Ernesto Lecuona was
born in Guanabacoa, a suburb of Havana
in Cuba, and had his first piano lessons
with his sister Ernestina. He played
in public at the age of five and by
twelve he was already writing his own
compositions and worked as a silent
movie pianist. He made his American
debut in New York at nineteen and completed
his studies with Joaquin Nin and Maurice
Ravel. He founded the Havana Symphony
Orchestra and also a dance band, later
known as The Lecuona Cuban Boys, which
was a success in both Europe and the
Americas. Their recordings can still
be heard. Finally, and most importantly,
he was a prolific composer of – mostly
– popular music, but he also wrote theatre
music, zarzuelas, ballets and an opera.
There are also no less than thirty-seven
orchestral works, among them three for
piano and orchestra. He also wrote several
film scores. He composed 406 songs,
many of which have become evergreens,
like Siboney and Siempre en
mi corazón.
"Lecuona … was
probably the first successful ‘crossover’
musician" says the liner notes.
His piano pieces, numbering 176 and
the main concern of this review, belong
in both the "light" and the
"serious" camps. There is
a basic light-hearted atmosphere about
much of his work, with a gift for melodies
and music that is often rhythmically
attractive. "Lecuona’s greatest
gift is his ability to embed Afro-Cuban
music in his own works, producing fabulous
collections of Dances for piano",
says the notes. The six Danzas Afro-Cubanas,
which conclude this recital, are thrilling
to listen to, varied in mood and rhythms
and also colourful with inventive use
of the whole keyboard. Some of the pieces
remind me of the music Louis Moreau
Gottschalk wrote almost a century earlier,
which was well ahead of its time. Listen
to track 16, for example, Danza negra.
And the nightly La conga de media
noche (track 15) with its bold harmonic
language, not fighting shy of dissonances,
is a sophisticated composition that
Ravel might have nodded approvingly
at. Track 19, finally, Danza Lucumi,
is a real swinger.
His most famous larger-scale
piano work is probably the Suite
Andalucía from 1927, inspired
by this region in Spain. The six movements
are well differentiated, each with its
distinctive character. The second movement,
Andalucía, should be well-known
to many readers, at least those with
memories from decades gone by; even
more the last of them, Malagueña,
which must exist in dozens of arrangements,
besides the piano original played here.
In some of the pieces there are also
darker streaks, more mournful music,
some of it quite dissonant; try the
second half of Alhambra (track
3).
In between these two
larger suites there are a number of
songs and dances, two of them written
by Ernesto’s sister, mainly belonging
to the category "light music".
These are melodic, even sentimental,
but mostly beautifully unassuming. I
got this disc the day before New Year’s
Eve and chose it as background music
for our traditional New Year’s Dinner
with good and longstanding friends who
are not exactly classically inclined.
They liked it enormously and intend
to come back next New Year. Not all
my records are of the calibre that they
can be appreciated both as wall-paper
and for close listening.
The pianist, Brazilian-born
but London-based Clélia Iruzun,
has a natural feeling for this type
of music. It shouldn’t be over-sophisticated
but it must be elegant and rhythmically
alive. To me her playing sounds utterly
idiomatic.
The cover photo, which
can be seen above, shows the Lecuona
Cuban Boys on a 1930s photo with Ernesto
on the extreme left. The violinist standing
to the left of the female dancer is
Alberto Bolet, brother of the famous
Cuban pianist Jorge Bolet, and the male
dancer is an easily recognizable Buster
Keaton.
All in all a disc that
I have already played for pleasure several
times and intend to return to every
so often when in Lecuonan mood.
Göran Forsling
Clélia Iruzun (piano) 
