Duets With The Spanish Guitar Album 3 by Laurindo Almeida; Salli Terri; Marty Ruderman; Vincent DeRosa Angel Records (S-36076) Publication date 1959

 Duets with the

Spanish Guitar

Album 3

Laurindo Almeida (guitar)

Salli Terri (voice)

Martin Ruderman (flute)

Vincent de Rosa (French horn)

On the classical shelves amid the Bach, Beethoven

and Poulenc a certain while back there began to

appear albums by an astonishing guitar virtuoso

from Brazil. His name was Laurindo Almeida, and

he quickly established that his brilliance as

performer was matched by a quite rare versatility.

A classical guitarist of unimpeachable gifts, he

was also a master of folk and jazz idioms, and he

was as utterly at home with Gershwin or Lennon &

McCartney as with Bach and Villa-Lobos.

Critic John Tynan wrote: “There is nothing of

the stereotyped conception of the virtuoso about

classical guitarist Laurindo Almeida.”

Album after album by Almeida dominated the

classical best-seller lists. The National Academy of

Recording Arts and Sciences honored the guitarist

with a total of five “Grammy” awards. Moreover,

the influences Almeida introduced from his native

Brazil played a sizable role in refining the tastes

of the American listening public for Latin-

inflected music.

None of Almeida’s wide-ranging collections of

recorded music have proven more outstanding than

his incomparable “Duets with the Spanish Guitar”

with mezzo-soprano Salli Terri, flutist Martin

Ruderman, French horn player Vincent de Rosa,

and others. So persistent has been the demand for

these uniquely lovely recordings that Angel has

lately commenced to make them newly available in

a series of which the present issue is Album 3.

High Fidelity magazine summed up these delect-

able musical cameos as “luscious duets of wide

appeal, beguilingly performed.”

Side One (16:49)

MIGNONE: Passarinho esta cantando (1:23)

Though his melody and rhythm are merry, Francisco

Mignone’s lyric in Portuguese tells of a young girl’s

aching heart for the boy who treats her callously.

Little bird, if you sing so sweetly

To console the heart that’s sobbing,

Ah!

Sing elsewhere, for you can’t cheer me...

OV ALLE — BANDEIRO: Modinha (4:13)

Popular in both Portugal and Brazil, the modinha is

a form characterized by sentiment, grace, elegance and,

most of all, nostalgia. Almeida’s arrangement of

Brazilian composer Jayme Ovalle’s charming work

utilizes bass flute to enhance the haunting ballad of

unrequited love. “My days are spent in sadness and

hope—hope that one day we will be united, and with

you, I'll regain the faith that I've lost. Grant this

unhappy heart the privilege of seeing you, though I

know I don’t deserve the miracle of your kiss.”

TCHAIKOVSKY: Waltz from the “Serenade for

Strings” (arr. Almeida) (2:53)

Almeida creates a remarkably full-blooded arrange-

ment of the loveliest of the four movements that

comprise Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C major for String

Orchestra. One of the most delightful of the great

Russian composer’s many works in triple rhythm, the

fanciful melodic line moves with noble grace and

freedom of expression.

F ALLA: Cancion from “Siete canciones

populares Espanfolas” (1:18)

Manuel de Falla’s “Seven Popular Spanish Songs”

are evidence of the composer’s deep interest in his

country’s folk music. The Cancién portrays a recurrent

folk theme: the pain that follows love’s rejection.

F ALLA: Farruca from “rhe l’hree-Cornered

Hat” (2:38)

The virtuosic Miller’s Dance is the high point of

Falla’s ballet “The Three-Cornered Hat” (1919),

celebrating the triumph of the miller and his wife over

the despotic corregidor of a small Spanish town. The

farruca, in its folk version, is usually a man’s solo

dance with great emphasis on staccato footwork,

underlined by flamenco guitar accompaniment.

RAVEL: Pavane pour une Infante defunte (3:59)

Ravel’s poignant work, written originally for solo

piano, brought him his first success. He himself

orchestrated it in 1910 and it has subsequently been

transcribed for many instruments and combinations of

instruments. “It is not a lament for a dead child,” Ravel

advised, “but an.evocation of the pavane which might

have been danced by a tiny princess such as was painted

by Velasquez at the Spanish Court.”

Side Two (21:56)

TRADITIONAL: Au Bois du rossignolet (2:00)

The French Canadian folk song performed here

defies translation. It is descriptive of love’s awakening

and the narrator, in her happiness, identifies herself

with all the forces of nature. In her joy and gaiety, the

singer plays with the words in a manner that results in

a delightful sort of gibberish.

PRADITIONAL: Black Is the Color of My True

Love’s Hair (4:00)

Perennially popular, this American folk song is

thought to have been of Irish origin, although there is

evidence of the song’s existence in Scotland as well. In

its American form, it is usually associated with the hills

of Kentucky.

BACH: Duetto Il from “The Clavieribung™

Part 3 (arr. Almeida) (2:46)

For some curious reason, the original publication of

Bach’s “Clavieriibung” Part 8 included a set of four

Duetti, clearly having no bearing on the liturgical

content of the work as a whole and apparently more of

a harpsichord than organ character. They are no less

charming to the ear for all that, and the Duetto III

arranged by Almeida for two guitars, is a free-flowing

piece in 12/8 (G major) that recalls certain of the

two-part inventions.

RAVEL: Menuet from “Le Tombeau de Couperin”

(4:42)

In “Le Tombeau de Couperin,” written in 1917 and

transcribed in part for orchestra, Ravel paid homage

to the great eighteenth-century keyboard master

Francois Couperin with a suite composed according to

classical forms. Almeida’s adaptation for two guitars of

the stately, fragile “Menuet” carefully preserves the

bitter-sweet beauty of Ravel’s original.

TRADITIONAL: Lass from the Low Countree

(2:50)

Associated with the mountain regions of North

Carolina, this ballad tells a story of unrequited love.

The object of the singer’s devotion is totally unaware

of her existence. Her mood is one of utter loneliness.

BACH: Menuets I & II from the Partita in B flat

(arr. Almeida) (2:25)

The B-flat Partita in its original form is the first of

Bach’s six partitas for harpsichord. Excerpted in this

album from Almeida’s arrangement for guitar and

horn of the entire work are the Menuets I & II and the

Gigue. The menuet is very familiar as a characteristic

eighteenth century dance in 34 time. The B flat Partita

is written mostly in three voices. Almeida gives the

horn the topmost voice and takes the bass and inner

voice for the guitar.

BACH: Gigue from the Partita in B flat

(arr. Almeida) (2:43)

The gigue is identical to the English jig. It is a very

fast dance in triplet rhythms. Wrote critic and anno-

tator Alfred Frankenstein of this performance: “This

is the most astonishing example of virtuosity on the

horn I have ever heard on records. As a former

orchestral player, I have always known the horn’s

capabilities, but nothing even remotely approaching

the technical demands of this transcription appears in

orchestral literature. To play as lightly and speedily

as a harpsichord, right out in the open with a minimum

of support, is to give an incredible performance, one

that is as much a tribute to Mr. Almeida’s modesty in

playing the secondary role as it is to Mr. de Rosa’s

ability in his handling of the horn part.”

Produced by Robert E. Myers

Art Direction & Design: Marvin Schwartz

Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 77-752642

applies to this recording.

Also on Angel Records

DUETS WITH THE SPANISH GUITAR, Album 1.

Laurindo Almeida, guitar; Martin Ruderman, flute; Salli

Terri, voice. Selections include Ibert: Entr’acte; Villa-

Lobos: Bachianas brasileiras No. 5—Aria; Chopin: Prelude

in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4; Almeida: O Cagador; Fauré:

Sicilienne; Ravel: Piéce en forme de habanera. S-36050

DUETS WITH THE SPANISH GUITAR, Album 2.

Laurindo Almeida, guitar; Martin Ruderman, flute;

Mitchell Lurie, clarinet; Sanford Schonbach, viola; and

Salli Terri, voice. Selections include Debussy: Danse;

Frescobaldi: La Frescobalda; Villa-Lobos: Distribuigao

de Flores; Almeida: Choro e batuque; Brazilian folk songs:

Frog Song, Bia-ta-ta, Benedito pretinho; Debussy: First

Arabasque; many others. S-36051

Salli Terri is heard on Side One, Bands 1,2 & 4,and

Side Two, Bands 1,2 & 5. Martin Ruderman is heard on

Side One, Bands 1 & 2 and Side Two, Bands 1 & 2.

Vincent de Rosa is heard on Side Two in Bands 6 & 7.