A pleasure you suffer

Villa-Lobos: Suite populaire bresilienne; Scriabin:  Prelude pour la main gauche; Ponce: Sonata #3; Takemitsu: Equinox; Sor: Fantaisie Elégiaque

In Paris est une solitude peuplée Judicael Perroy has put together a fascinating group of pieces for the classical guitar, played with style and precision. It's a program of moods, with a focus on the beautifully melancholic, that nostalgic enjoyment one takes in the sad sounds of a lost past. The Portuguese, and especially the Brazilians, have the term saudade, which Manuel de Melo has called "a pleasure you suffer, an ailment you enjoy." Villa-Lobos's Suite populaire Bresilienne is layered with these feelings. Already when the composer put pen to paper he was remembering an earlier time of street musicians from his father's generation and his childhood. When he added the final movement, the Chorinho, in 1923, there was a new modernist, Parisian layer to the music and an additional layer of sadness and regret. Perroy plays Villa's 1948 revision of this music; the composer was always polishing his early music. I've been listening to this beautiful music for many years, and especially since I began the Villa-Lobos Website nearly 25 years ago, so listening to this fresh sounding version evokes all of the dozens of versions - Kraft, Zanon, Barrueco, Turibio Santos, Leisner, Assad - that I've come to love. The rest of the album continues on a pensive note, with a fine miniature based on a Scriabin work for piano left hand. Works by Ponce, Takemitsu and Sor round out this well-planned, nicely presented and beautifully played album. It's due to be released on September 1st, 2017.

This review has also been posted at The Villa-Lobos Magazine.

Charming music from the Salon

From September 20, 2012:

"Salon music" can range from inoffensive background music to more substantial pieces with real rhythmic and melodic appeal. Occasionally music written for the salon transcends its origins, as happens with Schubert and Chopin, and in the 20th century with a number of composers from Iberia and Latin America.

A simple dance tune needs a bit of spice or salsa to liven things up, some rhythmic vitality to make things interesting. That's why I enjoy the simple but attractive salon pieces by Villa-Lobos, Granados and Falla; and by the four Mexican composers included on this new disc by Jorge Federico Osorio.

None of the pieces on this well-filled disc of music by Ricardo Castro, Felipe Villanueva, Manuel Ponce and Jose Rolon are timeless masterpieces. But nearly all of them are appealing, with some memorable tunes and catchy rhythms. A few of the best pieces, Castro's Vals amorosos and Ponce's mazurkas among them, are special. These are works I'll probably keep on my iPhone and listen to quite regularly.

The key to appealing salon pieces is that elusive concept "charm". You know something is charming when you hear it, and the charm often comes as much from the performer as from the composer. Osorio has the right, light, touch here. He doesn't make too much of these dances, but he brings a solemn grace to many of the more melancholy dances. His virtuosity is occasionally on display, but he's not afraid to let some of the stronger pieces speak with their own dignified simplicity. The production is first rate, with a warm and lifelife piano sound.