latin american charm, 20 Feb 2012

 

New CD Information from pianist CLARA RODRIGUEZ – The Music of Federico Ruiz – on Nimbus Alliance Records

 

Venezuela Review on ALLMUSIC

Clara Rodriguez and Friends | Southbank Centre: Purcell Room | Concert review | September 13th, 2011
www.bachtrack.com

London-based Venezuelan pianist Clara Rodriguez and friends brought the heady and exotic rhythms and sounds of South America to a windy Southbank in a delightfully relaxed concert of chamber music at the Purcell Room.

Clara opened the concert with a passionate and dramatic performance of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ ‘Impressoes seresteira’ (Impressions of a serenade musician), the second movement of his Ciclo Brasileiro , and a piece which suggests a “latin Rachmaninov” with its sweeping climaxes and soulful melodies. Afterwards, the friends, all fellow Venezuelans, joined Clara on the stage - flautist Efrain Oscher, guitarist Christobal Soto, bass player Gabriel Leon, and percussionist Wilmer Sifontes – and Clara explained that the pieces to be performed would take us on a musical journey “from Cuba to Argentina”. With evocative titles such as ‘A fuego lento’, ‘Mananita pueblerina’, ‘O voo mosca’ (“the flying fly”), and ‘Romance de Barrio’, and emcompassing genres such as Samba, Tango and Merengue, the music was by turns lively and foot-tapping, lilting and dancing, plaintive and haunting, humorous and witty, earthy and energetic. As the musicians, clearly good friends and music partners, settled into the performance, there was a wonderful sense of a shared experience: this was music for friends, performed by friends, amongst friends. The audience responded with enthusiasm, cheering and whistling, clapping loudly after each piece.

From the tragic Argentinian samba ‘Alfonsina y el mar’ (Ariel Ramirez), a tribute to Alfonsina Stormi, who committed suicide in 1938 by jumping into the Mar del Plata, through a spirited ‘Joropo’ (a Venezuelan folk waltz) by Moises Moleiro, ‘Caramba’, a tender and emotional “protest song” by a jilted lover, to Piazzola’s iconic piano tango ‘Adios Nonino’, written as a tribute to his dead grandfather, and a rousing and entertaining closing number ‘Capullito de Aleli’, by Puerto Rican Rafael Hernandez, the music, beautifully and expressively played, vividly brought to life the colours, sights and sounds of South America. At times, we could easily have been enjoying a chilled mint tea in a café in Havana in the 1930s, taking in the potent and emotionally charged atmosphere of a Buenos Aires tango bar, or enjoying a lazy Caipirinha overlooking the beach at Rio. Infectious syncopated rhythms from the percussion, the haunting strains of the flute, the flamenco-like strum of the guitar or mandolin, an elegant and vibrant piano, which, despite being a full-size concert Steinway, never dominated, this was music to savour - smoky and sensual, excitable, racy, heartfelt, hypnotic, buoyant and vibrant. For a few hours, at least, it was as if we were all on holiday together.
Submitted by Frances Wilson on 14th September 2011

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKmWrluMXOo

Composer Miguel Astor on his piece Adriana and my CD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIBF7onK3is

 

Mercedes Sosa (Argentinean singer)

 

I am delighted to be taking part in a charity concert for Friends of Colombia. I will play aguinaldos from Venezuela, pieces by Ariel ramírez (Argentina), Ludovic Lamothe (Haiti) and A. Calvo (Colombia)
Wednesday 1 december at 7.00 pm at the beautiful St Martin-in-the-Fields. Trafalgar Square - London WC2N 4JJ.

 

Thu 25 November 2010, 7.30pm
Bolívar Hall
54 Grafton Way
London
W1T 5DL
United Kingdom

A recital of piano music played by

Clara Rodríguez

, celebrating 200 years of Chopin's birth, and 200 years of the declaration of independence of the South American Republics.

www.clararodriguez.com

Information:

Tickets: Admission free, no booking required; please arrive early to avoid disappointment

I was most impressed and moved by the performances of the Teresa Carreño  Orchestra at the Royal festival Hall last week  and their conductor Crhistian Vasquez.

If anyone is interested there are still 5 days to listen to their concert on :

Teresa Carreno Youth Orchestra

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v7ss0#synopsis

  "Venezuela" on Gramophone Magazine October 2010

 

  Piano Music of Venezuela Price: £12.99 Availability: In stock    
  By chance, heard this lady being interviewed and playing on Radio4's 'Woman's Hour'. Bought the CD on the strength of that. 
Delighted with the variety, and with the consistently confident performance, of every track. 
Particularly notable are track 8 - Maria Luisa Escobar, Noche de luna en Altamira, (Nocturne-Waltz)- which contains a watery cadenza that eclipses even Liszt's Liebestraum; and track 25 - Heraclio Fernandez, El Diablo suelto (Waltz-Joropo) - which the piano was lucky to survive! 
The sleeve notes, written by Clara herself, are comprehensive and in an appealing "Venglish". 
Highly recommended.

 ¨The Dignity of Art

When I begin to lose heart, it does me good to recall a lesson in the dignity of art which I learned years ago at a theater in Assisi, in Italy. Helena and I had gone to see an evening of pantomime and no one else showed up. The two of us made the entire audience. When the lights dimmed, we were joined by the usher and the ticket seller. Yet despite the fact that there were more people on stage than in the audience, the actors worked as hard as if they were basking in the glory of a full house on opening night. They put their hearts and souls into the performance and it was marvelous.

Our applause shook the empty hall. We clapped until our hands were sore.

Eduardo Galeano

 

 LA DIGNIDAD DEL ARTE

 VENEZUELA: Clara Rodriguez

Nimbus Alliance NI 6122

Pianist Rodriguez’s latest excursion through the music of her homeland encompasses 25 works from 18 composers, so one expects sweet little lollipops.

There are plenty of them, but waltzes from the likes of Federico Vollmer or Pdero Elias Gutierrez have a melodic subtlety to delight Debussy.

Federico Ruiz offers jazzy urbanity and virtuoso display abounds, admirably presented by Rodriguez.

 

Classical Music Magazine

 

"Imagine buying a box of chocolates which contains all your favourite centres, every one soft and sweet, gooey and delicious. Yes, just imagine it. A lovely thought, isn’t it? Now you have that idea in your mind, imagine a collection of delectable musical sweetmeats, all of which sit comfortably on the ear, are colourful and have an easy-going gait. That is exactly what this collection of pieces by Venezuelan composers is: 25 soft centres with a rich coating of schmaltz. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. I’m sure you’re licking your lips at the mere thought of this. Here, there are many pieces with the subtitle joropo, which is a national dance, and there are many waltzes. 

  
Ms Rodriguez is a player with spirit, she understands and obviously loves this music. Her performances are full of charm and wit, her light touch is admirably suited to the music.
  
 It’s simply delightful and very, very pleasing. Entertainment music of the very best kind and it is very good and enjoyable but to be sampled rather than listened to in one sitting. The recorded sound is excellent, very bright, which this music needs, and the piano is set in a pleasing space where the sound can breathe. At the end of a long and arduous day this is exactly what one wants to help one relax and take stock.

Bob Briggs 
  
Well worth having."

P.S. A tropical/latin country has a different feel to offer. Difficult to imagine when you are in Europe.

Clara

 

 

 

 I was born in Caracas from parents sensitive to the arts. My father was a polemic writer who had a ‘not too easy’ life. Sadly he died in 2000 at the age of 64. My mother raised my sister Valentina, (fashion designer), and I in the best possible way that a mother can: with lots of love, sacrificing her time, and taking me to music school from when I was 7. I had a great childhood, fantastic and fun (although strict) training at the Conservatorio Juan José Landaeta,  located in a beautiful old villa in a ‘posh’ residential area of the city. There were some good old grand pianos and a lovely smell of polished woods and exotic plants. There was a friendly atmosphere and apart from my very elegant piano teacher -Guiomar Narváez- my harmony teacher was composer Angel Sauce, who also directed the place. When I was sixteen I won a scholarship to come to the Royal College of Music of London and I spent a year at the Junior Department (where I now teach) and six at the senior. There I met a ‘fairy of the piano’.  She had met Ravel , when she was in her teens, she had had Rachmaninov amongst her close acquaintances, she was sweet, very intelligent and had the highest standards in piano playing I have ever come across. Her name: Phyllis Sellick, an English rose.

Paul Badura-Skoda, Regina Smendzianka and Niel Immelman have also inspired me with their knowledge of piano playing.

Travelling, to play concerts, is a fantastic experience, but it can also be a bit daunting; the music you play and love in your house might not be what people of different cultures might like, or so I used to think. Going to India, Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, Egypt to play mixtures of the traditional European and Venezuelan music used to worry me a little, but now I know that people everywhere are eager and happy to receive it. It has been exactly the same reaction in both the European countries and in Venezuela where I have played. I enjoy performing solo recitals, as well as being a soloist with an orchestra, playing with the fun and incredibly musical El Cuarteto ensemble, with actors Karin Fernald and Alberto Rowinski in productions of our own: “Liszt in petticoats” (dedicated to Teresa Carreño) and “Con-cierto humor”.

I have a dream of putting on the Passionate Life of Isaac Albeniz, a script written by Trader Faulkner.

I have enjoyed, immensely, recording my five Venezuelan music CDs, but also it was very fulfilling, recording a CD of late piano music by Chopin, and the piano music by Ernesto Lecuona. There are CDs of music by Rachmaninov, Liszt and Mediterranean music in the pipeline.

Another of the activities I have often undertaken is participating in interviews on the radio; the programme In Tune on BBC 3 is one of the more nerve racking programmes to do because one both  plays, and talks ‘live’ on it! The last broadcast  I did was particularly beautiful, because the other person appearing on it was the lovely mezzo-soprano, Sophie Van Otter.

Between 1993 and 1998 I founded and directed a Music Festival in Caracas at the Teatro San Martín.  This was very rewarding, as it was wonderful to see the project really come to life, in an area of Caracas where before there had not been any music.

In London I have played nine solo recitals at Southbank Centre, a few others at the Wigmore and a number of concertos at St. John’s, Smith Square, (including Ravel in G, Rach 3, Nights in the Gardens of Spain and Federico Ruiz’s Second piano concerto - which you can hear on youtube.

I have made a home in London with my husband Jean-Luc and our son Leonardo.