Review: LAGQ Live! on DVD

by Tim Panting, Classical Guitar Magazine

LAGQ-Live

ANDREW YORK: Quiccan. J.S. BACH: Prelude, Fugue and Allegro. TCHAIKOVSKY: Nutcracker Suite selection. WILLIAM KANENGISER: Gongan: ANDREW YORK: Djembe. PETER MAXWELL DAVIES: Farewell to Stromness. HORACIO SALINAS: La Fiesta de la Tirana/Tarantella. RALPH TOWNER: Icarus. PAT METHENY: Letter from Home. CHET ATKINS: Blue Echo/Country Gentleman. FRANZ LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. ANDREW YORK: B&B. PACHELBEL/ARR. LAGQ: Pachelbel's Loose Canon. Andrew York, John Dearman, William Kanengiser, Scott Tennant. Mel Bay Publications Inc. MB21047DVD

As it says on the box this is a live recording by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Missouri on March 20, 2005. It is also a 25th anniversary for the group.

The great thing about the DVD format is that it can offer much more than just the concert. There are interviews with the group, over glasses of wine around a kitchen table, and comments by luminaries and pivotal figures in the group's history, such as Pepe Romero and producer and president of Telarc records Bob Woods (Guitar Heroes Telarc CD-80598, which won a Grammy Award for best classical crossover album).

The playing is, as you would imagine, sublime; a tour-de-force of ensemble playing. As Andrew York, who has been with LAGQ for 15 years points out, it has been his aim to add as many interesting textures and ranges in his arrangements so as to avoid the pitfalls and limitations that can arise from such a collection of similar instruments. The LAGQ sound is never cluttered, voicings are beautifully balanced and whether you're flying along with the breeze in your hair with Andrew York's Quiccan or relishing the crystalline renditions of Bach, the quartet remain a highly focused group producing quite lovely sounds; John Dearman's baritone instrument lending just enough gravitas to let the range of the guitars soar. The Allegro of Bach's being from the third movement of Brandenburg Concerto no.3.

The concert's first half ends with York's arrangements of Tchaikovsky's famous work. There are duets as well as group arrangements. The Dance of the Reed Pipes will have those of a certain age in the UK humming 'Everyone's a fruit and nut cake..' a-la-Frank Muir, (From the 70s chocolate advertisement).

The second half (no, I skipped drinks in the interval) is a glimpse into the versatility of the group. Gongan, with its Javanese/Balinese gamelan influence is superb. But then so are all the others. La Fiesta, from the Chilean group Inti-Illimani, with whom John Williams has often worked, has been arranged inventively by Scott Tennant and builds into a spectacular piece, charangos ablaze.

The LAGQ have done perhaps more than any other group of guitarists to bring so many different styles and influenes into such a unified whole. This recorded concert is a formidable display of artists at an artistic peak; it is also a warm and uplifting recital and lesson in professionalism. I heartily recommend this, you'll only enjoy it.

Tim Panting
Classical Guitar Magazine