This debut cd of mostly new guitar works begins with Sergio Assad’s fiery and virtuosic Fantasia Carioca. Written in 1994, it is a “celebration of the city of Rio de Janeiro.” The contemplative and nostalgic Jeff Buckley Requiem, by French guitarist-composer Denis Mortagne, was written in 2007 in memory of the New York underground musical icon who died tragically in 1997. In sharp contrast, Spatula is a lighthearted pastiche with disparate elements of Spanish guitar music, bluegrass, and a Cuban habanera, “scrambled” together in 2000 by New York composer David Mallamud. Adagio, K. 540, originally for piano, is the only non-contemporary work on this recording. It was beautifully transcribed for guitar by Benjamin Verdery. Written in Italy in 1984, the first of Nuccio D’Angelo’s Due Canzoni Lidie explores unusual sonorities and uses space as a compositional element. The concluding work, Robert Beaser’s Shenandoah, from 1995, is based on the traditional American folksong by the same name. Fragments of the original melody are heard throughout the piece within rich harmonies and a variety of guitar effects, yet full quotations of the melody occur only three times.
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