This CD showcases piano virtuoso Jorge Luis Prats in all his glory playing a live recital in the Sala Mozart, in the new arts centre in Zaragoza (northern Spain), on 2 March 2011.
Decca signed Prats for his debut recording rather later in life than is the norm, leaving you to wonder what was happening in the preceding decades. In the 1970’s Prats’ was a talented pianist studying in Moscow, Paris and Vienna; then in 1977 he won the Marguerite Long Prize and recorded a recital LP for Deutsche Grammophon. Then the time came when he had to make a choice and this man chose his family over his career. Through the years he played recitals locally but never made his way to the international superstage.
Prats plays a wide repertoire and he plays extremely well. There is passion in his easy strokes and he really comes alive playing in front of an audience.
His métier is the 19th century virtuoso repertoire, with a strong emphasis on the Spanish/Latin American/Cuban School — Villa-Lobos, Granados, Albéniz, Lecuona and Cervantes, together with such Romantic giants as Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Scriabin.
The repertoire consists of Granados’s Goyescas, Villa-Lobos’s Bachiana Brasileira No.4, Farinas’s Alta Gracia, Cervantes’s Danzas Cubanas and Lecuona’s Malagueña.
I don’t pretend to know a lot about classical music, to be honest I know nothing, but what I can say is I think classical music lovers would love this. It has heart, it has passion and it is a demonstrative showcase of his strengths.
Song Title
1. Goyescas – Suite – 1. Los requiebros
2. Goyescas – Suite – 2. Coloquio en la reja
3. Goyescas – Suite – 3. El Fandango del Candil
4. Goyescas – Suite – 4. Quejas ó la maja y el ruiseñor
5. Goyescas – Suite – 7. El pelele (Escena goyesca)
6. Goyescas – Suite – 5. El amor y la muerte (Balada)
7. Bachianas Brasileiras No.4 – 1. Préludio (Introducao)
8. Bachianas Brasileiras No.4 – 2. Coral (Canto do Sertao)
9. Bachianas Brasileiras No.4 – 3. Aria (Cantiga)
10. Bachianas Brasileiras No.4 – 4. Dansa (Miudinho)
11. Alta Gracia
12. Danzas Cubanas
13. Andalucía – Suite – Malagueña
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