Latino -

Miloš Karadaglić (gtr) Studio Orchestra of the European Philharmonic / Christoph Israel

DG 4790514 Buy now

Barrios Mangoré Una limosna por el amor de Dios. Un sueño en la floresta Brouwer Un día de noviembre Cardoso Milonga Dyens Tango en skaï Farrés Quizás, quizás, quizás Gardel Por una cabeza Morel Danza brasileira Piazzolla Libertango. Oblivion Ponce Chanson (Andante). Scherzino mexicano Rodríguez La cumparsita Sávio Batucada Villa‑Lobos Mazurka-Chôro. Prelude No 1

South American theme for Karadaglić’s second DG disc

‘Let’s just hope his next release gives us something to really sink our teeth into’, I wrote after Miloš Karadaglić’s debut disc for DG (6/11). And the only thing you’ll be sinking your teeth into is the stem of a rose as you tango your way across the living room to the familiar strains of Piazzolla’s Libertango, Gardel and Le Pera’s Por una cabeza, Rodríguez’s La cumparsita and Farrés’s Quizás, quizás, quizás in lush arrangements for guitar and strings, the latter supplied by the excellent orchestra.

Even most of the works for solo guitar have been recorded umpteen times before – though not necessarily better; Karadaglić is a guitarist of superior musical and technical gifts who allows his personality to sing through the music with taste and intelligence. That being said, the target audience for ‘Latino’ isn’t guitar nerds – not that there isn’t much to enjoy here for the most discerning aficionados, such as a fresh, sensitive account of Barrios’s Una limosna por el amor de Dios and a very sexy ‘Mazurka-Chôro’ from the Suite populaire brésilienne by Villa-Lobos. No, it’s more those music lovers who inhabit the periphery of the classical guitar repertoire and maybe own a recording of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez and a couple of John Williams recital LPs from the 1970s.

But ‘Latino’ is just so good that it deserves the widest possible audience. And, if the truth were to be known, I loved every minute of it. William Yeoman