So, who is Carlos Chavez, whose Piano Concerto is the centerpiece of this Cedille disc?
Regrettably, I must admit that I had never heard of him before now, which only
demonstrates how little I know. Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez
(1899-1978) was a Mexican composer, conductor, educator, and journalist, the
founder and director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, the very
group who perform on this album. Chavez wrote symphonies, quartets, sonatas,
incidental music, and concertos, and he was among the most influential
composers of his day.
Fortunately, I can say I have heard of pianist Jorge
Federico Osorio, who performs the Piano
Concerto along with several solo pieces on the disc. Osorio is a piano
virtuoso of international fame, and in my experience he has never demonstrated
anything but sensitive, immaculate, committed, passionate playing in his work. It was a pleasure
listening to him on the Cedille disc, and even though I had never heard any of
the music before, he made it appear vibrant and entertaining.
As I say, the centerpiece is Chavez’s Piano Concerto, written in 1940. Now, here’s the thing: If you’re
looking for something Latin-inflected, this may not be what you want. While the
booklet note says that Chavez adhered to local tradition and borrowed from
indiginous native culture, I could hardly detect it. The fact is, there is more
Stravinsky here than anything Hispanic or Native American; however, as Chavez’s
style is to create constantly shifting dissonances, it’s hard to tell what
might be buried in all the notes.
Anyway, there seemed to me to be as many Asian-oriented
passages as anything else, at least in the first few minutes. Now, here’s the
thing: You may find it as complex and scintillating as critics did at the
premiere or as cacophonous as audiences did, which may explain why the piece
has gotten so little attention since. Nevertheless, as a modernist, Chavez used
cacophony as a part of his technique, so you live with it.
Although I had no other recording of the Concerto with which to compare this one,
I can’t imagine another surpassing Osorio’s way with it. His playing is full of
intense, nervous energy, which no doubt the Chavez work requires. There is
nothing Romantic or sentimental, either, not in Chavez’s music and not in
Osorio’s performance.
What we get here is an abundance of sharp contrasts and
vibrant rhythms, with a good deal of percussion and flute backing up Osorio’s
piano. But it’s always Osorio’s piano that is front and center in the music,
with Osorio mining a seemingly inexhaustible fund of accents, textures,
nuances, and brief flurries of melody.
Chavez follows the momentous first movement with a rather
outgoing slow one, largely scored for piano, harp, and reeds. Again, it’s
Osorio who rightly dominates, his playing always keeping the listener intently
aware that this is music of an original kind, strongly characterful, but,
again, never romanticized or nostalgic. Then, with the finale, we’re back to
the cacophony of the first movement, where Osorio dazzles with his gymnastic
finger work. It’s quite a bravura piece of music with a performance by Osorio,
Maestro Miguel Prieto, and the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico to match.
Whether you’ll like it or not is another question.
Also on the program are three solo piano pieces, the first
of which is Chavez’s Meditacion, an
early work from 1918. As the name implies, it’s contemplative, sounding rather
Debussy-like in its quiet, dreamy way. Osorio makes sure, though, that we don’t
dismiss it out of hand as lightweight, and his alternating dynamism brings out
the work’s more-creative development.
Next, there is Muros
Verdes (“Green Wall,” 1951) by Jose Pablo Moncayo (1912-1958), a Mexican
pianist, percussionist, music teacher, composer, and conductor. As with Meditacion, Muros Verdes comes across
with an easygoing stillness. Then, the album ends with Variations on an Original Theme (2007) by the contemporary Mexican
composer Samuel Zyman (b. 1956). It exhibits a remarkable variety of fast,
slow, agitated, relaxed, and vibrant characteristics. Needless to say, Osorio
puts his heart into it, and while it can sound somewhat as cacophonous as
Chavez’s Concerto, it also sounds
richly expressive.
Producer and engineer Bogdan Zawistowski and engineer
Humberto Teran recorded the Concerto
in 2011 at Sala Nezahualcoyotl, Centro Cultural Universitario UNAM, Mexico; and
producer James Ginsburg and engineer Bill Maylone recorded the additional solo
pieces in 2012 at the Fay and Daniel Levin Performance Studio at 98.7 WFMT,
Chicago. The miking in the Concerto
ideally integrates the piano and orchestra, even if the modest distance
employed can result in a slightly recessed sound if played back too softly. The
midrange is smooth and natural, without losing too much detail, the hall
imparting a faint, pleasant glow to the music. At an appropriate playback level
the sound is nigh-well perfect, with wonderful percussion effects. In the solo
pieces, we hear a slightly closer, more-dynamic piano sound, near ideal.
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:
JJP
