Aire Latino - Latin American Music For Guitar /David Russell CD

List All Reviews

 Is it worthy of the Grammy?
David Russell has been performing for many years and recorded numerous recordings. Teldec have done a great job here, as the sound of the recordings is really good. Russell performs in a way that one expects from today's guitarist: clean solid playing. But is it worthy of the Grammy that it's received? The latin repertoire that was chosen is rather good. If that's all you see as being important, then go ahead and buy the CD. But if you have higher requirements, such as expressive performance and insightful phrasing, this recording is as lacking, as many others of today. Take Villa-Lobos' Choros no.1 that's on the recording. There is another recording available, on which Heitor Villa-Lobos (himself!) plays this work, and that recording is a real eye-opener: Heitor plays it with real Brazilian flair! The man's a fantastic performer, who bends the rhythm, gives you fast bass runs that you've never heard of, etc. There's real excitement in his performance. It really gives you a feel for Brazilian street-musicians on hot summer-nights wandering through the streets of Rio, etc. But wait... this should be a review about David Russell. OK: The difference could not be bigger: David treats this work to a regular predictable performance. As a result he's not performing a BrAziLiAn Choros with heart and soul, but executes a boring c.l.a.s.s.i.c.a.l rendition: the regularity of the beat, identical in each bar - a true modernist execution of the score (I cannot even call it interpretation). This does not evoke vibrant Brazil: It's fails completely. What about the other works on the disk? Lets take Lauro's "Seis por Derecho". This is a work the requires Venezuelan flair: another work, where one can really show traditions of Latin American music! Russell presents is cleanly technically, but where is the excitement? Russell plays it with metronomic precision that ruins the excitement. If you've ever had the fortune of listening to Alirio Díaz's brilliantly nuanced interpretation of this work, you'll know what I mean. Díaz (who is indecently from Venezuela!) plays the rhythm in a brilliantly engaging way. His phrasing is pure excitement. In contrast: Russell's phrasing and knowledge of Latin traditions are simply missing. But let me mention here: Russell is not alone in this. A lack of understanding of traditions of music, is a widely spread problem among modern classical musicians (esp. classical guitarists). They are always busy fine-tuning control and clean strict execution. Keeping stricly to the score. Using metronomes. Yes, it is indeed David Russell, who recommends the use of metronomes on his homepage. There he wrote "[A metronome] is not the most exciting friend, just the most reliable." Somehow that reminds me of David's playing here: he may not be the most exciting performer around, just (perhaps) the most reliable... It's highly ironic that David (the Scotsman from Glasgow, who lives in Spain) received a Grammy for this recording of LATIN music. There are a host of Latin American guitarists, that I think are more worthy of a Grammy (in terms of south american music): take e.g. Jorge Cardoso, Alirio Díaz, Juanjo Domínguez, Maximo Diego Pujol, ... But alas no, they'll probably never receive a grammy. (Perhaps they just don't have the right record-company... etc etc. But I'm getting of track here...) In total: this recording is not recommended if you value expression in music. (On the other hand: if you really value expression in music, you can also forget the CD's by Yang, Williams, Yepes, Vidovic, Kanengiser, and pretty much everyone else). If you like it modern... i.e. if you want a reliable execution of music, go ahead and buy. But if you value traditions, expressive performance and phrasing... then try and make a difference in your performances... OK?! ;)
Submitted by Peter (London, UK)
Was This Aire Latino - Latin American Music For Guitar /David Russell Music Review Helpful? Yes No  6 of 6 found this helpful.

List All Reviews

Have you heard this album?