Search - Federico Moreno Torroba :: Music of Moreno Torroba

Good recording overall, a few issues

Sor_Fingers | Boulder, CO USA | 11/06/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Probably one of the best things about this recording is that its a great collection of most of Torroba's great solo guitar music. Russell hits all the important pieces and plays them all with flair and accuracy. Russell's playing is very expressive and he tends to capture the esssence of the music. The playing is clean, beautiful and precise. Good tone, dynamic contrast, all the basics that guitar students spend years perfecting. However, Russell does play a little too heavy sometimes. I like to think that if Torroba were playing electric guitar today he would sound a lot like Pat Metheny with a little Spanish flavor. His music should never be too bombastic or heavy. Not to say that Russell never lightens up, but he doesn't always back off when he needs to. Some of the slower, more lyrical Castles of Spain especially aren't as effective as they could be. The other issue about this recording is that the track listing is WRONG! It should go like this:



Sonatina for Guitar in A Major

Burgalesa

Suite Castellana

Castles of Spain

Madronos (Not "Madranos")

Nocturno

Aires de la Mancha



Because of this glich in the track listing, all of the Castles of Spain tracks are off by one track as they are listed on the CD liner. It isn't even correct on David Russell's website.



The only other thing that I don't like about this CD is that some of the notes are a little weird. I know that there were differences between Torroba's original manuscript and Segovia's editions of the pieces, but some of the notes are either wrong or different from anything I've ever played from (and from what I remember that Segovia originally recorded). It's only a very minor detail as there may be some note decisions where Russell decided to preserve some original notations by Torroba, and I am always in favor of preserving the composer's original intentions over Segovia's rewrites if possible. It's not overly important, it's merely just a yellow flag to the guitarists out there saying that your edition may be slightly different from what Russell plays.



This is a great recording providing interesting contrast to Segovia's original Torroba recordings. While Segovia is the original "performance practice" version of these pieces, Russell's interpretations are for the most part very good. I would recommend listening to Segovia's recordings of Torroba as you would be cheating yourself to only listen to this recording."

My Favorite CD--period!!!

BugBuster | 12/31/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Moreno Torroba's compositions, commissioned by Segovia, belie the assertion that the classical guitar repertoire is less rich than that of other instruments. These pieces are complex yet accessible. David Russel is a virtuoso and communicates the nuances of the music with magic. I find it hard to believe that any objective listener would not rate this as one of the best classical guitar CDs ever recorded."

One of the best collections of Torroba

Bjorkfinity | Philadelphia, PA | 06/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I think this recording is very relaxed for the most part. He kind of breezes through these with speed and doesn't take enough time on some pieces but David Russell is the cleanest guitar player around and these recordings are flawless. He lets you hear every note. Burgalesa is an amazingly beautiful, melancholy piece which Sevogia loved. Montemayor is haunting and tremelo is exquisite. Alba de Tormes is a popular and beautiful piece which sounds great. Fandango is probably the most popular piece here which overwhelmingly captures the Spanish feeling and which Segovia recorded extremely well (probably the most famous recording of Fandango) on his "Favorite Spanish Encore" LP and Russell sounds great in this piece, too. I'd rather listen to Russell play these than Yepes, Segovia or the Romeros."