{"id":13549,"date":"2019-09-03T10:14:58","date_gmt":"2019-09-03T17:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=13549"},"modified":"2020-12-31T11:56:27","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T19:56:27","slug":"recent-album-releases-marcin-dylla-alec-holcomb-plays-albeniz-and-lex-eisenhardts-baroque-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/recent-album-releases-marcin-dylla-alec-holcomb-plays-albeniz-and-lex-eisenhardts-baroque-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Album Releases: Marcin Dylla, Alec Holcomb Plays Alb\u00e9niz, and Lex Eisenhardt’s Baroque Discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some weeks we take a peek at recent albums or sheet music releases. Here are three CDs I like that have come into the Classical Guitar<\/em> office within the past several months.<\/p>\n

If you have a CD you\u2019d like to submit to us, here\u2019s our NEW ADDRESS:<\/p>\n

Classical Guitar
\n941 Marina Way South, Suite E
\nRichmond, CA 94804<\/p>\n

You can listen to some of these on various of streaming services, but we always encourage you to support the artists by actually buying<\/em>\u00a0anything you like! Obviously we cannot research and report every outlet or online business where these albums are sold (Amazon, for instance, has outlets in many different countries\/regions, but we generally link to the U.S. version), so check your favorite places that sell CDs and downloads, as well as your favorite streaming sites!<\/p>\n

To see links to all of our online album listings\/reviews,\u00a0click here<\/a>. \u2014Blair Jackson<\/em><\/p>\n

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\nVintage<\/strong><\/em>
\nMarcin Dylla<\/strong>
\nHarris Guitar Foundation<\/p>\n

I confess to being a little biased about this release, having seen Marcin Dylla play the two major pieces on this CD\u2014Ponce’s Variations on Folia de Espa\u00f1a and Fugue <\/em>and Britten’s famous Nocturnal after John Dowland, Op. 70<\/em> at a sensational concert at the GFA convention in Miami, Florida, this past June. I have long thought that Dylla is without question among the upper echelon of contemporary players, and this release has only confirmed that view. It’s not to be missed! Rounding out the CD is his perfect, unassailable version of Villa-Lobos’ five Preludes<\/em>, which have become among my favorite works in the guitar repertoire.<\/p>\n

Dylla could undoubtedly record these pieces on a $250 guitar and make them sound wondrous, but an added bonus to this CD is that he used three magnificent instruments that are part of the Harris Guitar Collection housed at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (where he was part of the guest faculty in the fall of 2016). Though regrettably not itemized-by-piece in the notes for the album, the guitars he used were a 1965 Ignacio Fleta originally built for Carlos Barbosa-Lima on the Ponce Variations<\/em>; an 1888 Antonio de Torres originally owned by Miguel Llobet for the Villa-Lobos; and a 1948 Hermann Hauser I for the Britten. I’ve always had some difficulty fully embracing the Nocturnal<\/em>, but between the live performance and this CD, I really feel like I’ve “gotten” it in ways I never have before. And though I couldn’t tell you why, I like its pairing with the Ponce, which is so incredibly variegated and deep in some of the same (and different!) ways. A great achievement!<\/p>\n

So far, this CD is not easy to come by. (I bought it after the GFA concert.) It lacks a proper distributor at the moment, but perhaps that will be rectified in the near future. For now, the only way to buy it is to send a check for $30 (which includes postage) paid to the order of the “Harris Guitar Foundation,” at 1569 Solano Ave. Suite 201, Berkeley, CA 94707. You won’t be disappointed. And next up from the Harris Guitar Foundation: Another from George Sakellariou. It’s time for a distributor to step up and make these discs more available!<\/p>\n

Have 25 minutes to spare? This is definitely worth your time!<\/em>
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