Brazilian Guitar Quartet
Everton Gloeden and Luiz Mantovani (eight-string guitars)
Tadeu do Amaral and Gustavo Costa (six-string guitars)
All arrangements by Tadeu do Amaral
Audio engineers: Brian Peters and Daniel Czernecki
Liner notes: Lindsay Koob and Luiz Mantovani
Cover: “Spanish Dances” (2013) by Maria Carmen von Linsingen
Artwork: Harry Pack and Mark Evans
Recorded at Arthur Zankel Music Center, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, USA between 18 and 22 July 2013.
As part of the Guitarrísimo series at Instituto Cervantes, it was my special pleasure to organize a concert tour of the Brazilian Guitar Quartet to many Brazilian cities in 2009, presenting their adaptation for guitar quartet of Albéniz’s Suite Iberia. The freshness of the arrangements as well as the brilliant interpretations captivated audiences, and left me with a sense of ever-growing fascination. Their new album dedicated to (besides Albéniz) the great Spanish composers de Falla, Granados, Rodrigo, Turina and Mompou sets a new standard for guitar quartet interpretations of the Spanish repertoire. I am thrilled to discover—through this well-chosen program, so coherent and finely performed—the deep Iberian roots of the instrument and its spectacular development in Brazil: a country that shares with Spain the guitar as its favorite instrument. In this album, the BGQ again lays claim to the true “alma española” (Spanish soul), in all its richness and diversity.
Francesc Puértolas, liner notes
Another superb recording by one of the world’s finest guitar quartets. . . . This music, these performances, just make one feel good, bathing in beauty.
American Record Guide
