Joaquín Rodrigo - Piano Music Vol. 1 (Artur Pizarro)

Information

Composer: Joaquín Rodrigo

• A l'ombre de Torre Bermeja
• Cuatro piezas para piano
• Pastoral
• Preludio de añoranza
• Deux Berceuses
• Bagatela
• Cuatro estampas andaluzas
• Sonata de adiós
• Serenata española
• Air de ballet sur le nom d'une jeune fille
• Zarabanda lejana
• Cinco piezas del siglo XVI
• Fantasía que contrahace la harpe de Ludovico

Artur Pizarro, piano

Date: 2005

Label: Naxos

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Review

When I interviewed Rodrigo for The Gramophone a few years before his death in 1999, he told me that one of his concerns was the almost total neglect of his piano music. He acknowledged its style was influenced by the French Impressionist school but felt the music was still very much his own. Although the repertoire still appears infrequently in the recital room, excellent two-CD surveys have appeared: Gregory Allen on Bridge (7/92) and Sara Marianovich on Sony (A/02).

Now comes a first-class collection from the perceptive and sympathetic Artur Pizarro. He opens brilliantly with Rodrigo’s evocation of Albéniz, A l’ombre de Torre Bermeja, here, as elsewhere, bringing out its affinities with the guitar. Cuatro Piezas include a glittering ‘Fandango’ and a touchingly pensive ‘Prayer of the Princess of Castille’, while among the Andalusian Pictures (Cuatro Estampas andaluzas), ‘Twilight over the Guadalquivir River’ makes a reflective contrast with the quirky bravura of the devilish ‘Seguidillas’. Among the simpler items, the nostalgic Preludio, and delicate Pastorale, the rippling Serenata española and charming Air de Ballet are all highly beguiling.

In sum, Pizarro captures the varying moods of this music very well. If you have not discovered Rodrigo at the piano I urge you to try this generous collection, vividly recorded and with excellent booklet-notes by Graham Wade: you won’t be disappointed.

— Ivan March

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Joaquín Rodrigo (22 November 1901 – 6 July 1999) was a Spanish composer. Despite losing his sight at age three, he pursued music from childhood and later studied with Paul Dukas and Manuel de Falla. In 1940 he gained international acclaim with his Concierto de Aranjuez, which established him as Spain's leading post-Civil War composer. Rodrigo served as adviser for national radio and held the Manuel de Falla Chair at the Complutense University of Madrid. Though celebrated for his guitar works, he also composed concerti for various instruments, as well as an opera, ballet, piano pieces, and numerous songs.

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Artur Pizarro (born 1968 in Lisbon) is an internationally-acclaimed Portuguese concert pianist. He studied with Sequeira Costa in Lisbon and at the University of Kansas. His other teachers include Aldo Ciccolini, Géry Moutier and Bruno Rigutto at the Conservatoire de Paris. Pizarro won first prize in several international piano competitions, and has performed internationally in solo recitals, in duos, with chamber music groups, and as a soloist with the world's leading orchestras. He has an extensive discography available on Linn Records, as well as on Naxos, Hyperion, Collins Classics, and other labels.

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