Agustín Barrios - Guitar Music, Vol. 1 (Antigoni Goni)

Information

Composer: Agustín Barrios

1. Maxixe
2. U sueño en la floresta
3. Vals, Op. 8, No. 4
4. Humoresque
5. Sarita (Mazurka)
6. Madrigal - Gavota
7. Vidalita con Variaciones
8. Junto a tu corazôn - Vals
9. Mabelita
10. Tu y Yo (Gavota romántica)
11. Villancido de Navidad
12. Pepita
13. Suite Andina: I. Aconquija
14. Suite Andina: II. Aire de Zamba
15. Suite Andina: III. Córdoba
16. Suite Andina: IV. Cueca

Antigoni Goni, guitar

Date: 2001

Label: Naxos

https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.554558

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10

Uplifting, imaginative music in many varieties gushed from Agustín Barrios’ fecund brain directly into his agile hands and perpetually singing guitar. John Williams’ landmark Barrios recordings, of course, have helped draw a wider audience to the cause of this Paraguayan guitar genius. Now the young and highly gifted Greek virtuoso Antigoni Goni (what a great name she has!) commences what Naxos promises to be a complete run of Barrios’ guitar music. I hope Goni completes the cycle, because she’s an amazing instrumentalist and obviously loves this music. Notice the incredible control with which she shapes the near-impossible tremolos in Un sueño en la floresta, and how she makes melodic sense of the arpeggiated bass lines. Or listen to the variety of articulations and deliciously timed rubatos in the Valse Brilliante.

The little Madrigal is crisply accented and makes discreet concessions to the composer’s looser, vibrato-laden recorded versions. What color and long sense of line Goni brings to the hauntingly simple opening of the Suite Andina, and how affecting is the muffled beauty she gets from striking her instrument like a drum while moving her fingers on the fretboard! She also integrates Barrios’ harmonics into the overall texture with the greatest of ease. Rico Stover’s excellent, informative annotations can’t be beat, and neither can Naxos’ terrific engineering. Don’t miss this one!

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday

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Agustín Barrios (May 5, 1885 – August 7, 1944) was a Paraguayan virtuoso classical guitarist and composer, largely regarded as one of the greatest performers and most prolific composers for the guitar. Barrios was famed for his phenomenal performances, both live and on gramophone recordings. He composed more than 100 original works, and arranged another 200 works of other composers. His works were largely late-Romantic in character, despite his having lived well into the twentieth century. Many of them are also adaptations of, or are influenced by, South American and Central American folk music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agustín_Barrios

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Antigoni Goni (born 8 March 1969) is a Greek guitarist, recording artist and performer. She was born in Athens, Greece, and studied with Evangelos Assimakopoulos in Athens, with John Mills at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, and extensively in master classes with Julian Bream. She continued her studies with Sharon Isbin at the Juilliard School in New York. Goni has performed throughout the United States, Japan, Portugal, France, and other countries. She is a professor at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, and also holds positions at Columbia University and the RAM London.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigoni_Goni

https://www.antigonigoni.com/

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