CD Review: Classique! by Vincea McClelland

By on September 13, 2010 in Reviews and New Releases

Classique!
Guitar Music from Spain and the Americas

Composers include: Maza, Turina, Rodrigo, Llobet, York, Kearney, Qualey, Brouwer, Zenamon, Aquino, Bonfa, Machado.

Sound samples from Classique!:www.vinceamcclelland.com/Classique.html

Artist website and purchase info: www.vinceamcclelland.com

Just a short review today as September is always one of those crazy months.

What I like about this recording:

I like the variety of repertoire and the many smaller works that are rarely recorded.  My favorites from each section: Music from Spain, Turina’s Soleares; Music from North America, Kearney’s Collage (you have to too, mandatory Canadian preference!); Music from Latin America, Machado’s Imagens do Nordeste (Brazilian super star Machado lives on the Sunshine Coast folks, that’s B.C., Canada for all you foreigners).

The recording quality is high in general but very little of the performance hall sound. I love the Naxos recording for their mix of the two. However, the guitar sounds very clear on this one. McClelland’s playing is bright and clear and musical intentions are always well understood.

Anything missing?

Not really. I both love the repertoire for all the small gems, but would have enjoyed some works of longer duration. Then again, there’s some nice playing here and as I said, I like hearing all these works that rarely make it to disk. In fact, it’s a nice change to hear the variety.

Conclusion:

Montreal guitarist Vincea McClelland, now living in Paris, has had an impressive career and has numerous recordings. This album has some great playing of some interesting variety works. It was a joy to get introduced to a Canadian player I might not have otherwise known. That’s really what this website is all about!

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  • MPR

    Interesting technique she has. However, the first time I heard this recording I thought the engineering quality was atrocious. It sounds like the mics were WAY too close to the guitar during recording. It sounds weak, almost muffled. It was confusing to think that investing in a studio would produce such results. After visiting her site (via this site) I realised she uses Savarez strings and then it all made since. It’s the strings, not the recording technique. In my 2-cent opinion, I honestly don’t know how anyone could enjoy the sound of those strings, let alone play them.
    I’d love to hear this same recording with a set of medium Hannabach’s on her guitar. I might enjoy it more!

    • Bradford Werner

      Well, you know, there are many different types of Savarez strings. I use the Corum Alliance as do most of my colleagues…I know many people associate Savarez with their first experience of the fortified yellow cards but do try out the variety, I think you might be surprised. Nevertheless, thanks for the comment.

      I think the recording quality is high, but yes, the mic is close and there is not much hall noise. Possibly it was done in a studio.

      I personally really like the Naxos sound which is a pretty good mix of hall and guitar…