LALO SCHIFRIN: Romerias. plus music by Enrique Bevacqua, Alfredo Rugeles, Leo Brouwer, Gabriel Leo and Sabina Puccini – Sergio Puccini, guitar/ Gabriel Leo, flute/ Sabina Puccini, guitar. – Aleph Records 44, 54 mins. ****:
Although the nominal highlight of this CD is the first recording of Lalo Schifrin’s “Romerias,” written in 1996 for Angel Romero, the entire program yields a rich landscape of how the classical guitar works when it’s written for by masters, and played with unique attention to each piece.
Dedicated to Angel Romero, the festival atmosphere which “Romerias” indicates is captured by Schifrin in his usual elusive, heartfelt way; as the course of each of the nine movements coalesces and comes to an end, these characteristic Schifrin touches and his gift for breathtaking intimate melody combine to reflect the composer’s profoundly romantic view of music.
The music that follows all have their individual interest and allure. Leo Brouwer’s “Nuevos Estudios Sencillos” charm as usual and the young Algerian composer Salim Dad’s lovely “Oh! Mon Coeur” leaves an impression of haunting beauty. I listened to “Romerias” once more and, concluding the recital this time, it had taken on a new dimensionality and familiarity. The best test of great programming.
Schifrin remains an active creative force. He’s recording his own music in Prague with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. He’s touring with a program featuring his new “Jazz Meets the Symphony,” a “concerto grosso group for jazz soloists Pierre Boussaguet, Tom Gordon, and James Morrison, against a big orchestra,” for which Schifrin has written everything except the jazz improvisations. It’s slated to play Germany, Paris, and Sydney in the Opera House.
The recordings were made in two studios in Rosario, Argentina. Both venues are a little dry but capture the jewel-like quality of Puccini’s precise and seductive playing.
— Laurence Vittes
