Whether it was Giuliani (who decamped from Italy to Vienna and finally fled in the opposite direction) or Carulli who wrote the first virtuosic guitar concerto, we do not know, but whereas all three of the former's have been recorded, only Carulli's Op. 8a has been thus honoured—for, it must be said, its historical rather than its musical significance. That his Concerto in E minor has been passed over in its favour says more for the follow-my-leader programming habits of guitarists than anything else, for it is a much superior work—as is also Molino's in the same key. Pepe Romero is to be congratulated for bringing to light some of the fatter fish in this small pond. The smallness of the pond is illustrated by the inclusion of two arrangements of violin/orchestra works by Mozart; they are of course far less difficult for the guitarist than are the concertos, but their musical superiority is inversely proportional. Romero's fine tone and cultured delivery almost succeed in concealing the fact that the guitar does not have the violin's sustaining power.

The ASMF's alert performances suggest that they enjoyed working with a guitarist whose technical proficiency is second to none, and who—as here—is as capable of elegance as he is of pyrotechnical display.

-- John Duarte, The Gramophone