Arpeggione

This album is all about the pleasing blend of timbres of the cello, with its sustained notes, and the guitar, with its brisk plucking. The chosen works are mainly transcriptions and arrangements of Schubert's Sonata in A minor (written first for arpeggione, a bowed guitar-like fretted viol , and piano) and a variety of brief works: de Falla's lovely Siete Canciones Populares Españolas; Christoph Gluck's, operatic Dance of the Blessed Spirits, Saint-Saëns' often heard encore piece The Swan; Paganini's astonishing Variations on One String; and Villa-Lobos' beautiful Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, which was already transcribed by him for guitar. The original piece for guitar and cello is Twilight Streams by David Leisner, the guitarist of the duo. This set of five atmospheres is built around the concepts of full and empty, light and dark. Leisner co-chairs guitar at the Manhattan School of Music after two decades teaching at the New England Conservatory. Cellist Zuill Bailey, a featured soloist with numerous worldwide orchestras, had studied at the Peabody Conservatory and at Julliard School and is a professor at the University of Texas, El Paso. The album of the performers' favorite classical works make enjoyable listening and background sound.

The artists are excellent in their own right and seem to interact seamlessly together in all the pieces. Well worth multiple listens.

Wonderful blend of music