The Segovia Collection, Vol. 5: Five Centuries of the Spanish Guitar
When Segovia first began playing guitar at the beginning of the 20th century, the instrument was regarded with some suspicion in Spanish music circles as belonging to the "lower classes" of society, at least compared to the Spanish lute, orvihuela. So Segovia had something to prove when he began playing the great classics of the Spanish Baroquevihuelacomposers on the guitar, and his conviction certainly comes across in this excellent recital. As many of his other recordings demonstrate, Segovia really responded to Baroque music's intricacy, style, and wit. If fact, much of this music was almost completely unknown until Segovia got his hands on it, and we can all be thankful that he did.--David Hurwitz