Expressivo (2016)

BARRIOS: Waltz; DYENS: Tango en Skai; ALBENIZ: Sevilla; Granada; Asturias; Tango; VILLALOBOS:

Prelude 1; BROUWER: Cancion de Cuna; Ojos Brujos; MYERS: Cavatina; TARREGA: Recuerdos; Capricho Arabe; GRANADOS: Spanish Dance 5; PIAZZOLLA: Adios Nonino; LENNON, MCCARTNEY: Here, There, & Everywhere; CARMICHAEL: Georgia on My Mind; GERSHWIN: Summertime

Jacob Cordover, guitar Cala 77022 —74 minutes

Recorded by John Taylor; St. Andrew's Church, Toddington, Gloucestershire, UK in January 2004

I first encountered Mr Cordover in his release Blackwattle Caprices (J/F 2014). I was deeply impressed. He has it all—technique, musicianship, inventive programming. In this release he confirms that impression.

This program is different. 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 selfindulgent 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.

KEN KEATON, American Record Guide