Search - Ernesto Lecuona :: Cuba! / Manuel Barrueco

New and Interesting

Fabricio Monteagudo | 06/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This delightful album is a wonderful introduction to a body of overlooked compositions and composers. These works are engaging, melodic, and atmospheric. The recording again demonstrates why Barueco is the most interesting classical guitarist performing today. He consistently animates works to a level seldom achieved. Anyone weary of the usual classical guitar repertoire is well advised to seek out this recording."

Excellent

Fabricio Monteagudo | 06/08/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At last a maestro of the guitar releases a music CD expressing the other side of Cuban music that we seldom see. He brings to light the wonderfully expressive music of otherwise little heard contemporary composers. We constantly hear "salsa" and jazz influences in Cuban music, but seldom the serious, more elaborate side that also exists. This CD bridges that gap and gives a feel for the other side."

Cuban Landscapes for the Guitar

Fabricio Monteagudo | USA | 01/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Manuel Barrueco is without a doubt one of the top 3 classical guitar players in the world. (I have been to several performances by the man and outside of fellow guitarist David Russell who would make the top 3, many times I have felt that Barrueco is #1 for our times) On this album, one can find many different sides to Cuban art music, most of them neglected for so long. Highlights of this great album are Ernesto Lecuona's
"Danza Lucumi", a beautiful prelude by Leo Brouwer, a most mesmerizing and memorable rumba-based composition in Enrique Ubieta's "New York Rush"; Leo Brouwer's "Rito de los Orishas" will send shivers down your spine in its first section and in the section one will find many beautiful Afro-Cuban melodies and rhythms. Like most of Brouwer's music and with all good music in fact, one must listen to it with complete focus and attention or else one will miss the boat completely. An elegant and powerful album from possibly the best classical guitarist of our times. 5 stars"