Recitals of Spanish guitar music are as common as cheese, and there's nothing so outwardly extraordinary about this one by Neapolitan guitarist Edoardo Catemario. True, there's an unusual item, Estudio sin luz, composed by Andrés Segovia, as well as Segovia's masterly arrangement of Isaac Albéniz's Asturias, from the Suite española, Op. 47, and the rather arcane but absolutely ravishing Suite compostelana of Federico Mompou. What makes the album stand out is just that it is magnificently executed from start to finish. Catemario does not exactly sound like Segovia, but he has the great Andalusian's mixture of confident sweep and bewitching delicacy in quiet passagework. He excels in all the music here, whether composed for the guitar or arranged for it (and really it all rests so well on the guitar that there is little difference): classical Albéniz, mood-evocative Moreno Torroba, colorful Falla, neo-classic Turina. But what really propels this into must-have territory is the Mompou, where Catemario takes the striking proto-minimal textures right up to the edge of silence. It's a breathtaking reminder that virtuosity on the guitar is not always a matter of blazing runs and percussive flamenco styles, but sometimes resides in the guitar's capacity to be the most intimate of all instruments. Catemario is served by extraordinary engineering work by engineer Matteo Costa, working in an abbey in the Italian city of Siena: the full dynamic range of the guitar is captured, the low-decibel passages are crystal clear, and the extraneous instrument noise is minimal. Bravo. Bravissimo.
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