Yndios Verdes: Son Jarocho

CAYITO: Sones and Boleros

Los Utrera (Los): Ay Cosita!

MISON, L.: Sonata in A minor / LOCATELLI, P.A.: Sonata No. 2

Sinfonietta Ventus & Friends

Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Coghlan Trio. Soloists: Teodore Galvez, Patricia Hernandez, Gustavo Martin, Melinda Zak.

Les mains nues

This new release from Jeffrey Ziegler features contemporary music for cello and electronics by Mexican composers. Jeffrey Zeigler is one of the most innovative and versatile cellists of our time. He has been described as “fiery”, and a player who performs “with unforced simplicity and beauty of tone” by the New York Times. Acclaimed for his independent streak, Zeigler has commissioned dozens of works, and is admired as a potent collaborator and unique improviser. Zeigler is the recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize, the Polar Music Prize, the President’s Merit Award from the National Academy of Recorded Arts (Grammy’s), the Chamber Music America National Service Award and The Asia Society's Cultural Achievement Award.

The present release presents immersive contemporary classical and electroacoustic music. Alejandro Escuer is a flutist, composer, multidisciplinary artist, curator and Mexican music producer specialized in contemporary music. As a flutist he has premiered more than a hundred works dedicated to him by composers from five continents for flute and orchestra, flute and ensemble, flute and electronics, flute and string quartet among many other combinations. As a composer he has developed a discourse close to sound art in combination with a very special instrumental and poetic virtuosity recognized by personalities such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Robert Dick or the press, qualifying his music and playing as Alluring, imaginative, rewarding (The New York Times). Alejandro Escuer completed his doctoral studies at the University of New York where he obtained Ph. D. Doctor of Philosophy in Music with a specialty in interpretation (flute), composition and musical improvisation. He completed his master’s studies at the Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam Holland with the highest degree and distinction that the Netherlands offers: Uitvoerend Musicus (solo performer). He also completed his undergraduate studies at the National Conservatory of Music and studied the sociology at the UNAM.

Santos: Musica de camara, Vol. 1

DOS CONTINENTES • Leticia Gomez-Tagle (pn) • URTEXT 184 (60:59)


CHOPIN 4 Scherzos. GINASTERA Danzas Argentinas. PIAZZOLLA Invierno Porteño. GADE Celos. NAZARETH Odeón. LOYOLA El Tecolote. OTEY Arabesque. GOMEZ-TAGLE No me dejes jamás


This is a hard disc to categorize; as so often these days, its title, Dos Continentes, is fairly meaningless. Its main musical substance, the four Chopin scherzos, enter a very crowded field indeed. But it’s the remainder of the disc, most of it with no competition whatsoever, that will be chief attraction for many.


The young (-ish) Mexican pianist Leticia Gomez-Tagle’s technical fluency is immediately apparent in her fearless assault on Chopin’s First Scherzo. However her challengingly fast tempo leaves little breathing room; Abbey Simon (Vox), Pollini (DG), and Pletnev (live at Carnegie Hall/DG)—to choose three fairly recent versions—all adopt a slightly slower pace, enabling a subtlety of voicing and plasticity of phrase shaping that elude Gomez-Tagle. The B-Major Polish Christmas-carol Trio is effective in its plainspoken way, but without the kind of artful varying that Pletnev, for one, brings to its many repetitions. (The close-up recording, while excitingly vivid, is also partly to blame for ironing out much of the dynamic contrast she’s putting into her playing.) The Third Scherzo similarly suffers from a tempo slightly too fast for comfort (with a few more missed notes than one expects from a modern studio recording), and the D?-Major Trio’s chorale, with its “waterfall” figuration, ideally needs more variegated coloring—Katsaris (Warner Apex), at a slightly more leisurely pace, has all the time in the world for the kind of richly kaleidoscopic nuances of voicing that make all the difference. Still, at their best Gomez-Tagle’s performances have real fire, a volatile nervous energy that is very exciting in its way: all of the Second Scherzo, and the coda of the Third. The Fourth is also impressive, with a nice rhythmic spring to the crisp high-speed passagework, even if her Trio can’t quite equal the best versions in conjuring, through its long melodic lines and harmonic shifts, the sense of vast distances or depths (again, Katsaris excels here).


No such reservations apply to the Latin-American part of the program (with a Danish tango by Gade thrown in for good measure). The music is all quite delightful, the playing clean, zesty, and possessed of a native-born idiomatic command. The only comparison I have at hand is Barbara Nissman in Ginastera’s dances (Newport). Gomez-Tagle is snappier, tangier, Nissman weightier, more romantic in expression; both are very effective. I hope we’ll get more such fare from Gomez-Tagle in the future. Where does this leave us? Not a first choice for the Chopin, but overall an attractive disc I can certainly recommend to the adventurous.


FANFARE: Boyd Pomeroy

Jerusalem Y Stella, I.: Te Deum / Gorgeos Trinando / Rompa L

Troika

The music gathered here originates in two sources. On one hand, it encompasses a great portion of the production of music for guitar with other instruments that composer Hebert Vázquez created over the years. On the other, it is the result of his extensive collaboration with extraordinary Japanese guitarist Norio Sato and the members of Nomad Ensemble.

This collaboration has led Vázquez to travel to Japan on several occasions and given him the opportunity to glimpse into its culture, as well as some of its countless artistic expressions. “My way of perceiving the world has been enriched by Hokusai, Hiroshige, Basho, Issa, Buson, and with the sounds of the biwa, the sakuhachi and koto” writes the composer.

The pieces that make up this album testify to this experience.

Toussaint, E.: Danzas De La Ciudad / Suite De Las Ciencias /