Manuel Ponce; Ricardo Castro - Conciertos románticos (Jorge Federico Osorio)

Information

Composer: Manuel Ponce; Ricardo Castro

1. Castro - Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 22: I. Allegro moderato
2. Castro - Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 22: II. Andante
3. Castro - Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 22: III. Polonaise. Allegro moderato
4. Castro - Piano Pieces, Op. 36: No. 1,  Berceuse
5. Castro - Canto de amor for Piano
6. Castro - Plainte for Piano, Op. 38 No. 2
7. Ponce - Piano Concerto No. 1 "Romantico": I. Allegro appassionato
8. Ponce - Piano Concerto No. 1 "Romantico": II. Andantino amoroso
9. Ponce - Piano Concerto No. 1 "Romantico": III. Finale. Allegro
10. Ponce - Arrulladora mexicana "La rancherita" for Piano
11. Ponce - Gavota for Piano
12. Ponce - Romanza de amor for Piano
13. Ponce - Intermezzo No. 1 for Piano

Jorge Federico Osorio, piano

Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería

Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor

Date: 2023

Label: Cedille

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Review

I have been a devotee of Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series, but they missed these two, and so did I. Manuel Ponce’s concerto appeared earlier on a monographical Sterling CD, and on disc 6 of a Brilliant reissue of an ASV series Musica Mexicana. Ricardo Castro’s concerto was issued on another monographical Sterling CD.

Manuel María Ponce is regarded as the initiator of the Mexican Nationalist movement in music after the revolution. His output can be divided into the romantic and the modern; the latter begins around 1925, when he visited Paris and became familiar with Impressionism in music. His three-movement Piano Concerto No. 1, set firmly in the romantic period, has the characteristics of a European virtuoso concerto. Nothing in it strikes me as showing particularly nationalist folk song derivations, unless the tender slow movement is taken from a Mexican love song.

The Allegro appassionato begins with Germanic tutti followed by Lisztian fire and fury mixed with lilting passages. This is perhaps not surprising since Ponce studied in Germany with Martin Krause, a student of Reinecke and then Liszt. Without a break, we go into the slow Andantino amoroso, as long as the outer movements together. It is built around a pleasant melody, first played by the strings. The piano, alternately accompanied and solo, elaborates on the tune. It becomes virtuosic in the four-minute solo cadenza which leads directly into the Allegro. This is a summation of what had gone on before, with a climactic peroration on the slow-movement tune. Overall, it is an enjoyable piece, but without truly memorable themes, so it may be rarely performed even in Mexico.

There follow Ponce’s short piano works. The most highly regarded may be the Intermezzo No. 1 in a two-and-a-half minute sonata form. It is unsurprising that it has become well known: the satisfying structure and the memorable principal tune have recommended it to pianists over the years.

The other rarely encountered large piece here is the Piano Concerto by Ricardo Rafael de la Santísima Trinidad Castro Herrera. It is a work much earlier Ponce’s Concerto, yet it sounds rather more modern. The individuality of its themes makes it a more enjoyable listen for me. The booklet says: “This Concerto constitutes the first concertante piece for piano that any

Mexican – or Latin American – composer had written up to that time.” The opening tune on the strings (maybe accompanied by woodwinds; a bit difficult to tell) has a strangely memorable quality, but is not particularly beautiful. The orchestration is more adventurous than in Ponce’s piece, and this makes the work more striking. Naturally enough, one can detect its roots in the music of Liszt, Grieg, Scharwenka and so on. The piece is cyclic, so it can even be related to Liszt’s great Sonata and to César Franck’s music. That opening tune, pretty much omnipresent, returns in full orchestral panoply at the end of the Allegro finale.

I like this Concerto more than Ponce’s. The disc also includes Castro’s three piano pieces. The longest of them is the six-minute Canto de amor, which storms the heights of romantic passion.

The recording is fine, and the piano is well balanced against the orchestra, who play with unanimity and commitment. Pianist Jorge Federico Osorio, whose career has taken him around the world, gives a performance of sustained virtuosity that certainly makes the case for both concertos. The booklet includes a long informative essay (in English and Spanish) by José-María Álvarez, with biographical facts and comments on the music.

— Jim Westhead

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Ricardo Castro (7 February 1864 – 27 November 1907) was a Mexican pianist and composer. A prodigy, he completed his studies at Mexico's National Conservatory in half the usual time and later studied in Europe with Teresa Carreño. From 1903 to 1906, he taught master classes across major European conservatories and published his Mexican dances for piano in Paris. Upon returning to Mexico, he became director of the National Conservatory, a post he held until his death. Castro composed in a richly colored European Romantic style; he wrote Latin America's first piano concerto and Mexico's first cello concerto.

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Manuel Ponce (8 December 1882 – 24 April 1948) was a Mexican composer. After early studies in Mexico, he trained in Italy and Germany before returning to teach at the National Conservatory. Ponce bridged classical music with Mexican folk traditions, promoting national identity through works that blended popular melodies and classical forms. His 1912 piece Estrellita became an international success, helping earn him the title "Creator of the Modern Mexican Song". He also made major contributions to guitar repertoire, notably with Variations and Fugue on La Folia and Sonatina Meridional.

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Jorge Federico Osorio (born 22 March 1951 in Mexico City) is a Mexican pianist. Raised in a musical family, he studied at the National Conservatory before continuing in Paris, Moscow, New York and Italy with renowned teachers including Monique Haas, Jacob Milstein and Wilhelm Kempff. He has won major international prizes and appeared with leading orchestras worldwide, including the Chicago Symphony and Concertgebouw. Celebrated for his interpretations of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart and Mexican composers, Osorio has an extensive discography. He is a professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

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