GUITAR MUSIC FROM SPAIN, MEXICO and CHINA

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

The Concierto de Aranjuez is the opening work in this lovely album about to be released by NAXOS. The familiar work by Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo is exquisitely played by virtuoso Junhong Kuang

When Brazilian composer Heitor Villalobos met in 1920’s Paris his Mexican counterpart composer Manuel Ponce – both then young men in their thirties – he expressed strong feelings of commonality in both their efforts to mine the folklore of their individual birth countries. Much of Ponce’s music is that and more: a joyous celebration of all that is Mexican in music, elevated to the status of concert compositions.

Ponce’s 1941 Concierto del Sur (Southern Concert) takes a different artistic route by paying homage to the music of Spain – Asturias specifically – in a richly melodic work originally created for Andrés Segovia, masterly played here by Junhong Kuang.

The traditional three-movement concerto structure is brilliantly put to work by the composer, opening with a stately Allegro, followed by a straightforward Andante, and concluding with a filigreed filled Allegro Festivo that gives the work a celebratory ending.

Hong Kong-born composer Gerald Garcia’s China Sings expressly composed for Junhong Kuang is a brief two-movement rhapsody that, like its companion compositions in this CD taps into folkloric roots – Chinese in this case – with splendid results.

Junhong Kuang creates a variety of colors in his playing of the opening Dark Sky, Silver Clouds and in the second movement, Silver Clouds across the Moon, at times making his instrument sound like a Chinese Pipa.

The Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice led by Darrell Ang provides perfect partnership to the soloist throughout this remarkable NAXOS release.

sample: https://youtu.be/6ke_ugLEkp8

Rafael de Acha

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”