Music Album Review: 'Great Performances: Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez/Fantasia para un gentilhombre'
On July 29, 1990 - per a notation I made on the compact disc's liner note booklet - I purchased CBS Masterworks' reissue of an album that featured two compositions by Joaquin Rodrigo: the Concierto de Aranjuez and Fantasia para un gentilhombre. Performed by the acclaimed Australian guitarist John Williams with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra (conducted by Eugene Ormandy) and the English Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Charles Groves), this "Great Performances" recording features two signature compositions written for guitar and orchestra composed by the brilliant Spanish composer and pianist. The Concierto de Aranjuez was composed in 1939, that fateful year that was marked by two connected historical events: Generalissimo Francisco Franco's rise to power as the fascist ruler of Spain at the end of that country's devastating civil war; and the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, one of the two right wing dictatorships which had backed Franco...