The well-worn old tradition of the Spanish-music piano recital gets an attempt at renewal here from adventurous Montreal pianist Louise Bessette, with consistently interesting results. Bessette expands the theme with some contemporary music and some music from outside Spain. The program opens with Ernesto Lecuona's suite Andalucía and closes with the Nuevas monodías españolas of Spanish-Canadian composer José Evangelista. These are entirely novel pieces, elaborating on monophonic pieces of Iberian folk music without adding ...
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The well-worn old tradition of the Spanish-music piano recital gets an attempt at renewal here from adventurous Montreal pianist Louise Bessette, with consistently interesting results. Bessette expands the theme with some contemporary music and some music from outside Spain. The program opens with Ernesto Lecuona's suite Andalucía and closes with the Nuevas monodías españolas of Spanish-Canadian composer José Evangelista. These are entirely novel pieces, elaborating on monophonic pieces of Iberian folk music without adding harmony: the "settings" consist of elements of register and decoration. Both that work and Tomás Marco's Soleá (1982) demonstrate the continuing relevance of Spanish national styles and their potential for being reconciled with techniques drawn from Germanic modernism. The Tango, Op. 164, of Albéniz and the Danzas Gitanas, Op. 55, of Turina are familiar fare for such programs; both receive clean performances, and the impressionistic style of the Turina plays to Bessette's strengths....
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