Baroque – Works by D Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Rameau, Handel, Weiss, JS Bach, Marcello et al
Miloš Karadaglić (guitar); Arcangelo/Jonathan Cohen
Sony Classical 19658822942 60:38 mins
The Montenegrin guitarist Miloš Karadaglić has greatly expanded the repertoire for his instrument over the past 20 years, and this is the latest in a series of ground-breaking recordings. He tells us in a liner note that a Baroque album has been gestating in his mind for the past ten years; the notion of entering its soundworld fascinating him with its mysterious and Protean possibilities. ‘Everything that I have ever learnt,’ he says, ‘all the influences that I have felt, and even the different musical traditions that I have known, have all coalesced in this album.’
By far the finest track here is his transcription of the Chaconne from Bach’s Second Partita for Violin, where the purity of the line and the implied harmonic textures transfer from bowed strings to plucked ones as though that had always been Bach’s intention. Every note sings in Miloš’s majestic account.
In a sense, this album represents an attempt to discover what a guitar can do with music not designed for it – and some tracks fall short. Two transcribed lute pieces by Silvius Leopold Weiss work perfectly, as does one of two Scarlatti sonatas, but the F minor K466 one leaves me longing to hear it as it should be heard on the keyboard. More seriously, two Vivaldi concertos for four violins come across clumsily in their transcription by Miloš’s mentor Michael Lewin – the guitar can’t begin to reflect the string instruments’ bright ebullience. On the other hand, a keyboard piece by Couperin has lovely poise, as does the Larghetto of a trio sonata for violin, lute and basso continuo by Vivaldi. Michael Church