Los Angeles Guitar Quartet with Seattle Symphony

The LA Guitar Quartet is a group of guitar virtuosos that has been performing for 27 years. The show had two distinct halves. Before the intermission were performances with the symphony and after the intermissions were performances by just the quartet.

first half:
Manuel de Falla's Selections from El Armor Brujo Ballet
Sergio Assad's Interchange for Guitar Quartet and Orchestra
My most distinct recollection of these performances was that I didn't care for the guitar and orchestra together. I have this feeling in general about soloist/orchestra combinations with violin and piano soloists. Of the ones I have heard it is rare that the performance is enhanced by the combination rather than a fully integrated orchestra or a pure solo performance. In this case it was four guitarists and the orchestra and I thought the guitarists more than capable of carrying themselves without the orchestra. This includes the percussive knocking on the guitars and other alternate playing styles. The breaks as the compositions moved between the orchestra and guitars were abrupt and not well integrated.

second half:
various short works for guitar including Baden Powell's Samba Novo, Paulo Bellianati's A Furiosa, traditional's (;->) Shenandoah and Aaron Copland's Hoe-Down from Rodeo
I enjoyed the second have tremendously. The quarted demonstrated their flexibility, skill and overal pleasure of playing. The 5-song Imagens de Brazil section was especially enjoyable giving a selection of samba, basa nova and other styles.
There was also a section of American classic songs including a Sousa march, The Black Horse Troop! That was fun surprise.