MUSIC FROM CATALONIA AND VALENCIA

Récital Catalan

 

Susanne Mebes - Guitar

 

Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)

Capricho Catalan & Cataluña

 

Miguel Llobet (1875-1938)

Tres Canciones Populares Catalanas

Scherzo-Vals

 

Federico Mompou (1898-1987)

Cancion

 

Vicente Asencio (1903-1979)

The Complete Works for Guitar

(First complete recording)

 

Reviews:

LUISTER (Netherlands & Belgium)

Selection of the month "10 of 10 "

 

AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE

«... Mebes is testimony to a new

generation of playing that is reclaim-ing the guitar's soul. She is not only the best female guitarist playing today; she is one of the greatest guitarists to be heard ‹ period.»

 

LUISTER (Netherlands & Belgium)

Selection of the month "10 of 10 ('unique')"

«... the complete ¦uvre for guitar by Asencio does not quite fill a compact disc, yet its rather more philosophical than folkloristic expressiveness exceeds the little silver disc by far. Through the hands of Susanne Mebes piece by piece emerge as intimate minitures which I cannot get enough of. 'Dipso', the second movement of the 'Suite mistica' and the only work Segovia ever confined to vinyl, is superior to any other interpretation whatsoever...»

 

FANFARE

The Magazine for Serious Record Collectors (USA)

«Mebes's Recital Catalan allows her to give her lyrical impulse free rein. The program contains a few comparative rarities... The music of Vicente Asencio has virtually dropped out of the catalogue (it was never very well entrenched to begin with). He was born in Valencia, but gave Catalan titles to almost all of his compositions for guitar (his favorite instrument, though he himself was not a player)...

 

His music is often as ethnically colorful as that of Albéniz and Llobet, and wondrously idiomatic for the guitar. Hearing it for the first time, I am unable to understand why it is so poorly represented on disc. His musical language ranges from the wholly accessible ‹ the Sonatina in homage to Domenico Scarlatti... to the poignantly aphoristic and indeed, almost musically abstract Suite Mistica.

 

Mebes's sensitive and probing performances will go a long way toward redressing a discographic grievance... Warmly recommended.»

 

AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE

«Dutch new-comer Susanne Mebes, who blew me away with last year's Ponce disc (Léman Classics LC 42701) proves herself in a solid Catalonian recital. Llobet and Albéniz have enough elegance, wit, and rapture to sit proudly with Segovia's. And in a nod to the completist, Mebes has given us Vicente Asencio's entire guitar ¦uvre. A solid case is made by Mebes for re-assessing the Valencian composer (1908-1979) who is too often tossed aside in favor of better-known contemporaries such as Rodrigo. Asencio's music is subtler and more humane than Rodrigo's. Along with the expected nationalist threads are a serene and spiritual side that Mebes reads ideally...»

 

Leman Classics LC44201