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DCD34248-CD
£15.99
Over the last four years, guitarist Alexandra Whittingham has reached listeners worldwide, not only through concerts and competition successes but above all online, where her video performances of classical guitar repertoire have gained over 25 million YouTube views. Now she brings all of her freshness, charm, curiosity and determination to bear on her first studio album. Recorded in a year when the relationship between musicians and audiences has never been more topical, My European Journey is a testament to what the imagination can achieve in a time of unprecedented physical barriers.
In this heartfelt, enchanting exploration of the guitar’s great coming of age in nineteenth-century Europe, staple works by Napoléon Coste, Giulio Regondi and Luigi Legnani give a warm Romantic embrace to a clutch of lesser-known miniatures – brimming with character and local colour from Vienna, London, Copenhagen and beyond. All are given vivid new life here, by an artist for whom connecting with audiences is second nature.
Alexandra Whittingham makes her studio album debut in thoughtful fashion ... There are favourites as reference points. Tárrega, Mertz, Coste, Regondi and Legnani are familiar names, at least among lovers of guitar music. And few pieces are more famous than Tárrega’s study in sustained tremolo, Recuerdos de la Alhambra. But Jaime Bosch, anyone? Catharina Pratten? Frederik Rung? Ernest Shand? As Andrew Mellor records in his booklet note, Whittingham, desirous of creating ‘a general air of Romantic warmth in which shorter or more playful pieces might be “hugged” by more imposing ones’, scoured libraries, studies and the internet in search of little-known 19th-century guitar music worthy of the wider public’s attention. The result is an enjoyable recital featuring concert and salon pieces one is not afraid to describe as utterly delightful. Key is Whittingham’s unsentimental yet beautifully expressive playing. Rung’s Humoreske, evoking some of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, is a revelation, as are Shand’s pianistic effusions. I enjoyed, too, the easy charm of Pratten’s Forgotten and Bosch’s Brimborion. They form a perfect foil to the ingratiating virtuosity of such works as Regondi’s Introduction et Caprice, with which the recital ends, brilliantly.
'it takes a modern, creative female virtuoso of Romantic disposition to breathe life and vigour into these latent, miniature masterpieces ... [Whittingham's] playing is very musical, and obviously influenced by experiences outside Western Art Music ... Much attention is paid to the execution of each and every note; the precision about her playing is impressive ... This will not be the last recording of Alexandra Whittington. While she may have positioned the programme to especially attract the non-guitarist, there are aspects about it that, in total, will attract all who just appreciate quality guitar playing'
MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL
'look out for a solo recital recorded with an immediate, ample sound: My European Journey by Alexandra Whittingham: 19th-century miniatures played by a young 21st-century virtuoso'
'Whittingham is magnificent throughout, tackling the simpler, lighter pieces with freshness and affection. Delphian’s engineering is up to scratch, the sound warm, close and rich'
THE ARTS DESK
"With a sizeable following online this young British guitarist has already proved her talent as a performer. This first studio album confirms that, and more, as Whittingham has herself curated this collection of 19th-century gems - some familiar, others not so. A superb debut"
★ ★ ★ ★
"Scots-based Delphian label has a track record when it comes to talent-spotting guitarists ... My European Journey reveals a player of sound ability and creative charisma ... There’s a natty Humoreske by Scandinavian Frederik Rung, Frenchman Napoléon Coste’s fantasie dramatique Le Départ, and from Italian Luigi Legnani a showcase Fantasie brilliante e facile. By then, Whittingham is on fire"
★ ★ ★ ★
PREVIEW
1. Francisco Tárrega Capricho árabe
Collections: All Releases, Guitar
Category: Alexandra Whittingham, Guitar
