Latin American Piano Music
Alejandro Téllez performs both well-known and overlooked Latin American piano music from Mexican and Cuban composers.
Ricardo Castro composer
Ernesto Lecuona composer
Ernesto Elorduy composer
Luis G. Jordá composer
Manuel María Ponce composer
Mario Ruiz Armengol composer
Alejandro A. Téllez Vargas presents a diverse selection of Latin American piano music, spanning familiar titles and pieces that remain little known outside their countries of origin.
By drawing on Mexican and Cuban composers, Téllez brings forward works that have found a place in Mexico yet are still scarce in English-speaking concert life. Limited circulation beyond Latin America, and the fact that some pieces survive mainly in unpublished manuscripts he has studied himself, help explain that elusiveness.
Across these fifteen pieces, European salon models sit beside the rhythms of Mexico and Cuba. Several works once shared programmes with European premieres, so audiences could hear Castro and Schumann in the same evening. A few contemporary pianists have begun to take up isolated titles, but most of this repertoire is still rarely heard. The booklet supplies a detailed history of the music and its context.
Téllez earns credit both for the performances and for opening this repertoire to listeners beyond Latin America.
Reviews
When some of the pieces selected for this recording – mainly Mexican and Cuban piano works – were originally performed in Latin America, they were often played alongside the premiere of works written by European composers. The most interesting aspect of these works is not the way in which they resemble European music, but how they uniquely alter European models to attain a Latin American idiom. Alejandro Alberto Téllez Vargas is a sensitive player throughout ... I found the most memorable works were by the two least obscure composers: Juan Ponce, the composer (his name was to be pronounced ‘pon-thay’) and Ernesto Lecuona, composer of A la Antigua, Ante El Escorial and La Comparsa, an African-Cuban folk dance.
Artists
Alejandro Téllez
Alejandro Alberto Téllez Vargas was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study a master’s degree in piano performance, with a related field of studies in music and medicine, at the University of North Texas (UNT). He completed a Ph.D. in Disability Studies in 2016 (University of Melbourne) and was an Endeavour Postgraduate Award Holder from 2012 to 2016 (Australian Government). He has taken masterclasses with Geoffrey Tozer, Leslie Howard, Peter Donohoe, Sergei Edelmann, Peter Jablonski, Santiago Rodríguez, Gregory Allen, and Stephen Hough.
Ernesto Lecuona
Ernesto Lecuona’s piano writing bends European salon forms toward Cuban rhythm and colour: dances, character pieces and Spanish-inflected showpieces that lodge in the ear and refuse to leave.
Manuel María Ponce
Manuel Ponce’s music draws Mexican popular song and folklore into the concert hall. His guitar works sit at the centre of the instrument’s repertory, while piano pieces and songs reshape European forms with a distinctly Latin American voice.
Audio previews
Tracks
- Adiós in A Major (“Farewell”) Alfredo Carrasco 3:40
- Prelude in A Minor, op. 15, no. 2 (“Barcarolle”) Ricardo Castro 2:25
- A la Antigua in D-flat Major (“Old-Fashioned”) Ernesto Lecuona 2:07
- Vivo 2:05
- Vivo – Languido, lento 2:29
- Lento 2:19
- Danzas Nocturnas (“Nocturne Dances”) Luis G. Jordá 6:45
- Polonaise in G-sharp Minor, op. 11 Ricardo Castro 7:55
- Ante el Escorial in E-flat Minor (“In Front of the Escorial Monastery”) Ernesto Lecuona 4:50
- Scherzino Mexicano in D Major Manuel María Ponce 1:48
- La Comparsa in F-sharp Major (“Carnival Procession”) Ernesto Lecuona 1:49
- Intermezzo in E Minor Manuel María Ponce 2:34
- Prelude for piano or harp in E Major Mario Ruiz Armengol 3:27
- Gitanerías in D Minor (“Gipsy Trickeries”) Ernesto Lecuona 1:50
- Caprice-Valse in E Major, op. 1 Ricardo Castro 7:58
Danzas Tropicales (“Tropical Dances”) Ernesto Elorduy
Performers
Where to listen
Latin American Piano Music is available for streaming through Spotify and Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
Latin American Piano Music is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.
Product details
- Catalogue number
- MCD 639
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 54 minutes 1 seconds
- Producer
- Martin Wright
- Recording Engineer
- Martin Wright
Vaughan McAlley - Venue
- Move Records Studio
- Release date
- 2022
- Musical work
copyright - © 2022 Alejandro Téllez
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 2022 Move Records
- Categories
- Classical, Keyboard
- Genres
- Romantic & Impressionist, World & Cross-cultural
- Barcode
- EAN 9314574063929
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Images
Prudence Davis, Jeffrey Crellin and Peter Lynch in French salon and Impressionist chamber music for flute, oboe and guitar: Fauré and Ravel pavanes, Giuliani’s Serenade, Coste miniatures, Ponce’s Sonata III, Debussy’s Syrinx and Rêverie, and Duarte folk settings.