One of the best guitar recital discs i own, this is full of good things, and back in 2000 i really played it a lot, it still gets a fair amount of play, however this is its Blog debut, which is surprising, it consists of 23 guitar miniatures, and delves into some off the beaten path Composers, just about everything is worth hearing, and some are real gems, just put it on shuffle and relax.
Goran Sollscher is Swedish, he is now 57, a mainstay of the DG label, he recorded this disc in 1997, the booklet photograph [by Henrik Bjornsson] is a little treasure, expertly done, shows movement in the hands, and a good pose, i guess the background has been cut away, but i like the lettering, even if his name is rather large.
A whole host of tracks were so enjoyable with four that were especially tremendous 2, 7, 9, & 15, but i would like to give a synopsis of the track 15, the Sor piece, it's my favourite piece on the whole disc, and in fact one of the greatest Guitar Miniatures ever written, Sor is not a household name, his crime was composing for the guitar, that's why he has a certain degree of obscurity, but he was the 'Chopin of the guitar', if this piece was originally written for piano it would be famous, it's a tremolo study, and it's one of those gorgeous pieces where two separate melodies intertwine, rather like left and right hands on a piano, the background tremolo accompaniment is like a gentle spinning wheel, it's written in the key of E Minor, and there's a certain sense of longing to the piece, here expertly played by Sollscher, there's certain moments where you have to hang notes in the air for an extra moment for the whole thing to truly take effect, the piece also just cries out in certain places, Sor gets underneath the skin, the music also rises and falls superbly, and it carries you on the crest of a wave at times, there's this one penultimate moment near the end where time stands still [2:41+], the equal of Chopin's Etude Op10/3, i feel better for having listened to this today.
Here's Warren Haskell playing Sor's Etude Op6/11 on YouTube.
Goran Sollscher is Swedish, he is now 57, a mainstay of the DG label, he recorded this disc in 1997, the booklet photograph [by Henrik Bjornsson] is a little treasure, expertly done, shows movement in the hands, and a good pose, i guess the background has been cut away, but i like the lettering, even if his name is rather large.
A whole host of tracks were so enjoyable with four that were especially tremendous 2, 7, 9, & 15, but i would like to give a synopsis of the track 15, the Sor piece, it's my favourite piece on the whole disc, and in fact one of the greatest Guitar Miniatures ever written, Sor is not a household name, his crime was composing for the guitar, that's why he has a certain degree of obscurity, but he was the 'Chopin of the guitar', if this piece was originally written for piano it would be famous, it's a tremolo study, and it's one of those gorgeous pieces where two separate melodies intertwine, rather like left and right hands on a piano, the background tremolo accompaniment is like a gentle spinning wheel, it's written in the key of E Minor, and there's a certain sense of longing to the piece, here expertly played by Sollscher, there's certain moments where you have to hang notes in the air for an extra moment for the whole thing to truly take effect, the piece also just cries out in certain places, Sor gets underneath the skin, the music also rises and falls superbly, and it carries you on the crest of a wave at times, there's this one penultimate moment near the end where time stands still [2:41+], the equal of Chopin's Etude Op10/3, i feel better for having listened to this today.
Here's Warren Haskell playing Sor's Etude Op6/11 on YouTube.
