Record Replacement Offer To insure your continued listening pleasure The Sound Environment Record- ing Series makes the following Record Replacement Otfer: if for any reason you wish to replace this record with a new copy ... simply return the used record to the Sound Environment Recording Corporation, 5421 So. 84th, Lincoln, NE 68516. Include a check or money order for 50% of the manufac- turer's suggested retail price for the record at the time of the exchange. The new record will be shipped directly to you, prepaid and insured. This offer © 1980 SOUND ENVIRONMENT RECORDING CORP./ 5421 SOUTH 84TH STREET/ LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 68516 subject to record availability. <• "Sharon lsbin is f?!fted with a brilliant technique, an unusual intellect and spiritual qualities - all of which flower in her performance." Rosalyn Tureck The Artist: The Music: Production Notes: Following the release of her first album with Sound LUTE SUITE IN E MINOR (BWV 996) LA ESPIRAL ETERNA I believe this recording to be one of our finest sonic Environment Series, Richard Dyer of the BOSTON J. S. BACH LEO BROUWER achievements to date, not to mention the brilliant per- GLOBE praised Sharon Isbin as " an instrumentalist of formances by Sharon Isbin contained within. The mi- superior attainments and a musician of great natural Among J. S. Bach 's four suites for the lute, this Leo Brouwer was born in Havana, Cuba in 1939, crophone techniques used in the making of this album gifts .. much delicacy and sensitivity. It is hard to im- Suite in E Minor contains a particularly rich mixture of and has become internationally recognized as a guitarist have evolved from my ongoing experiments in mi- agine any musician not responding to the atmosphere lute and keyboard styles. In the manuscript copy attrib- and composer. ln his works, new techniques and col- crophony and l chose a three microphone asymmetrical and mystery in her playing" (Boston Globe, April , uted to his student , lutenist Johann Krebs, the subtitle oristic effects give the guitar a rich and vibrant quality. array for this recording because it seems to favor the 1979). Ms. Isbin has won recognition and acclaim "Auf Lautenwercke" suggests that it was written origi- The Eternal Spiral (1971) is a perfect following to the guitar. throughout the world for her artistry. In the summer of nally for the "Lute Harpsichord," a harpsichord with music of Bach, as Leo Brouwer embraces the whole of In terms of playback, my goal was to project the 1974, she gave her first recital tour in Germany at the gut stri ngs whose sound imitated that of the lute. Bach's musical history in his expressiveness. One hears in this instrument into the space between the playback speakers age of seventeen, and has returned every year with familiarity with renowned lute virtuosos of the time, work the freedom and improvisatory character of the and yet have the ambience of the room in which the additional engagements in France, England, and Italy . including Sylvanus Weiss, J. K . Kropfgans, and E.G. unmeasured baroque prelude, a new vision of melting recording was made, surround not only the instrument, In I 975, she won first prize in the International Guitar Baron , is not surprising given his interest in the instru- cross-string sonorities, and hints of a dance-like but also the playback speakers themselves. Your speak- Competition " Guitar '75" in Toronto, Canada. The ment and his affinity for capturing its special nuance, rhythmic pulse, all combined and fused together with a ers shou ld tend to disappear completely from the scene following year, she again won top prize in the guitar color, and versatility. The guitar, being so closely re- contemporary artistic perspective. As the title suggests, as you listen to this disc. division of the Munich International Competition. Her lated to the lute, is a natural instrument for this suite. a mysterious spiral unravels, travelling through varied The room this recording was made in played an performances were broadcast throughout the world on The practice of transcription was common to Bach: the spheres of expression - perpetual oscillating string important role in the sonic attributes of this record. It is radio and television. G Minor Suite for Lute (BWV 995) , for example, is motion , pizzicato a la Bartok, muffled string sounds, a beautiful stone church in St. Paul , Minnesota; a room ln May, I 977, Sharon lsbin made her London debut actually an arrangement by the composer of his fifth tapping on the fingerboard--creating in the end, an illu- that has an interesting acoustic quality (one often attrib- in Wigmore Hall , and her first of several BBC appear- cello suite, and the E Major Suite (BWV 1006a) an sion of eternity. uted to fine Baroque instruments) of inducing a sonic ances. The following year, Ms. Isbin performed as guest arrangement of the third unaccompanied violin partita. © 1980, Sharon lsbin " bloom" effect after a note is struck (the note seems to soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, premiering the He also adapted the Fugue i11 G Minor for lute from the NOCTURNAL get bigger or swell due to the acoustic nature of the Concerto for Guitar by Israeli composer, Ami Maayani, first unaccompanied violin sonata, and later transcribed BENJAMIN BRITTEN room). The more sonic nuance available through your written for Ms. Isbin. In June, 1978 she made a solo it for organ. playback system, the more you will hear this effect. tour of Japan, and later that summer gave master classes Heretofore, it has been the practice on the part of The Nocturnal by Benjamin Britten is one of the Additional details to listen for in this recording are and performances for the Rubin Academy Summer Fes- editors, transcribers and performers to omit, in frequent major guitar works of this century. Based upon an the occasional sounds that mysteriou ly occur from time tival in Jerusalem. Ms . lsbin has also appeared as guest instances throughout the Lute Suites, many of Bach 's Elizabethan song by John Dowland for voice and Jute to time in large stone edifices. No real explanations exist artist at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, original notes; for certain lute configurations have been called Come Heavy Sleep, the composition reflects a for the occurrence of these sounds in the building, but the Festival Les ARCS in Bourg Saint Maurice, France, regarded universally as impossible on the guitar. Rosa- theme and variation form. The variations conjure up they are in the recording .. .listen for them . and the Strasbourg International Music Festival in lyn Tureck is the first to discover new possibilities of imaginative states of sleep; Musingly, Very Agitated, Good listening! France. guitar technique wherein the guitarist is now able to Restless, Uneasy, March-like, Dreaming, Gently Ms. Isbin made her highly acclaimed March, 1979 perform all the original notes of Bach's suites as he Roclcing . They are followed by a Passacaglia, and fi- Russ Borud debut in New York's Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, conceived and wrote them, without any compromise or nally, the gentle and soothing theme inspired by the in a concert sponsored by the Martha Baird Rockefeller omission. This recorded performance inaugurates a new following text: Foundation, the Schubert Club, and the Jerome Found- era in authentic guitar performance of the music of J. S. Come, heavy Sleep, the image of true Death, ation. In September, 1979, she traveled to Spain for the Bach. And close up these my weary weeping eyes, prestigious Queen Sofia International Music Competi- The new edition by Rosalyn Tureck (with finger- Whose spring of tears doth stop my vital breath, RECORDING ENGINEER/PRODUCER tion , and as a winner, performed the Rodrigo Concierto ings by Sharon Isbin) receives meticulous attention , be- Ru ss Borud And tears my heart with Sorrow's sigh-swoll 'n cries. EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Bob Bailey de Ara11j11ez in a nationwide broadcast with the Spanish sides the fulfillment of the authentic score, in all matters Come and possess my tired thought-worn soul, PHOTOGRAPHY: @ Alix Jeffry 1979 National Radio Orchestra. of embellishment, articulation , contrapuntal , harmonic That living dies, till thou on me be stole. ALBUM DESIGN: Jack Davis Born August 7, 1956, in Minneapolis, Sharon lsbin and rhythmic structures, dynamics, tempi , etc. These © 1980, Sharon Isbin GUITAR: Masaru Kohno with began her guitar studies with Aldo Minella in Italy, and are all based on baroque performance practices and the Augustine Strings later studied with Jeffrey Van, Sophocles Papas, Oscar composer's intentions as indicated in the structure of the Ghiglia, Alirio Diaz, and Rosalyn Tureck. She received music. Embellishment is a major art, applied here in her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Music degrees from realization of original indications but also added accord- Yale University, where she conducted weekly master ing to authentic practices of the time. The repeats are classes for three years. Ms. lsbin is presently on the particularly to be noted for their fresh treatment of em- The Program: faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. bellishment. Cross-string and open-string fingerings are chosen for their clarity and brilliance on the guitar: even Side One the intricate ornaments take on a new strength and Lute Suite in E Minor ... ................. 17:09 flowing quality by combining strings to produce a single trill , mordent, or Schleifer. J. S. Bach In the opening prelude, the flowing beauty of or- namental pa sage work inspires a richness of blended Side Two sounds and overlapping string resonance that captures Nocturnal ............... ' ... ... .. - .... ... 18 :00 the fluidity and delicate articulation of lute and harpsichord technique. A fugue ends the movement, Benjamin Britten demonstrating the contrapuntal facility of a hand La Espiral Eterna .