Guitarist Elise Neumann was born in Rostock, Germany where she started playing cello at an early age and later moved to guitar. In 2008, she won the 1st prize “Premio Accademia Santoro” at the Concorso Internazionale di Chitarra – Omaggio and Joaquín Rodrigo in Italy. In 2011, she became the 1st prize winner at the International Agustin Barrios Guitar Competition in Nuoro, Italy. Her debut CD was released in 2012 on the label Brilliant Classics. She has now released her second album on Carpe Diem Records titled, Bach & Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Guitar Music. For her second solo album Neumann chose works by two very different composers, JS Bach and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Both composers wrote music in the form of the suite, which Neumann plays with her much admired warm and profound tone on an instrument made by the famous Parisian guitar maker Daniel Friederich from 1969. Bach & Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Guitar Music has the perfect balance of player, instrument and space (Schloss Borbeck in Essen) that converge to form a perfect unity and deliver a natural, effortless and profoundly musical interpretation of these beautiful works. That’s the short of it!
Positives:
Neumann’s approach to the guitar is one of beauty, where clean technique and articulate attention to shaping a phrase makes each composition come alive.
Bottom Line:
Neumann's talent as a performer is graceful, warm-toned and precisely conveyed. The repertoire is well-chosen and the two composer’s music pair nicely for an enjoyable collection of eleven tracks on album. Neumann's intentional manipulation of color brings out the delicate voicings and interplay of contrapuntal lines. Her performance is compelling and full of refinement that is always brought to life with special sensitivity to the melodic flow and clarity.