Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Andres Segovia, John Williams :: The Art of Guitar

Do NOT buy this CD

M. Yarus | Boulder, CO United States | 06/12/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is a cruel joke on all who know and venerate Segovia's playing and contribution to the guitar. Were there a zero star rating, I would use it. The sound of the Segovia Bach is grotesquely bad, less clear than, say, a hand-held dictation recorder. The Williams pieces, in apparent sympathy, are almost as bad, though there is no apparent reason that we couldn't have better clarity from more modern recordings. I am neither kidding nor being malicious: for example, the overloading on crescendi is so bad that it is painful to hear. If you want to understand Segovia's impact on classical music, save the 7 bucks that you would have spent for this CD and get the Deutsche Grammaphon "Art of Segovia" instead."

Lovely

Jeff Messenger | Madison, WI United States | 06/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"John Williams is perhaps Andre Segovia's most famous student, which makes this juxtaposition interesting indeed. I also recommend the Bach interpretations of Christopher Parkening and Ron Rendek."

Deep emotion sometimes lacking in other classical music.

websnozz | Marianna, FL USA | 07/24/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Art of Guitar is an album of classical pieces composed by Bach and performed by Andres Segovia. Many of the pieces were originally composed for the lute, and Segovia has adapted them to the classical guitar. Some musicians prefer the classical style as purely a means to display their playing prowess. Although Segovia demonstrates his exceptional technical skill, it is truly the spirit he injects into the music he plays that makes him a legend. The second track, Partita for solo violin No. 2 in D minor arranged for guitar, is a good example of music that conveys deep emotion without a single word. This one piece is twelve minutes, and along its journey many different musical ideas and emotions are explored and expressed. Even as the piece progresses it should be noted that there is a musical phrase that is often returned to and repeated, however it is done in great variation, but the same concept is maintained. A note or chord is played short and accented, and then the following note or chord is much longer, sometimes with a vibrato, and is a pitch descending in approximately a whole step or half step interval. The musical idea created by this emphasized descending interval is one of bittersweet sorrow, but because of the simplicity in the implementation of this phrase, Bach is able to communicate other musical ideas along side the basic one. In this Segovia demonstrates his mastery of the guitar by his ability to clearly define voices. The bass line, melody, and chord progression all have distinguishable separation among each other, despite the fact that they must all be expressed through a single sound hole by a single performer all at once. This is something that is rarely, if ever, accomplished by a player of mainstream popular guitar who, in the absence of the skill required, frequently opt to divide these three elements among three different musicians. One could say that Segovia contains the technical skill of three guitarist combined, and perhaps the same could be said for the amount of emotion and creativity that he expresses in what he plays."