Description
Acclaimed pianist Javier Negrin returns to Odradek with a recital album particularly close to his heart: the complete piano music of Spanish composer Armando Alfonso, his teacher and collaborator for many years, including world-premiere recordings.
As Alfonso's former student, Javier Negrin offers the listener unique insights into this artist's music. Spanish composer-conductor Armando Alfonso is a musical polymath who has worked as a pedagogue alongside his conducting career and compositional output, some of which was inspired by his father, another great Spanish musician, Javier Alfonso. As Armando Alfonso himself writes in the album booklet: "I am probably a musician because my father, Javier Alfonso, was a pianist, composer and teacher. That is why this album, which contains a piece written in his memory, is dedicated to him. Everything I learned about the piano and music in general from my father and other teachers, I tried to pass on to Javier Negrin, who is now the interpreter of my piano works. Thus, through this album, a fruitful connection is produced between people from three different generations dedicated to the marvellous art of music."
The piece dedicated to Javier Alfonso is the 'Variaciones sobre el Arrorró' (1989), in which Armando Alfonso unfolds a series of variations in diverse styles from Renaissance counterpoint to late Romanticism. At the heart of the album, this piece is performed by Javier Negrin alongside works many of which were similarly inspired by Alfonso's fellow artists, making this a unique, deeply personal and charismatic recording.