Various Composers - Solatino (Gabriela Montero)

Information

1. Ernesto Lecuona - La comparsa (Carnival Procession)
2. Ernesto Lecuona - ...Y la negra bailaba! (...And the Negro woman danced!)
3. Ernesto Lecuona - A la Antigua
4. Ernesto Lecuona - Impromptu
5. Ernesto Lecuona - ¿Por qué te vas? (Why do you go?)
6. Gabriela Montero - Soñando Contigo (Improvisation)
7. Ernesto Lecuona - No. 4 Gitanerías
8. Ernesto Lecuona - No. 6 Malagueña
9. Ernesto Lecuona - No. 1 Córdoba
10. Gabriela Montero - Texturas de la Gran Sabana (Improvisation)
11. Antonio Estévez - 17 Piezas infantiles: No. 12 Angelito negro
12. Antonio Estévez - 17 Piezas infantiles: No. 2 Ancestro 1
13. Antonio Estévez - 17 Piezas infantiles: Ancestro 2
14. Antonio Estévez - 17 Piezas infantiles: No. 17 Toccatina
15. Gabriela Montero - A la Argentina (Improvisation)
16. Alberto Ginastera - American Preludes: No. 10 Pastorale
17. Alberto Ginastera - American Preludes: No. 3 Danza criolla
18. Alberto Ginastera - Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 22: I. Allegro marcato
19. Alberto Ginastera - Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 22: II. Presto misterioso
20. Alberto Ginastera - Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 22: III. Adagio molto appassionato
21. Alberto Ginastera - Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 22: IV. Ruvido ed ostinato
22. Gabriela Montero - Sin Aire (Improvisation)
23. Ernesto Nazareth - Odeon (Tango Brasileiro)
24. Ernesto Nazareth - Brejeiro (Tango Brasileiro)
25. Ernesto Nazareth - Fon-fon (Toot-Toot)
26. Ernesto Nazareth - Carioca
27. Gabriela Montero - Mi Venezuela Llora (Improvisation)
28. Teresa Carreño - Kleiner Walzer (Mi Teresita)
29. Moisés Moleiro - Joropo

Gabriela Montero, piano
Date: 2010
Label: EMI

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Review

PERFORMANCE: **** / SOUND: ****

The title – ‘I am Latin’ – indicates Gabriela Montero’s dedication of this CD to her father, but the absence of the customary red element in the EMI logo points to this forceful Venezuelan pianist’s determination that her record shall be seen as a piece of symbolic resistance to the repressive powers-that-be in contemporary Venezuela.

Montero has a phenomenal gift as an improviser – I was a doubter until I personally had the chance to test her ability to run with any idea tossed to her from the audience – but her improvisations here are modest, and simply serve to change the mood between the works she has chosen.

And what these amount to is a charming palimpsest from the Latin American classical tradition. And while Ginastera’s Sonata – delivered here with brio – is now a concert staple, everything else has the freshness of novelty.

It’s easy to see why Ravel was so excited by Lecuona’s Suite española, with its decorous evocations; Estévez’s miniatures – a less technically-demanding equivalent to Schumann’s Kinderszenen – have vivid charm; Nazareth’s miniatures have a catchy conviviality, and Carreno’s little waltz conveys a wistful nostalgia which speaks for the collection as a whole.

-- Michael Church, BBC Music Magazine

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Feb11/solatino_6411442.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Apr11/Solatino_Montero_6411442.htm
https://www.allmusic.com/album/solatino-mw0002078272
https://www.amazon.com/Solatino-Gabriela-Montero/dp/B003V1NI2W
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Solatino-Gabriela-Montero/dp/B003V1NI2W

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Gabriela Montero (born May 10, 1970 in Caracas) is a Venezuelan pianist. Montero began formal piano lessons at age four and was awarded a scholarship from the Venezuelan government to study in the US at the age of nine. From 1990 until 1993, she studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Hamish Milne. Montero is known in particular for her real-time improvisation of complex musical pieces on themes suggested by her audience and other sources, as well as for performances of standard classical repertoire. Her CDs has won several awards, including a Grammy at the 2015 Latin Grammy Awards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriela_Montero
https://www.gabrielamontero.com/

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