Uplifting, imaginative music in many varieties gushed from Agustín Barrios’ fecund brain directly into his agile hands and perpetually singing guitar. John Williams’ landmark Barrios recordings, of course, have helped draw a wider audience to the cause of this Paraguayan guitar genius. Now the young and highly gifted Greek virtuoso Antigoni Goni (what a great name she has!) commences what Naxos promises to be a complete run of Barrios’ guitar music. I hope Goni completes the cycle, because she’s an amazing instrumentalist and obviously loves this music. Notice the incredible control with which she shapes the near-impossible tremolos in Un sueño en la floresta, and how she makes melodic sense of the arpeggiated bass lines. Or listen to the variety of articulations and deliciously timed rubatos in the Valse Brilliante.
The little Madrigal is crisply accented and makes discreet concessions to the composer’s looser, vibrato-laden recorded versions. What color and long sense of line Goni brings to the hauntingly simple opening of the Suite Andina, and how affecting is the muffled beauty she gets from striking her instrument like a drum while moving her fingers on the fretboard! She also integrates Barrios’ harmonics into the overall texture with the greatest of ease. Rico Stover’s excellent, informative annotations can’t be beat, and neither can Naxos’ terrific engineering. Don’t miss this one!
