Segovia Collection
The vastly improved sonics which the Deutsche Grammophon production team  achieves with its 24/96 remastering of the guitarist's 1952-1969 mono and stereo  performances for Decca allow listeners to finally experience the rich tonal  palette and intimate nature of Segovia's performance art in a manner  commensurate with the fidelity of the original LP releases (minus the edgy  digital glare and graininess of the MCA reissues). What emerges is a portrait of  the artist as a lightning rod for great composers, such as Manuel Ponce,  Federico Torroba, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Isaac Albéniz, and Enrique  Granados, all of whom enriched the 20th-century repertoire of solo and chamber  works by custom-crafting works for this innovative guitarist (Segovia's  interpretation of Joaquín Rodrigo's "Fandango" is a paradigm for his role in  popularizing the modern Spanish idiom). Likewise, Segovias's work as an arranger  in recasting baroque and medieval works for modern guitar, as well as his deep  affection for 19th-century masters of the instrument such as Dionisio Aguado and  Fernando Sor, shines forth on discs two and three. However, it is Segovia's  romantic touch in transposing Bach'sPartitas for Solo Violin--as on his  virtuoso turns on the "Chaconne in D Minor"--that best illustrate his poetic  conception of the instrument.--Chip Stern