{"id":3562,"date":"2012-05-08T08:32:31","date_gmt":"2012-05-08T13:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=3562"},"modified":"2012-05-08T08:32:31","modified_gmt":"2012-05-08T13:32:31","slug":"cd-reviews-jorge-luis-prats-and-alain-lefevre-celebrate-pianism-with-an-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2012\/05\/08\/cd-reviews-jorge-luis-prats-and-alain-lefevre-celebrate-pianism-with-an-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"CD reviews: Jorge Lu\u00eds Prats and Alain Lef\u00e8vre celebrate pianism with an edge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Cuban pianist Jorge Lu\u00eds Prats.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two new live-performance albums, one Canadian, put the emphasis on emotion, making for compelling listening of early 20th century repertoire that we don’t hear nearly enough in live performance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>JORGE LUIS PRATS<\/strong>
\nLive in Zaragoza (Decca)<\/em><\/p>\n

What a joy to be reintroduced in this recital from Zaragoza, Spain, to Cuban pianist Jorge Lu\u00eds Prats. At 55, he is sailing along on a strong second wind, in a career that exploded in France in the late 1970s.<\/p>\n

The programme in this recital blends Spanish and Latin American influences. The core pieces are the six Goyescas<\/em>, translations of painting into sound, by Spanish composer Enrique Granados (1867-1916). The technical demands of the music are huge, requiring the pianist to make melodies sing, while underpinning them with thick, rhythmically complex harmonies.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
El amor y la muerte<\/em>, by Francisco Goya<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The expressive demands are no less challenging. In “El amor y la muerte” Granados’ main instructions are “Animato e dramatico,” but then fills the score with detailed guidance. The second through fourth measures are to be played “con\u00a0 molto espressione e con dolore” — with much expression and with pain. Four bars later, the same musical figure reappears in a different key, this time marked “con sentimento di pieta.”<\/p>\n

Tempo markings change constantly on top of the repeated requests to speed up and slow down, there are passages marked pianissimo sitting next to sections meant to be played fortissimo.<\/p>\n

The pianist has to make basic music out of enough notes to challenge four hands, then use the same narrative skills as would an opera conductor to make each depiction work.<\/p>\n

It’s no wonder that the Goyescas<\/em> are such a rare treat.<\/p>\n

My gold standard for these pieces is Alecia de Larrocha, who died two-and-a-half years ago. She tamed this music into lustrous sensuality that takes over my whole body whenever I listen to a long-cherished recording she made for Od\u00e9on in 1963 (and reissued by EMI in the early 1980s).<\/p>\n

Prats’ performance in Zaragoza has much more of an edge, which I’ve begun to appreciate, the more I listen to this concert.<\/p>\n

If you are not familiar with Granados’ music, Prats provides a vivid, compelling introduction. If you are, this pianist’s interpretive opinion in well worth hearing.<\/p>\n

The Granados pieces are paired with the cerebral Bachiana brasileira No. 4<\/em>, by Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), as well as three delicious Cuban encores.<\/p>\n

For more details on the album , including audio samples and downloads, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here is Prats introducing the album in a Decca promotional video:<\/p>\n