For his third album on Mercury Classics/Deutsche Grammophon,
international chart-topping classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglić takes
the world-famous Concierto de Aranjuez as the starting point for a
journey across the Spanish landscape, paying tribute to the great
composers and musicians who placed the modern classical guitar firmly on
the international stage.
The Concierto de Aranjuez was written
by Joaquín Rodrigo for the Spanish guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza and
very soon became not just the most famous Spanish guitar concerto but
also the most famous guitar concerto of all time; its ravishing slow
movement was taken up and arranged by musicians of all genres, from
Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Jim Hall to Herb Alpert, from Frank Sinatra to
José Carreras. And now, Miloš has produced a standalone new
interpretation of Aranjuez; the definitive version for our time.
Miloš
sees the work as “the holy grail of the guitar repertoire and an
endless source of inspiration. The first and last movements sparkle with
energy and rhythm. They paint the landscape of nature, happiness and
love. The legendary second movement takes us to a different reality,
where emotions overflow and a string becomes a voice.”
For the
recording of the new album Aranjuez, Miloš was joined by the London
Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the
world-famous Abbey Road Studios in London. Miloš recalls that “Yannick’s
energy is infectious and our collaboration was the most electric
experience. When we met before the recording sessions to run through the
music together, he taught me things I shall always be grateful for. For
example, he asked me to rethink my approach to Rodrigo’s notorious
scale passages. He suggested that, instead of focusing on each note, I
should think of them as gestures – taking each one in a different
direction as if they were brushstrokes. At that moment I relaxed
completely; I had found the final piece of a puzzle, a piece I had been
looking for all along.”
Aranjuez is a celebration of the most popular Spanish works for guitar and orchestra, which includes Rodrigo’s
Fantasía para un gentilhombre, and it explores the birth and
recognition of the modern guitar in the 20th century. “The guitar as we
know it today emerged only at the end of the 19th century, after
centuries of various transformations. The Spanish guitar maker Antonio
de Torres constructed an instrument larger in size and tone than its
predecessors, and that marked the beginning of a new age. The guitar was
ready to leave the elegant aristocratic salon for the concert
platform…”
For Miloš it has been a long journey from Montenegro,
where he was born and at eight started playing the guitar. Now a
household name, he has become among his generation one of the most
successful champions of his instrument. London, where he now lives,
played a decisive role in his career, particularly during his years as a
student at the Royal Academy of Music.
