Classical Guitar Recordings - Recommended

I will admit freely to having a strong liking for classical guitar recordings.  They're perfect for relaxing evenings at home, by oneself or in the company of others.  The recordings listed below are too good simply to be regarded as "background music" - they stand up to, and deserve, close attention - but many (not the concertos!) generally do work as something to play at a dinner or cocktail party as well. 

If you've ever tried unsuccessfully to chat with friends over Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture or unwind after a stressful day at work to the gentle rhythms of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, try some of these as an alternative.

Recommended CD's

CD's are arranged by composer.  Where there are a number of composers' works on one CD, the CD is listed as a collection, toward the end of the list.  A special bonus with the CD's listed here - most are offered for sale at very reasonable prices.

• Albeniz
  • Albéniz: Echoes Of Spain
• Bach
  • The Art of Guitar
  • Bach On Guitar.  Andres Segovia, John Williams.  Bescol label, made in Korea.  John Williams performs the Bach Suite No. 1 in G Major and Bach Suite No. 3 in C Major.  The second part of the disc is "A Bach Recital" by Segovia - 27 minutes worth.  You're thinking this is some cheap label you'd be embarrassed to have in your CD collection, right?  Actually, the quality is not bad, and the Segovia section wasn't digitally recorded anyway.   Besides, one can never go wrong with Segovia or Williams.  If you're interested in this recording, see also The Segovia Collection, below.

• Barrios  (Agustίn Barrios, 1885-1944)
  • From the Jungles of Paraguay  - John Williams Plays Barrios.  Sony Classical.  Barrios was indeed from Paraguay, although he achieved fame only when he left his native land and toured first South and Central America, and then Europe.  As a performer, he was said to have the skill of a Segovia and the flair of a Paganini.  It took some time for Barrios' own compositions to be dubbed "classical," but the term is a fluid one anyway, so we need not read too much into that. 

• Carulli (Ferdinando Carulli, 1770-1841)
  • Music for Flute and Guitar.  Jean-Pierre Rampal, flute; Alexandre Lagoya, guitar; Franz List Chamber Orchestra.  CBS Records Masterworks.  Recorded in 1985.  Rampal was a mega-star when this was recorded.  Lagoya was not quite as well known, but very highly thought of.  Luckily, they decided to team up for this little-known work by a composer who is not a household name.   
• Paganini (Niccolò Paganini, 1782-1840)
  • Duos for Violin and Guitar.  Itzhak Perlman and John Williams.  CBS Records Masterworks.  Includes Paganini's Centone di Sonate (Op. 64, No 1), Sonata No. 6 in E Minor (Op. 3), Sonata Concertata in A Major and Cantabile for Violin and Guitar.  Also includes Mauro Giuliani's (1781-1829) Sonata for Violin and Guitar.  Originally released in 1976. 
  • Paganini for Two / Gil Shaham, Göran Söllscher
• Rodrigo (Joaquίn Rodrigo)
  • Rodrigo: Complete Concertos for Guitar and Harp
  • Concierto de Aranjuez.  Siegfried Behrend, Berlin Philharmonic.  Deutsche Grammophon Musikfest.  Listen to classical guitar music for anything more than two days, and it becomes impossible to avoid the Concierto de Aranjuez - not that you'd want to.  This is definitely not background music for your next get-together, but it is unforgettable music.  When this piece premiered in Madrid, members of the audience were so pleased that they marched the composer around the city streets on their shoulders.  This CD also includes Rodrigo's Concierto Serenata para Arpa y Orquesta (harp and orchestra), and Castelnuevo-Tedesco's Concerto in D, Op. 99. 
  • Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Canzoneta
  • Rodrigo: Concerto Madrigal/Concerto Andaluz
• Villa-Lobos (Heitor Villa-Lobos, 1887-1959)
  • The Complete Solo Guitar Music.  Fabio Zanon.  MusicMasters.  Solo music of the great Brazilian guitarist and composer.
  • Villa-Lobos: Complete Music for Solo Guitar

Classical Guitar Collections

• Ana Vidovic Guitar Recital. Music by Bach, Ponce, Tárrega, Šulek and William Walton. Naxos. Naxos has a whole Guitar Laureate Series, and this is one of the discs in the series. I'm guessing they're probably all good.
• Archguitar Renaissance.  Peter Blanchette, archguitar.  Dorian.  Blanchette thinks the term "archguitar" must have meant "big guitar."  No one's in a position to argue with him, and the album is quite enjoyable.
• Baroque Guitar
• Canco Del Lladre.  Marc Regnier, Guitar.  Musical Heritage Society.  Recorded in 1990.  Music by Isaac Albeniz, Miquel Llobet, others.  Okay, granted, the black-and-white CD cover looks like it was produced on the neighbor's kid's laser printer - but the music is good. 
• Christopher Parkening - The Great Recordings ~ By America's Preeminent Guitar Virtuoso.  No false modesty exists, apparently, when it comes to choosing titles for CD's. 
• Dances from Renaissance to Nutcracker.  L.A. Guitar Quartet.  Delos.  Actually, dances beyond Nutcracker, since there's an (unnecessary) piece included by Peter Warlock.  Warlock was born the year after Tchaikovsky died, so I'm pretty sure his Capriol Suite postdates Nutcracker.  The rest of the CD is quite nice. 
• Evening in Granada .  L.A. Guitar Quartet, Delos.  Music by Boccherini, Krouse, Falla, Debussy, Rimsky-Korsakov.  One of LAGQ's best discs, in my humble opinion. 
• Five Centuries of Spanish Guitar Music.  Alirio Diaz, Legacy International.  Okay, this really is a cheap label.  I bought the CD years ago in an Odd-Lot Store in Manhattan.  It was a better buy than that retro-50's necktie I also picked up.
• Golden Age of the Russian Guitar.
• Italian Nocturnes.  Performed by Duo Firenze / Dorian Discovery Label.  Early Romantic Music for Guitar & Fortepiano.  Great selection.
• John Williams - The Great Guitar Concertos.  CBS Records Masterworks.  2-CD set.  Major guitar concertos by Vivaldi, Rodrigo, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Villa-Lobos, and Ponce.  Major guitar player.  What more can one say?
• Julian Bream - The Ultimate Guitar Collection
• The Segovia Collection.  4-CD set.  Deutsche Grammophon, 2002.  Includes deluxe booklet.  Made in Germany.  Segovia's legendary Decca recordings, digitally remastered.  Disc 4 contains the Bach transcriptions.  I sometimes find large CD sets overwhelming, but this one is really well done and definitely worth adding to your collection.  Put simply, it would be hard for someone to claim to be a Segovia fan and not have The Segovia Collection.
   

Recommended Classical Guitar Instruction:

• Pumping Nylon.  This is a book and DVD set, by Scott Tennant.  According to the publisher, "Scott Tennant, world-class classical guitarist and well-respected guitar eduactor, has brought together the most comprehensive technique handbook for the classical guitarist. In addition to technical information not available elsewhere, he has compiled selections from Giuliani's 120 Right-Hand Studies; musical examples by Bach, Turina, Rodrigo and others; Tarrega arpeggio studies; and original compositions by Andrew York and Brian Head."

Not Quite Classical Guitar (But still very nice!)

• Gypsy Flamenco From Andalucia
• Lauro: Venezuelan Waltzes for Guitar
• Message of the Sea: Celtic Music for Guitar

Of Related Interest:

• Classical Music Labels
• Romantic Music

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