Zsófia Boros: El ultimo aliento (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Mathias Duplessy: De rêve et de pluie; Joaquin Alem: Salir adentro; Quique Sinesi: El abrazo; Alberto Ginastera:Milonga; Duplessy: Le secret d'Hiroshigé; Perle de Rosée; Sinesi: Tormenta de ilusión; Duplessy: Le labyrinthe de Vermeer; Berceuse; Valse pour Camille; Carlos Moscardini: El último aliento. Zsófia Boros, classical guitar, ronroco. ECM New Series 2769 485 8302

The  Vienna-based Hungarian guitarist Zsófia Boros brings together compositions from two continents on this new release, her third for the ECM New Series label. In so doing, she not only introduces her listeners to several composers they have most likely never heard of before, but she also introduces them to the sound of an instrument that have most likely never heard before. To be honest, there is only one composer from the list above that I have heard of before, Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983), the preeminent Argentinian composer of the 20th century. But there are three other Argentinians whose works Boros has chosen to highlight: Joaquin Alem (b. 1975), an Argentine-born bandoneon master based in Germany; Quique Sinesi (b.1960), a Latin Grammy Award-winning Argentinian guitarist; and Carlos Moscardini (b. 1959), an Argentine composer and guitarist. In addition to Argentina, France is also well represented, for although Mathias Duplessy (b. 1972) is the only composer from that country, a total four of his compositions appear on the album. His De rêve et de pluie, which opens the album, is a quietly beautiful piece that establishes the overall contemplative and peaceful atmosphere of the album as a whole. 

A contrast in the texture of the sound is provided by the ronroco, a 10-string Andean instrument (five sets of doubled strings) something akin to a mandolin, on which Boros plays Sinesi’s Tormenta de ilusión, the most overtly energetic composition on the album. The other piece with a slightly different sound is Sinesi’s “El Abrazo” (in English the title translates to ‘Hug’), for which Boros plays with a rubber band fastened around her guitar strings. “While my children were sleeping, I thought of muting the guitar differently so that I could play late in the evening, too,” she explains. “One day I stretched a rubber band over the fretboard and was fascinated by the sound. I found it particularly beautiful with ‘El Abrazo’, a song that indeed feels like a warm embrace.” 

The piece with the most dramatic expressiveness is the title piece, Moscardini’s El último aliento, which ends the program, but even that composition projects an aura of gentle mystery that is in keeping with the album’s general sense of calm and well-being. I hope, however, that I have not made this release sound boring, for it is anything but – it is entrancing, captivating, involving; assuredly, the kind of album that invites repeated listening. Overall, this is a truly lovely recital of gentle music with enduring power.