{"id":13705,"date":"2019-10-16T14:14:52","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T21:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=13705"},"modified":"2019-10-22T14:37:24","modified_gmt":"2019-10-22T21:37:24","slug":"recent-album-releases-by-sharon-isbin-jason-vieaux-les-freres-meduses-and-the-edenwood-duo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/recent-album-releases-by-sharon-isbin-jason-vieaux-les-freres-meduses-and-the-edenwood-duo\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Album releases by Sharon Isbin, Jason Vieaux, Les Fr\u00e8res M\u00e9duses, and the Edenwood Duo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some weeks we take a peek at recent albums or sheet music releases. Here are four CDs I like that have come into the Classical Guitar<\/em>\u00a0office 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 streaming services, but we always encourage you to support the artists by actually buying<\/em> anything 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.\u00a0 \u2014Blair Jackson<\/em><\/p>\n

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

\"\"
\nSouvenirs of Spain and Italy<\/strong><\/em>
\nSharon Isbin and the Pacifica Quartet<\/strong>
\n(Cedille Records)<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nDance<\/strong><\/em>
\nJason Vieaux and the Escher Quartet<\/strong>
\n(Azica)<\/p>\n

It’s quite a coincidence that two of Americas finest (and most popular) guitarists have recently put out albums on which each fronts a string quartet and the repertoire is dominated by the same two works: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Quintet Op. 143<\/em> (for guitar and string quartet) and Luigi Boccherini’s Guitar Quintet No. 4 in D Major<\/em> (“Fandango”); arguably the two most-played quintets in the repertoire. And why not? Both chamber works are extremely appealing; excellent showcases for the guitarists and<\/em> the quartets. Isbin’s album was recorded in early 2019; Vieaux’s in 2015.<\/p>\n

The four-movement Castelnuovo-Tedesco piece was written at the beginning of the 1950s for Andr\u00e9s Segovia (for whom he had been writing occasional works since the the mid-1930s), and recorded by the Maestro in Siena, Italy, in 1955, for a 1956 Decca release called Andr\u00e9s Segovia with the Strings of the Quintetto Chigiano<\/em>. The work serves up a lovely mixture of styles, from Romantic-era melodic flights (Castelnuovo-Tedesco himself noted that it “has a simple, flowing, almost Schubertian lyricism” in places), along with some explicitly Spanish passages (especially in the exciting fourth movement), a gorgeous Andante mesto, <\/em>and also, I would posit, occasional moments where the influence of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s years working as a composer for Hollywood films seeps into his writing.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, both Vieaux (with the Indiana-based Escher Quartet) and Isbin (with New York’s Pacifica Quartet) are up to the challenge. I hesitate to compare them, because both are excellent and also fairly similar. But generally, I’d remark that the Vieaux\/Escher sounds a tad warmer and more mellifluous; the Isbin\/Pacifica has a little more bite and definition to the instruments, especially Isbin’s guitar, which never feels subsumed during the busier ensemble passages. (I went back and listened to Segovia’s mid-’50s mono recording and it sounds superb!)<\/p>\n

The Guitar Quintet No. 4 in D Major<\/em>, which closes both albums, is quite different, of course, reflecting the era in which it was written (end of the 18th century; Boccherini lived from 1743\u20131805), so it could be regarded as somewhat conservative musically, but what a fantastic piece it is, from beginning to end! I’ve always loved that it opens with a movement dubbed “Pastorale,” easing us into the piece with a courtly gentility. However, it is justly most famous for its final “Fandango” movement, which is full of Spanish character and motifs\u2014not too surprising given that Boccherini lived in Spain for many years. I particularly like the whimsical cello-violin dialogue at the movement’s midpoint, and of course the added castanets, which always surprise me, for some reason. (I’m not sure about the tambourine on the Isbin, however). Again, both guitarists (and quartets) sound marvelous throughout.<\/p>\n

So, that leaves the middle section of each disc to the programming whims of the guitarist and quartet. On the Isbin, she and Pacifica first dip back into the Baroque era with Vivaldi’s sublime Concerto in D major, RV 93<\/em> as arranged by Emilio Pujol (the Largo<\/em> is as beautiful as it can be). That is followed by La oraci\u00f3n del torero <\/em>by Joaqu\u00edn Turina (1882\u20131949), handled by the string quartet alone\u2014interestingly, Turina originally wrote the piece in 1925 for lute quartet, before writing the string quartet version the following year. It’s a very dramatic piece of writing, with lots of interesting and vibrant interplay, forceful statements, and then a long, graceful concluding section that is heartbreaking (or ecstatic, depending on how you hear it).<\/p>\n

On the Vieaux\/Escher disc, the middle 15 minutes is occupied by a contemporary number by Aaron Jay Kernis called 100 Greatest Dance Hits. <\/em>I first learned about this piece through an article we ran in the Spring 2019 issue of Classical Guitar <\/em>called “The Guitar Quintet: From Obscurity to Celebrity,” by Dr. Kevin Gary, who described it as “a postmodern crazy-quilt of American music, a stylistic polemic not lacking in irony.” All true, but also not to my personal taste. It’s all over the map stylistically\u2014with section titles such as “MOR Easy Listening Slow Dance Ballad” and “Dance Party on the Disco Motorboat,” that was to be expected\u2014but the music doesn’t actually reflect the jokey titles that<\/em> much, and I also don’t hear that much thematic development within the movements or overall.\u00a0 I first heard this through a YouTube video of David Tanenbaum and the Telegraph Quartet performing it, and I admit that watching them play it charmed me (particularly the percussive first movement). Hearing it on this disc, between the Castelnuovo-Tedesco and the Boccherini, it did not. I wonder if I would have liked it more if it had a different title. Probably not. There’s a better than even chance you will disagree with my assessment; it just feels a bit gimmicky to me.<\/p>\n

Isbin:<\/strong>
\nQuintet for Guitar and String Quartet, Op. 143<\/em> (Castelnuovo-Tedesco); Concerto in D Major, RV 93<\/em> (Vivaldi); La oraci\u00f3n del torero<\/em> (for string quartet; Turina); Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet in D Major, G448<\/em> (Boccherini)<\/p>\n

Souvenirs of Spain and Italy<\/em> can be sampled and bought through Cedille Records<\/a>, bought and streamed on Amazon <\/a> and iTunes\/Apple Music<\/a>, and streamed on Spotify<\/a> and YouTube<\/a>.
\n