Virtuosi

GIULIANI: Grand Overture Op. 61. SOR: Variations on a Theme of Mozart Op. 9. PURCELL: Suite in G Minor. DEBUSSY: Arabesque, Valse, Golliwog's Cakewalk. RODRIGO: Sonata Giocosa. LENDLE: Variations Capricieuses d'apres Paganini. TERZI: Carillon.
Michail Goldort
U-Sound 94012 CD

Over the last few years, I have had the privilege of experiencing at first hand the thriving guitar culture which exist throughout the Russian Federation. It was always there, of course, it's just that most of us had no way of knowing about it.

This remarkable performance from Michael Goldort, a 30-year-old native of Novosibirsk, encapsulates some of the finest characteristics of Russian guitar playing. Technically, he's got the lot; he sails through the Giuliani as if it were no more than a warm-up exercise, and his solo arrangement of Golliwog's Cakewalk achieves a degree of rhythmic clarity which would put many an accomplished duo to shame. Then, as if to prove the point once and for all, he hits us with a devastating version of one of the most comprehensive technical work-outs the guitar has ever seen. I refer, of course, to Wolfgang Lendle's thirteen-minute Variations Capricieuses d'apres Paganini - a piece which, whatever you may think of the musical contetnt, leaves all but the most able guitarists wishing they'd chosen a different career.

Technical brilliance, however, is just one facet of Michael Goldort's extraordinary talent, for he is first and foremost a master communicator. Even in the relatively modest Purcell transcriptions, he presents the music as if it were the finest set of miniatures the baroque has to offer. Elaborate yet seemingly spontaneous ornamentation is everywhere, and the slight damping of the strings in the Almand and the Corant adds yet another dimension to what was already a quite breathtaking interpretation. Debussy's first Arabesque handled with style and sophistication, and Goldort's account of Rodrigo's curiously under-rated Sonata Giocosa shows once again that hispanic fire is not the exclusive province of the Spanish.

All this ads up to a recording which more than justifies the logistical difficulties of acquiring a copy.

Paul FOWLES
Classical Guitar(1996)