The music of Brazilian composer Radamés Gnattali is still relatively unknown to audiences outside his homeland. This music, full of sharply etched rhythms, cascading runs and jazzy harmonies, sounds new and unusual but not strange or aggressive. His Etude no. 1 and the Toccata in the form of the Samba on this recording come from a large number of works for guitar including four concerti for guitar and orchestra, 10 Etudes, and the Danza Brasileira.

The details of the life of Spanish composer Santiago de Murcia are not well documented. He was born in Spain at the end of the 17th c. and died in Mexico after the turn of the 18th c. Scholars conclude that he traveled to Mexico with a new patron after having lost his position as the guitarist to the Queen of Spain when a new regime began. The manuscript of this music, now referred to as the Saldivar
Codex, remained lost until the 1950s when it was discovered almost by chance in an antique store in Mexico.

Murcia wrote his guitar music in tablature, a system indicating where the player should finger the instrument. In addition, the unusual (and sometimes inconsistent) "re-entrant" tuning of the Baroque guitar requires that the music be arranged to suit the modern instrument. Considerable adjustments are necessary especially in voice leading. Smith's arrangement uses the power and brightness of the modern guitar to communicate the character and spirit of Murcia's composition.

Virtuoso guitarist, Agustín Barrios Mangoré(1885-1944), billed himself as the "Paganini of the Guitar from the Jungles of Paraguay." In the early 20th century he performed throughout South and Central America and composed over 300 works for the guitar. The Vals and Julia Florida (a Barcarola, or boat song), like many of his works, recall the music of Chopin and other romantic composers for the
piano.

Label: Soundset Recordings
Item Number: SB23908
Format: CD

"Smith is a brilliant and exciting guitarist with an elegant and sophisticated style."
El Siglo, Santo Domingo

"Michael Cedric Smith opened with an exciting, bravura performance of Etude No. 7 by Villa-Lobos. Requiring, and receiving, flawless technique, this study has the elegant, sinuous lines so typical of the composer... Smith had all of the necessary sophistication."
Lynna Sedlak, The Buffalo News

"A fine contribution, clear and concise, and above all very well played."
Jan de Kloe, Classical Guitar Magazine

About Celebrations:

"Smith plays these two [Gnattali] works with great authority, cleanliness and fluidity, enjoying the Toccata's central episode for all it is worth. He uncovers about as much music as there is to be found in these pieces..."

"Smith renders compelling performances of each [Barrios work], with portions of the waltz sounding at times like two guitars are being played, and imparting a languorous rubato to Julia Florida, which is written in the style of a Venetian gondolier's song...A Sonatina by the Spanish composer Federico Moreno Torroba (1891- 1982) is performed with forthrightness by Smith. The work, literally a small Sonata, features two themes developed according to the sonata form in the first movement,  in the style of a canilena (cradle song), and a concluding rondo.  Smith concentrates on the structure of the piece but not at the sacrifice of the work's inherent drama. Smith chooses to conclude his CD recital where many guitars begin: with a work by Bach. In this case, Smith takes on the Suite in E, BWV lOO6a with its fiendishly difficult Prelude.  This is music to send you skyward, and Smith's muscular yet detailed reading doesn't fail to launch. The succeeding dance movements are all handled attention to timbral variety and grace of line...The recording has excellence presence and is non-reverberant without seeming dry.  Overall, a very successful debut from a guitarist who has both the chops and maturity to make music of anything he sets his fingers to."
Doug Levy, Arts Voice, Buffalo New York

"Yet another guest guitarist comes to Boulder Tuesday in the series of recitals by major American masters of the instrument...Michael Cedric Smith."
Wes Blomster, Sunday Camera, Boulder, CO

"...absolutely gorgeous... exquisitely controlled in phrasing, voice-leading and quiet intensity,... hearty joy in its rhythm and accent... Smith cast a wonderfully romantic spell with his expressive performance of the Mertz 'Elegie'... fierce concentration and technical finesse... lyrical song style to rapid passagework to symphonic turbulence... [t]he performer was equal to all of these."
Kenneth Young, The Buffalo News

"What a success...a great concert."
Legato, the Buffalo Guitar Society Newsletter

"Smith is a performer with keen sensibilities. The pleased audience called him back on stage and he played two encores... Unaccompanied, Smith's sensitive musicianship was even more apparent."
Betsy Light, TodayThe

"Chôros No. 1" for guitar is, from beginning to end, one of Villa-Lobos' best melodies -- lyrical, rhythmic, catchy, unforgettable, Brazilian to the core. I have it as performed by Michael Cedric Smith, whose credit is unjustly buried in the program notes on the Newport Classic CD: "Xango: Selected Works by Villa-Lobos" (NPR 85518) Upstairs, Downstairs, Villa-Lobos! Copyright by Fred Flaxman, 1997. http://www.unidial.com/~fflaxman/VillaLobos.html"ANDRES SEGOVIA, MOVE OVER! St. Louis boasts a young classic guitarist, Michael Cedric Smith, who can pluck with the best of them..."
Bob Goddard, St. Louis Globe Democrat

"Smith was completely at ease with this music and achieved that sublime level of solo performance where everything seems improvised on the spur of the moment.  He was equally in command of the terribly demanding Bach work [D minor Chaconne], transforming each feat of technique into a totally satisfying musical phrase.  Here again Smith utilized his instrument's resources of timbre to create carefully differentiated contrapuntal planes.  Even more important to the success of his interpretation, however, was his truly admirable sense of rhythmic elasticity.... Smith played with consummate skill and unerring good taste, to the point that one was almost unaware of the difficulties involved... Mr. Smith held his audience, this reviewer included, absolutely spell-bound throughout the entire evening."
John Phillips, West End Word(the reviewer is Chair of Piano at Fontbonne College in St. Louis)

"Smith's dexterity on guitar allowed the fast passages to ring out with clarity while the composition presented some charmingly unique harmonies."
Larry Ink, Prince George's Journal

"Smith is a poetic guitarist with a fine sense of pitch and a natural feeling for the lyric phrase."
Sue Thomas, St. Louis Post Dispatch

"Smith's playing was a nearly ideal vehicle for the music... it is smooth, carefully controlled, and goes right to the point of a musical idea.  Smith was always expressive, and made his music seem naturally expressive, without any exaggerations whatever; it was very quiet concert and a very successful one."
Frank Peters, St. Louis Post Dispatch

"Smith, whose repertoire includes music from the 16th to the 20th centuries, is a talented performer with a nice stage presence. It was a combination of his playing and his comments to the audience throughout the evening that made it the enjoyable experience it was."

"He was particularity fine in a Segovia transcription of Bach's 'Chaconne from Partita in D minor'. Smith's agile fingers did great justice to the typically intricate Bach-ian passages.  This work also was a showcase for Smith to develop rich chordal sounds and to display his sensitivity top dynamics..."

...Smith continued to display sensitivity and flair for both the music and instrument, bringing out the necessary fiery nuances that make listening to Spanish guitar music so rewarding."
John Shulson, Daily Press, Newport News

"He revealed a fine musical sense, an instinct for sensitive phrasing, pleasing tone  production and especially good control over shadings in the lighter dynamic range..."

"There was light, lute-like resonance in Holborne's Fantasia No.3, a delicacy of articulation in Mudarra's Fantasia and a prevailing sense of propriety in Sor's Variations on a Theme by Mozart and Bach's Suite in E minor, with good rhythmic vitality emerging in the latter work's gigue movement..."

"When the program turned to romanic and contemporary literature, a deeper level of psychic attunement seemed to be reached.  The artist's left hand, flexible but a bit reticent on occasion earlier, now became more relaxed and fluid in Giuliani's Grand Overture and completely free in the halting rhythms and questing moods of Reginald Smith-Brindle's El Polifemo d'Oro, with its fascinating non-tonal sonorities and wide range of string intonation techniques.The program closed with two Prelude and two Etudes of Villa-Lobos, exquisite pieces that lie so well for the guitar as to invite comparisons with Chopin's Preludes and Etudes for piano.  Mr. Smith played them with complete empathy, and the overflow crowd let him know it."
Herman Trotter, Buffalo Evening News