Search - De Moura Castro :: Cuba Piano

Cuban elegance

Beowulf "Wulfie" Mayfield | 01/13/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"AFTER falling in love with the beautiful Cuban music produced by the likes of Reuben Gonzales I have been trying to learn Cuban and salsa style piano and the book I bought to assist me in this task had an interesting chapter on the music of Ninteenth Century Cuba.This album is my first tentative step into the earlier music of Cuba and I've found it hard to stop playing it. Don't expect many traces of salsa or son styles in this album but I am hearing beautifully gentle, lilting rhythms which put me in mind of palm trees swaying in a gentle breeze.Few tracks last more than three minutes, none reach to four so in many ways these pieces of solo piano music are more like tone poems, occasionally reminiscent of Eric Satie.Some pieces remind me of Scott Joplin at his most lyrical - if you like his slow piece 'Solace - A Mexican Seranade' then there is plenty in this album to delight and soothe. Pianist Luiz De Moura Castro handles the pieces with precision and feeling and he's not averse to pulling out the stops when the tone of the piece - especially those by Ernesto Lecuona - call for gusto and plenty of passionate fortissimo!Hearing this album makes me want to seek out the sheet music and try to get my fingers round some of this music for myself."