“La Guitarra Espanola” continues William Carter’s fascinating exploration of little-known baroque guitar repertoire. Carter’s second solo release cheerfully champions the dances of Spanish guitar giant Santiago de Murcia, which were banned and deemed ‘obscene and offensive’ in their day for inspiring lascivious behaviour. Luckily the ban did not eradicate the music completely.
“Santiago de Murcia (1682-1732) was the last, and possibly greatest, Spanish exponent of the five-course Baroque guitar, his music achieving a perfect balance between the strummed and plucked styles that were prevalent at the time. Throughout, Carter somehow conjures up the sights and sounds of a bygone age with the mastery of a real dramatist, counterbalancing flurries of overlapped scales, energetic strumming and virtuoso trills with the richness and warmth of the more reflective passages…Quite simply it contains some of the finest Baroque guitar playing you'll ever hear” Gramophone Magazine, August 2007
“Carter has given us de Murcia’s full stylistic and international range on this wonderful CD...De Murcia’s music, by turns sultry and playful, is brought to life by Carter’s light, dextrous, precise yet relaxed playing. This is real summer listening, conjuring up warmer climes than here.” Charlotte Gardner, bbc.co.uk, 1st January 2007
Gramophone Magazine
