Ernesto LECUONA (1895-1963)
Ante El Escorial [4:35]
Granada [3:31]
Zamnra Gitana [1:12]
En tres por cuatro [1:32]
Danaza cubanas: 19th century Cuban Dances [23:47]
San Francisco El Grande [4:17]
Afro-Cuban Dances [12:21]
Suite Andalucía [17:58]
Clara Rodríguez (piano)
rec. 2004
NIMBUS NI6214 [66:54]
Nimbus certainly doesn’t hide the fact that these aren’t brand new recordings
— it prints several glowing published comments as to the elevated nature of
the performances — but I wouldn’t say that it goes out of its way to publicise
the fact. Thus their position roughly aligns with that of those lines from
Fiddler on the Roof: ‘It’s no great shame to be poor — but it’s no
great honour, either’. Sticking a copyright and production date of 2013 may
persuade potential purchasers otherwise, but the critic’s job is to tell you
that the recordings were made by Meridian in either 2003 or 2004. No recording
location details are provided, presumably on the grounds that one thing would
lead to another, as it were, and you’d have to spill the beans. In any case,
why be coy? 2004 isn’t exactly 1924 and the days of playing into acoustic
funnel horns.
Anyway, I’ve enjoyed a number of Clara Rodríguez’s more recent discs and I’ve
enjoyed this one as much. It helps to like Ernesto Lecuona’s good-time music
but I can’t imagine anyone, other than a diehard serialist, not liking it,
or at least actively objecting to it. If you enjoy the imposing vistas projected
in Ante El Escorial, a kind of lightweight Granados, you will be
delighted by both the piece and the playing. There is real rhythmic vitality
generated in Granada, with its ancillary hints of Debussy, something
else that aligns the Cuban Lecuona to earlier Iberian composers such as Granados
and Albéniz. Here, too, Flamenco is fused with Lisztian flourish with devilishly
exciting results.
The Danaza cubanas are full of verve and colour, and played with
considerable digital clarity and stylistic acumen. Elements of the music sound
like Cubano Rags, yet others like updated Gottschalk, which is not wholly
unsurprisingly since they are nineteenth-century dances. The other two cycles
are the Afro-Cuban Dances and Suite Andalucia. The former
glitter ebulliently and are marked by teasing rhythms and splendidly hummable
tunes. The latter cycle is no less exciting, each movement a monument to a
town or landmark and full of colour, and a very personal sense of warmth and
immediacy. The movement devoted to the Guadalquivir, for instance, is rich
but not over-complex thematically.
Overlook the booklet timing glitch for San Francisco El Grande. It
certainly doesn’t last a mere 1:48, rather a more expansive 4:17, and it’s
a richly powerful piece, well worth a few hearings.
There are a number of other recommendable Lecuona discs out there. Tirino
has recorded a lot of the composer’s music, not least that for piano and orchestra,
on BIS. Kathryn Stott has also recorded his music successfully. Clara Rodríguez’s
selection here is as fine as anyone’s.
Jonathan Woolf
Clara Rodríguez’s Lecuona selection is as fine as anyone’s.
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc
through MusicWeb
for £12 postage paid World-wide.
