Recording the Classical Guitar

Mark Marrington studied classical guitar as an undergraduate before training as a musicologist in the late 1990s and undertaking doctoral work focused on twentieth-century British music and the composer Denis ApIvor. Later he became interested in record production and recording technologies leading him to a period of research into the impact of digital production tools (principally the Digital Audio Workstation) upon musical creativity in a number of genre contexts. This book is essentially a marriage of these two perspectives. Mark is currently Senior Lecturer in Music Production at York St. John University and his academic writing has been published by Cambridge University Press, Bloomsbury Academic, Routledge, Future Technology Press, British Music, Soundboard, Classical Guitar, the Musical Times and the Journal on the Art of Record Production.

Recording the Classical Guitar is the winner of Best History in the category Best Historical Research on Recorded Classical Music in the 2022 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence. Begun in 1991, the ARSC Awards are given to authors of books, articles or recording liner notes to recognize those publishing the very best work today in recorded sound research.'Recording the Classical Guitar is an abundantly detailed and historically thorough publication. It ably discusses common elements from over a century of classical guitar history, uses primary sources effectively, and mentions a variety of performers who may otherwise have escaped notice of the guitar world at large.' - Austin Wahl in Association for Recorded Sound Collections Journal.

• Preface and Acknowledgements 1 Recordings and the Evolving Identity of the ClassicalGuitar in the Twentieth Century De!ning the Terms of the Study Narratives of the Classical Guitar in the Twentieth Century The Recording Model Established The Recording Model Consolidated The Recording Model Interrogated The Recording Model Deconstructed PART ONE THE RECORDING MODEL ESTABLISHED 2 The Classical Guitar in the Early Period of Recording: Spain Introduction: Evaluating the Early Period of Classical Guitar Recording The Technological Conditions of Early Recording Recording Plucked String Instruments Early Classical Guitar Recording in Spain, 1897–1936 The Recordings of Miguel Llobet Spanish Guitarists on the Regal Label Other Signi!cant Recordings Made by Spanish Guitarists During the 1920s and 1930s 3 Segovia at HMV (1923–1939) Introduction Segovia’s First Recording Segovia at HMV: Repertoire and Recording Strategy The Reception of Segovia’s HMV Recordings The Sound of Segovia’s HMV Recordings: Early Classical Guitar Recording Aesthetics The HMV Recordings and Later Critical Perspectives on Segovia’s Performance Style 4 The Classical Guitar in the Early Period of Recording: Latin America Introduction Edison, Victor and the Classical Guitar in Cuba and Mexico Mexican and Cuban Guitarists Recording in the Late 1920s and Early 1930s Classical Guitar Recording in the Rio de la Plata and the Legacy of Agustín Barrios The Eclectic Roots of Solo Guitar Recording in Brazil PART TWO THE RECORDING MODEL CONSOLIDATED 5 Segovia at American Decca Introduction Early Post-war Recordings and the Transition to LP Return to Abbey Road Segovia at American Decca: Rede!ning the Classical Guitar in the Post-war Period The LP and the Structure of Segovia’s Early Recorded Programs Repertoire Programming and Evolution of the Segovian Album Concept Segovia in the Studio Segovia’s Recordings and the Aesthetics of “High Fidelity” Acoustics in Classical Guitar Performance: A Brief Digression The Sound of Segovia’s American Decca Recordings 6 The North American Backdrop to Segovia Introduction The Foundations of the North American Classical GuitarMarketplace The Recordings of the Spanish Music Center The Spanish Music Center and Lo-Fi Recording Aesthetics The Recording Career of Rey de la Torre Laurindo Almeida’s Recordings of the 1950s and 1960s The Sound of Almeida’s Recordings The Classical Guitar and American Popular Music and Jazz 7 Developments in Latin America Introduction The Documentation of Latin American Guitar Music The Emergence of the Brazilian Classical Guitar Guitarists of the Rio de la Plata Alirio Díaz and Venezuelan Music The Classical Guitar in Mexico Cuban Perspectives on the Classical Guitar PART THREE THE RECORDING MODEL INTERROGATED 8 Nationalism and Modernism in the Recordings of Julian Bream Introduction Early Recordings for Decca and Westminster Recording Aesthetics: Westminster’s “Natural Balance” Re-thinking the Classical Guitar Album Program: Bream at RCA Modernizing the Repertoire: 20th Century Guitar, ’70s and Dedication Bream’s Quest for an Acoustic Aesthetic Re-orienting Recorded Guitar Perspective After Bream Bream and the Recording Process 9 Non-conformity in the Recordings of John Williams Introduction Early Recordings: Delysé, Westminster and CBS Williams’ Early Recording Aesthetic Recording and Repertoire Experiments After 1970 Constructing the Solo Guitar Recording Crossover Projects from Changes to Sky Williams’ Changing Attitude to Recorded Classical Guitar Sound Multi-tracking the Classical Guitar 10 The Wider European Context Introduction Spain: The Early Recordings of Narciso Yepes Yepes at Deutsche Grammophon Spanish Contemporaries of Yepes Guitarists in Austria The Recordings of Siegfried Behrend and Anton Stingl The Emerging Czechoslovakian Guitar Scene Classical Guitar Recording in France PART FOUR THE RECORDING MODEL DECONSTRUCTED 11 Post-Segovian Narratives of the Classical Guitar Introduction The Classical Guitar and the Recording Industry at the End of the 1960s The Assimilation of the Bream Paradigm Leo Brouwer and the Avant-garde Classical Guitar The Album Program Re-imagined The Rise of the North American Progressives Contemporary Eastern European Perspectives Traversing Boundaries: The Recordings of Liona Boyd Popular Music as Repertoire: The Classical Guitar Canon In!ltrated 12 Retaining and Revitalizing the Tradition Introduction Segovia’s Legacy in North America: Christopher Parkening The Spanish Perspective Retained Recordings and the Classical Guitar Transcription Historical Composer Recording Projects Latin America and the Classical Guitar Canon Audiophile Recording and the Classical Guitar Recapturing Liveness: Classical Guitarists and “Direct to Disc” Recording 13 Narrative Threads Since the 1990s Introduction The Consolidation of the Progressive Paradigm The Revival of the Classical Guitarist-Composer Classical Guitar Recording in Britain Since the 1990s North American Perspectives After 1990 Popular Music and the Canonization of The Beatles The Canon Upheld: The Recordings of David Russell The Segovian Paradigm Reinstated The Repertoire Documented: The Naxos Guitar Collection The Emergence of the Specialist Classical Guitar Recordist New Critical Perspectives on Classical Guitar Sound Extensions of the Audiophile Recording Aesthetic 14 Two Contemporary “House” Guitarists and the Future of Classical Guitar Recording Practice Introduction Xuefei Yang Miloš Karadagli□□ Concluding Remarks Archives and Bibliography Select Discography Index