Lo Cant Dels Aucells - Artist: Stefano Grondona. Label: Stradivarius

The vintage classical guitars performed upon here were built by the master luthiers of the 19th and early to mid 20th century. Six of these guitars are by Antonio de Torres. Other guitar makers represented here include: Enrique Garcia, Francisco Simplicio (Enrique Garcia's only disciple), Santos Hernandez, Domingo Esteso (whose foreman in the Manuel Ramirez shop was Santos Hernandez), Hermann Hauser I (who followed Torres' principles, much like Enrique Garcia & Manuel Ramirez), and Robert Bouchet. This two C.D. set includes Grondona's beautiful performances of works by: Mompou, Llobet, Granados, Tarrega, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Barrios, Ponce, Grieg, Segovia, Poulenc and Chopin.

Homenaje: Manuel de Falla, Miguel Llobet and their world - Artists: Stefano Grondona with Laura Mondeiello, Giuseppe Carrer, Roberto Da Barp, Alessandra Novaga, Paolo Bersamo (performing on vintage guitars by Antonio de Torres, Vincenti Arias, Enrique Garcia, Francisco Simplicio, Miguel Simplicio, and Ignacio Fleta ), Maria Jose Montiel (mezzo-soprano). Label: Stradivarius

Harmonie du soir - Artist: Raphaella Smits. Label: Accent Records

This is an exceptionally beautiful, musically compelling recording by the great Belgium classical guitarist, Raphaella Smits. Regarding the two 19th century guitars she uses on this recording and why she chooses to play certain works on one and not the other, Ms Smits explains: "The sounds which the Roudhloff guitar offers to the Haydnesque Giuliani Sonata or the more aggressive Tarantella of Mertz, with the typically compact bass sound and great contrasts, are difficult to achieve on the Mirecourt instrument of about 1827. On the other hand the Mirecourt guitar responds very well to the precise playing needed for the fast virtuoso cadenzas of Mertz or the operatic evocations of Giuliani. Likewise the seventh string presents possibilities from which the music can benefit. Both instruments are good teachers."

Manjon: Noveletta; Célebre Capricho Andaluz - Artist: Raphaella Smits. Label: Accent Records

Raphaella Smits performs here on an eight string Vicente Arias guitar built in 1899. About this magnificent instrument and its maker, Ms. Smits writes: "The instrument has been restored by Bernhard Kresse in Cologne, Germany. Vicente Arias (1840-1913) made guitars around 1870. He lived and worked in Ciudad Real, and at the end of his career he had a workshop in Madrid. His instruments display a remarkable mastery, comparable to those of Antonio Torres and Manuel Ramirez. Specialist makers acknowledge Arias for his innovations. Some famous guitarists like Francisco Tarrega played the guitars of Vicente Arias. According to an up-to-date census, there are twenty-four guitars by Vicente Arias in existence."

Gitarren von Richard Jacob Weissgerber (1877-1960) - Artist: Thomas Muller-Pering. Label: Raum Klang

The Museum of Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig has in its possession twenty-eight guitars from the estate of Richard Jacob "Weißgerber," the well-known guitar maker of Markneukirchen. This represents not only one of the largest coherent documentations of the work of Richard Jacob, but also one of the more representative and valuable collections of the Markneukirchen master. In 1998 the Museum of Musical Instruments also purchased the workshop of Richard Jacob, which had been maintained in its original condition. In the same year, the idea was developed to make this collection the object of scholarly research. From 1999 to 2000, this plan was carried out by members of the Department of Musical Instrument Construction (belonging to the Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau), together with the Institute for Musical Instrument Research in Zwota and the guitarist Thomas Müller-Pering of the Franz Liszt Conservatory of Music in Weimar. In addition to the scholarly cataloguing and gathering of pictorial documentation of the instruments the result was a comprehensive sound documentation which can be found in this CD and which gives a exceptionally beautiful impression of the sound of Richard Jacob "Weißgerber's" guitars.

Simplicio: Music from the Age of Andres Segovia and Agustin Barrios - Artist: Christopher Laughlin

This lovely C.D. contains a collection of classical guitar repertoire from the 1920's and 1930's, recorded on a 1927 Francisco Simplicio guitar that was used by the great South American virtuoso Agustin Barrios. The recorded works feature music by Barrios, as well as compositions written for the great Spanish virtuoso Andres Segovia: Turina, Falla, Ponce and Rodrigo.