Octo_Russ

Rodrigo - Concierto De Aranjuez [Kimura/ Perez-Real Orquesta Sinfonica De Sevilla]

Here's an Artist that is pretty much unknown in the West, with a disc that is equally unknown, this is a Sony Records disc, however they only export Artists to other countries they deem 'exportable', [think Yo-Yo Ma here], but these performers are still fairly big news in their own country, sometimes you have to search through some foreign websites to find a cache of new and interesting Artists, it's sad that we all live on separate islands as it were, only tasting the fruit that is indigenous to our own island.

I found this disc in a second hand shop in London, a great source of uncovering the unknown, all sorts of discs from the world can find their way onto the shelf of some independent second hand shop, like flotsam and jetsam washed on your shore from very different lands / cultures, Ebay is another great searching place, to find something some Asian or whoever has discarded, not available over here [England], and like i've said before, you see these types of discs once on your shore, and if you don't snap them up, then the next tide takes them away, and you usually don't get another chance to acquire such an unusual disc.

Dai Kimura was born in Japan in 1982, and recorded this disc in 2001 at age 19, yes he looks really young, i guess he used a Spanish orchestra because it went with the Spanish Composer, some sort of authenticity or something, maybe it went down well in Japan, the only gripe about the disc is that this is the only work on it, only 23 minutes of music!, i'm sure they could have recorded something else?, but luckily i think i only paid £7 for it, the booklet / back insert are 'different' i suppose, fairly hip, maybe trying to reach a younger audience, nice colours, with Seville architecture in the background, i find it very strange that the booklet doesn't even have the name of the Composer Rodrigo on the front!.

The first movement starts with those wonderful flamenco rhythms, with the solo guitar introducing Rodrigo's most famous composition [0:00-0:25], the chattering woodwind join in, like birdsong twittering [0:26+], and then the strings mimic the opening guitar solo, restrained at first, but gaining in power and volume [0:35-1:00], a little later the the strings come back even heavier [1:12+], here's the opening gambit by Rodrigo, so in summary this whole movement is made up of mainly two elements, the flamenco rhythms, and the chattering woodwind / birdsong, a feature of the rest of the movement, it only lasts for nearly six minutes, a couple of other lovely things i notice later on, the trumpet plays a couple of little flourishes [4:23 & 4:26], sounding like guitar strumming, plus the ending is good, the high woodwind squeal out louder [5:07-5:18], and there's a muted trumpet that has a tick tock figure [5:30-5:34], the recording is reverberant, especially the guitar, but certainly not overly so, also i find Kimura slightly struggling in some of the virtuoso areas, of course he's only 19 on this recording, he's not a Julian Bream or anything, but i'm sure he will develop a maturity later in his life, but i enjoyed this Concerto today, and especially this bustling movement.

Here's John Williams playing the first movement on YouTube.