Notes and Editorial Reviews
A remarkable, absorbing, beautiful recording
3133020.zz4_ASTURIANA_SONGS_FROM_SPAIN.html
ASTURIANA: SONGS FROM SPAIN AND ARGENTINA
•
Kim Kashkashian (va); Robert Levin (pn)
•
ECM 967902 (72:04)
FALLA
Seven Popular Spanish Songs.
GRANADOS
Tonadillas al estilo antiguo.
GUASTAVINO
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class="ARIAL12bi">La rosa y el sauce. Se equivocó la paloma. Abismo de sed. Pampamapa. Bonita rama de sauce.
GINASTERA
Triste.
MONTSALVATGE
Canciónes negras.
BUCHARDO
Prendiditos de la mano. Oye mì llanto
Wow! That is really almost all I can think of to say. This is a remarkable, absorbing, beautiful recording, one I have returned to many times in the month since
Fanfare
headquarters sent it my way. Kim Kashkashian is one of the finest violists of our time, and she and Robert Levin have been performing together for many years. One of the results of that is an extraordinary chemistry between them—and in this case we are the beneficiaries.
These are not pure transcriptions of Spanish and Argentine songs—they are transcriptions-plus. The “plus” factors are subtle additions, modifications, ornamentations, enhancements—none of which disguise or distort the original melodies, and all of which add interest. Kashkashian’s beautiful, dark, richly varied tone inflects these as completely as any singer could, and Levin plays with beauty of line and remarkable rhythmic vitality. The piano opening of “Polo,” the last of the
Seven Popular Spanish Songs
of Manuel de Falla, is so brilliantly articulated and rhythmically alive as to snap the listener to attention.
Three of the songs appear twice on the disc, including the title piece, “Asturiana.” It is one of the Falla songs, and it opens the disc alone and re-appears (in what seems a different performance) later on in its proper place in the Falla cycle. The other two are Ginastera’s dark “Triste,” and “La rosa y el sauce” by Carlos Guastavino. The repeats fit into the shape of the program perfectly.
It is that shape, along with the gripping performances, that makes this disc unique. The recorded sound is up to ECM’s usual very high standards, resulting in the feeling of having the musicians in the room with you. ECM even provides English texts for the songs, despite the fact that the words are not sung. A truly memorable disc.
FANFARE: Henry Fogel
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Works on This Recording
1.
Canciones populares españolas (7): no 3, Asturiana by Manuel de Falla
Performer:
Kim Kashkashian (Viola),
Robert Levin (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1914-1915; Spain
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 2 Minutes 51 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
2.
Tonadillas en un estilo antiguo: no 9, La maja dolorosa I-III by Enrique Granados
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1910-1911; Spain
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 3 Minutes 26 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
3.
Canciones populares españolas (7) by Manuel de Falla
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1914-1915; Spain
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 14 Minutes 45 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
4.
Abismo de Sed by Carlos Guastavino
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Argentina
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 3 Minutes 30 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
5.
Pampamapa by Carlos Guastavino
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Argentina
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 4 Minutes 16 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
6.
Bonita rama de Sauce by Carlos Guastavino
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Argentina
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 3 Minutes 42 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
7.
Tonadillas en un estilo antiguo: no 6, El mirar de la maja by Enrique Granados
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1910-1911; Spain
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 2 Minutes 59 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
8.
Tonadillas en un estilo antiguo: no 4, El majo olvidado by Enrique Granados
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 3 Minutes 19 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
9.
Tonadillas en un estilo antiguo: no 3, El majo discreto by Enrique Granados
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1910-1911; Spain
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 1 Minutes 26 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
10.
La rosa y el sauce by Carlos Guastavino
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Argentina
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 2 Minutes 20 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
11.
Canciones (5) populares argentinas, Op. 10: no 2, Triste by Alberto Ginastera
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1943; Argentina
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 3 Minutes 44 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
12.
Canciones negras (5): no 4, Canción de cuna para dormir a un negrito by Xavier Montsalvatge
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1945; Spain
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 2 Minutes 54 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
13.
Canciones negras (5): no 3, Chévere by Xavier Montsalvatge
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1945; Spain
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 2 Minutes 3 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
14.
Canciones negras (5): no 1, Cuba dentro de un piano by Xavier Montsalvatge
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1945; Spain
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 4 Minutes 44 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
15.
Canciones negras (5): no 2, Punto de Habanera by Xavier Montsalvatge
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1945; Spain
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 1 Minutes 13 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
16.
Se equivocó la paloma by Carlos Guastavino
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Argentina
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 2 Minutes 18 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
17.
Prendiditos de la mano by Carlos López Buchardo
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Argentina
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 1 Minutes 56 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
18.
Oye mi llanto by Carlos López Buchardo
Performer:
Robert Levin (Piano),
Kim Kashkashian (Viola)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Argentina
Date of Recording: 08/2006
Venue: German Switzerland Radio (DRS) Studio, Z
Length: 4 Minutes 23 Secs.
Notes: Arrangers: Kim Kashkashian; Robert Levin.
Featured Sound Samples
Canciones populares españolas (Falla): No 6 "Canción"
Colección de tonadillas (Granados): No 3 "La maja dolorosa"
Colección de tonadillas (Granados): No 8 "El mirar de la maja"
Prendiditos de la mano (López Buchardo)
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