Various - Retratos

Facts For this release, Otto Tolonen has assembled songs from Italian-Argentine composers. As a whole, this is a very balanced and pleasing collection of works by Piazzolla, Regond, Company, D'Angeligo and Ramirez. Otto Tolonen is one of the most successful Finnish classical guitarists. During the years 1995-2009 he won prizes in 20 international competitions from Tokyo to San Francisco and from Australia to Finland's Jyvaskyla. His achievements include first prizes in the Andres Segovia Competition in Herradura, Spain, and in the Markneukirchen instrumental competition in Germany, which is currently considered the most demanding competition by the programme. In 2009 he was awarded the second prize both in Tokyo and GFA competitions. "His technique is just excellent, his sense for sound, for subtle colors and his instinct for expressive dynamics, tension, dimension and drama in the music could be described as rare and quite unique." (Thomas Nytsch- Frankischer Tag) "An uncompromising young man." (Colin Cooper- Classical Guitar)