ERNESTO LECUONA “There Is Not a Single Item on This Well-fi Lled Disc That Is Less Than Captivating, and Most Are Beautiful Precious Gems
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NI 6214 ERNESTO LECUONA “There is not a single item on this well-fi lled disc that is less than captivating, and most are beautiful precious gems. This is a thoroughly enjoyable CD, CUBA ESPAÑA and the sound here seems to me to be perfect. Warmly recommended.” Jerry Dubins - Fanfare Magazine “These pieces are steeped in lyricism and mood. Phrases are vastly spaced, creating highly effective picture painting. On this CD, pianist Clara Rodriguez brings everything out with a great sense of mood and timing. This music is extremely enjoyable, very well constructed and, above all, wonderfully sunny.” PIANIST MAGAZINE - SELECTED DISCS CLARA RODRÍGUEZ piano www.clararodriguez.com www.wyastone.co.uk Also available from Clara Rodríguez MUSIC OF ERNESTO LECUONA (1895-1963) Clara Rodríguez, piano Teresa Carreño Moisés Moleiro Cover design: Carlos David Photography of Clara Rodríguez: Antolín Sánchez. Photography of the Caribbean Sea (Margarita Island): Jean-Luc Muller Black and White photography of Clara Rodriguez: Sogand Bahram Piano: Steinway Sound engineer: Richard Hughes Producer: Gary Skyrme Venezuela Federico Ruiz General production: Clara Rodriguez 2 15 1. Ante El Escorial 4’35’’ La revista Gramophone ha publicado entrevistas hechas a Clara Rodríguez con 2. Granada 3’31’’ relación a su disco de música de Teresa Carreño y el crítico Jeremy Nicholas 3. Zambra Gitana 1’12’’ 4. En tres por cuatro 1’32’’ reseñó dicho CD con las siguientes palabras: Danzas cubanas del siglo XIX -19th Century Cuban Dances “Esta música necesita empatía de espíritu para mostrarla en su mejor luz y Clara 5. La primera en la frente 2’02’’ Rodríguez nos ofrece ejecuciones de seductora vivacidad ligadas a ese requisito 6. A la Antigua 1’15’’ 7. Impromptu 1’18’’ esencial: ENCANTO. Altamente recomendado” 8. Interrumpida 2’52’’ “Una pianista con cualidades poco usuales y muy especial en su clase de 9. La Cardenense 4’21’’ 10. Ella y yo 1’54’’ musicalidad. Ella puede y sabe tocar suavemente, con una gama de matices entre 11. La Mulata 2’19’’ pianissimo y mezzo-forte de extraordinaria sutileza, del tipo que se posa en el 12. Minstrels 2’35’’ oido cual vibraciones de otro mundo. Su recital en el Purcell Room produjo un 13. Arabesque 2’25’’ hechizo de inolvidable belleza” 14. Al fi n te vi 2’45’’ 15. San Francisco El Grande 1’48’’ Geoffrey Cranckshaw. Musical Opinion, Londres Danzas Afro-cubanas - Afro-Cuban Dances 16. Danza lucumi 2’03’’ 17. La comparsa 3’39’’ 18. Danza negra 1’49’’ 19. ...Y la negra bailaba 2’06’’ 20. Danza de los ñáñigos 1’27’’ 21. La conga de media noche 1’22’’ Suite Andalucía -Andalusian Suite 22. Córdoba 2’49’’ 23. Andalucía 2’24’’ 24. Alhambra 3’33’’ 25. Gitanerías 1’47’’ 26. Guadalquivir 3’38’’ 27. Malagueña 3’43’’ TOTAL TIME: 66’54’’ 14 3 Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963) Su discografía también incluye “Obras Tardías de Frédéric Chopin” (Classical Ernesto Lecuona was born in Guanabacoa, a village near Havana, Cuba, in Recording Company) y El Cuarteto con Clara Rodríguez –concierto en vivo. 1895 from a Cuban mother and a Canarian father. Todas estas grabaciones son transmitidas regularmente por las diferentes estaciones His oldest sister Ernestina introduced him to the instrument for which he showed de la BBC, la Classic FM de Londres y en los países europeos, los Estados extraordinary talent, playing the accompaniment of silent movies from the age of 7 Unidos de Norte América, Australia, la China, Francia, Argentina y Venezuela. to fi nancially help his family. Prestigiosísimos programas de la BBC tales como Woman’s hour, In Tune, CD Review y Performance on 3 han dedicado espacios al trabajo pianístico de Clara. From 1904 up to 1907 he studied at the Carlos Peyrellade Conservatory and with Antonio Saavedra, who was a pupil of Ignacio Cervantes’s. In 1910 Joaquin Nin Su repertorio es extenso, cubre la literatura pianística desde el Barroco hasta became his teacher and later Hubert de Blanck also taught him. nuestros días e incluye obras de compositores contemporáneos muchas de las cuales han sido dedicadas a ella, como es el caso del inglés Lawrence Casserley In 1908 he composes his fi rst piece “Cuba and America”, in 1912 his fi rst con Vista Clara, el venezolano Federico Ruiz con su Segundo Concierto para musical, “Fantasia Tropical” as well as his fi rst ballet, “La comparsa” thus marking Piano y orquesta, el Tríptico Tropical, Nocturno, Zumba que zumba y Carnaval, the beginning of a prolifi c life as a composer. The “Suite Andalucía” was composed el argentino Michael Rosas-Cobián con Sin manija (para piano y sonidos in 1919. electrónicos), la Antología de valses venezolanos para piano y orquesta de In 1928 Joaquín Nin took him to Paris where he could perform some of his cuerdas de Juan Carlos Núñez , “Vals” de Miguel Astor y Preludio No 3 …à works at the Salle Gaveau and met Maurice Ravel from whom he received some contempler longuement…” de Mirtru Escalona Mijares. tuition and praise for Lecuona’s “Malagueña”. In 1929 his work “Siboney” was En 1993 fundó el Festival de Música del Teatro San Martin de Caracas el cual performed in New York to critical acclaim, he was immediately nicknamed “the dirigió durante cinco años, vale la pena destacar que hasta ese entonces dicho Cuban Gershwin”. Arthur Rubinstein also heard him play his “Malagueña”, and barrio caraqueño no había contado nunca con manifestaciones de éste tipo. recognized the genius of the pianist and the “sublime composer”. Clara Rodríguez es profesora de piano en el Departamento Juvenil del Royal Lecuona founded several orchestras that performed his songs as well as popular College of Music de Londres; ha editado partituras de obras pianísticas de autores ball-room dances from the Caribbean region, curiously enough he only played venezolanos en la casa Spartan Press y también es asesora de repertorio de la classical concerts and never with his ball-dancing orchestras, Armando Orefi che Associated Board for The Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM). was the offi cial pianist of these orchestras which travelled widely gaining great success. Lecuona also created the Havana Symphony Orchestra. 4 13 Ernesto Lecuona wrote more than 400 songs, 176 pieces for the piano, 50 theatrical Clara Rodríguez pieces, 31 orchestral works, 15 soundtracks for the cinema, 5 ballets, one trio and La pianista Clara Rodríguez, proveniente de Venezuela, es una de las solistas más an opera. His popularity came to him thanks to his virtuosic, passionate, piano aclamadas internacionalmente de los últimos años y su carrera como concertista playing, the beauty of his melodies, the force of the rhythms of his compositions la ha llevado a muchas ciudades de Europa, Norte y Sur América, Asia y África but also thanks to the hundreds of interpretations of pieces such as Siboney, Para del Norte. Vigo Me Voy, Canto Karabali Maria my Own, La comparsa and Malagueña. His Realizó estudios en el Conservatorio Juan José Landaeta con la pianista Guiomar creative talent touched intensely a generation of Latin Americans who have not Narváez; a los diescisiete años ganó por concurso una beca del Consejo forgotten his music. Nacional de la Cultura de su país, para seguir estudios de pre y post grado en el During the forties and fi fties The Metro Goldwyn Mayer and the 20th Century Fox Royal College of Music de Londres. Allí estudió con la legendaria pianista inglesa fi lm companies asked him to write the music for many of their fi lms. In 1942 he Phyllis Sellick. was awarded an Academy Award for his song “Always in my heart”, from a fi lm Clara también ha resultado muy popular entre la audiencia inglesa y se presenta produced by the Warner Brothers. con regularidad en el Wigmore Hall, en el Southbank Centre, en el Barbican In the pieces that I have chosen for this CD, Lecuona pays homage to the Spanish Centre, en Saint Martin in-The-Fields y en St John’s Smith’s Square. and the Cuban popular music recreating the gestures and deeply rooted traditions Clara Rodríguez ha sido nominada Mejor Artista Clásica 2012 por la LUKAS of both countries. Strongly felt is the sensibility of the Cuban Black and the Spanish Awards otorgado a los artistas que más contribuyen a la promoción de la cultura Gypsy idioms that have had such a fundamental infl uence in the development of latina en el Reino Unido. what we recognize as being expressly “Cuban” or “Spanish”. Aunque su discografía incluye la prestigiosa élite del piano, uno encuentra un The Spanish pieces follow the path of the Arabic/Andalusian tradition of singing número considerable de grabaciones dedicadas a compositores de su natal to the cities as objects of love. There is also intense religious feeling in pieces such Venezuela, tales como Teresa Carreño, Moisés Moleiro y Federico Ruiz incluyendo as San Francisco El Grande. el álbum titulado VENEZULEA en donde se reúnen obras de 18 compositores de His work for the piano introduces elements of remarkable originality. His attempt at ese país. Todos en el sello Nimbus de Inglaterra y por los cuales recibe las mas integrating Cuban rhythms and traditional melodic expressions with the structures of elogiosas críticas constantemente. the late-Romantic writing for the piano is of great interest. The movements of dance, always present, mix themselves with the classical forms echoing the infl uences of 12 5 Debussy. Similar hints at the piano compositions of Chopin are again found while una quincena de películas. En 1942 Lecuona recibió un Academy Award por la música de in frequent virtuoso passages, typically Lisztian ideas are recognized. la película “Siempre en mi corazón”.