Guitar Recital: Johan Smith

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BRITTEN / MERTZ / BACH / PONCE / SCHWIZGEBEL
Guitar Recital: Johan Smith
Johan Smith (guitar)

[ Naxos Laureate Series: Guitar / CD ]

Release Date: Friday 12 June 2020

This item is currently out of stock. It may take 6 or more weeks to obtain from when you place your order as this is a specialist product.

Johan Smith, 2019 winner of the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America Competition, presents his dream programme in this recital. Bach's Toccata for harpsichord 'borders on the unplayable' for the guitar, especially in its final double fugue, while Manuel Ponce's Variations on La folía de España and Fugue is one of the most challenging peaks of the repertoire. Mertz's celebrated virtuoso Concertino is followed by Britten's Nocturnal after John Dowland, renowned for its blend of Elizabethan melancholy and contemporary strangeness. The recital concludes with a world premiere, the evocative Sables Stellaires by Josquin Schwizgebel, dedicated to Johan Smith.

"On paper, the 2019 GFA Competition winner Johan Smith's recital programme looks unremarkable...Not that this recital fails to showcase his abundant talent to its best advantage. So as one are player and instrument that you're reminded of the ancients who mistook warriors on horseback for centaurs. Particularly admirable is Smith's tone, unmarred by the arbitrary use of sul ponticello effects." Gramophone Editor's Choice Sept 2020

Tracks:

Bach, Johann Sebastian
Grondona, Stefano, arranger(s)
Toccata in E Minor, BWV 914 (arr. S. Grondona for guitar)

Ponce, Manuel María
Diferencias sobre La Folía de España y Fuga (Variations on La Folía de España and Fugue)

Mertz, Johann Kaspar
Guitar Concertino

Britten, Benjamin
Nocturnal after John Dowland: Reflections on Come, heavy sleep, Op. 70

Schwizgebel, Josquin
Les Reflets de l'Obscurité (Reflections from the Darkness): III. Sables Stellaires (Stellar Sands)