Giuliani: The Last Rose of Summer (Mauro Giuliani)

Chronique

This rather mysterious little disc comes with a series title, "Scandinavian Classics," that seems to make little sense for music by an Italian guitarist working in Austria and arranging English songs. The Scandinavian element is the performer, Danish guitarist Kristian Buhl-Mortensen; the music, originally recorded for the small Danish label Classico at an unspecified time, is here licensed to German discounter TIM. This is just one of those rare random finds. Buhl-Mortensen finds a program and a relaxed but masterful style of playing that brings to life a composer who was extraordinarily famous in his own time but is generally known even among guitarists for a few rather academic sonatas. Buhl-Mortensen loosely alternates Giuliani's treatments of English, Scots, and Irish songs with character pieces, variations, preludes, and even a fughetta, producing a sequence that balances virtuosity and lyrical tunefulness. It's absolutely lovely, and though these pieces are light they hold the listener's interest from start to finish. Buhl-Mortensen's playing is exceptionally clean; the sound is a bit dead, but this is probably an improvement on the host of recordings whose engineers unaccountably believe that letting a guitar screech away in a church is somehow a good idea.

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