The Year That Never Was - Piano Music / Matei Varga
Sono Luminus

The Year That Never Was - Piano Music / Matei Varga

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Details

Composer
Mily Balakirev, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, George Gershwin, Ernesto Lecuona, Domenico Sc
Artist
Matei Varga
Format
CD
Label
Sono Luminus
Released
Jul 08, 2022
Catalog #
DSL-92258
UPC
053479225825

About

Matei Varga writes: “To paraphrase Tolstoy, all happy memories feel more or less the same; but the unhappy times are experienced differently by each one of us. We’ve all had some really tough weeks, which sometimes turned into months, and (with a bit of bad luck) into years… I like to think that “off” years help us grow and prepare for the beautiful things that will undoubtedly come our way (I am an optimist at heart), but living through dark times is a complicated process.

The year 2020 was complicated indeed. The world was put on hold and we hardly remember what we did in February, or May, or September… Many suffered from isolation and the inability to socialize - and they probably prefer to think back to 2020 as a year that never happened… I, on the other hand, felt liberated by the lack of schedules, appointments and the pressure to be productive - that horrid word which is killing our souls, slowly but surely. Instead I embraced seclusion and enjoyed the time off which was forced upon us. Yes, I did miss performing in front of a live audience and traveling to beautiful places, but I found that staying home, with my piano, offered me a better view towards my inner self and a chance to experience the joy of a new discovery. That was for me the Cuban master Ernesto Lecuona…Two years later, the pandemic isn’t over and neither is the collective anxiety- but at least I can offer you this very personal recording, which I hope will take your mind away from current realities. This is music’s most phenomenal power- to bring joy when we really need it!...”

REVIEW:

The Year That Never Was in Romanian pianist Matei Varga’s title here is 2020; he writes of how he came to embrace the COVID-era isolation and explored the work of Ernesto Lecuona, a composer about whom he had previously known little. The output of Cuban composer Lecuona is sometimes categorized as salon music, and while it includes a few classical hits like the opening Andalucía (from the Suite española), much of his large production of some 600 works remains little explored. Here, the excerpts from the Danzas cubanas del siglo XIX and Danzas Afro-Cubanas will be worth the price of admission for Lecuona fans. He wants to expand the notion of salon music to include some of its predecessors, not only Chopin but going back as far as Domenico Scarlatti. That pandemic seems to have produced a boomlet in recordings of salon music, which is probably understandable, and Varga’s release is a novel take on the idea.

-- AllMuic.com (James Manheim)

Tracklist 24 tracks

  1. 1 Andalucía, "Suite Espagnole" 02:29
    Track
    1
    Title
    Andalucía, "Suite Espagnole"
    Duration
    02:29
    Composer
    Ernesto Lecuona
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  2. 2 No. 1 in D Major 00:58
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 1 in D Major
    Duration
    00:58
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  3. 3 No. 2 in G Minor 00:51
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 2 in G Minor
    Duration
    00:51
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  4. 4 No. 3 in D-Flat Major 00:51
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 3 in D-Flat Major
    Duration
    00:51
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  5. 5 Girl Crazy, Act I: I got rhythm (arr. for piano) 01:18
    Track
    5
    Title
    Girl Crazy, Act I: I got rhythm (arr. for piano)
    Duration
    01:18
    Composer
    George Gershwin
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  6. 6 Bagatelle in A Minor, WoO 59, "Für Elise" 02:29
    Track
    6
    Title
    Bagatelle in A Minor, WoO 59, "Für Elise"
    Duration
    02:29
    Composer
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  7. 7 No. 8. La cardenense 01:23
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 8. La cardenense
    Duration
    01:23
    Composer
    Ernesto Lecuona
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  8. 8 No. 6. Arabesque 01:08
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 6. Arabesque
    Duration
    01:08
    Composer
    Ernesto Lecuona
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  9. 9 No. 5. La mulata 00:50
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 5. La mulata
    Duration
    00:50
    Composer
    Ernesto Lecuona
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  10. 10 No. 9. Al fin te vi! 00:52
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 9. Al fin te vi!
    Duration
    00:52
    Composer
    Ernesto Lecuona
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  11. 11 No. 10. Minstrels 01:49
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 10. Minstrels
    Duration
    01:49
    Composer
    Ernesto Lecuona
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  12. 12 Impromptu No. 3 in G-Flat Major, Op. 51 04:39
    Track
    12
    Title
    Impromptu No. 3 in G-Flat Major, Op. 51
    Duration
    04:39
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  13. 13 Zambra gitana (arr. T. Tirino for piano) 02:49
    Track
    13
    Title
    Zambra gitana (arr. T. Tirino for piano)
    Duration
    02:49
    Composer
    Ernesto Lecuona
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  14. 14 Keyboard Sonata in E Major, K.380/L.23/P.483 02:27
    Track
    14
    Title
    Keyboard Sonata in E Major, K.380/L.23/P.483
    Duration
    02:27
    Composer
    Domenico Scarlatti
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  15. 15 Keyboard Sonata in E Major, K.135/L.224/P.234 02:05
    Track
    15
    Title
    Keyboard Sonata in E Major, K.135/L.224/P.234
    Duration
    02:05
    Composer
    Domenico Scarlatti
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  16. 16 Rondo alla Crazy 03:16
    Track
    16
    Title
    Rondo alla Crazy
    Duration
    03:16
    Composer
    Andrei Tudor
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  17. 17 Mélodie espagnole 03:24
    Track
    17
    Title
    Mélodie espagnole
    Duration
    03:24
    Composer
    Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  18. 18 Fantasy-Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 66 05:25
    Track
    18
    Title
    Fantasy-Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 66
    Duration
    05:25
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  19. 19 Danzas Afro-Cubanas: V. Danza Lucumi 02:19
    Track
    19
    Title
    Danzas Afro-Cubanas: V. Danza Lucumi
    Duration
    02:19
    Composer
    Ernesto Lecuona
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  20. 20 Etude No. 12 in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 12, "Revolutionary" 02:53
    Track
    20
    Title
    Etude No. 12 in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 12, "Revolutionary"
    Duration
    02:53
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  21. 21 Lady, be Good!: The Man I Love (version for piano) 02:04
    Track
    21
    Title
    Lady, be Good!: The Man I Love (version for piano)
    Duration
    02:04
    Composer
    George Gershwin
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  22. 22 Impromptu No. 1 in A-Flat Major, Op. 29 04:08
    Track
    22
    Title
    Impromptu No. 1 in A-Flat Major, Op. 29
    Duration
    04:08
    Composer
    Frédéric Chopin
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  23. 23 Yo te quiero siempre (arr. T. Tirino for piano) 02:03
    Track
    23
    Title
    Yo te quiero siempre (arr. T. Tirino for piano)
    Duration
    02:03
    Composer
    Ernesto Lecuona
    Performer
    Matei Varga
  24. 24 Vals azul (arr. M. van Brink for piano) 02:44
    Track
    24
    Title
    Vals azul (arr. M. van Brink for piano)
    Duration
    02:44
    Composer
    Ernesto Lecuona
    Performer
    Matei Varga