Notes and Editorial Reviews
This seems to me an unusually successful example of a crossover CD, with Denyce Graves applying the sultry mezzo of a Carmen to songs that demand precisely that Latin heat and passion. Piazzolla is the starting point of the collection, in the shape of the heroine’s sensual song from María de Buenos Aires; but the tone for the CD is set by its arranger, Pablo Ziegler. One of Piazzolla’s most faithful disciples, Ziegler is responsible also for the arrangements of songs by another leading 20th-century Argentinian composer, Carlos Guastavino. Though a veteran of the Buenos Aires jazz scene, Ziegler is classically trained, and it is classical textures that are the most striking feature of his instrumentally varied arrangements for four or
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five musicians.
Perhaps the jazziest number in the whole collection is Villa-Lobos’s Estrella é lua nóva, arranged by the composer’s New York-based fellow Brazilian Eliane Elias. She uses a trio comprising piano, acoustic bass and percussion. For performances of their own works by two Cuban musicians, José María Vitier has a quintet, while Chucho Valdés simply accompanies at the piano.
The original challenge was to synthesise classic, jazz and Latin music, to present graceful melodies in uncluttered arrangements. This has been achieved extraordinarily successfully. Nothing conspires to destroy the atmosphere of relaxed sensuality and eroticism that pervades the whole collection. Piazzolla’s Milonga sin Palabras, performed as a wordless vocalise with piano, bandoneon, bass and flute, is perhaps the most haunting item in an altogether beguiling collection.
-- Andrew Lamb, Gramophone
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Works on This Recording
1.
Maria de Buenos Aires: Yo soy Maria by Astor Piazzolla
Performer:
Pablo Aslan (Double Bass),
Pablo Ziegler (Piano),
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano),
Hector Del Curto (Bandoneon),
Susan Palma (Flute)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1968; Argentina
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 3 Minutes 39 Secs.
Language: Spanish
Notes: Arranged: Pablo Ziegler
2.
Soledad by José María Vitier
Performer:
Memo Acevedo (Percussion),
John Amira (Percussion),
Jay Elfenbein (Double Bass),
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano),
José María Vitier (Piano),
Marco Granados (Flute),
Léo Grinhauz (Cello)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Cuba
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 5 Minutes 12 Secs.
Language: Spanish
3.
Los pájaros perdidos by Astor Piazzolla
Performer:
Susan Palma (Flute),
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano),
Pablo Aslan (Double Bass),
Hector Del Curto (Bandoneon),
Pablo Ziegler (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Argentina
Date of Recording: 2001 - 2002
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
4.
Haabiá-Tupi by Eliane Elias
Performer:
Satoshi Takeishi (Drums),
Marc Johnson (Double Bass),
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano),
Satoshi Takeishi (Percussion),
Eliane Elias (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Brazil
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 4 Minutes 58 Secs.
Language: Portuguese
5.
Plancha by Carlos Guastavino
Performer:
Paquito D'Rivera (Clarinet),
Léo Grinhauz (Cello),
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano),
Pablo Ziegler (Piano),
Nick Danielson (Violin)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Argentina
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 4 Minutes 4 Secs.
Language: Spanish
Notes: Arranged: Pablo Ziegler
6.
Al alba, el basque by José María Vitier
Performer:
José María Vitier (Piano),
Memo Acevedo (Percussion),
Léo Grinhauz (Cello),
Marco Granados (Flute),
Jay Elfenbein (Double Bass),
John Amira (Percussion),
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Cuba
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 8 Minutes 51 Secs.
Language: Spanish
7.
Cançao do poeta do século XVIII, W 514 by Heitor Villa-Lobos
Performer:
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano),
Marc Johnson (Double Bass),
Satoshi Takeishi (Drums),
Eliane Elias (Piano),
Satoshi Takeishi (Percussion)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1953; Brazil
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 3 Minutes 30 Secs.
Language: Portuguese
Notes: Arranged: Eliane Elias
8.
Los días perdidos by Carlos Guastavino
Performer:
Susan Palma (Flute),
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano),
Pablo Ziegler (Piano),
Léo Grinhauz (Cello),
Pablo Aslan (Double Bass)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1961; Argentina
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 2 Minutes 44 Secs.
Language: Spanish
Notes: Arranged: Pablo Ziegler
9.
Cançoes típicas brasileiras (13), W 159: Estrela é lua nova by Heitor Villa-Lobos
Performer:
Eliane Elias (Piano),
Satoshi Takeishi (Drums),
Satoshi Takeishi (Percussion),
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano),
Marc Johnson (Double Bass)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1919-1935; Brazil
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 2 Minutes 36 Secs.
Language: Portuguese
Notes: Arranged: Eliane Elias
10.
Plomada by Carlos Guastavino
Performer:
Pablo Aslan (Double Bass),
Léo Grinhauz (Cello),
Paquito D'Rivera (Clarinet),
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano),
Pablo Ziegler (Piano),
Nick Danielson (Violin)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Argentina
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 2 Minutes 53 Secs.
Language: Spanish
Notes: Arranged: Pablo Ziegler
11.
Milonga sin Palabras by Astor Piazzolla
Performer:
Pablo Aslan (Double Bass),
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano),
Pablo Ziegler (Piano),
Hector Del Curto (Bandoneon),
Susan Palma (Flute)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Argentina
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 2 Minutes 53 Secs.
Language: Spanish
Notes: Arranged: Pablo Ziegler
12.
Romanza de Denyce by Jesus "Chucho" Valdes
Performer:
Jesus "Chucho" Valdes (Piano),
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Cuba
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 2 Minutes 38 Secs.
Language: Spanish
13.
Te vas de mí by José María Vitier
Performer:
Pablo Aslan (Double Bass),
Léo Grinhauz (Cello),
José María Vitier (Piano),
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano),
Jay Elfenbein (Double Bass)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Cuba
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 4 Minutes 24 Secs.
Language: Spanish
14.
Habanera de Lorraine by Jesus "Chucho" Valdes
Performer:
Denyce Graves (Mezzo Soprano),
Jesus "Chucho" Valdes (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Cuba
Date of Recording: 2001-02
Venue: Mirror Image Sound Studios, New York, NY
Length: 4 Minutes 25 Secs.
Language: Spanish
Sound Samples
Cançao do poeta do século XVIII
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