The buyer whose ears have been caught by the peppy Spanish strains of
Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, or perhaps by the ingeniously stretched out flamenco music of its slow movement, has dozens of recordings to choose from, or maybe hundreds if the work's numerous resonances in the worlds of jazz and pop are taken into account. The concerto, along with the almost-as-familiar Fantasía para un gentilhombre, might seem a difficult choice for a guitarist's debut, but
Charles Ramirez, born on Gibraltar and a longtime professor at England's Royal Conservatory of Music, offers readings that can compete with those by better-known names. The recording's virtues are multiple rather than consisting in a single major depature from established versions;
Ramirez was a student of
Narciso Yepes and takes after his precise yet fluid style. One attraction is the playing of the
Chamber Orchestra of Europe, so much better suited to the music than the lumbering symphony orchestras of the old school, under conductor
Douglas Boyd. The balance between guitar and orchestra throughout is exceptionally clear here, and even those who have repeatedly heard the two famous pieces will likely notice new details in the solo parts. Likewise, Signum's engineers have done beautiful work in the small Auditorio Banarain in Pamplona, capturing fine shades of sound in
Ramirez's guitar without miking him too closely. Finally, there's the inclusion of a more unusual
Rodrigo work, the Elogio para la guitarra (1971), a genuine virtuoso work. Many of
Rodrigo's guitar pieces are remarkable for how they lie under the player's fingers, all the more remarkable when one considers that
Rodrigo was not himself a guitarist. The Elogio (ode or tribute), however, makes the soloist sweat. Everything
Rodrigo wrote was characteristically Spanish, but here he does not draw so much on the virtuosity of flamenco players; instead, the outer movements consist of crisp passagework incorporated into the slightly more adventurous harmonic framework of the music from the later part of
Rodrigo's life. Highly recommended throughout, even for those who assume they've heard it all with regard to
Rodrigo.