“We are trying to organize a tour,” says John-Henry Crawford, who would like to come to Argentina. Photo Press
The Orchid Classics label released the album today Heartthe second album by highly decorated American cellist John-Henry Crawford, an investigation into Latin American music that includes works by Leo Brouwer, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Carlos Guastavino, Manuel Ponce, Egberto Gismonti and Astor Piazzolla.
With the delicate repertoire chosen, Heart covers more than 140 years of musical culture from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico. The production was entrusted to violinist Adam Abeshouse, winner of two Grammy Awards in 2000 and 2008, as a soloist and as a producer.
The first cut of the album came out late last month, with the theme oblivion by Piazzolla, and the album includes works such as little Star of Ponce, Lullaby by Brower, the small suite of Villa-Lobos, Water and Wine by Gismonti, e pampamappa by Guastavino.
“Corazón” covers more than 140 years of musical culture in Argentina.
The origin of the repertoire
According to Crawford himself in a telephone conversation from his New York home, “The way I chose the works for this album is a bit long. On the one hand, the album is the result of an award I have won, the Carlos Prieto International competition, from Morelia, Mexico, in 2019. So I played some of the competition songs. “
“On the other hand,” he added, “a decade ago, when I was studying at the Curtis Institute, I toured South America with two guitarists. So I’ve been interested in Latin American music, culture and language for a long time. . time.”
“I started exploring the repertoire of classical Latin American composers, such as Astor Piazzolla and Carlos Giastavino,” he confesses.
And he continues: “Furthermore, three of my older brothers lived in different parts of Latin America, including Buenos Aires. As for the selection of works, from that competition I began to explore the repertoire of Latin American classical composers, such as Astor Piazzolla and Carlos Guastavino, Argentines.
-How would you define the album?
-I see this album as a kind of musical journey through Latin America, through different countries and times, because it covers almost 140 years of compositions. As the title suggests, this music pulls the heartstrings and exudes romance and passion. I fell in love with the music, culture, history and Spanish language of Latin America
-Why did you choose to record with Víctor Santiago and Jiji?
-With Víctor we have been friends and colleagues for a long time. The first time we played together was almost a decade ago, when we did the Piazzolla piece that is on this album. He is from the Philippines but he has played a lot in Latin America and I think he has a good understanding of this music, its rhythm and its energy. It’s great to play with him because he inspires you to try new things, live and in the studio.
The cover of the album “Corazón”, by John-Henry Crawford.
And with Jiji we met at the Curtis Institute and never had the opportunity to play together. I listened to it on a South American tour and thought it was ideal for this album, where many compositions were originally written for guitar.
Are there any plans to go on tour?
-We are trying to organize a tour after the release of the album, to be able to play each piece in the respective country. Now I’m going to Mexico to play and teach master classes. I hope that after that we will do the tour and I would like to visit Buenos Aires of course.
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Marcelo Fernandez Bitar
Source: Clarin
