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Invocaciones / Duo Mexicano con Brio
Urtext

Invocaciones / Duo Mexicano con Brio

$16.99

Details

Composer
VARIOUS
Artist
Reyes, Goila
Format
CD
Label
Urtext
Released
Apr 27, 2010
Catalog #
JBCC 188
UPC
600685101889

About



INVOCACIONES: Mexican Music for Flute and Piano • Evangelina Reyes (fl); Camelia Goila (pn) • URTEXT DIGITAL JBCC-188 (67:27)


ZYMAN Sonata for Flute and Piano. LAVISTA Dance of Degas’s Ballerinas. CORAL Not So Short Sonata for Flute and Piano. ARMENGOL Divertimento. ARANDA Mnemósine. Cadenza. LUNA Six Fantasies for Flute and Piano. E. TOUSSAINT Bop Study No.1 for Flute Solo


This is another one of those collections of miscellany that is so easily overlooked or dismissed—I would probably pass over it myself if I were just a reader of this magazine. But this recording offers fine performances of an extremely appealing recital program, with a repertoire that ranges from the truly superb to the merely pleasant. I will discuss the program in my own judgment of descending order of interest.


The most fully satisfying work is the 17-minute sonata by the Mexican-American composer Samuel Zyman, now in his late-50s, and a member of the Juilliard faculty for quite a few years. From my personal vantage point, Zyman’s music seems to have drawn little serious attention, but of nearly a dozen of his works that I’ve encountered over the years I haven’t heard one that failed to exhibit an irresistible sense of compelling creative urgency, vividly and expertly articulated within a general language of traditional modern neoclassicism. But unlike the neoclassical norm, often characterized by a cool detachment and lack of emotional commitment, Zyman’s music is always serious and expressive in tone, with a driving contrapuntal energy. I cannot imagine a flutist who wouldn’t relish a work like this, which grabs the listener intensely from the first moment and never lets go. The piece it most resembles is the perennially popular Sonata for Flute and Piano by the late Robert Muczynski, but Zyman’s 1993 sonata is somewhat more driven and edgy.


Also of considerable interest and appeal is the Dance of Degas’s Ballerinas , composed in 1992 by Mario Lavista. Born in 1943, Lavista seems to have the most cosmopolitan academic pedigree of the composers represented, having studied with a range of mentors from Nadia Boulanger and György Ligeti to Karlheinz Stockhausen. But the short piece that we hear here is a consistently absorbing abstract work in a modern traditionalist style. Some listeners may find their imaginations stimulated by the title, but I heard no convincing musical connection to the suggested images, yet had no problem connecting with the piece as pure music.


Leonardo Coral, born in 1962, is a prolific composer whose music has been performed widely throughout Mexico. His four-movement piece, whose title may be translated as Not So Short Sonata for Flute and Piano , dates from 2003. It is a pleasant piece with an occasional reminiscence of Poulenc—pretty, straightforward, but with no plumbing of expressive depths. Mario Ruiz Armengol (1914-2002) was a versatile figure in Mexican music, celebrated in the classical, light classical, and popular fields. His Divertimento in G (1979) for alto flute and piano is a gracious, warmly lyrical piece. Alexis Aranda, not yet 40 and the youngest composer represented here, has been hailed as a major talent within the Mexican music establishment. A student of Mario Lavista, noted above, he is represented here by two very short pieces. The first, Mnemósine , refers to the goddess of memory. Dating from 2002, it begins with striking dissonance, but quickly warms up to an appealingly tonal lyricism. The earlier Cadenza for unaccompanied flute is a rather late addition to a genre overflowing with mediocre pieces.


Armando Luna (b. 1964) received his graduate training under Leonardo Balada at Carnegie Mellon University, while his career has flourished actively in his native Mexico. The program notes accompanying his Six Fantasies of 1992 make all sorts of intriguingly colorful references, but the actual music does not bear them out and is rather ordinary if pleasant enough. Like many of the composers represented on this recital, Eugenio Toussaint (1954-2011) was active in Mexico’s popular, jazz, and classical worlds. His Bop Study No. 1 (1994) was originally written for recorder, but Evangelina Reyes transcribed it for flute. As it stands, the short piece exploits a wide range of flute effects, both familiar and unconventional, many of them suggestive of “bop”-style jazz. All the pieces are performed expertly by both Reyes and her accompanist Camelia Goila.


FANFARE: Walter Simmons

Tracklist 18 tracks

  1. 1 Divertimento for Flute and Piano 06:34
    Track
    1
    Title
    Divertimento for Flute and Piano
    Duration
    06:34
    Composer
    Mario Ruiz Armengol
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  2. 2 I. Moderato espressivo 03:21
    Track
    2
    Title
    I. Moderato espressivo
    Duration
    03:21
    Composer
    Leonardo Coral
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  3. 3 II. Allegro vivace 02:08
    Track
    3
    Title
    II. Allegro vivace
    Duration
    02:08
    Composer
    Leonardo Coral
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  4. 4 III. Lamento 02:19
    Track
    4
    Title
    III. Lamento
    Duration
    02:19
    Composer
    Leonardo Coral
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  5. 5 IV. Allegro con brio 02:36
    Track
    5
    Title
    IV. Allegro con brio
    Duration
    02:36
    Composer
    Leonardo Coral
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  6. 6 Estudio Bop No. 1 06:08
    Track
    6
    Title
    Estudio Bop No. 1
    Duration
    06:08
    Composer
    Eugenio Toussaint
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  7. 7 Mnemosine 03:28
    Track
    7
    Title
    Mnemosine
    Duration
    03:28
    Composer
    Alexis Aranda
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  8. 8 Cadenza para flauta sola 02:21
    Track
    8
    Title
    Cadenza para flauta sola
    Duration
    02:21
    Composer
    Alexis Aranda
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  9. 9 Danza de la Bailarinas de Degas 07:10
    Track
    9
    Title
    Danza de la Bailarinas de Degas
    Duration
    07:10
    Composer
    Mario Lavista
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  10. 10 I. Allegro assai 06:41
    Track
    10
    Title
    I. Allegro assai
    Duration
    06:41
    Composer
    Samuel Zyman
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  11. 11 II. Lento e molto espressivo 05:03
    Track
    11
    Title
    II. Lento e molto espressivo
    Duration
    05:03
    Composer
    Samuel Zyman
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  12. 12 III. Presto 05:00
    Track
    12
    Title
    III. Presto
    Duration
    05:00
    Composer
    Samuel Zyman
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  13. 13 No. 1. Preambulum 01:52
    Track
    13
    Title
    No. 1. Preambulum
    Duration
    01:52
    Composer
    Armando Luna
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  14. 14 No. 2. Berceuse 02:21
    Track
    14
    Title
    No. 2. Berceuse
    Duration
    02:21
    Composer
    Armando Luna
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  15. 15 No. 3. Aquelarre 01:47
    Track
    15
    Title
    No. 3. Aquelarre
    Duration
    01:47
    Composer
    Armando Luna
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  16. 16 No. 4. Scherzo alucinante 02:22
    Track
    16
    Title
    No. 4. Scherzo alucinante
    Duration
    02:22
    Composer
    Armando Luna
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  17. 17 No. 5. Gospel 01:45
    Track
    17
    Title
    No. 5. Gospel
    Duration
    01:45
    Composer
    Armando Luna
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila
  18. 18 No. 6. Bacanal 03:48
    Track
    18
    Title
    No. 6. Bacanal
    Duration
    03:48
    Composer
    Armando Luna
    Performer
    Evangelina Reyes, Camelia Goila