Denis Azabagic may not be a household name just yet, but judging from what is heard on this disc, that will soon change. Azabagic was born in Bosnia Herzegovina and in 1993 became the youngest musician to win the Jacinto e Inocencio Guerrero competition in Madrid. Since then, Azabagic has won virtually every major international guitar competition, including the prestigious Foundation of America award. This recording features Azabagic in a program devoted to the music of Spanish composers.
Azabagic's masterful performance of Federico Moreno's 'Torroba's Sonatina' balances the works rhapsodic soul with flights of technical fancy. This young guitarist's repertorial choices are fascinating. The darkly colored tone poem 'La Catedral' by Augustín Barrios Mangoré impresses with its pious eloquence. Azabagic's playing is especially impressive in the work's surging Andante religioso second movement.
This is a most impressive recording by a startlingly talented young musician with a very promising future.