Roberto Moronn Perez, guitar – Andres Segovia Archive Vol. 1 [TrackList follows] – Fresh!/ Reference Recordings (HDCD) FR-705, 70:32 [Distr. by Allegro] [5/14/13] ****:
Andres Segovia is regarded as the savior of the classical guitar and its literature. He succeeded in commissioning many new guitar works. Some of them—ones mostly never performed or recorded by Segovia—were published in The Segovia Archive Series. Segovia had to make quite an effort to get some of these composers to deliver. They were not confident this instrument with which they had little connection or knowledge would become such a major player in the classical world. During the Spanish Civil War Segovia had to flee Madrid to Barcelona and was forced to leave many of his personal papers including the Archive Series behind in his flat, and he thought they were ransacked. But a relative had saved them. These are mostly short, rather quiet, guitar pieces by six Spanish composers: Aregui, Sanjuan, Cassado, Donostia, Pahissa and Mompou. They have a generalized European sort of style, not the usual ethnic Spanish foot-stomping thing.
Spanish-born Perez is an accomplished guitarist. He won the Bronze Medal in the 2006 Christopher Parkening International Guitar Competition, and one of the judges there, Thomas Frost, helped him with the theme of this CD and a future one from the Archive Series, which will focus on French composers instead of Spanish. Perez recently performed Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with both the LA Chamber Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. The outstanding recording was made in 2010 in the acoustics of the Holy Trinity Church in Weston, Hertfordshire in the U.K. and mastering was by Reference’s Keith O. Johnson.
TrackList:
Vicente Arregui: (1871 – 1925) 1 Canción lejana; Tres piezas líricas: 2 Intermedio, 3 Confidencia, 4 Campesina; Pedro Sanjuán: (1886 – 1976) 5 Una leyenda; Gaspar Cassadó: (1897 – 1966) 6 Catalanesca, 7 Canción de Leonardo, 8 Sardana Chigiana, 9 Preámbulo y Sardana, 10 Leyenda Catalana; Padre Donostia: (1886 – 1956) 11 Errimina (Nostalgia); Jaume Pahissa: (1880 – 1969) 12 Canço en el mar, Tres temas de recuerdos: 13 Preludio – Por el viejo camino, 14 Diálogo, 15 Danza lejana; Federico Mompou: (1893 – 1987) 16 Canción y Danza
—John Sunier