Lauro: Venezuelan Waltzes For Guitar

Holzman

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Cat No: 8554348

Release Date: 02 January 2000

Label: Naxos / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 636943434826

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: LAURO

Description
Antonio Lauro(1917-1986)Works for GuitarAntonio Lauro (1917-1986) was born in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela. Hisfather was a barber who sang and played the guitar, but he died when Antoniowas five years old, and the family moved to Caracas. Antonio began traditionalmusical studies (piano, composition) at the Academia de M??sica y Declamacion,where his teachers included the distinguished composer Vicente Emilio Sojo(1887-1974). A 1932 concert by Agustin Barrios, the legendary Paraguayanguitarist and composer, convinced the young Lauro (already an accomplished folkguitarist) to abandon piano and violin and concentrate upon the guitar. From1933, he studied with Ra??l Borges (1888-1967), who introduced him to thetraditional classical guitar repertory. In the next decade, Borges' pupilswould also include Rodrigo Riera, Jose Rafael Cisneros, and Alirio Diaz, whowas responsible for exposing Lauro's works to an international audience andintroducing them to the likes of Andres Segovia and John Williams.Like many South Americans of his generation, Lauro was a ferventcultural nationalist, determined to rescue and celebrate his nation's musicalheritage. As a member of the Trio Cantores del Tropico in 1935-43 (Lauro sangbass and played both guitar and cuatro), he toured nearby countries tointroduce them to Venezuelan music. Lauro was particularly attracted to themyriad colonial parlour valses created in the previous century byaccomplished national composers such as Ramon Delgado Palacios (1867-1902).Unfailingly melodic, alternately wistful and brilliant, and characterized by adistinctive syncopation (created by a hemiola in which two measures of 3/4become a single measure of 3/2), such music was precisely the sort of folkloricraw material which the likes of Smetana or Granados had elevated to nationalart in Europe. A programme of such valses by the distinguishedVenezuelan pianist Evencio Castellanos (1914-1984) convinced Lauro that theguitar, too, should have such pieces in its repertory. Among his first effortsin this genre were the pieces later known as Tatiana, Andreina, and Natalia,composed sometime between 1938 and 1940; their popularity inspired stillothers. In addition to his guitar pieces, Lauro composed dozens of works fororchestra, choir, piano and voice; many of which remain unpublished. Hesometimes experimented with modern compositional techniques, but most of hisguitar music remains essentially on the Calle real or "mainstreet," an expression used by musicians of Lauro's generation to refer toa straight and direct route, without distracting harmonic detours.In 1951-2, the military junta of General Marcos Perez Jimenezimprisoned Lauro for his principled belief in democracy. Lauro later shruggedoff the experience, telling his friends that prison was a normal part of lifefor the Venezuelan man of his generation. He had continued composing even inprison, and after his release immediately returned to performing with apioneering professional classical guit
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