Search - Konrad Ragossnig :: Lute Music: European Lute Music

Panorama of the Renaissance Lute

Paul Magnussen | Campbell, CA USA | 04/17/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Konrad Ragossnig is perhaps best known outside his native Austria by his fine album of Latin American guitar duets with Walter Feybli, which has been reissued multiple times on various budget labels.



Like his contemporary Julian Bream, Herr Ragossnig was an early convert to the lute, and in fact his playing is so much like Bream's as to be indistinguishable to the casual listener; in particular, I find Herr Ragossnig's firm sense of rhythm a refreshing change from the meanderings of some I could name. The recordings are likewise excellent and comparable to Bream's of the same period



It must be said that playing the lute this way - that is, like classical guitar, with fingernails, and use of tonal variation - is (we are told) inauthentic, and thus out of fashion these days. Those who feel this way may be better served by more HIP recordings from first-rate modern lutenists such as Jakob Lindberg, Christopher Wilson or Paul O'Dette.



To those who neither know nor care about such considerations, however - or to those who (like myself) know but do not care, and feel that Bream's lute recordings have been too few - Ragnossnig's playing can be recommended without reservation.



His complete lute recordings have now been issued as a 4-CD boxed set, "Renaissance Lute Works", but unfortunately, it's not (as I write) available from Amazon USA*; I ordered it from Amazon UK (ASIN: B00020QWFK) and consider it well worth it. But if this is too much trouble or money, then the present CD is a good representative sample.



It appears to be the English edition of Lautenmusik aus drei Jahrhunderten, also available from Amazon, so you may want to compare and choose the better price. There are 37 tracks: you can find the list of titles at amazon.de, although the composers aren't given.



*I can't be sure, but Music for Lute, available second-hand, appears to be almost (but not quite) the same thing."