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Susanne Mebes
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MANUEL M. PONCE
GUITAR SOLO WORKS — OEUVRES POUR GUITARE
Sonata clásica • Variations on a Theme of Cabezón • Gigue • Two Preludes •
Sonata III • Sonatina meridional • Allegretto vivo (Sonata romantica)
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
«... a remarkably talented newcomer by the name of Susanne Mebes has put out quite the sleeper. Her Ponce is simply the most enjoyable I've heard this side of Segovia.
Grace and expressivity abound, while her sense of balance and clarity is matched only by Williams and Korhonen. Furthermore, this Dutch girl makes Ponce sound very idiomatic on the guitar, which he wasn't always, even with Segovia nipping at his heels.
A real treat is hearing Mebes play the gigue from the A-minor Suite, a work Segovia peddled to the public as a newly-discovered suite by Weiss. Most guitarists try to make the suite sound very baroque with unnecessary ponticello and dry phrasing. Mebes shucks academic games and unleashes the work's expansive melodies and passion... She makes the gigue sound, in short, like pure Ponce. In fact, a guitarist this suave is almost enough to make one forget bout the Segovian stamp on the pieces... Excellent all-digital sound, warm and natural, rounds out this exemplary release. Let's hear more!»
CLASSICAL GUITAR
«There is some wonderfully relaxed, thoughtful, subtle and idiomatic playing on this very welcome disc by Susanne Mebes. She has already indicated her romantic bent in her Castelnuovo-Tedesco record; this confirms her place as a leading Ponce interpreter. Warm and romantic, yet alert to every nuance, this playing breathes the very spirit of the Mexican composer... exquisite playing...»
BASLER ZEITUNG
«In Susanne Mebes' Spiel paaren sich auf kongeniale Weise Genauigkeit der Artikulation und sinnliches Nacherleben.... Ihr Vortrag kann bis ins Detail faszinieren, ohne daß es jemals um bloß polierte Effekte ginge.»
FANFARE
The Magazine for Serious Record Collectors (USA)
«... (the recording) allowing Mebes's technique and tonal production to bloom naturally. And bloom it does.
The Ponce disc is generally outstanding. Mebes steers the tricky line between making these pieces classically chaste and not, in the process, sacrificing their delicately rarefied Latin-American flavors... her very poised and almost perilously slow reading of the opening of the 'tranquillo' prelude has a quiet charm all of its own...
Her performance of the Sonata III is more straightforward... Mebes's no nonsense approach presents a viable alternative and one that I find better captures the ethnic flavors of the music. Her Sonatina meridional also stacks up favorably... She plays with marginally more abandon, and the results are delicious... Mebes's disc is a treat...»
ZUPFMUSIK MAGAZIN
«Die junge, in Deutschland geborene und jetzt in den Niederlanden beheimatete Gitarristin Susanne Mebes unterstreicht mit dieser CD ihre Klasse. Große Intensität strahlt ihr Spiel aus und schlägt den Zuhörer in Bann. Man wird geradezu gefesselt vom Spiel dieser bemerkenswerten Gitarristin.»
FONO FORUM
«... Susanne Mebes überfrachtet (Ponces) Musik nicht, sondern spielt mit erfreulich natürlichem Gestus und Ton. Derartige Schlichtheit der Gestaltung macht auf leise Art Effekt. Für mich ist Susanne Mebes eine der ganz großen Entdeckungen...»