MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW

RECORD OF THE MONTH



Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS
Sound Samples & Downloads

Roberto SIERRA (b.1953)
Piano Trio no.1 Trío Tropical (1991) [16:55]
Piano Trio no.2 (2002) [13:53]
Piano Trio no.3 Romántico (2008) [15:50]
Fanfarria, Aria y Movimiento Perpetuo, for violin and piano (2000) [6:28]
Trío Arbós (Miguel Borrego (violin); José Miguel Gómez (cello); Juan Carlos Garvayo (piano))
rec. Auditorio Nacional, Madrid, February 2009. DDD
NAXOS AMERICAN CLASSICS 8.559611 [53.05] 

Experience Classicsonline



 

Rather curiously, this release marks the second time Naxos have published the Piano Trio no.1 by Puerto Rican composer Roberto Sierra. It first appeared in 2007 on their first disc devoted to his music, entitled 'New Music with a Caribbean Accent' (Naxos 8.559263). There it was performed by members of the Continuum ensemble. This is now in fact the third CD of Sierra's works released by Naxos. The second, his Missa Latina, is reviewed here.
 
The three piano trios featured here span nearly two decades. The jerky, hammered rhythm of the opening bars of Piano Trio no.1, segueing into a lilting Latino-jazz section, announces immediately a composer of considerable originality. The work is subtitled Trío Tropical, and the three movements incorporate the rhythms and colours of Sierra's childhood in Puerto Rico. A sultry Habanera nocturna follows the first movement, and the last, in two contrasting parts, transforms from a languorous Intermezzo religioso into an exhilarating moto perpetuo, in which the three instruments take a turn in the spotlight like sophisticated jazz soloists.
 
The spectacularly imaginative Piano Trio no.2 is a second trío tropical, based on a twelve-tone row untransposed and uninverted. This must be the most immediately attractive 'serial' music ever written! The first movement is entitled Clave de Mediodía. Clave is the rhythmic base of Afro-Cuban music, whose jerky pulse plays through the movement, which ends surprisingly with thirty seconds of minimalism! In his detailed liner-notes, Sierra describes the agitated, virtuosic second movement, Espejos ('Mirrors'), as a "mirage of counterpoint", and the last, which follows a brief scherzo, as "music for an imaginary ritual", likening the throbbing, almost Stravinskian rhythms to those of Afro-Caribbean drumming.
 
The Fanfarria, Aria y Movimiento Perpetuo is a shortish but memorable work in one movement for violin and piano. Sierra writes that the opening intervals are reminiscent of sonorities that Copland employed in his music, but that is a purely personal view - any link here with Copland seems technical at best. Sierra's stated intention for this piece, to create a "rhythmic evocation of salsa", likewise seems open to other interpretations - this is as much a European trio as it is a Latin American one. One thing that is certain is its virtuosity, particularly in the torrid perpetuo finale, superbly performed by violinist Borrego and pianist Garvayo.
 
The recent Piano Trio no.3, dedicated to and premiered by the Trio Arbós, is subtitled Romántico, "to denote the expansive and broad musical gestures evocative of late-nineteenth-century chamber music", in Sierra's words. At the same time, however, he again integrates Afro-Caribbean elements, succeeding once more in paying homage to the popular music of Puerto Rico by seamlessly weaving those elements into a considerable work of art music. The third movement, Con gran sentimiento, como un 'Bolero', is a particularly beautiful example; this is not Ravel's dance-like Bolero, but a Latin American ballade. The thrilling final Agitado moves back and forth between salsa and Austro-Germanic tradition with exceptional skill and invention.
 
The Arbós Trio have been playing together since they were founded in 1996 and have built up a sizeable discography, principally of Hispanic music. They perform Sierra's often virtuosic music with great accomplishment and conviction. Recording quality is very good throughout, but even if it were bad, this would still be an outstanding disc.
 
Byzantion
 



 

 

 



 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.