Karol Szymanowski was a central figure in the renewal of Polish music, since, although his catalogue is not extensive, he managed to open the doors to the contemporary school of his nation in the piano, orchestral, chamber and vocal fields. It is to be thanked that the emerging pianist Patricia Arauzo has chosen this composer as the protagonist of her first solo album. The rigor and transparency, as well as the impetus and expressive force, characterize the approach to his work. Furthermore, the clarity with which Arauzo manages to make the simultaneous sound levels independent and to highlight the hidden themes interweaving the dense texture gives his versions an extraordinary communicative capacity, not easy to achieve in the Polish composer’s art. The five works he has recorded in Masques allow us to go through the three creative stages of Szymanowski’s career through the piano. They are three periods in which he cultivated eclectic languages that made up a polyhedral personality dotted with recurrent elements such as dance rhythms, with their vibrant internal energy. Above all, they shaped the concept of the masque as an element of concealment or a defensive shield against a vital and artistic reality that was not understood in his time.

Per voi ardo presents a large number of Italian madrigals in the form they are preserved in Spain in the vihuela books of Enríquez de Valderrábano (1547), Diego Pisador (1552) and Miguel de Fuenllana (1554). They are complemented by settings by Alonso Mudarra, original compositions like Milán’s, using Italian texts of the same flavor, and with accompaniments that parallel the arranged madrigals in many ways. The arrangements by Valderrábano, Pisador and Fuenllana follow exactly the precedent of the 1536 Willaert-Verdelot collection. They are tablature arrangements of the madrigals without modification that are sung in exactly the way that Verdelot and Willaert envisaged. In the absence of parallel sources in Italy, they are important not only as evidence of the spread of this practice to Spain, but also as the main written evidence that confirms a continuing practice of singing arrangements of 1530s madrigals for decades after they first appeared.

In these Verdi songs we can experience the essences of his style: the breadth of the arc of the phrase, the characteristic weight of the word in his music, the sense of drama and especially the charisma of the theatrical character in flesh and blood. There are no objective narrators, there are no mythical beings, it does not hide in evanescent metaphors. There is a character in each song, an emotional motivation, a dramatic scene that invites us to imagine the before and after, the opening and closing of the curtain. Singers forge their first connections with the score through the piano, creating a unique and unavoidable intimacy in the adventurous process of exploring new paths just with their voice. The piano is a kind companion when a sudden stop is needed to go back and repeat, again and again, looking for a new color in the voice, a different way to render a given phrase, to ask for an unexpected or improvised change of tempo and dynamics. With the piano, the voice feels completely naked and is willing to take new risks, choosing the most becoming patterns, welcoming new groundbreaking rules beyond tradition and caution.

Pianist Antonio Oyarzabal takes us on a journey through the work of thirteen different female composers, most of them pianists. Their pieces have been a real source of motivation and inspiration for him. Here he pays tribute to the names and work of these women, unfairly and sadly neglected, in the shadow of compositions written by men. It is a musical journey that takes us on different paths: from Jacquet de la Guerre’s French Baroque style to the avant garde proposals of Ruth Crawford Seeger in the beginning of the XXth century; from Lili Boulanger’s languor to Germaine Tailleferre’s constant joviality; or from the more popular Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn to the almost completely unknown Mana Zucca or Lucija Garuta. All of this is expressed by the extraordinary sensitivity of a performer who, through long and intense research, has dived deep into the life and historical context of these thirteen unique artistic voices, in order to provide them with the relevance they deserve.

In Cantus Horn, the language used is made up of octophone modes made of various structures, which are filtered by the compositional system proposed by Edmond Costere. Introducció i Galop, Op. 148 is an eminently virtuosic composition for the horn player, but also full of interesting dialogues with the pianist; the Introducció is slow, based on a dodecaphonic melody from the start and Galop is fast and virtuosistic. Tientos de la trompa alada (Tientos of the Winged Horn) is inspired by the next to the last verse of the poem by Góngora A Don Francisco de Padilla, castellano de Milán, where there appears a winged horn. Mar sin Luna, In memoriam Javier Bonet Silvestre, this piece, composed as a tribute to Javier Bonet Silvestre, speaks about the tragic theme of suicide. Juegos sobre ‘Tocatico-tocatá’, Games on “Tocatico-tocatá”. Homage to Carles Santos was born. It is a brief chamber work, in which song-like elements of Carles Santos’ work come into play, joined to other suitable ones that are melodic, harmonic and polyphonic. Elegía ponders a narrative that expresses in a cyclical form contrasting thematic sounds and sketches that represent antagonistic situations and states of mind. Consolación is a single movement piece which alternates highly contrasting sections that show the multiple resources that this ensemble can afford. These go from lyrical to energetic, going through rhythmical and scherzando episodes. A piece of great difficulty, in accordance with the technical capabilities of the intended performers.

Like Antoni Gaudi, the architect who knew how to insufflate life to modern buildings giving them their most ardent expression, Guinjoan brings vital aesthetic elements to a language that had been lost, taking a legacy that it has its roots in the XX century with names like Robert Gerhard or Jaume Pahissa. Guinjoan’s regulatory ideas do not impose forms beforehand: they sound the necessities of the musical material and from there they set out a new path towards a new classicism. Calderón doesn’t smooth things over these pieces of works, and he does it bestowing them with numerous creative nuances. Guinjoan develops formal procedures, which from an overview like these readings, show themselves as endowed of organic fluidity, however an analytic approach lets us see their great complexity. The pianist’s depth, imagination and musicality offers a reading of digital cleanliness and conceptual depth. We find, then, an anthological interpretation of the composer’s pieces for piano. Definitely, Calderon’s poetic piano reveals Guinjoan’s poetry with the piano in all its splendour and vitality; of whom has known how to raise living harmonies that will remain unharmed because of their strength and expressive significance.

Sonorous festival full of colors, smells and rhythms that describe that intense America, which is full of paradoxes, that one day awoke to its own magic and that of the twentieth century. Heitor Villa-Lobos, responsible for Brazil’s national awakening, was a music humanist. Ginastera always sought reconciliation between the melodic and rhythmic elements of Argentine folklore and the most advanced techniques that came from Europe. Ginastera left us a beautiful legacy for piano that covered all his artistic life, from the three Danzas argentinas Op. 2, from 1937 to the Sonata No. 3 Op. 55, written a year before his death. The burrowing Joropo (M.Moleiro) with festive air is the national dance of Venezuela and is often heard at its popular and religious festivals. Mañanita caraqueña (E.Castellanos) is evocative and perfect music: the nostalgia of Caracas when waking up and the bells of the cathedral. Javier Rameix debut in the prestigious “Muziekgebouw” in Amsterdam received critical acclaim. He played as a soloist in Europe and South America with different orchestras and performed solo recitals in the most important venues in Holland, Spain, France, Belgium and Germany.

Rocamadour, composed by Pablo Ortiz (1956) opens up an aesthetical enigma for the listener: the letter from La Maga (Rayuela, 1963) inspires an orchestral fantasy, abstract and virtuosic, stylistically akin to minimal music but strongly anchored in a disquieting, dark rhythmic obstinacy, close to Uruguayan candombe. La noche boca arriba, by Julio Viera (1943) is technically a melodrama: an orchestral composition that includes a narrative, meticulously rendered in the score. In our production, the text materializes in the voice of Lisandro Abadie, and Marcelo Nisinman is in charge of the subtle bandoneon part. The piece includes almost the totality of the original story. Viera’s colorful palette projects itself on every scene: the motorcycle on the damp Paris pavement, the accident, the repeated losses of consciousness at the hospital, the violent moves in the rainforest. Every instant is subtly and vividly described in an almost film-like language. Tercera Generación, by Marcelo Nisinman (1970) was inspired by a brief and powerful text, published in Último Round (1969). The piece is marked by a powerful rhythmic force. Nisinman writes without prejudice: one can sense Mahler’s stare hiding behind a dense tango-smoke.

Femmes d’Espagne (Spanish Women) is a tribute to eight composers, most of whom are also pianists, who made Andalusia their musical homeland and spread it all over the world. Just as she usually does in her piano recitals, the versatile Paula Coronas has united in this record acclaimed authors with others not yet much known and in need for a revival of their music, thus emphasizing her unwavering personal commitment to Spanish music of the last two centuries. The interpretations of the malagueña (a traditional flamenco variety from Málaga), forged from the extensive knowledge of the foremost works of piano literature, dignify and update these pages. This recording means a contribution for future generations to gain an understanding and to become aware of the historical relevance of those figures that ennobled the meridional folkloric music styles and turned them into a distinctly Spanish pianism: a genuine and extraordinary music art.

The world of modern musical composition—as opposed to the arguably linear path followed for centuries by Western Music—emerges as a fascinating crossroads where different realities, styles, forms, and sounds meet. This album, besides placing particular attention on the bonds between Spanish and Latin American music, constitutes a breathtaking journey through today’s musical scene, as it ranges from minimalism to abstract, traditional, and folk music, thus becoming a small sample of a big musical world. Camerata Gala owes its current name to the renowned Spanish poet, playwright, novelist, and writer Antonio Gala, whose similarly named foundation enjoys a close cooperation with the Camerata Gala. Having performed over a hundred concerts throughout Spain, the Camerata Gala has become a reference point in the Spanish musical scene. In 2015, for instance, the Camerata Gala undertook the concert for the 60th anniversary of the Madrid-based Juan March Foundation, which was met with great success and was broadcast live on Spain’s national radio service (Radio Nacional de España).

The Opera-Oratorio 'Passio Christi' narrates the events of the Lord’s Passion from the Last Supper to the dawn of Resurrection. The story is told through the feelings and emotions of some of the characters who took part in it in various ways: Peter, Judas, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, the Cyrenean, the soldier Longinus and the Angels. Each character sings the verses of the saints and poets of the world in a different language (Italian, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Latin and ancient Greek) to represent the whole world before the mystery of human suffering. The dramatic structure of the Opera follows the ancient structure of the Sacred Representations: in fact, its original form is designed for dramatization and scenic action. The events of the Gospel are interspersed with the arias of the various characters, which constitute a sort of cinematographic 'still image'.

Regarding the music chosen, it would be impossible not to include, in an album like this one, the two great pillars of the repertoire for these eight strings, Zoltán Kodály’s Duo and Maurice Ravel’s Sonata, an explosion of creativity after the dearth of repertoire for this kind of duo during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Both composers manage to dress their music in such an incredible way that this ensemble does not appear bare and the polyphony is complete. In contrast to these two great works, we have chosen three pieces of easier and more emotive listening which, nevertheless, we feel are representative of the different vital issues reflected in their composition; from the spiritual conflict transmitted in P. Vasks’ Castillo Interior to the popular frenzy of I. Xenakis. Closing this album is the duo’s own arrangement of Béla Bartók’s Romanian Dances, providing their own musical contribution to the repertoire for these two instruments.

These two new books of metaludios, which continue the three already recorded on an albumreleased in 2018, explore new sound territories through the piano. Science is once again the main pillar underlying the compositional process of these twelve new pieces. Multiple scientific disciplines serve as generators of musical raw material: biology (L-system, Mice music), psychoacoustics (Eigengrau), astronomy (Boötes void, Cassini’s dream), artificial intelligence and machine learning (Hidden states), as well as pure mathematics (Belphegor’s prime). As in the previous three books, Gustavo Díaz-Jerez have also found inspiration in mythological figures (Melussyne, Stribog), and have paid tribute to artists I admire (Omaggio a Carlo Gesualdo, La spiral del viento, Pavana triste). Many of the metaludios use electronics and inside-the-piano extended techniques, not as mere effects but as a necessary and integrating part of the musical discourse. It is important to Gustavo, as performer as well as composer, that the pianistic writing is as comfortable and ergonomic as possible, but without distorting the original idea or sacrificing brilliant and virtuosic writing. Since the composition of the first metaludios, back in 2013, Díaz-Jerez demonstrates that the sound possibilities of the piano have only one limit: our own imagination.

“Somewhere I read that Luis Buñuel, at the premiere of his film L’ GE D’OR went up to the stage and said: “this is my film L’ GE D’OR, if you think it’s strange, life is much more strange”. "Music for a Liquid Theater" (2018) As in many other works of mine, musical space is developed as an important aspect of composition; when performed in a concert hall, some instruments have a special disposition, violin is in the left corner and violoncello in the right corner of the stage, while flute and clarinet play from the other corners behind the audience. Abreviaturas (1999), is a very special work for me, with no dynamics –the whole work in pianissimo-, no effects, almost no timbre, only duration and pitch (rhythms and notes). "Música para contemplar la evolución de una ola a cámara lenta" (2012), as strange as it may seem, the title -Music for contemplating the evolution of a wave in slow motion- came to me as I was watching a documentary on tv; there was a fantastic image of a wave from the inside moving in slow motion, like a living sculpture made of soft glass. "La Memoria del Agua" (1995), On the days I was working on both pieces, I remember the deep impression that I received from the Ives Klein retrospective at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid.” (César Camarero)

Here is a recording that combines the aesthetic value of music together with the musical works’ historical underpinnings. The pianist Josu De Solaun offers us his interpretation of two of the most significant pieces of the Romantic period: Davidsbündlertänze (1837) by Robert Schumann (1819-1856), the Spring and revolutionary high point of a first Romanticism, and two works by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), heterodox and conflicting protagonists of an autumnal kind of Romanticism: the Intermezzi op. 117 (1892) and the Klavierstücke op. 118 (1893). At the same time, the performer proposes a title that, on the one hand, supports his interpretative ideas and, on the other, aims to be a guide for our understanding and comprehension of how many singularities articulate the content of the recording: DIGRESSIONS, a title suggesting a kind of reflection that sets in during the flow of the musical works themselves.