Classical guitar album recommendations?

This album is definitely worth a listen.

Segovia, on DG playing whole CD's worth of JS Bach.

Wonderful music played wonderfully on an instrument [in Segovia's hands] that seems to be able to create every important aspect of music written for violin, cello or harpsichord!

Amazing!

ATB from George

This:

And this:

And this:

Told you  It's fabulous isn't it .

Now, a few names for you to search out :

Sharon Isbin

Jason Vieaux

David Russell

Goran Sollscher

Fabio Zanon

Jeffrey McFadden

A threesome of discs to whet your appetite :

 Two early David Russell  discs - phenomenal.

 Sharon Isbin - Journey to the Amazon. Wonderful CD with the additional advantage of excellent quality sound. Please grab it .

Not a fan of Segovia, I'm afraid. Modern players are a mile ahead of him in technique, and on par with him regarding 'understanding' the music.. He must be respected immensely of course, for his solo pioneering of Classical Music in the 'old days'.

Many (most?) modern players are playing for other players - it's often a case of "See how fast I can play this without making any mistakes...ergo I am better than you are." Metronome stunt guitar.

Or, as Arthur Rubinstein so eloquently stated for piano, but substitute 'classical guitar' where needed:

Of course, not to say that some of that kind of stuff can't be really fun to listen to:

The arrangements are very clever and so evocative of the original arrangements.

Ana Vidovic is as beautiful as her guitar:

With respect DM, this is simply not true regarding Classical Guitar. Maybe some up-and-coming whippersnappers try to impress in this way, but the very best rise above this sort of behaviour. The best realise that this is simply not a domain where you can be 'Flash Harry'.

Your selection of recommendations by modern players seem to be novelty music hall music.  Bring on Liberace.

And she is an excellent Guitarist.

As an amateur player of classical guitar for over 40 years, I will just have to agree to disagree with you - there is much more of that going on, and some of the "biggest" names out there (in CG, that term encompasses the truest meaning of a "big fish in a small pond" as any) are among the worst offenders.

I have watched too many Mach 4 versions of Asturias or Villa-Lobos preludes #1 or 4.  A blistering pace is not musical excellence.

I find it almost amusing how de rigueur it is these days to dog Segovia...

LAGQ is meant to be fun - hardly to be taken as serious CG.  (That's why I said 'fun' in my post.)  My maestro HATED them, but I thought the arrangements were interesting.  Hardly Liberace-esque.  (Although I do have a friend who moved his glass piano.)

And lastly, Vidovic is good, albeit a bit mechanical, but have you noticed that most of the female CG player who "make it" (again, that term in consideration of the very limited appeal of the genre) are quite fair of face?  (e.g., Vidovic, Sharon Isbin, Xuifei Yang, Anna Lihacheva, Galina Vale, Eva Beneke, Muriel Anderson, Liona Boyd...)  Coincidence?  I doubt it...I mean, do no average or less looking females play classical guitar well enough to "make it"?  NOT saying that they aren't gifted players.

Heaven knows Segovia wasn't picked for his looks...

Julian Bream's disc on RCA Navigator - playing Granados, Albeniz and Rodrigo, is one of my desert island discs.

Dr Mark,

I think we can meet half way here .

Yes, some guitarists try to break World speed records, though these fail to make the upper echalons. Chaff rather than wheat, shall we say. This problem of too fast playing, though, is more relevant to the budding piano players, I feel. So many times  we hear ballistic Mach 2 renditions of Liszt !! It frightens the life out of me ! These players can turn Chopin's 'Minute Waltz' to a whirlwind 'thirty-second waltz'  Never mind the quality, feel the speed, maybe !

As for your comments about attractive female Classical guitarists, well, my wife is a professional Classical guitarist (rather 'ex pro' since the kids arrived !) and, although I'm maybe a touch biased, I think she's a bit of a cracker too .

I think there is a large number of talented females for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I think more girls initially take up the Classical Guitar than boys - it's a bit like horse-riding ! Secondly, in my personal opinion, girls are more dedicated to learning/practice when young/teenagers than boys - boys tend to get distracted by sex, drugs, rock and roll, and the Champions League !! Now why does it happen that all the 'top' female players are crackers - well, we can only summise. But, let's just enjoy the view anyway .

Oh, and Dr., please treat yourself to the Franco Platino disc mentioned in Vlad's original post. Trust me, it will be one of your most treasured Classical Guitar CD's. It's reallly that good . Regards, WW.

Two great guitarists playing fantastically.  If you can find these recordings, they are well worth the effort.

On vinyl or CD, they are very, very good. 

Excellent choices! I have these, and the "Live" album on both CD and vinyl.

Vlad

I think we can all agree that Julian Bream, John Williams and, especially, Segovia are/were not just great guitarists but also great musicians.

Without Segovia, the classical guitar might still be considered a minor instrument. In addition, many famous compositions were written for or commissioned by him. However, none of them were born with this level of musical understanding - it had to be learned and earned.

That being said, some of the newer guitarist do surpass these masters in technique. Platino plays his own transcription of the Chaconne from Bach's No. 2 Partita for violin to stunning effect on the disc above. There's no shortage of musicianship there! I'm looking forward to hearing some of the younger players.

I'm only just discovering the Naxos guitar series. I bought a few more last Saturday - only £6 each!Maybe these artists will be familiar to you, they weren't to me (all on Naxos):

Norbert Kraft - Villa-Lobos: Complete Music for Solo Guitar

Norbert Kraft - Guitar Favourites (Albinez, Torroba, Granados, Falla, Villa-Lobos, Turina, Barrios, Tarrega, Paganinni, Myers (you know which one!) selections)

Judicael Perroy - Bach Transcriptions for Guitar (love Bach on guitar!)

Graham Anthony Devine - Bach Guitar Transciptions

Rafael Aguirre - Laureate Series (Gimenez, Debussy, De Lucia, Assad, Lopez-Quiroga, Albinez, Rodrigo, Tarrega, Malata selections)

Adriano Del Sal - Laureate Series (Tarrege, Sor, Torroba, Rodrigo, Morricone selections)

Artyom Dervoed - Laureate Series (Biktashev, Orekhov, Rudnev, Koshkin selections?) 

Without tyro's there will be no future maestros!

Happy listening,

Vlad

I have always enjoyed this.

-Toru Takemitsu pieces for guitar (check "Chamber Music" on Naxos, or on the incredible "Ceci N'est Pas Une Guitare" by Emanuele E. Forni)

- Wergo's semi improvised release "Suono Rotondo" with music inspired by Giacinto Scelsi

- "Rara", the contemporary classic by Leo Brouwer on DG (essential)

- Maurice Ohana's "L'Oeuvre Pour Guitare" played by Stephan Schmidt. Way ahead of his time.

- Davide Ficco. Love the clinical accuracy and relentless atonalism. Anything he touches is gold (check "Autori Italiani Contemporanei").

- Makiko Nishikaze's "St. Michael's Garden" is a minimal meditation on guitar.

- and my absolute top favorite, "Renka" for guitar and soprano by Toshio Hosokawa. Lyrical yet a terrific blend of modernism and tradition.

I' m not a fan of classical guitar perse, but I really enjoyed this album

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