Guitar Recital
Here is a guitar disc that brings special delight. The soloist is Jason Vieaux, winner of the 1992 Guitar Foundation of America International Competition, the youngest musician in GFA history to take home the top prize (he was 19 when he did it). He is a brilliant musician, and his mastery is evident on every track of this debut disc.  Audiophiles are encouraged to check this recording out as well. The instrument is magnificently present, and the dynamic and tonal gradations Vieaux achieves are registered with breathtaking immediacy; his percussive knocks to the body of the instrument have a particularly startling impact. Every nuance is captured, without undue prominence being given to artifacts like string noise. Vieaux's phenomenal talent and musicality are now a matter of record, and if this CD is any gauge we can expect him to be writing some exciting new pages in the history of the guitar.--Ted Libbey