Spanish Guitar Recital / Albéniz, Granados – Segovia, Torroba, Turina, Villa-Lobos

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) – Five Preludes. Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909) – Asturias (Leyenda; arr. K. Ragossnig). Federico Moreno Torroba (1891–1982) – Arada (from Suite Castellana), Madroños. Joaquín Turina (1882–1949) – Fandanguillo, Op. 36. Enrique Granados (1867–1916) – Danza Española, Op. 37 No. 5 “Andaluza” (arr. Andrés Segovia)

Konrad Ragossnig guitar

In Prague at the turn of September and October 1969, for four days Supraphon’s legendary Domovina Studio was the home of the 37-year-old Konrad Ragossnig. The guitarist was in top form; he had studied in Spain under Andrés Segovia, the “king of the classical guitar”, had won the ORTF competition in Paris, and was teaching guitar in Basel at the Musik-Akademie and in Vienna at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst. He was giving solo concerts and appearing with orchestras around Europe, the USA, and the Far East. Besides the classical guitar, he had also mastered the Renaissance lute when interest in early music and its authentic interpretation was just reawakening in western Europe. His chamber music partners included tenor Peter Schreier and flautist Hans Martin Linde. Now in the Prague studio, Ragossnig returned to mainstays of Spanish and South American guitar music. Some of the pieces are written specifically for his instrument, while others (Albéniz, Granados) are piano works that first became truly famous in guitar transcriptions. In the beautiful acoustics of the Domovina Studio, the recording team captured all the superb qualities (beauty of tone, flawless technical brilliance, subtle inflections of rhythm, dynamics, and articulation) that make his playing and this recording special. Over half a century later, this recording remains a rare gem documenting the guitar literature.

Mainstays of Spanish and South American guitar music in a rediscovered rare recording