Joaquin Rodrigo (1901 - 99) composed music for solo and piano duet throughout his long creative life. The earliest works on this collection of his complete music for piano dates from 1923 and the last from 1987.

Blind from birth, Rodrigo studied composition in Paris with Paul Dukas and became a pianist of considerable ability. Whilst his main contemporary Manuel de Falla delved deeply in to Spanish traditional music, Rodrigo created a kind of neo classical style imbued with a Spanish flavour, drawing heavily on 18th century musical styles and mannerisms. The more conservative style of his music compared with de Falla’s appealed greatly to the post civil war authorities of Franco’s Spain.

Many of the works for piano are short, and look back to the single movement sonatas of Scarlatti, and the keyboard music of Rameau, Couperin and Soler. However some of the works display considerable virtuosity such as Preludio al galo manañero which is a brilliant and highly effective composition.

The third of the CDs in this set features the composer and his wife, pianist Victoria Kamhi performing his music for four hands – it is a fascinating document and the listener can hear the composer adding personal touches to his music.

Other information:

- The first volume in an edition of Rodrigo’s music approved by the Rodrigo Foundation.

- Unusual repertoire that adds another dimension to the composer of one of the most famous concertos in the repertoire, the Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra.

- Detailed booklet notes included.

- Fascinating historical recordings of the composer as pianist.

Track list:

Disk 1

·         1 Tres evocaciones: I. Tarde en el parque

·         2 Tres evocaciones: II. Noche junto al Guadalquivir

·         3 Tres evocaciones: III. Mañana en Triana

·         4 Danza de la amapola

·         5 Sonada de adiós

·         6 A l’ombre de Torre Bermeja

·         7 Preludio de añoranza

·         8 Suite para piano: I. Preludio

·         9 Suite para piano: II. Siciliana

·         10 Suite para piano: III. Bourrée

·         11 Suite para piano: IV. Minué

·         12 Suite para piano: V. Rigodón

·         13 Cancion y danza

·         14 Sonatas de Castilla con Toccata a modo de Pregón: I. Toccata a modo de pregón

·         15 Sonatas de Castilla con Toccata a modo de Pregón: II. Sonata

·         16 Sonatas de Castilla con Toccata a modo de Pregón: III. Sonata en fa sostenido menor

·         17 Sonatas de Castilla con Toccata a modo de Pregón: IV. Sonata en Re

·         18 Sonatas de Castilla con Toccata a modo de Pregón: V. Sonata como un tiento

·         19 Sonatas de Castilla con Toccata a modo de Pregón: VI. Sonata en La

·         20 El álbum de Cecilia: I. María de los Reyes (sevillanas)

·         21 El álbum de Cecilia: II. A la jota (jota de las palomas)

·         22 El álbum de Cecilia: III Canción del hada rubia

·         23 El álbum de Cecilia: IV. Canción del hada morena

·         24 El álbum de Cecilia: V. El negrito Pepo

·         25 El álbum de Cecilia: VI. Borriquillos a Belén

Disk 2

·         1 Serenata española

·         2 Cuatro estampas andaluzas: I. El vendedor de chanquetes

·         3 Cuatro estampas andaluzas: II. Crepúsculo sobre el Guadalquivir

·         4 Cuatro estampas andaluzas: III Seguidillas del diablo

·         5 Cuatro estampas andaluzas: IV. Barquitos de Cádiz

·         6 Cinco piezas del Siglo XVI: I. Diferencias sobre el Canto del Caballero (Antonio de Cabezón)

·         7 Cinco piezas del Siglo XVI: II. Pavana (Luys de Milán)

·         8 Cinco piezas del Siglo XVI: III. Pavana (Luys de Milán)

·         9 Cinco piezas del Siglo XVI: IV. Pavana (Enriquez de Valderrábano)

·         10 Cinco piezas del Siglo XVI: V. Fantasia que contrahaze la harpa a la manera de Ludovico (Alonso Mudarra)

·         11 Cuatro piezas para piano: I. Caleseras (Homenaje a Chueca)

·         12 Cuatro piezas para piano: II. Fandango del ventorrillo

·         13 Cuatro piezas para piano: III. Plegaria de la Infanta de Castilla

·         14 Cuatro piezas para piano: IV. Danza valenciana

·         15 Preludio al gallo mañanero

·         16 Zarabanda lejana

·         17 Bagatela

·         18 Air de ballet sur le nom d’une jeune fille

·         19 Deux berceuses: I. Berceuse de printemps

·         20 Deux berceuses: II. Berceuse d’automne

·         21 Tres danzas de España: I. Rústica

·         22 Tres danzas de España: II. Danza de las tres doncellas

·         23 Tres danzas de España: III. Serrana

·         24 Pastoral

Disk 3

·         1 Cinco piezas infantiles: I. Son chicos que pasan

·         2 Cinco piezas infantiles: II. Después de un cuento

·         3 Cinco piezas infantiles: III Mazurka

·         4 Cinco piezas infantiles: IV. Plegaria

·         5 Cinco piezas infantiles: V. Gritería final

·         6 Gran marcha de los subsecretarios for piano with 4 hands

·         7 Atardecer for piano with 4 hands

·         8 Juglares for piano with 4 hands

·         9 Sonatina para dos muñecas, for piano with 4 hands: I. Empieza el día

·         10 Sonatina para dos muñecas, for piano with 4 hands: II. Alegres peripecias

·         11 Sonatina para dos muñecas, for piano with 4 hands: III. Recogimiento

·         12 Sonatina para dos muñecas, for piano with 4 hands: IV. Vuelta del cole

Chandos has been attentive in promoting the orchestral works of Alexandre Tansman, who due to the vagaries of fashion has to a great extent been ignored. We now embark on the piano music and a deeply personal project for soloist Margaret Fingerhut. 'My curiosity about the piano music of Tansman began over 20 years ago when I encountered the delightfully languid Berceuse he wrote for the album of Hommages to Roussel, and which I recorded for Chandos. The fact that he was born in Lodz, Poland, where my great-grandparents also came from, spurred me on to find out more about him, and since then I have been assiduously collecting his piano works - quite a task as it turns out that in the course of his long composing career Tansman was nothing if not prolific!' 'I feel his music deserves to be revalued and heard by a new generation of listeners, and so I wanted to create a CD to present an overview of his unique style and musical language. While the influences of Ravel, Poulenc, Milhaud and Stravinsky are apparent, along with jazz-inspired techniques, he himself professed his music to be rooted in his native Polish culture. So the starting point for this disc had to be his Mazurkas - after all, he wrote more of them than almost any other composer except for that other famous Polish exile-in-Paris, Chopin! Listen to his 2nd Mazurka to be transported to a world filled with gentle sweet melancholy. For me his piano music abounds in lyrical expression, tenderness, elegance, grace, good humour and exuberant virtuosity (he loved writing on three staves with huge leaps at great speed!). It seems such a shame that the forces of dogma and experimentalism which ruled Paris since the Second World War left so many casualties in their wake, composers like Tansman who determinedly stuck with neoclassicism and who were not afraid of melody. It is my hope that his individual voice can speak to us afresh'. Margaret Fingerhut displays her special artistry and élan to Tansman's music. Also Available: CHAN9887 Bloch Piano Sonata CHAN9818 Bainton Piano Works CHSA5041 Tansman Orchestral Works, Vol.1