Great Classical/Spanish Guitar on SACD/CD????

If it is Segovia or Christopher Parkening I would chose the CD over the other formats.

My two reference guitar CDs for performance and recording are "Sergio and Odair Assad play Rameau, Scarlatti, Couperin, Bach" on Nonesuch, and Paul Galbraith's recording of his transcriptions of the Bach Sonatas and Partitas for violin (two disk set, Delos). Both feature spectacular performances and state of the art sonics.

Chris Parkening is a great tech but in his notes there is no spirit blasts and no feeling of a real spanish guitar like you hear from cuban Emanuel Baruecco. I've got his CD btw excellent recording and he's playing Leo Brouer (famous modern cuban composer) and Hektor Villa Lobos (a glassic spanish guitar composer). He hasn't produce too much of CDs so you might spot the one you realy need from cdnow.com with probably all information possible.

I second the Assad brothers on CD for gorgeous recordings and performance. Also, you might like some of the lute recordings that are available on CD. I have recordings by Julian Bream, Paul O'Dette, and several other lutenists (whose names are not coming to me right this minute) that sound beautiful on the CDs I have (though the LPs of these recordings sound better).

Well yes, if you care to add lute (or baroque guitar) to the mix, anything recorded by Hopkinson Smith on Astree will be superb.

elliott fisk - check out his recordings on lp or cd. hard to find, but he's really, really good. very emotive.

Have you heard Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, and Paco DeLucia's "Friday Night in San Francisco?" It a great recording with just the three of them on acoustic guitar having fun. The track are:
Mediterranean Sundance/Rio Ancho
Short Tales of the Black Forest
Frevo Rasgado
Fantasia Suite
Guardian Angel
It was recorded in 1980 and everyone was in form that night! Great flamenco guitar work! If you weren't tired when you sat down to listen to this disc, you will be when they're done. They put out so much energy I think it sucks some out of you from just listening.

thanks for the good recommendations so far.. i now have some names to go look for.

You will definitely want to check out Fidelis Records Piazzola Hybrid SACD/CD, available at Elusive Disc. Another great acoustic guitar CD is the Jazzstream Sampler, once again available at Elusive Disc. Both recordings are far better than "Friday Night in San Francisco", which use to be my benchmark recording of acoustic guitar.

Best wishes,
Brian