Milos Karadaglic's 2014 release on Decca is devoted to the music of Spanish composers
Joaquín Rodrigo and Manuel de Falla, offering their most representative pieces for guitar and orchestra and solo guitar.
Rodrigo's evocative Concierto de Aranjuez is the most celebrated guitar concerto in 20th century music, followed only slightly in popularity by his Baroque-styled Fantasía para un gentilhombre.
Karadaglic frames the program with these essential masterworks, and his performances with
Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the
London Philharmonic Orchestra are assured and elegant, while the sound of the recordings is as satisfying as any on the market. The middle portion of the album presents three pieces for solo guitar, Falla's Homenaje pour le Tombeau de Claude Debussy and his Danza del Molinero, arranged for guitar from the ballet El Sombrero de tres picos, along with
Rodrigo's Invocacion y Danza (Homenaje a Manuel de Falla). These character pieces reveal
Karadaglic introspective and searching side, which listeners will enjoy as a contrast to his more extroverted style in the larger works. ~ Blair Sanderson