Essential Guitar: 33 Guitar Masterpieces

 (35 customer reviews)

One wonders how the producers of this two CD set were able to obtain the rights to such outstanding performances, then put the whole thing together and still make money on the product.

Economic issues aside, this is an outstanding collection of guitar pieces by the best performers and composers. Pepe Romero, John Williams, Andres Segovia, Julian Bream have several performances each. Some lesser known but excellent performers appear as well. Paco Pena, the superb Flamenco stylist, does two traditional Spanish tunes. Composers include Rodrigo, Albeniz, Bach, Tarrega, Torroba, Vivaldi, Villa-Lobos, Granados, and many others. Stanley Myers' "Cavatina", the theme to The Deer Hunter, fits in surprisingly well, although not strictly speaking a classical piece.

Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" played by Pepe Romero, with Marriner's Orchestra of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, is terrific. I liked it better than the more familiar versions of Julian Bream and John...Read more

If you only bought this double CD set, you'd have a good starter collection of classical guitar music. It includes most of the standards, as well as rarer pieces. In addition to the many solo pieces, there are several excerpts from orchestral works, with Rodrigo's indispensible Adagio from "Concierto de Aranjuez" topping the list. There are also several flamenco numbers included, complete with heel taps and castanets.

The recording quality is uniformly good, even on the tracks by Segovia. I don't know if they were remastered or recorded late in his career, but they're free of the surface noise present in so many of his recordings. The set clocks in at a generous 2 1/2 hours - one of the greatest deals in instrumental music; this is not a "bargain" quality set. Listen to the samples online - great stuff.

My only mild criticism is in the marketing. The advertising features John Williams and Julian Bream. Each contributes exactly one track. I would have enjoyed more...Read more

This is a wonderful collection of guitar music. I thought it would be just guitar but there are lovely, lush, orchestral accompaniments that give you much enjoyment for the price of this CD. You can expect to hear the standards by Vivaldi and Bach, as well as modern great guitar compositions by De Falla and the Romeros.