In the pantheon of the great guitarists of the 20^th century, the late English-born Julian Bream stands side by side with Andrés Segovia, Narciso Yepes, John Williams, and Pepe Romero.

An artist of magisterial musicianship and impressive technique, Bream’s extensive recorded legacy has become a victim to the vagaries of the recording industry’s ups and downs. So it is with gratitude that we welcome the recently released Alto CD of music by Fernando Sor, Joaquin Turina, Manuel de Falla and Claude Debussy in a felicitous mix with a Chaconne, a Prelude, a Suite and a Partita by J. S. Bach all played by Bream with impeccable musicality, sober restraint, idiomatic elegance, and an absence of any fussy mannerisms.

Half of the music featured on this CD straddles the early 18^th and early 19^th centuries: areas of the guitar repertoire that the formidable Julian Bream dominates with his mastery of the music of Bach and the Spanish Fernando Sor.

Bream then turns to the music of Claude Debussy for a perfect rendition of Le Tombeau de Couperin. Yet it is in Joaquin Turina’s Homenaje a Tárrega and in the same composer’s Sonata in D minor that Bream finds a true soul mate, digging into the Flamenco-inspired Garrotín with soulful duende, then following it with a superb Soleares, an evanescent Fandango, a magical rendition of the D minor Sonata, and a haunting Rafaga.

This listener looks forward to more re-mastered, reissued treasures by great soloists from the past century.

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

Vespers from the Abbey of St. Hildegard “O vis Aeternitatis”                Sung by the Bendictine Nuns of St. Hildegard, Bingen, led by J. Berchmans Göschl Engineering and editing: Christoph Martin Frommen Originally issued by Ars Musici © Mastered for Alto Records by Paul Arden-Taylor

Hildegard (1098-1179) was born in Germany in 1098, the tenth child of noble parents who promised her to convent life in 1106.  She took her vows in 1115, and in 1136 became the leader of her spiritual community. The Hildegard Abbey was consecrated in 1935, where this recording was made.

Hildegard regarded herself as “a mere vessel of God” through whom the complexities of scripture and language became clear through visions that she described as “extremely strong, sparkling, fiery lights” and that eventually were written down in a collection of poetry, in 400 letters, in theological discussions, and in works on medicine and natural healing.

The music of Hildegarde comprises settings mostly in plainchant of a mix of Antiphons, Responsorial Chant, and Sequences that utilize texts from the Book of Revelations, the Psalms and the Common of the Mass. The overall quality of the work is plain and pure, as is the singing, and both unencumbered by any compositional devices. It is music that comes from a time when the dividing line between the formality of composed music and music spontaneously sung, seemingly improvised, and preserved in the cloister by means of verbal instruction was tenuous at best.

The listener is induced into a stage of calm, non-judgmental listening made all the more hypnotic by the ethereal beauty of the soulful singing of the Bendictine Nuns of St. Hildegard, Bingen.

Rafael de Acha                  www.RafaelMusicNotes.com

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. This terrific site is another of my favorite sources of musical pleasure right at home.

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1905 and today consists of over 100 musicians.

The orchestra’s home is the Gothenburg Concert Hall. Santtu-Matias Rouvali is the Chief Conductor. In 1997, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra was appointed as the National Orchestra of Sweden.

With a strong commitment and belief in the uniting power of music, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra will be available even more on GSOplay (https://www.gso.se/en/gsoplay/) while the visits in the Concert Hall are limited due to the corona pandemic.

You don’t need an account, just click the concert range and start watching.

Among the many sources of music widely available on line, the website of Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colón ( WWW.teatrocolon.org ) stands out among its many competitors. Readily available to the curious listener, the archival sound treasures of this illustrious institution go back to the 1940’s.

Sound recordings of recitals by singers Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Birgit Nilsson, José Carreras, Luciano Pavaroti and Régine Crespin are offered on its site side by side with concerts by guitarist Narciso Yepes, pianists Martha Argerich and Claudio Arrau, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, along with full operas featuring the likes of Leontyne Price, Martina Arroyo, and Teresa Berganza.

Starting with the new century, fully staged operas and ballets featuring a mix of Argentine talents and international stars are available on video along with concerts by the superb Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Colon Theater of Buenos Aires is one of the most important opera houses of the world. The Teatro Colón functioned from 1857 to 1888 and then reopened on May 25, 1908. The theatre was again closed from October 2006 to May 2010, when it reopened with vast improvements to its technical capabilities to its huge 65 ft. x 65 ft. stage. The theatre’s seating capacity is 2,487 seats with additional standing room for 1,000 and it has just about perfect acoustics.   

In the recent CHANDOS three-volume release of Anton Reicha’s L’Art de varier – a set of an F major theme and 57 variations for piano under the opus number 57, the formidable Serbian American pianist Ivan Ilić takes on the challenge of bringing to life this intriguing work with splendid results.

Anton Reicha(1770-1836), a Czech artist and close friend of Beethoven composed this work between 1801 and 1803, and, in spite of its many merits, L’Art de varier  fell into relative obscurity for well over two centuries, along with most of Reicha’s prolific output. Reicha dedicated this work to Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, who then invited the composer to become his Kapellmeister and teacher, only to be inexplicably turned down by the eccentric composer!

Evenly balancing intellectual acuity, peerless musicality and sober sensitivity pianist Ivan Ilić sustains the interest of the listener throughout the entire set of variations that range from the drily humorous to moments of sheer bravura.

The album is neatly engineered and accompanied by a handsome booklet.

Rafael de Acha     www.RafaelMusicNotes.com  

Noel Coward once quipped in response to the silly platitude “Life is for living!” this response: “It’s difficult to know what else to do with it!” So, in that spirit, we send to all our readers – especially to those who are feeling more than just a bit depressed by the combination of Covid19, isolation, and the relentless piling up of bad news coming our way, a heartfelt salute to Life, which given the alternative is unquestionably more than worth living, no matter all the negativity. We send each and every one of you and yours our heartfelt wishes for Peace, Health, and the simple joy of cherishing just simply being alive.