RUPERT BOYD THE GUITAR

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

DSL-92231AlbumCover

Rupert Boyd makes his guitar sing.

He swings comfortably with the laid back syncopations of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s Felicidade and Estrada Branca, squeezing every bit of Brazilian saudade out of the Jobim song about unattainable happiness, and making us old enough to have binged on repeated viewings of Orfeu Negro back in 1959 get… melancholy.

The Australian born Boyd must have been alive in a prior incarnation among the brown men who write choros about the possibility of perfect love and, in another life, hung out with Bach in a Leipzig café.

He plays the Suite in E Major, BWV 1006 with classical clarity, artful articulation and eloquence, and follows that with a perfect Introduction and Variation on a Theme of Mozart by Fernando Sor.

I had forgotten what a significant voice that of my compatriot Leo Brouwer is. Boyd’s playing of the Cuban master’s Estudios Sencillos one trough ten is impeccable: a brace of miniatures chock-full of technical hurdles some whimsically labeled by the composer: fast…very fast…as fast as possible…are surmounted by Boyd’s dexterity. Throughout Brouwer’s sensual melodies are lovingly brought out.

Astor Piazzolla’s Milonga del Angel and La Muerte del Angel are played by Boyd just right and by just right I mean with total flexibility, and a mix of River Plate sadness and Argentine bravura.

The SONO LUMINUS CD (DSL 92231) also includes a lovely piece by Boyd’s fellow Australian Graeme Koehne, and Julia, a John Lennon/Paul McCartney gem.

In his insightful liner notes Rupert Boyd writes about his chosen instrument’s capability of playing a variety of styles of music. This album, the third of Boyd’s in my CD library, once more reinforces that belief, as it extends to both Boyd’s precious guitar and his sensitive playing of music from Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain, and Cuba

The familiar and ever reliable team of Producer Dan Merceruio and Engineer Daniel Shores again prove themselves the best among the best.

The CD is widely available on several platforms come April 26.

Rafael de Acha http://www.RafaelMusicNotes.com

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”