It’s amazing that 13 years have passed since the Colorado Symphony’s last performance of Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” given the guitar showpiece’s innate popular appeal.
That this work is not a fixture on symphonic programs, as it deserves to be, says a great deal about the guitar’s historically secondary status as a solo instrument.
But its standing is clearly on the rise, as evidenced Friday evening at Boettcher Concert Hall by the unusually fervid — and richly deserved — ovations for guitarist Sharon Isbin, who made her long-overdue with the symphony.
In what proves to be a knock-out combination, she merges extraordinary technical facility with a clean, lithe style, and, perhaps most important, the evocative power of a keen storyteller.
For her Denver appearance, Isbin performed two of the most beloved orchestral works for solo guitar, starting with Antonio Vivaldi’s Guitar Concerto in D major, RV 93, with a suitably intimate ensemble of 19 musicians.
As wonderfully sprightly as the opening is, the slow second movement is the focal point, and Isbin performed this enchanting section with leisurely delicacy, conjuring the seeming timelessness of a lazy spring afternoon.
The “Concierto de Aranjuez” (1937) is meant to be a virtuosic guitar showcase, and Isbin made sure it was, not with needless flash and flourishes but with artful and expressive musicianship.
If the first movement of this high-spirited, folk-flavored work was less emphatic than some versions — more smoldering embers than flames — it was no less expressive.
As in the Vivaldi, the highlight is the slow second movement, and here her abilities as musical storyteller were most evident as she offered a soulful, penetrating take on Rodrigo’s powerful music.
As an encore, Isbin presented Francisco Tárrega’s “Recuerdos de la Alhambra,” with her fluttering fingers casting an enchanting spell.
Ending the evening were two masterworks by Claude Debussy, including “La Mer,” which pose enormous interpretative challenges. Conductor Scott O’Neil conveyed the basic sense of these pieces but little of the ethereal transcendency they can attain.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
