Tag: norbert kraft

Review of Yuri Liberzon’s Upcoming Piazzolla Release!

Published on by Leo GarciaLeave a comment

Piazzolla, A.: Music for Guitar, Yuri Liberzon with Piotr Pakhomkin (Naxos)

Yuri Liberzon

Yuri Liberzon’s upcoming release of a recording devoted entirely to the music of Astor Piazzolla is wonderful. It was recorded in April 2023 for the NAXOS label and was produced and engineered by guitar legend Norbert Kraft.

Astor Piazzolla’s Tango Suite for two guitars opens the program and sets the high standard one has come to expect from Yuri’s recordings. The suite is the only work where fellow virtuoso guitarist Piotr Pakhomkin, who flew in from Europe to record, joins Yuri. Having heard the famous recording of the Assads, for whom the piece was written, I can’t help but compare a bit. Yuri and Piotr take a bit of a more introspective journey through the piece, playing sections at a measured pace and always paying attention to balance and phrasing. The tempo for the third movement comes across as a bit slow, but it does not lack intensity. This made it seem like I was hearing the piece for the first time.

Yuri and Piotr

The arrangements of Oblivion (arr. Liberzon) and Muerte del Ángel (arr. Brouwer) really capture the essence of these pieces. Yuri plays both of these pieces with the musical freedom of an experienced performer. Despite the demanding counterpoint in Muerte del Ángel, the drive and intense pace are relentless, giving it Piazzolla’s soul squeezing pulse.

Perhaps the highlight of the recording is the refreshing and meticulous interpretation of the Cinco Piezas (Campero, Romántico, Acentuado, Tristón, Compadre). This is the only solo work Piazzolla wrote for the guitar, and despite the score’s visual simplicity, it demands the highest level of playing to pull off with such finesse. To experience fully what Yuri is capable of on the guitar, listen to how Tristón’s incessant accompaniment is magically played with its slowly unwinding harmonies while the melodic line floats above like bells in the clouds. And Compadre, played with Yuri’s signature understated intensity, will make you close your eyes and nod your head in agreement as you listen along.

Piotr, Norbert, and Yuri in St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

And to wrap up the recording, Yuri has chosen Manuel Barrueco’s arrangement of the Tango Etudes. Again, looking at the score is deceiving. Originally written for the flute, one would think these etudes would translate physically to the guitar. But they are likely the most technically demanding pieces on the recording, and yet Yuri plays them in a way that sounds seasoned and comfortable.

I’ve heard Yuri interpret Piazzolla’s music over the years, and his relationship with the composer has not been static; it has evolved in depth and maturity. What strikes me most about the recording as a whole is the quality of the playing, the recorded sound, and the scope of the project. They, like the way Yuri juggles the compelling counterpoint and driving rhythms in Piazzolla’s music, are finely balanced into a perfect musical experience. So all you have to do, as Enrique Fernández wrote in the liner notes to Piazzolla’s recording Hora Zero, is, “Listen up. And suffer, m*ther!%^&er, this is the tango.”

Pre-order link

A Curated List of Recent Recordings: Villa-Lobos Complete Works

Published on by Leo Garcia1 Comment

As students begin to get serious about developing their concert repertoire, I like to recommend recordings to study and listen to with the score. So instead of scribbling on their score, I thought I would start to post suggestions on Six String Journal.

This week, I’ll suggest a few recordings of the works of Heitor Villa-Lobos. Villa-Lobos’s Five Preludes, Twelve Etudes, Brazilian Suite, and his Choro Nº1 are some of the guitar’s most beloved solo repertoire. Villa-Lobos uses the guitar so indulgently and exploits resonance brilliantly.

Julian Bream, Manuel Barrueco, and Alvaro Pierri’s recordings of these works are wonderful. But there are other recordings that really stand out to me. The first and probably my favorite is Fabio Zanon’s recording of the complete works. Zanon’s playing is beautiful, his guitar sounds heavenly, and the engineering (I think it was the legendary John Taylor) is excellent.

Another great recording is Jose Antonio Escobar’s recording of the Five Preludes, 12 Etudes, and a Modihna. I love the sound of his guitar (Paco Santiago Marin XXX) and the recording is sonically perfect.

Here is a link to Alvaro Pierri’s recording of the Choro, Five Preludes and 12 Etudes. This recording made me listen to what can be done interpretively with these great works. Pierri has a special take on these.

And last for now, here is Norbert Kraft in a recording of the Twelve Etudes. Solid from the first note to the last.

Here are a few great videos of the Five Preludes.

I know I’ve left many videos and recordings out. There are so many. Any favorites that I missed?

New CD Review – Yuri Liberzon plays Konstantin Vassiliev, Guitar Works 1

Published on by Leo GarciaLeave a comment

Virtuoso guitarist, Yuri Liberzon, has just released a wonderful recording dedicated to the works of Russian composer Konstantin Vassiliev. On first listen, it is evident that there is a current of very high quality running through this recording – the music is played with the usual high musical standard I have come to expect from Yuri (and on a few tracks by his Duo Equilibrium partner, Patrick O’Connell) and recorded masterfully by Norbert Kraft on the NAXOS label. If you are not familiar with Vassiliev’s compositions for guitar, the selected pieces from the project span over 20 years of stylistically-diverse musical output and states a strong case for including Konstantin Vassiliev compositions in the modern guitar compositional canon.

The CD opens with Vassiliev’s Hommage a Tom Jobim. A great opener, the three movement piece evokes the spirit of Jobim’s music with Brazilian grooviness, rich harmonies, and an ample assortment of percussive effects. Yuri’s flexible technique makes all of it sound so natural that it is easy to forget you are listening to just one guitar. The middle movement Contemplación, with it’s meditative melodic quality allows Yuri’s expressivity to shine through.

photo credit: Jon McCormack

In both Cavatina and A Rose in the Snow (written for Yuri), Vassiliev’s use of jazz harmonies is magical and thoroughly convincing. Yuri’s crisp and clear sound portrays the soundscapes openly and without pretension. The earliest work on the CD, Fatum, was one of my favorites. Perhaps a bit more of an emotionally-laden piece, the themes woven through the piece are masterfully enveloped with rich counterpoint, canonic echos, and evocative elaborations, and clearly point to the fact that Vassiliev’s compositional talents were firmly in place decades ago. This work also highlights some of the qualities I admire most in Yuri’s playing, namely, his sense of pace and rhythm. The arc of the work is masterfully revealed only as Yuri can do.

Another wonderful composition is A Wanderer in Time. The emotions Vassiliev captures throughout the piece, from sadness to hope, is a testament to his ability to let a story unfold. Obrio and Two Russian Pieces were ear-opening and an effective way to guide the project to an end by adding another guitar. Yuri and Patrick complement each other well throughout these technically demanding pieces.

It’s been a while since I’ve listened to a recording from beginning to end of a composer’s music that I am not very familiar with and found this particular CD particularly compelling. It is no wonder why other notable players like Carlo Marchione and Roman Viazovskiy champion his music. Give this a listen, Yuri’s playing is fantastic and the music is wonderful.