EPTIn the long list of Naxos guitar releases, it is difficult to recommend one guitarist over another. The enjoyable part about this label is the abundance of lesser-known composers, and for this instrument, lesser-known performers. In Irina Kulikova we have a fairly young artist who has taken on a program of large-scale works, where the execution is near-flawless, but the artistry is a complicated issue. The works on this disc are fairly well-known, so there is a decent amount of reference in terms of performance practice. Kulikova's playing is certainly virtuosic, with hardly any shift audible, and not any wrong or obviously misplayed notes that I could detect. The one technical flaw I found in her playing was her handling of the rasguedos in the Fiesta from Sonatina Meridional: I could best describe them as "rough." I think it would behoove a reader and a critic to state the vast scrutiny under which we subject debutante guitarists, especially on this label. Because of the crowded sea, it is difficult to pick the right fish, and as such the criticisms I make in this review are of primarily minutia, and I feel that most of the top young guitarists today have very little separation in regards to playing ability.
Beginning the disc is Ponce's "Sonata III", one of the many works that the composer dedicated to Andres Segovia. I would say Kulikova's performance is fairly good. The 1st and 3rd parts are played with nice delicacy, but the 2nd part (Chanson) seems to lose its qualities as a "chanson," instead Kulikova tries to do a little too much. Her playing of the tremolo section in part 3 was exquisite. Well done, but certainly not in the top 5 performances I have heard of the work.
Next is Tansman's "Variations on a Theme by Scriabin," which could have been a fantastic rendition if not for a few artistic choices I felt were lacking. Her transitions felt slow and not respectful to the music. While this is a theme and variations, I felt the movement between the variations was not performed smoothly. Most of the elements were fantastic, particularly the decorative section. But her cadence on the variation preceding the decorative one was obtuse. Kulikova set up the leading tone perfectly, but fumbled the harmonic when playing it and stretched out the tonic note poorly. Otherwise this performance was noteworthy and recommended.
Following this is Ponce's "Sonatina Meridional," which follows Kulikova's pattern of doing some things fantastically well, but also giving me reason to criticize. Much of what I found lamentable in her playing is that she has done too much with the music, and she performs with too much rubato. She plays the Campo with great artistry, but the performance is not respectful to the piece's supposed evocation of the Spanish countryside. I did enjoy her playful staccatos, and the development was played with great intensity. The Copla is fantastically done for the most part, but again there is the question of how freely to play. The Fiesta has the poor rasguedos as I mentioned, but she plays the harmonies fairly well. The ending of the piece is not done well, as she moved into an artistic setting and seemed to forget that the piece is called Fiesta!
Track 8 is Brouwer's "Variations on a Theme by Django Reinhardt." I have little to criticize here, her playing with the harmony is exquisite, and her artistic choices feel justified. This is the highlight of the disc for me, I would use Elena Papandreou's version for comparison -- which is a great performance.
Finishing the disc is Antonio Jose's "Guitar Sonata," which has in the past 10-20 years become a very popular piece. While I do respect many of her artistic decisions, I much prefer Denis Azabagic's version -- which was released on his Naxos Guitar Recital. The massive heaping of rubato she uses makes this at the very least an interesting interpretation. I enjoyed listening to this performance, but it is in no way something I would play.
With this release I found a lot of things to like and a lot of things to dislike. I did focus mostly on the negatives because the virtuosity and artistic of players on these discs are to be assumed. Kulikova does many things very well, it is simply that the field is so jam-packed with others who can do the same things. My main area of concern with this disc is that the transitions, and specifically the setups of key modulations are given too much space to really appreciate the harmonic shifts. As far as execution is concerned, I felt she maybe could have played her tenor notes a but louder and made the lower harmonies a bit more clear, but this may simply be my headphones. I would recommend this disc based on Kulikova's holistic artistic approach and good program, but would warn the listener of what I felt were poor artistic choices. It is nice to see an artist on this label that has the potential to divide listeners, as too many are just like the rest.
