Rene Izquierdo plays Preludios Epigramaticos by Leo Brouwer (b.1939) at the Altamira Hong Kong Guitar Symposium. This comes via Izquierdo’s great YouTube channel. I was searching the site and I can’t believe I’ve never featured the amazing Rene Izquierdo before so this is long overdue. Fantastic playing with a refined sense of space and pacing in these meditative works. Bursts of virtuosity contrast with beautiful phrasing. Originally from Cuba, he studied with a long list of great teachers including Brouwer. Izquierdo now teaches at Wisconsin State University in Milwaukee.
Here’s a nice writeup on the preludes from Steven Thachuk via this Naxos Album. “Preludios Epigramaticos (1981-1983) are a set of six short preludes based on lines from poems by Miguel Hernandez: 1.Desde que el alba quiso ser alba, todo eres madre. 2. Tristes hombres si no mueren de amores. 3. Alrededor de tu piel áto y desato la mia 4. Rie que todo rie: que todo es madre lleve. 5. Me cogiste el corazón y hoy precipita su vuelo 6. Llego con tres heridas, la del amor, la de la muerte, la de la vida. The pieces are extremely concise in musical structure and compositional elements. There are shared musical themes between these Preludes and the Retrats Catalans (1981) for guitar and chamber orchestra.”
Sheet Music via Amazon: Preludios Epigramaticos by Brouwer
