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This recording of the 12 etudes of Heitor Villa-Lobos proves to be a reference recording since the legendary but already older names of Narciso Yepes or Julian Bream. The German guitarist impresses with his extraordinary temperament as well as artistic commitment, which is particularly astonishing in view of his young age (28 years at the moment of recording).

From the first few minutes of this CD, the listener is captivated by a very symphonic playing style, a consummate technical mastery and a rarely heard incantation force; Kreusch is unmatched in his handling of tension and atmospheric changes. By using the autograph manuscript of 1928 of the famous Etudes of the Brazilian composer, Kreusch was able to identify a number of errors that were incorporated and continued in the later editions to the ignorance of the majority of those who have so far dealt with this masterpiece, which is indispensable for guitarists. A critical new reading is always welcome, especially if it is accompanied - as in this case - by an interpretation that, going beyond the philologoschen, musicological and guitarist aspects, makes a masterful contribution to the discography of Villa-Lobo. Consider in particular the 4th Etude, whose repetitive chords here acquire a precisely too mystical intensity and depth, or the 12th Etude, which, Kreusch interprets with frightening restlessness and enormous power, and not to forget the 10th Etude whose version to be heard here deviates quite from what one is usually used to hearing.

On this CD you can hear another major work of guitar literature, the Sonata Op 47 by Alberto Ginastera. Full of allusions to Argentinian folk tunes, Ginastera explores the possibilities of the instrument from a much more contemporary perspective with this composition. Kreusch finds the right tone here from the beginning, carried by an attack that sometimes moves on the border of aggression, but whose power always sounds admirably mastered.

An unusual CD.

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