AWAKE, IT/[Y SOUL, AIIID SOUND YOUR STRINGSHEINESEN: Ausake,ma soul, and. sound,Aour sfings.WAAGSTEIN: ParapLvase. BAEK: Ptctures. RAS-MUSSEN: Caccta; Suite for Guttan BI-AK: 40 MtLeGround.Olarnrr Jakobsen with Alvi Joensen (second guitarort CacctdFI(T 061 CD3f years ago, I was squinting at the Reader's DtgestAtlas wondering what interest the Argentines had inan archipelago between Scotland and Scandinavia.Yes, I'd foolishly guessed the hitherto obscureFatklands lay somewhere near the Faroes. So as theFalklands debate enters the headlines yet again, it'sdelightfully ironic to report on a premium grade offer-ing in which a F'aroese guitarist unveils the music ofhis native terrain.

Jakobsen eases us in with ten variations on an o.capeLla hymn. This promises much, but WilliamHeinesen (l9OO-91) only partly unlocks its etherealqualities. More developed is Paraphrase by JogvanWaagstein (1879-1949), based on the Faroese melodyto an Icelandic hymn. This and the Heinesen arereferred to as 'arrangements', the original instrumen-tation being unclear. What's certainly clear is thatOlavur Jakobsen is a stylish and assured player, qual-ities increasingly evident in all that follows.

Ptctures by Kåri Baek (b. 1961) is a modern 'miniMussorgslgr', complete with Promenades. The paint-in€s are reproduced in the booklet and are of Faroeseorigin. No movement is especially arresting but all arepleasingly succinct.

Baeks contemporary, Sunleif Rasmussen, enjoys adouble innings starting with Caccla, in whichJakobsen is joined by his former student, AlviJoensen. A persuasive contemporary middleweight,the work requires both players to whistle. Stepan Rakused this to charming effect in live performances ofCzech FqW TaLes, although some might be uncom-fortable with it in a less folksy contexl.

There are no reservations concernin$ Rasmussen'sSuitefor Guttar in which the four staple movements ofthe baroque suite are revisited with electronics.Æthough our metal-strung brethren embraced thistechnology long ago (remember John Marbyn perform-ing SmaLL Hours on the Old Greg Whistke Test, sur-rounded by clunky 7Os gizmos?), classical guitaristshave mostly been slow in following the lead. This isperhaps because much of the music produced so faris either impenetrable or just not very interesting,such as Hinchtnbrook Rffi by Nigel Westlake. SutteJorGuitar changes all that, the church-like echo in theAllemande being so subtly applied that it could almosthave been captured acoustically. Too bad the longishbut not unwieldy aO MtLe Groundby Kristian Blak hadto follow Rasmussen's multi-layered soundscapes.

Although this review was Vped in January 2OL3,the CD arrived before Christmas. So can I retrospec-tively nominate it as my pick of 2OL2?

Paut FotuLes

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