Guitar Collection

DDD 8.557329

LATIN AMERICAN GUITAR MUSIC Astor Piazzolla • Leo Brouwer • Máximo Pujol Ricardo Cobo, Guitar

Latin American Guitar Music The guitar has become inextricably woven into the soul of Latin American music since its arrival from the Iberian Peninsula. From the meditative vihuela tablatures to the gutwrenching songs of gypsy cantaores, the guitar personified aesthetic opposites, which played a key rôle in the evolution of its sound in the Americas. European forms and dances were transformed by the magic realism and inexhaustible angst of the New World into a unique language full of verve, passion, defiance, pathos and ebullient sensuality. Valse-PasilloJoropo, Milonga-Candombe-Tango... SalsaMerengue-Vallenato... Saudade-Samba- Bossa Nova...and so on. No one collection could possibly represent the sheer breadth and variety of musical forms we know today as Latin America. The music included here represents contrasting styles from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and a timeless ballad from Cuba’s Leo Brouwer. Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992), the controversial pioneer of the avant-garde Tango, transformed the music to instrumental high art. His restless fusion of jazz, modern and traditional Tango yielded some of the most sought-after compositions for arrangers and performers alike. I arranged this version of La muerte del angel and Primavera porteña for solo guitar from printed chart editions and Piazzolla’s 1973 recording. The bewitching melancholy of the waltzes of Dilermando Reis (1916-1977) is hard to resist on a first hearing. Se ela preguntar (If I should ask her) and Promessa have become standards of Brazilian popular music. Unlike the music of Gnatali, Gismonti or Pereira, Reis preferred the more traditional Brazilian guitar style, full of

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tenderness and with a singular rubato. Better known for his modern virtuosic solo guitar Sambas and Chôros, Marta by Marco Pereira (b.1956) reveals an enchanting vulnerability with its folding half-step harmonies and progressions. The exceptional pianist Horacio Salgán became one of the pioneers of the ‘New Tango’ during the 1960s. His music elevated traditional Tango to solo and chamber music repertoire. This arrangement of Don Agustín Bardi came from an old cassette recording which Jorge Morel transcribed by ear. One of the outstanding singer/composers of the Tango’s early years, Angel Villoldo, composed his El Choclo around 1903 in the restaurant where it was first played. Referred to as a Tango Criollo (Creole Tango), El Choclo became a classic and sold over 30,000 printed copies. My arrangement comes from a printed piano version of the original. Born in Buenos Aires in 1957, the guitaristcomposer Máximo Diego Pujol creates music that blends old and new with cosmopolitan elegance and exciting rhythmic urgency. His innate feel for the spirit of milonga can be heard in much of his music. The haunting sadness of the simple architecture of Stella australis contrasts with the complex and dynamic mood changes outlined in the Elegía por la muerte de un tanguero (Elegy for the Death of a Tanguero), a three-movement homage to Astor Piazzolla. The admiration shown by Jorge Morel (b.1931) for traditional American jazz is evident in much of his solo guitar music and orchestral writing. His roots, however, are deeply embedded in the soul of milonga, and his

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knowledge of Argentinian and South American popular style is tastefully present through his arrangements and original compositions. Milonga del viento (Milonga of the Wind) evokes nostalgic images through the unique “wind-chime” effect of campanella fingerings on the guitar. In sharp contrast to Morel’s Milonga, the Uruguyan Abel Carlevaro’s Milonga oriental is a studied and driving bass-milonga with an Oriental flavour. Evocative of Gershwin’s piano themes, Little Rhapsody is a player’s delight, complete with irresistible triple-meter themes, pseudo-jazz

progressions and idiomatic guitar riffs. The more quietly flowing lines of the Danza in E minor take us back to a not-so-distant past of South America. Un día de noviembre (One Day in November) became an instant hit with audiences and guitar enthusiasts around the world. With the exception of its simple and heartfelt lyricism, this gently rocking and evocative ballad is unlike most of Leo Brouwer’s (b.1939) contemporary and rhythmically complex music. Ricardo Cobo

This recording was made possible by a gift from the Edmond and Alex Cobo Fund. Special thanks to Dr Joseph Fayad and Dr Daniel McBride for their generosity and support.

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Ricardo Cobo

Photo: Henry Fair

With an unprecedented array of first prizes in major international competitions, Colombia-born Ricardo Cobo is recognised as one of the world’s leading virtuosi of the new classical guitar generation. He made his professional début with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá at the age of seventeen in a nationwide broadcast for an audience of over nine million. He made his astonishing début before American audiences as the first Hispanic ever to win consecutive medals at the Guitar Foundation of America Solo International Competition. Equally in demand as chamber musician, pedagogue and recording artist, Cobo’s busy touring schedule has taken him from New York’s Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall to Korea’s Ho Ham Hall, the Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles, Madrid’s Teatro Real, and Zaragoza’s Palacio Real, to Venezuela’s Teresa Carreño, and his native Colombia’s National Library, among hundreds of others. His versatility can be heard in his award-winning solo recordings of classical and children’s music, his orchestral and cross-over recordings, and in hundreds of credits for commercial releases worldwide. His diverse and innovative programming ranges from solo concerti with orchestra to historical chamber settings as well as Tango and Flamenco dance ensembles to Latin and world music concerts. His performance of the historic American première of Leo Brouwer’s Concerto de Toronto under the composer’s own baton with the San Antonio Symphony was highly acclaimed by the critical press. Ricardo Cobo has been decorated by his country on numerous occasions, receiving the Colombian Order of Cañasgordas and the Order of Belacazar for outstanding merit in cultural affairs. He now lives in Las Vegas.

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Playing Time 60:29

4:15

5:25 3:33 4:49 9:17 2:44 3:05 3:29 2:12 6:14

www.naxos.com

Booklet notes in English

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h 2003 & g 2003 HNH International Ltd.

Made in Canada

Recorded at St John Chrysostom Church, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, from 3rd to 7th April, 2003 Producers: Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver Engineer and Editor: Norbert Kraft • Booklet Notes: Ricardo Cobo Cover Image: A Night’s Dream Garden by David Utz (by kind permission)

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4:22 3:21 3:16 4:10 4:02 3:26 2:08

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LATIN AMERICAN GUITAR MUSIC

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1 Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992): La muerte del angel – Tango (arr. Cobo) Dilermando Reis (1916-1977): 2 Se ela preguntar – Waltz (Paschoito) 3 Promessa – Waltz (Paschoito) 4 Horacio Salgán (b.1916): Don Agustín Bardi (arr. Morel) 5 Angel Villoldo (1861-1919): El Choclo (arr. Cobo) 6 Máximo Diego Pujol (b.1957): Stella australis 7 Jorge Morel (b.1931): Milonga del viento 8 Abel Carlevaro (1952-2001): Milonga oriental Jorge Morel (b.1931): 9 Little Rhapsody 0 Danza in E minor ! Leo Brouwer (b.1939): Un día de Noviembre Máximo Diego Pujol (b.1957): Elegía por la muerte de un tanguero @ I Confuseta # II Melancolía $ III Epílogo % Marco Pereira (b.1956): Marta ^ Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992): Primavera porteña – Tango (arr. Cobo)

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LATIN AMERICAN GUITAR MUSIC

LATIN AMERICAN GUITAR MUSIC

Ricardo Cobo, Guitar NAXOS

NAXOS

This recording presents a selection of some of the least and the best known exponents of twentieth century Latin-American guitar repertoire, among them the internationally renowned Argentinian composer Máximo Diego Pujol, whose Elegy for the death of a tanguero is an elegant homage to his compatriot, the father of the classical tango, Astor Piazzolla. Leo Brouwer is found in unusually lyrical mood and two of Piazzolla’s most popular songs are heard in an arrangement by Colombian-born guitarist Ricardo Cobo.