Santiago de Murcia - William Carter - Financial Times

Spain was the spiritual home of the baroque guitar but little of its music was written down. An exception was Santiago de Murcia (1682-1732), whose oeuvre draws on contemporary French and Italian idioms as well as Spanish and African folk dances. To recreate it today demands imagination and elaboration. The American guitarist William Carter meets the challenge in a way that showcases the multiple voices of Santiago's music without blurring its intimacy, poetry or seductiveness. With highly charged flourishes and snap rhythms, Folias Espanolas sounds like a template for the whole Spanish musical tradition. Cumbees already embodies the intoxicating influence of the New World. As for Canarios, it's rare to come across subtlety and beauty in such perfect proportion. This is a delightful CD that rewards close attention. The idiom is a synthesis of popular and art music that invites the listener into a sound-world as simple as it is sophisticated.