Álbums

Expressivo (2016)

"I was deeply impressed. He has it all–technique, musicianship, inventive programming. The selections are mostly familiar works from the Segovia repertory – the very pieces that first caused him (and me) to fall in love with the guitar. There's always a risk in such a program. Do we really need another Asturias or Recuerdos? Does he have anything different to say that we haven't heard before? The answer, I’m happy to say, is yes.

Nothing is dramatically reinterpreted in a self-indulgent fashion, but nothing sounds just like it always does. More or less consistently, the performances are slower–not because he lacks the technique (he doesn’t) but because he wants to allow more time for the music to emerge. That means that Barrios isn’t rushed, and the Dyens can catch the spirit of the tango without seeming eccentrically nervous. The center section of the Villa-Lobos Prelude is clear and precise-that passage that most guitarists just strum is played as written, as a clear arpeggio.

Most delightfully, he starts Asturias pianissimo and builds a steady crescendo to the biggest chords. That’s how Alicia de Larrocha does it on piano, to a glorious effect, but this is the first time I’ve heard a guitarist even try. He does his own transcriptions of the Albeniz and Granados–again, nothing radically different, and closer to Tarrega than Barrueco. But there are a few special touches, especially octave displacement, that brought a smile to my face.

Even if you already have these pieces in other performances, Cordover’s have such a distinct and attractive personality that it will be worth finding. - American Record Guide

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Historias (2014) Zoco Duo

"A subtly uplifting release exploring the potential of a combination of instruments that, although not unprecedented, is still something of a rarity."

- Classical Guitar Magazine

"This absorbing collaboration...is exotic, atmospheric and appealingly multi-textured, and should be required listening for open-minded music lovers everywhere."

- English regional newspapers

- amb Laura Karney, oboe / corn Anglès

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Blackwattle Caprices (2013)

His interpretation of the Bach suite is one of the finest I have heard to date with superb phrasing and total mastery of the technicalities involved in playing this difficult composition.

Throughout it is obvious that Cordover has considered every nuance and phrase in the chosen programme. It would be difficult to imagine finer musical performances …

There is nothing superficial about the playing on this disc; Cordover plays with total assurance and an understanding of the demands of the programme; with each new track he brings colour and clarity to the music which often lacking in other performances. This is a recording to savour and one I can thoroughly recommend."

- Classical Guitar Magazine

"His technique is flawless, his expression tasteful and always interesting and moving. This is simply the finest performance of Walton's Bagatelles I've encountered"

- American Record Guide

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Songs from the Forest (2012)
Australian Guitar Duo

“The Australian Guitar Duo has got it all: perfect synchronisation, beautiful phrasing and tone, and charismatic good looks . . . The whole disc is wonderfully entertaining.”

- Classical Guitar Magazine

“They are technical masters who also possess beautiful tone at all volume levels, and a wonderfully refined collective musical sense ...magical use of tone color...Very impressive”

- Soundboard Magazine

“Superbly played”

- Limelight Magazine

“They serve up a tasty mix of contemporary and traditional classic guitar work that is as well conceived and performed as most any duo recording today. They reflect sensitivity, power, and elegance in their playing . . . a fine recording sure to please the most demanding listeners.”

- Minor 7th

- amb Rupert Boyd, guitarra

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Stélé (2004)

“It takes some courage to release a debut recording with Brouwer’s El Decameron Negro, Domeniconi’s Koyunbaba, and Rodrigo’s Invocacion y Danza. These works are not only virtuoso showpieces, but popular pieces that have been recorded widely, so the competition is intense. But Cordover is up to it. His performances can stand comparison with the best.

He presents Brouwer’s Hika, in Memoriam Toru Takemitsu, a mysterious, impressionist work. He conveys its mystery beautifully. Two works by fellow Australians round out he program. Peter Sculthorpe has written only a few pieces for guitar, but his From Kakadu is a beautiful, serene, four-movement neo-classiscal work. Phillip Houghton is himself a guitarist, and his Stele, also in four movements, more demanding than the Sculthorpe, but still more concerned with expression than display.

The recording is nearly a decade old, but even then Cordover displayed the highest levels of musicianship. It is a treasure to hear.

- American Record Guide

“With an array of famous names behind him including studies with Timothy Kain, Pavel Steidl, Carlo Barone and Maximo Diego Pujol; working alongside Phillip Houghton, Richard Charlton, Nigel Westklake and Peter Sculthorpe; performing on a Greg Smallman guitar and finally, being recorded by John Taylor, one would expect great things from Jacob Cordover, and great things is what one receives on this fine recording of guitar works from some of the best composer in the business.

Each work receives a wonderfully sympathetic and highly accomplished interpretation with Cordover making full use of the most expressive registers manageable on the guitar. It is immediately clear form the opening few bars of Brouwe's El Decameron Negro that this player is in a technically comfortable arena and the listener is in safe hands.