Orquesta Cuba - Contradanza and Danzones - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The opening Trois danses cubaines by Alejandro García Caturla (1906-1940) is very much a typical example of Hispano-American musical culture, and would be right at home on a disc of music by Chavez, Villa-Lobos or Ginastera. Like Aaron Copland, he studied under Nadia Boulanger during a stay in Paris, and likewise seamlessly integrates old and new world techniques to great effect. Too bad he died so young. He was a lawyer by day, and it seems one of his clients was rather InchdisappointedInch by his services. The following Preludio para Penthesilea by composer Carlos Fariñas (1934-2002) has, according to the liner notes, become a highly requested concert piece, and I can understand why. With it's constant barrage of multiple percussion instruments adding layer after layer of cross-rhythms and powerful forward momentum, it's hypnotic and almost ritualistic effect could certainly bring an audience to it's feet. A quick change of gears brings US to the beautifully exotic Pregón y Danza by Enrique González Mántici (1912-1974) whose opening pages bring to mind a sound reminescent of Miles Davis around his InchSketches of SpainInch period. The aptly titled Rítmotiv, first performed in 2002 under the direction of it's composer Guido López-Gavilán del Rosario (b1944), is an orchestral tour-de-force as it introduces, overlaps and superimposes various rhythmic motifs and melodies to become a cornucopia of captivating sounds all assembled together by a craftsman. The final work on this CD, the deeply moving in Memoriam. A mi esposa Lillian Acosta by Alfredo Diez Nieto (b1918), once again demonstrates that grief is very much a universal human emotion and is expressed the same way regardless of nationality. It's the odd man out on this CD, simply because for that reason, it does not sound Cuban at all. It's a striking work, scored for strings alone, written to honor the loss of his

Album Tracks 1. MC Duz It 2. A Lot of Us (F. Ray Frazier) 3. Take Em Out (F. Gen. Erik & Night Clubber Lang of Boom Bap Project) 4. Teach It 5. America (F. Toni Hill & Hungry Mob) 6. Thinking Out Loud (F. Iq of Kin 4 Life) 7. This Is It (F. Splitting the Sky) 8. Running Out of Time (F. Stic. Man of Dead Prez 9. I Am (F. Ray Frazier 10. On the Move (F. Tony Ozier) 11. What We Wanna Hear (F. Bryonn Bain & DJ Wels 12. Fightin Em Back (F. Bryonn Bain 13. Be Free 14. So Serious (F. A.P.O.S.T.L.E. & Toni Hill 15. Follow Your Instrincts 16. 2 Way Street 17. Master of Ceremonies (F. DJ Wels)

Classica Cubana - Classica Cubana [COMPACT DISCS] date 01/27/2009