Two slighter early works, and a mature masterpiece

Villa-Lobos: Piano Trio #1; Turina: Piano Trio #1; Ponce: Trio Romantico

These three composers were near contemporaries; Joaquin Turina and Manuel Ponce were both born in 1882, while Heitor Villa-Lobos was born in 1887. Of the three piano trios on this disc, those of Villa-Lobos and Ponce are both early works, dating from 1911 and 1912, respectively. As appealing as both of these pieces are, neither is really representative of the mature work of either composer. Ponce called his work "Trio Romantico", and Villa-Lobos's first Trio also has a very Romantic sound. Ernest Chausson or César Franck might be cited as influences. Significantly, these trios have little of the folkloric sounds of Mexico and Brazil that would soon become so important for both composers, and no trace at all of the modernism that Ponce and Villa-Lobos would embrace as each spent more time (often together) in Paris later in the teens and 20s.

On the other hand, Turina's Piano Trio #1 is a mature work, dating from 1926. This wonderful piece is a fascinating amalgam of modernist influences, especially from Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky; dances from Galicia, Northern Europe, the Basque country, Aragon and Turina's native Andalusia; and even hints of jazz.

It's no surprise that the most successful performance here is of the Turina Trio; violinist Simón Gollo, cellist Horacio Contreras and pianist Ana María Otamendi have the measure of this music, swinging a bit when Turina nods to Ravel and winks at jazz, and presenting the dance rhythms without making this music into a travelogue pastiche. But a less serious touch might have improved the rest of the programme, especially the Villa-Lobos. It's a natural impulse to play up a weaker early work by a composer, even ones as accomplished as Ponce and Villa-Lobos, but not making a meal of these pieces might give a better chance of revealing their charms.

This album will be released on March 3, 2023.

 

A visit to Andalusia

From June 26, 2012:

Though this is the 8th disc in Jordi Maso's survey of the complete piano music of Joaquin Turina, don't worry that there might not be pieces of interest left. All of the music on the CD shares a common theme: the music of Turina's homeland, Andalusia, and it's definitely worth the visit.

We somehow never feel closer to our roots than when we're away. Turina wrote his piano suite Jardins d'Andalousie in Madrid, and filled the movements with the rhythms and folk melodies of his native land. In Le Quartier de Santa Cruz, written immediately afterwards, he zeroes in on the neighborhood of Seville where he grew up. Though the sound-world of this music was adapted from Debussy and Ravel, Turina is expressing his most personal thoughts and emotions.

Nostalgia for home continues in the late work Las musas de Andalucia, and especially in En el cortijo (Impresiones andaluzas), which was interrupted by the Spanish civil war. Though the landscapes are varied - urban and rural, mythological and modern, dramatic and pastoral - every individual piece and variation seems intensely personal. This comes partly from the composer's inspiration but also from Jordi Maso's interpretations: full of character and technically secure. It's great that Maso & Naxos are providing this Turina series to go with those of Granados, Mompou, Monsalvatge and other Spanish composers for the piano.

An excellent survey of music for the Spanish Guitar

From January 11, 2012:

The Minneapolis-based guitarist James Flegel has chosen an especially interesting programme for his new guitar disc on Clear Note. Some of these works will be well known even to Classical Guitar neophytes, while others might be new even to those familiar to the music of Spain and Latin America. The disc provides a good survey of music for the Spanish Guitar from its 16th century roots through the classical period to its great flowering in the 20th century. The music also shows off Flegel's virtuosity and his musicianship. His technique is assured, for example, in the well-known Asturias by Albeniz, as it is in the Allegro Solemne of Barrios. He doesn't bring to Turina's Sevillana Fantasia quite the same combination of passion and delicacy as Manuel Barrueco on EMI, but it's still an impressive reading of this important work. He plays the deceptively simple pieces of Barrios and Lauro with admirable clarity, and he brings out the charm in this lovely music.

New to me was the Argentine composer Jose Luis Merlin's Suite del Recuerdo. The suite has an interesting mix of rhythms and appealing melodies. It is folkloric, evoking the pampas, but there is a classical/baroque feel as well. Like so often in Villa-Lobos one can hear bits of Bach, and in Merlin's case also Scarlatti.

A fine new release - recommended!