Search - Narciso Yepes :: Villa-lobos: Guitar Concerto; Etudes; Preludes [Australia]

Great Guitarist, Poor Orchestra, Poor Sound Engineering

Jason D. Brown | 07/12/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is rare and hard to find but that doesn't mean it's worth the trouble. Yepes is among the top three guitarists of all time yet these recordings do not do his fine guitar playing justice. This CD is a compilation of his Villa-Lobos Guitar Concerto and Prelude & Etude Recordings. I would give Yepes guitar playing five stars but there are two things you must consider before buying this out of print CD. 1) Yepes' guitar playing however perfect is accompanied by an inferior orchestra. There are points in which the recording doesn't conform to the score. (This same unfortunate blend on top notch artist and inferior orchestra can be found in the recordings of Dinu Lipatti especially his Bartok and Liszt concertos. The situation in this recording is exactly analogous.) The sound engineer should be ashamed of himself having robbed the world of one of guitar's better moments. If you can get over the unbalance between an Olympian first rate artist and a dull, insipid , lifeless, insensitive orchestral accompaniment and an inferior sound recording, this is the recording for you. 2) The guitar Etudes and Preludes on this recording are not the same as the famous set recorded by the same artist but are instead marred by the same sound engineering problems found in the concerto. There are two versions of the Preludes and Etudes and this is NOT the one you want. Search for it and compare sample recordings if possible. These are the reason why Deutsche Grammophone dropped this CD from their catalog. Too bad, if only they had prepared better for working with Yepes the world would have a real treasure of a recording as essential as Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations. If you are looking for a decent recording with balanced artistry and good sound engineering then buy Julian Bream's recording of the the same pieces featured here. If you are a historian who is seeking to capture a great artistic moment mired in poor sound engineering and inferior orchestral accompaniment, this is for you."