The Royal Family Of The Spanish Guitar - Celedonio, Colin, Pepe & Angel Romero

 

Vill-Lobos Prelude No. 3 in A Minor (Celin)

The Royal Family Of The Spanish Guitar

Celedonio, Celin, Pepe and Angel Romero

Mercury Living Presence SR 90295

1962

From the back cover: About The Romeros

A Romero Family recital presents the rare spectacle of a burgeoning musical dynasty winning audiences as much by its collective skill as by individual performances.

"One of the most extraordinary concerts this reviewer has enjoyed in three decades of his craft was provided by the Romero family," wrote Cyrus Durbin, Boston Globe critic., during their first American tour in 1961. Critics and audiences alike responded to the interplay of distinctive musical personalities that gives their recitals a variety of coloration denied to the usual solitary performer.

Celedonio Romero, the father, began his study of the guitar at the age of three and oursuded his curse of instruction through the Madrid Conservatory. He married early and settled in Malaga, his native city. Colin (age 24), Pepe (age 18) and Angel (age 14), his only children, were practicing scales as soon as they were old enough to hold the guitar; each performed on the concert stage by the time he was eleven.

In recital, as in the present collection and those to follow, the Romeros re-create with authority a panorama of guitar composition and execution that spans several centuries; their programming reflects their several areas of concentration without becoming rigidly specialized. Thus Celedonio brings his solidly mourned, vigorous command of the guitar to a wide range of the guitar literature from the 16th century to Albeniz. Colin, whose fluency inclines toward lyrical, rhapsodical or moody expression , directs a good measure of his attention toward the late Romantic composers, with some special regard for music of the Western hemisphere. Angel seems ores destined for special acclaiming as a performer of the baroque repertory; his Bach performances especially benefit from his remarkable rhythmic sense and secure technique. In a highly contrasting idiom, Prop has won plaudits for his dazzling mastery of flamenco music, with its brilliant cascades of notes and impassioned exotic melodies.

"Spain's royal family of the guitar" was citric Lousi Biancolli's apt designation for the Romeros, as he lauded their "classical and flamenco playing of the very highest order, disciplined in a family tradition of perfection and mellowed to a sweetness and delicacy of tone unique in the field."

From Billboard - October 6, 1962: The well-known Romero family of Spanish guitar virtuosos is teamed up on one LP featuring gather Celedonio Romero and his three sons, aged 24, 18 and 14, playing solo and in varying combinations. The works are mainly form the traditional catalog by Granados, Tarrega, Torroba, Albeniz, etc., plus Villa- Lobos prelude and some original compositions and arrangements by the head of the Romero family. Concerts and TV appearances will help sales in the United States.

Romero - Noche en Malaga (quartet)

Granados - Spanish Dance No. 6 (Cledonio, Pepe)

Tarrega - Lagrima (Preludio) (Celedonio)

Romero - Romantic Prelude (Celedonio)

Moreno Torroba - Allegretto from Sonatina in A Major (Celin)

Vill-Lobos Prelude No. 3 in A Minor (Celin)

Traditional Spanish arr. - Romero Sevillanas (Quartet)

Granados Intermezzo from "Goyescas" (Celin, Pepe)

Moreno Torroba - Llamada (Angel)

Albeniz - Sevilla (Angel)

Sinopoli - Vidalita (Angel, Pepe)

Tarrega Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Pepe)

Sor-Romero - Obbligato (on Etude in B Minor) (Celin, Pepe)