McLAUGHLIN: “The Mediterranean” Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra; Duos for Guitar and Piano. John McLaughlin, guitar; Katia Labeque, piano; London Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. CBS MK 45578 (compact disc).
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Orchestrated by Michael Gibbs, the concerto is a big, voluptuous work in three traditionally shaped movements--a lush, Romantic expansion of Rodrigo’s neo-Classical concertos, overtly Iberian in the first two movements and a kaleidoscope of quotation and parody in the finale. McLaughlin plays it with thoroughly integrated brio, and works moody magic with Labeque in the five jazzy, cloned miniatures. Caveat lector: McLaughlin mispells Ernest Fleischmann’s name and dates the concerto’s 1985 premiere with the Los Angeles Philharmonic a year too early in his liner notes.
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