) and the undated manuscript
collection known as ‘Códice Saldívar
no. 4’, discovered in Leon in Mexico
in 1943 – William Carter’s excellent
booklet notes refer to this discovery
in passing.
Hard facts on Santiago
de Murcia’s life are not abundant. He
was presumably related to the Gabriel
de Murcia who was the Queen’s maker
of guitars in Madrid towards the end
of the seventeenth century (perhaps
Gabriel was his father). He was presumably
also related to Antonio de Murcia, active
in the musical life of the royal court
until his death in 1709. Santiago himself
was, at one point, in the service of
the Italian nobleman Jacome Francisco
Andriani in Madrid; in the Resumen
he is said to be "Guitar Master
to the Queen, Our Lady, Maria Luisa
Gabriela of Savoy". Perhaps he
spent time, in later years, in the New
World – though there is no conclusive
proof of this.
The music of Santiago
draws on, and makes an impressive fusion
of, a variety of musical traditions.
He was, naturally, familiar with the
Spanish guitar tradition, as embodied
in, for example, the work of Francisco
Guerau and Gaspar Sanz; he was familiar
with the work of important foreign composers,
such as Corbetta and Corelli; he responds,
to and adapts, the popular dance music
of Spain and its colonies. All of these
elements are audible in this present
recital. The passacalles follow the
theme and variation pattern typical
of Spanish guitar music; in the ‘Preludio
Grabe de Coreli’ and the ‘Giga de Coreli’,
we have attractive transcriptions of
the first and last movements of Corelli’s
Violin Sonata Op.5, no.3; in the ‘Zarambecques’
and the ‘Cumbees’ we have versions of
dances which are West African in origin,
but may have found their way to Spain
via the American colonies. As scored
by de Murcia, and played by Carter,
these are infectiously sensuous dances,
earthy and yet paradoxically refined.
It all makes for a mixture both heady
and subtle, for music that is both delicate
and passionate, without ever being merely
rhetorical or overstated.
In his recital William
Carter plays a 1991 copy of a guitar
by "Sellas" (presumably Matteo
Sellas or another member of the Venetian
family of instrument makers). It has
a bright but intimate sound, capable
both of an attractive resonance and
a winning delicacy. Carter’s own playing
is both relaxed and precise, seductive
and scholarly and it benefits from a
recorded sound of exemplary quality.
Glyn Pursglove
for details
William Carter (baroque guitar); Susanne
Heinrich (bass viol) * 
