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 ...
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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...
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