Claudio Constantini - America (2019) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Towards the end of the 19th century, two great cosmopolitan cities developed with identical characteristics in opposite corners of the vast American continent. In these cities, two characteristically urban musical genres were born produced by the melting pot of European immigrants, creoles, African slaves and people native to the land. When jazz (which emerged from European salon music together with ragtime rhythms, blues and spirituals) arrived to New York, it met indigenous melodies, religious chants, Anglo-Celtic ballads and cowboy songs from the old west, all of which would sum up the essence of North American music. On the other hand, in Buenos Aires (which had recently been elected as the capital city of Argentina), a style of danceable song was born in which one can trace influences coming from Andalutian flamenco, south Italian melodies, Cuban habanera, candombe and African percussion, Spanish contradanza and the milonga or the rural music from Argentina. Both styles breathed an air of nostalgia which bore memories of remote places, times of despair and of hope for a better life. Both are considered popular, they belong to simple people from the countryside who created them and witnessed their birth. Both of our authors, Gershwin and Piazzolla, mantained parallel lives with partially self-taught education. When they aspired to match their works to those of what is known as classical music, they both aimed at Paris to complete their education. In both cases they were encouraged to follow their own path, their own style in which their intuition wouldn´t be minimized by formalisms or rules which could have resulted as counterproductive. Both were extroverts, with a magnetic personality, full of vitality, enthusiasm and a fine sense of humour. However, deep inside they were somehow shy, insecure and sometimes even suffered from depression, all of which perfectly explain the contrasts in their happy and festive creations with the melancholic roots of deep solitude and suffering that subtly flourish in their immortal compositions. (José Manuel Baena)

Tracklist:
01. Rhapsody in Blue (Version for Piano)
02. 3 Preludes: No. 1 in B-Flat Major. Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
03. 3 Preludes: No. 2 in C-Sharp Minor. Andante con moto e poco rubato
04. 3 Preludes: No. 3 in E-Flat Minor. Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
05. Summertime Variations: Thema
06. Summertime Variations: Var. 1
07. Summertime Variations: Var. 2
08. Summertime Variations: Var. 3
09. Summertime Variations: Var. 4
10. Summertime Variations: Var. 5
11. Summertime Variations: Var. 6
12. Summertime Variations: Var. 7
13. Summertime Variations: Var. 8
14. Summertime Variations: Var. 9
15. Summertime Variations: Coda
16. Las 4 Estaciones Porteñas (Arr. C. Constantini for Piano): II. Verano Porteño
17. Las 4 Estaciones Porteñas (Arr. C. Constantini for Piano): III. Otoño Porteño
18. Las 4 Estaciones Porteñas (Arr. C. Constantini for Piano): IV. Invierno Porteño
19. Las 4 Estaciones Porteñas (Arr. C. Constantini for Piano): I. Primavera Porteña
20. Tango Ballet (Arr. C. Constantini for Piano): I. Títulos
21. Tango Ballet (Arr. C. Constantini for Piano): II. La Calle
22. Tango Ballet (Arr. C. Constantini for Piano): III. Encuentro-Olvido
23. Tango Ballet (Arr. C. Constantini for Piano): IV. Cabaret
24. Tango Ballet (Arr. C. Constantini for Piano): V. Soledad
25. Tango Ballet (Arr. C. Constantini for Piano): VI. La Calle
26. Tardecita Pampeana

Personnel:
Claudio Constantini, piano