The guitar is the
soul of Spanish music, and it was inevitably brought
to the New World by the Spanish conquistadors and
colonists beginning in the 16th century. The instrument
became an integral part of musical life in Latin
America, and is the medium through which some of
the region’s finest composers have expressed
their most characteristic musical thoughts. This
Telarc recital by David Russell presents the works
of four Latin American masters of the guitar.
One of the great pioneers of classical guitar, Augustín
Barrios Mangoré was one of the first Latin
American guitarists to appear successfully in Europe
and one of the first guitarists to record. Honing
his chops by transcribing works by Bach, Beethoven,
and Chopin, Mangoré is thought to have written
roughly 300 works for guitar. Featured on this recording
is Mangoré’s “Maxixe” which
is based on the Brazilian dance that became popular
in Rio de Janeiro in the 1870s, the repeating-note
“Cancíon de la Hilandera,” “Aire
de Zamba” which is a concert realization of
the Argentine dance, the romanza “Confesion”
and “Tu Imagen” the charming waltz.
From Argentina to Mexico, Manuel María Ponce
was one of the most distinguished and influential
figures in Mexican music. As a gifted child, he
began composition before the age of ten and was
appointed chief organist in his hometown of Aguascalientes
at the age of fifteen. Like so many others, Ponce’s
chief inspiration was Andrés Segovia and
when the two met in 1923, the repertoire for guitar
was still very limited. He arranged Tres Cancíones
Populares Mexicanas from 1925-26 for Segovia. Jascha
Heifetz later did an arrangement (for violin) of
the last work in the piece, “Estrellita”
and it became so popular that it was included in
the 1939 Goldwyn film The Shall Have Music.
Argentine-American guitarist and composer Jorge
Morel showcases his affection for David Russell
in two works that were written with the guitarist
in mind. On “Recuerdos del Caribe” the
piece is filled with the flavors and rhythms of
the West Indies and it showcases Russell’s
handiwork. “Mangoré” is dedicated
to the guitarist as a tribute to the late Augustín
Barrios Mangoré who shaped both of these
guitarist’s lives. The other Morel works featured
are the Latin scherzo “Jugueteando,”
“Pampero” which shares its title with
the stormy conditions that accompany a cold front
moving across the plains, the “Pampas,”
of Argentina and Uruguay and the “Barcarole,”
a traditional song of the Venetian gondoliers.
Even though his career was focused on tango, Héctor
Ayala still had a thorough understanding of other
Latin American musical styles, as demonstrated by
his “Serie Americana,” which closes
Russell’s sublime disc of Sondios Latinos,
and comprises pieces representative of six South
American countries.
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