Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Guitar Heroes
* Towner: Icarus
* York: B & B
* Head: Reverie for Mahavishnu
* Johanson: Pluck, Strum, and Hammer
* Methany/Small: Letter from Home
* Assad: Uarekena
* Howe/Kanengiser: Aire para un Dia (Mood for a Day)
* Dunne: Gypsy Flower
* York: Pop
* Gimenez: El Baile de Luis Alonso
* Hirschelman: Lament and Wake
* Johanson: Let's Be Frank
* Dearman: Blue Echo/Country Gentleman
Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
TELARC CD-80598 Total time: 61:17
Summary for the Busy Executive: Fancy pickin's.
There's very little written for a guitar quartet, so the LAGQ depends
on transcriptions and commissions. So far, they've achieved a nice
success with more than a dozen albums to their credit. I would also
say that they've achieved artistic success as well, although I've yet
to hear a bona fide masterpiece among their commissions. Still, they are
a real chamber group, rather than a gaggle of four good guitarists. One
hears a clarity, balance, and conscious shaping in their work which comes
from a collaboration born of careful listening to one another.
This is a "concept album." It pays tribute to the LAGQ's artistic idols,
who mostly seem to come from the pop and jazz end of things: Django
Reinhart, Pat Methany, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Chet
Atkins, and so on. I must say I enjoyed the performances more than the
works, although the works aren't by any means dreck. I had a good time
with the program, but I can't say that any of it has stuck with me. It
strikes me as a CD for those who enjoy superior pop and cross-over. I
must say I like this more than Yo-Yo Ma's silk-road stuff.
The sound is Telarc's usual quite good and contributes to one's overall
enjoyment.
Steve Schwartz
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