Virginia Luque - Danza de Medianoche, A Celebration of Leo Brouwer (2020) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

New York-based Spanish guitarist Virginia Luque’s two-disc compendium of guitar works by Leo Brouwer feels like a fitting capstone to the worldwide celebration of the Cuban composer’s 80th birthday in 2019. Actually, beginning in 2018, Bouwer was seemingly everywhere—giving interviews, hosting master classes at guitar festivals around the world, and working with various guitarists and ensembles preparing new works to be premiered. He is as vibrant and full of energy as ever, and it has been wonderful watching him receive the plaudits he so richly deserves.

Of course, Brouwer has long been one of the most recorded contemporary guitar composers, and there are quite a few all-Brouwer discs out there (by such distinguished musicians as Ricardo Cobo, John Williams, Pedro Mateo González, Elena Papandreou, the Brasil Duo, Alvaro Pierri, and Ricardo Gallén, to name some), but his output is so enormous and deep, the premieres spread over so many different albums by different guitarists, it’s frankly hard to keep up with him! Personally, I feel as though I’ve only scratched the surface of his oeuvre. Which may be a reason I’m enjoying Luque’s nearly two-hour set—the first in her Gold Catalogue Composers series released on her own Iberia Productions label—so much. It features strong performances of some of Brouwer’s best-known works from the 1950s (Fuga No. 1, Danza Caracteristica, Dos Temas Populares Cubanos), the ’60s (Un Dia de Noviembre and Elogio de la Danza), then jumps to the early ’80s for the brilliant El Decameron Negro suite (written for Sharon Isbin); then the balance of the pieces here are plucked from the ’90s and 2000s—all the way up to the album-opening masterpiece, Danza de Medianoche (Dance of Midnight), a nearly seven-minute world premiere commissioned by and dedicated to Luque, which has instantly become one of my favorite of his recent works.

TRACKLIST

1. Virginia Luque - Danza de Medianoche
2. Virginia Luque - Paisaje Cubano con Fiesta
3. Virginia Luque - Paisaje Cubano con Tristeza
4. Virginia Luque - Fuga No. 1
5. Virginia Luque - Cantilena de los Bosques
6. Virginia Luque - Danzas Rituales y Festivas, Vol. 1: I. Danza de los Altos Cerros
7. Virginia Luque - Danzas Rituales y Festivas, Vol. 1: II. Habanera trunca
8. Virginia Luque - Danzas Rituales y Festivas, Vol. 1: III. Guajira
9. Virginia Luque - La Toccata de Pasquini
10. Virginia Luque - Danzas Rituales y Festivas, Vol. 2: I. Danza de los Ancestros
11. Virginia Luque - Danzas Rituales y Festivas, Vol. 2: II. Glosas Camperas
12. Virginia Luque - Danzas Rituales y Festivas, Vol. 2: III. Tango Matrero
13. Virginia Luque - Elogio de la Danza: I. Lento
14. Virginia Luque - Elogio de la Danza: II. Obstinato
15. Virginia Luque - Dos Temas Populares Cubanos: I. Berceuse - Cancion de Cuna
16. Virginia Luque - Dos Temas Populares Cubanos: II. Les Yeux Sorciers - Ojos Brujos
17. Virginia Luque - Un Dia de Noviembre
18. Virginia Luque - Danza Caracteristica
19. Virginia Luque - Baladas del Decameron Negro: I. El Arpa del Guerrero
20. Virginia Luque - Baladas del Decameron Negro: II. Huida de los Amantes por el Valle de los Ecos
21. Virginia Luque - Baladas del Decameron Negro: III. Balada de la Doncella Enamorada



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