Search - Santiago de Murcia :: Murcia: Danza y Diferencias

Definitive recording played with passion and intelligence

11/05/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Richard Savino, one of the USA's best guitarist/lutenists contributes another excellent addition to the Baroque/ Classical guitar repetoire with this definitive recording of works by the Spanish Baroque guitarist/composer Santiago de Murcia. Savino, a highly distinguished performer and scholar plays here with passion, precision, authenticity, intelligence, and conviction. The addition of percussion by ReFosco and Sheronick adds up to an entertaining, magical, and complete listening experience, with crisp, clean production and excellent liner notes by Savino. The title of this recording, states Savino, describes the state of Spanish music during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: Danza y Diferencias, that is to say, dance pieces and variations, The works of Santiago de Murcia (1685-1732), fit into both the categories of boisterous 'bailes', such as the jacaras and fandango, and the more elegant court 'danzas', such as the allemanda and minuet. Another major component of Spanish variation technique, states Savino, were the 'passacalles', which were, generally, four chord progressions, usually I IV V I, upon which improvisations were performed (note the similarity to modern blues) In this recording, Savino and company not only capture the notes, but also the spirit and spontaneity of the times in which they were conceived, with moods ranging from the vigourous rasgueado (strumming) in the dances 'Fandango' and 'Jota', to the elegant, sonorous, contrapuntal textures of 'Pasacalle in d minor' and de Murcia's arrangement of 'Sonata in C Major' by Corelli. Highly recommended."