PIANO EXOTICA

'... marvellously controlled rhythms, touch and stylistic finess.'

MARTIN JONES plays Spanish piano music -
with BILL NEWMAN

Early in the 1900s, Spanish composers gravitated towards Paris to meet resident musicians and discover their own personal styles. The previous keyboard attempts of Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) - 'my youthful inadequacies'- Allegro de concierto [listen - CD3 track 1, 0:04-1:01], Mazurka, Serenata andaluza, Nocturno, Vals-capricho, Serenata - were bright, bold melodies with straightforward accompaniment. Cancion (with Satie's Gymnopédies at the start) and Danza de gnomos (leanings towards Grieg) eventually paired with a 1922 chordal arrangement of Canto de los remeros del Volga (Song of the Volga Boatmen) as Obras desconocidas.

Ricardo Vines inspired the slim, dark-eyed composer to emulate Goya's colourful dancers. He premièred Aragonesa, Cubana, Montanesa, Andaluza (from Cuatro pièces espagnoles) in 1909 and Falla started Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Ten years on, Artur Rubinstein commissioned Fantasia Baetica (later discarded from his repertoire), whose vibrancy and flamenco voicings embrace the true Spanish soul. Two Homenajes marking the passings of Debussy (transcribed from solo guitar, 1920) and Dukas (1935) close his piano output.

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