MUSIC REVIEWS : Refined Guitarist Ghiglia at Northridge

Guitarist Oscar Ghiglia brought a wide ranging and quietly sophisticated program to the Recital Hall at Cal State Northridge on Thursday night and played it with great refinement and intelligence.

His agenda, ranging from a 16th-Century lute fantasia by Francesco da Milano to Franco Donatoni’s 1977 “Algo,” stressed the less bravura aspects of guitar playing, but even when given the chance, Ghiglia opted for restraint over display.

This subtlety and grace worked both ways. In Fernando Sor’s straightforward “Morceau de Concert,” Opus 34, he found unexpected poignancy and fascinating shapes in what is, first and last, a mere tuneful set of variations.

In Milhaud’s seldom-heard “Segovia” (Ghiglia’s teacher) and in four Preludes and the “Theme varie et Finale” by Manuel Ponce, his refinement could seem too much of a good thing; these works wanted a more extrovert approach.

The 54-year-old Italian musician was shown to best effect in Bach’s Lute Suite, BWV 995, especially in his spacious accounts of the Allemande and Sarabande: He drew the listener in by backing off and slowing down, in spare, sculpted, singing readings.

Ghiglia also made a strong case for Donatoni’s 12-minute “Algo,” bringing fluency, poetry and cogency to its jagged atonal lines, discursive argument and extended technical effects. Even Turina’s normally outgoing “Sevillana” sounded poised in this guitarist’s hands, tautly gestured yet unhurried.

Intonation gave him a bit of passing trouble, and technical glitches, though few, could startle in the quiet context. Also startling: every cough, every whisper, every shift-in-the-seat from the audience; and both nine and ten o’clocks were roundly resounded by beeping watches throughout the hall.