Album: Fernando Sor, Le Calme – William Carter (Linn)

Played on the fingertips, Carter's gracefully shaped recital takes its title from the Opus 50 Caprice pour guitar seul, an idyll pitched on the cusp of Romanticism.

The disappointments of the Spanish composer's later years are seldom evident. The Andante Largo of the Opus 54 Morceau de concert is more elegant than tragic, while the ping of harmonics in the delicious Waltz Op 32 No 2 seems tailor-made to tickle the fancy of the ballerinas Sor spent much of his money on.