Review - Bach: Two Generations (Concerti for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra)
Elegance and style characterize these three-movement concerti-and Verdery's renditions of them.
Not only did classical guitarist Benjamin Verdery lend his considerable playing talents to Bach--Two Generations: Concerti for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra, he also arranged the two concerti for guitar. In the Renaissance and baroque tradition of playing compositions with different instruments, Verdery has arranged Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto in D minor, s. 1052 (originally for harpsichord) and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Concerto in A major (originally for flute, cello, or harpsichord) for classical guitar and chamber orchestra.
He is accompanied by: two string quartets, the Laurentian String Quartet on the JS. Bach, and the Brandenburg Collegium on the C.P.E. Bach; Anthony Newman on harpsichord continuo (who also conducts); and Dennis Masuzzo on bass viol.
Verdery, a music professor at Yale University and columnist for our sister publication, Guitar Player, has succeeded in adding two substantial pieces of music to guitar literature. The pieces fit the instrument well--there are no idiomatic keyboard or wind instrument passages that sound stilted. Elegance and style characterize these three-movement concerti-and Verdery's renditions of them.
