"Vibrant salsa
beats meet contemporary classical piano
music". So says the cover of this
recent release. Indeed, the majority
of the short pieces recorded here were
commissioned by Elena Riu from composers
of widely different origins, e.g. from
Belize, Mexico, Canada, Britain and
Ireland, to name but a few, and each
of them exploits some Latin-American
rhythms. These pieces (actually 16 of
them) are also published as a collection
by Boosey & Hawkes under the collective
title of Salsa nueva. Some other
composers, however, have also been included
such as Antonio Estevez from Venezuela,
Federico Mompou and Chick Corea, whereas
the present performers contribute with
a short work too : Elena Riu with her
short homage to Ligeti La salsita
del Sr Ligeti, and Wilmer Sifontes
with a miniature for percussion Clave.
I must confess straightaway that a number
of the composers represented here are
new to me; but I was really delighted
to be able to make acquaintance with
some of them and to hear two short piano
pieces (Ancestro I and II)
by Antonio Estevez, a much neglected
Venezuela-born composer whose magnificent
Cantata criolla has been
– and may still be –available on Dorian
DIS-80101 (a splendid disc well worth
looking for) as well as a short excerpt
from Mompou’s Cançons i
Danses (available on Naxos 8.554332).
Records such as the
one under review are as difficult to
review as enjoyable to listen to. Twenty-two
short pieces (the longest one Sal-cita
by Alfredo Rugeles plays for 6’ 13""!),
all of them exploring some Latin-American
dance rhythms such as clave, tumbáo
or montuno (a list of these rhythms
is given in the booklet) provide for
a most varied and attractive programme.
Moreover, some of these pieces are for
piano and Latin percussion, so that
the whole thing is quite contrasted
indeed, the more so that each composer
approaches his/her task with his/her
musical personality, sometimes with
some light humour too. This may at times
yield rather unexpected results, as
in Deirdre Gribbin’s Celtic o
salsa for piano in which Celtic
musical features rub shoulders with
salsa rhythms.
I will not list all
the pieces, but here are the composers
involved : Ricardo Lorenz, Antonio Estevez,
Diana Arismendi, Roland Perrin, Alonso
Toro, Tania León, Alfredo Rugeles,
Deirdre Gribbin, Alwynne Pritchard,
Elena Riu, Gabriela Ortiz, Wilmer Sifontes,
Adina Izarra, Federico Mompou, Chick
Corea, Hilda Paredes, Errollyn Wallen,
Javier Alvarez and Aldo Lopez-Gavilan.
Again, it is rather
difficult to go through each of these
twenty-two pieces in detail. Suffice
it to say that all of them are superbly
crafted, often very entertaining and
always tuneful and colourful. Needless
to say that Elena Riu plays all these
pieces with considerable aplomb and
obvious enjoyment, also with the wholehearted
support of Wilmer Sifontes, which makes
this delightful release a joy from first
to last. The best thing to do with a
disc such as this is to sit down, relax
and enjoy.
Hubert Culot
Elena Riu (piano); Wilmer Sifontes (Latin percussion)
