Guitarist Miloš Karadaglić, generally using just his first name these days, has recorded several albums drawing on rock music. His 2016 release, Blackbird, offered guitar versions of Beatles songs, for example, and given the complexity of those, they weren't much of a stretch from classical repertory. However, Sound of Silence is something else; it ventures into new territory and helps Karadaglić carve out a place in the crowded classical guitar field. The slightly altered song that provides the album's title is here, as are Nights in White Satin from the Moody Blues and the crossover standard Over the Rainbow, the latter arranged by Toru Takemitsu and featuring the shell-like Japanese hang instrument. There are also several works, as usual with Miloš, from the Spanish classical guitar repertory, and one song, Famous Blue Raincoat, by Leonard Cohen. Most of the pop items, though, come from the world of alternative rock, something Miloš' contemporaries have largely not done. This has occurred not just because songs like the Magnetic Fields' The Book of Love have entered the repertory of standards, even in Miloš' native country of Montenegro, but also because they fit what the guitarist is trying to accomplish. They don't have sharp tonic-dominant contrasts, and they reward Miloš' smooth textures and arrangements for a small complement of strings and sometimes a piano or saxophone. Sample Portishead's Sour Times for a good representation. Decca's sound environment, created at Abbey Road Studios, is ideal. This is crossover guitar music, and the pieces in the main have similar textures and tempos. If that's what you're looking for, you'll find Sound of Silence fresh and engaging.
© James Manheim /TiVo