There is an important difference between this and other recordings of Segovia, in that it was recorded in concert at the 1955 Edinburgh Festival and not in a studio. If there was any applause before the end of Bach’s Gavotte it has been wisely edited out. What was bypassed was the memory-lapse disaster that overtook him when he began the Gavotte, for I heard it on the radio and he mentioned it to me when he returned to London. A small number of those minor flaws that occur during many recitals (not only by guitarists) remain, but one must listen very carefully to detect them.

It is as easy in retrospect to criticise his interpretations of pre-Classical music as it is those of Wanda Landowska, but both reflected the times and circumstances of their ‘reigns’ – two geniuses who approached the music with love and awed respect, armed with such academic knowledge as they had. The items by Castelnovo-Tedesco and Tansman were written in their interpreter’s lifetime and his performances of them must be accepted as ‘authentic’. I was told by a witness that when Segovia played a piece by Villa-Lobos to the composer, he was told that it was not as it should be – and shown the correct way. A few days later he repeated the exercise and was told that it was just right. He then informed Villa-Lobos: ‘That was exactly how I played it last time!’, so we can happily go along with what we hear in this recording!

The recording per se is exemplary – a faithful representation of those qualities which underpinned Segovia’s high reputation in his own time – and which should still earn our respect.