Artist: Jorge Cardoso
Album: Origenes
Year: 1998
Line-up: Jorge Cardoso – Vihuela,
modern classical guitar, baroque guitar,
classical-romantic
guitar
Label: Guitar Masters
Continuing to cover albums of artists
which I have had the pleasure of seeing perform live, today I am
going further back to the year 2009. I was attending a world music
festival where I saw the Argentine guitarist/composer/musicologist
give a solo recital concert on the classical guitar. Cardoso has done
an impressive life work on studying the deep roots and secrets of
Latin and Spanish classical guitar music. The recital performed in
the festival was based on his album Origenes
which tries to build a musical and historical bridge between Spain
and South America originating from several hundred years ago to the
present. I was so enthralled by the concert that I absolutely had to
purchase a copy of the Origenes album
afterwards.
The
album contains 15 compositions the oldest dating from the 16th
century and the newest being the compositions of Jorge Cardoso. Some
of the composers featured on here are Luis de Narváez (Spain,
1526-49), Francois Le Cocq (Belgium, 1685-1729), Ferdinando Carulli
(Italy 1770-1841), Matteo Carcassi (Italy, 1792-1853), Napoléon
Coste (France, 1805-1883), María Luisa Anido (Argentina, 1907-1996),
Eduardo Falú (Argentina, 1923) and the master himself, Jorge Cardoso
(1949, Argentina). In addition, the album contains also works of less
known composers from Latin America. In the concert Cardoso performed
only on one modern classical guitar, a type of guitar which was
established in the 19th
century Spain. However, on the album the maestro strives for
authenticity by performing each piece with respected instrument of
the given time period. Thus, we are being treated with the sounds of
vihuela (a guitar-shaped instrument from 15th
and 16th
century Spain, Italy and Portugal), baroque guitar (a string
instrument with five courses of gut strings and moveable gut frets)
and romantic guitar which is the immediate precursor of the modern
classical guitar.
The
actual music on the album is a pleasant and lovely collection of solo
guitar and vihuela works which explore, in the most interesting
manner, the origins and the evolution of this fine instrument and the
similarities and differences between the European and the South
American tradition. The playing and the performances of Jorge Cardoso
are absolutely brilliant. The virtuosity and the control which he has
over the guitar is astounding, resulting in delightful performances
which are not are not only technically flawless but also full of
purity, clarity, dynamics and, above all, emotion. In addition to
being a virtuoso on his instrument, Cardoso also proves himself to be
a quite talented composer who writes very subtle and delicate pieces
never putting his technical proficiency ahead of the actual music.
Along with the compositions of Cardoso, one of the definite
highlights of the albums has to be the 14-minute long tour
de force Folías de España,
which is one of the oldest remembered European musical themes.
It goes without a
saying that this record is a must for all fans of the classical
guitar for having such lovely and rare repertoire and featuring also
various precursors of the modern classical guitar. The album is also
quite relaxing and smoothing and serves well as music to have playing
while reading, having a cup of coffee or tea or before going to bed.
Yet again, the more careful listens bring forth the rich details of
the featured compositions and Cardoso's playing.
Please enjoy a composition of Jorge
Cardoso, a beautiful milonga:
Written
by Παναγιωτιης
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