For quite some time i've been meaning to buy some Liona Boyd discs, she's got some desirable discs in her catalogue, but which one?, i bought this as the cover looked really good, plus the repertoire on the disc sounded interesting too, though i'm a bit dubious about live recordings, especially in a recital of smaller pieces, but that didn't worry me as i listened to this disc, she plays pieces over a huge era, and a very varied programme, though i must admit that some more music would have been welcomed [53 minutes].
Liona Boyd was born in England, but moved to Canada when she was eight with her parents, so i guess she counts as Canadian, she's now 63, she made this recording in 1984, the front cover picture [by Yoshino Oishi], shows a portrait of Boyd, very much a Japanese theme, i like the green dress and the blonde hair, there's a certain glow about her in the sunlight, and like Japanese writing, the lettering is written from top to bottom, altogether a lovely picture.
There were some good unknowns on this disc, probably the Soler Sonata was a nice little discovery, but the piece that i found the really best was track 7 'Mallorca' by Albeniz, originally written by piano, it's transcribed here by Boyd herself, and i must admit that i've heard this piece being played on the guitar before, and on this version it's slightly different, a 6 minute piece, slow and languid, but with a faster and more exciting central section, the key is actually in D Minor [for me the key of death!, though i'm sure that isn't what Albeniz had in mind], the opening tune is gorgeous, so when the central section comes in [1:42-4:00] it creates such a wonderful variant, a very nice rhythm indeed, starting with an opening strum, and it uses this as a sort of 'idee fixe' throughout, and even in this central section, it seems to have it's own central section, where some nice judicious high treble notes are played [2:40-3:00], the return to the very opening tune [3:00+], can seem a Minor downturn, but the tune is beautiful, and the whole thing is played with expert virtuosity by Boyd, she can be a crossover Artist, but she's no slouch when it comes to the real thing, she's a serious pro, a lovely little recital disc, the Japanese audience are very polite indeed, and are as unobtrusive as can be.
Here's Samuel Klemke playing Mallorca by Albeniz on YouTube.
Here's Samuel Klemke playing Mallorca by Albeniz on YouTube.
