CORONEL: Yerbita Companera: TRAD: Dafydd Y Gareg Wen – David of the White Rock (Welsh Folksong) ;Wrth Fynd Efo Deio I Dywyn –As I Went With David to Towyn (Welsh Folksong) Suo Gan ( Welsh Folksong); Lliw Gwyn Rhosyn Yr Haf – The White Rose of Summer ( Welsh Folksong); Lisa Lan – Fair Lisa (Welsh Folksong) ; Hela’r Ysgyfarnog-Hunting The Hare ( Welsh Folksong) :MILLET: Papas De Balcarce - 1)Andante 2) Allegro : CARDOSO : Milonga : MOSCARDINI: Milonga De Un Entrevero : BULLOCK: Voyage to Patagonia - 1) Cyn Gadael 2)Ar Lan Y Mor 3) Ffarwel I Dre Caernafon Lon 4) Ffarwel I Aberystwyth 5) Hiraeth 6) Rio Chubut: HEINZE: El Promitido: M.D. PUJOL: Truco Suite 1) Primera 2) Falta Envido 3) Truco 4) Vale Quatro: REES: Goodbye Alun and Thank you –Elegy In Memoriam Alun Hoddinott.
Welsh Argentine Duo
CD : Self - produced
As the titles suggest, this recital is a mixture of Welsh and Latin/ Argentinean music and one of the beauties of this entire set is that a huge proportion of it will be completely new to you. They begin with Coronel’s lovely dancing Yerbita Companera, a fun piece and a fine opener. Then what follows are six Welsh folksongs beautifully arranged and very haunting and emotive. The most well – known is perhaps Suo Gan, but all are lovely duos, beautiful and emotive. Then we return to the Argentine with Millet’s two – movement Papas De Balcarce, which has a dancing feel to both the short opening Andante and the much longer Allegro. This is a very active and clever piece of writing, and again one I have never come across before. Cardoso’s Milonga is perhaps one of the most well – known tracks here, and its slow flowing music is beautifully done. Then , another Milonga from Moscardini, Milonga de Un Entrevero, which while still having that particular flow Milongas have, is quite a different piece of writing, and another lovely and well – performed work I didn’t know. Then we get the piece from which the album gets its title, Bullock’s six movement Voyage to Patagonia, comprising of relatively short succinct movements that total a little over 18 minutes .The harmonic language is a little more modern than much of the remainder of the recital, and so takes a little more time to take in. Nevertheless this is a fine work that does grab you after a number of listens. Heinze’s El Promitido follows on, and is full of interesting little details and is again a totally new work to me, and I suspect to many of you too. Maximo Diego Pujol is one of today’s greatest guitar composers and his Truco Suite is full of his usual clever touches, with everything being unexpected when you hear it, as he rarely writes in a given harmonic style. All four movements make for a very substantial piece of writing which is performed beautifully, just as everything else in this recital is! The final tribute to Alun Hoddinott is a moving and thoughtful piece of writing and being an Elegy has many serious moments that really keep you on your toes, especially when in between the music is almost strange in its harmonic world and quite different from the pieces that have gone before.
So in essence this is a great, well played, beautifully recorded recital of very varied, and very interesting pieces that in total make for a wonderful CD.
Chris Dumigan