The guitar quartet is a novel medium, dating mostly (except for a few forerunners) from the second half of the 20th century. Many examples have been North American; Spain and Germany have been predominant European locales. But the established groups had better be on the lookout for Britain's
VIDA Guitar Quartet, which here delivers a program equally perfect in concept and execution, not to mention engineering. Most guitar quartet programs consist of arrangements of short pieces in a melodic vein, with plenty of Spanish color and maybe a hint of flamenco modes, but with only a basic sort of sustained expression. In this set of works by
de Falla,
Turina, and
Bizet, the guitar quartet is trying mightily to be a full orchestra. The arrangement by group member Mark Eden of a suite from
de Falla's El amor brujo (which gives the album its name) is the real tour de force. Beyond the playing of a substantial part of the suite, and beyond the sheer combination of passion and precision the quartet brings to the music, the arrangement gives the words extended technique new resonance. There are scordatura tunings, there are rubbed strings, there are a variety of percussive effects that add up to a genuinely orchestral sound palette. Things hardly retreat from there. The three pieces from
de Falla's El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat), arranged by another group member,
Mark Ashford, are similarly imaginative, and
Turina's La oración del torero (The Bullfighter's Prayer), arranged by
Colin Downs, is given its full weight. The final Carmen Suite, in an arrangement by
William Kanengiser, comes as a relief with its fusillade of familiar tunes, and you realize just how intricate the foregoing music has been. On top of all this, the engineering, so often the bugaboo of guitar recordings, is superb, capturing the physicality of the four guitars. An extraordinary release.