Göran Söllscher - The Renaissance Album (2005)

Swedish classical guitarist Göran Söllscher has a certain following among guitar buffs of all kinds thanks to a unique contraption he plays -- an 11-string guitar, built specifically to allow him, like some of his famous predecessors on the classical guitar, to explore the lute repertory of the Renaissance and Baroque periods more fully. He has previously released an album of Baroque music featuring the instrument, and here he turns his attention to a tour of lute and vihuela music from the High Renaissance, with stops mostly in Spain, Germany, and England. Depending entirely on personal reaction, his guitar is either a brilliant innovation in instrument-building or the kind of invention that tends to imprison its inventor. When Narciso Yepes played the more virtuosically oriented Spanish repertory on a guitar, the technical restrictions of the instrument had a way of adding to the tension in the performance. Söllscher's readings of the Fantasía que contrahaze la harpa en la manera de Ludovico (Fantasy That Imitates the Harp in the Manner of Ludovico, track 1) by Alonso de Mudarra, or the Fantasía de consonancias y redobles (Fantasy of Consonances and Scales), track 23) by Luys Milán, are technical marvels but a trifle mechanical. On the other hand, his way with English music is extremely appealing, and his guitar seems to give him a relaxed, playful quality. All the Dowland pieces have the requisite degree of knowing melancholy; the brief and obtuse A Piece without Title (track 10) will give the Internet sampler a little taste of what's best about this set. Maybe Söllscher is an artist for the Internet era, using technology and skill to bring an intriguing variety of music within his grasp even if he lacks some of the compelling qualities of the players who did it the old-fashioned way.