I think we can fairly easily discern three different stages in the compositions of Leo Brouwer:
- an early one including the first ten Estudios sencillos, three Piezas sin titulo, Fuga no. 1, Danza del Altiplano, and some Aires populares. There is also an early concerto for guitar and strings and some music for guitar duo
- the middle period begins with Elogio de la Danza of 1964 that is a homage to the early ballets of Stravinsky and continues with more experimental works such as the Canticum of 1968, La Espiral eterna of 1971, Parabola of 1975 and Tarantos of 1977, the latter a piece in moment form. These works show the influence of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luigi Nono.
- the later period, up until the present, begins with El Decameron negro of 1981 and continues with the Preludios epigramaticos of 1984, several guitar concertos, the series of ensemble pieces titled Cuban Landscape with... and pieces like El arpa y la sombra and many others.
While there are many charming pieces in the early period and others in the later period (El Decameron negro has been particularly well-received), the small group of pieces from the 60s and 70s seem to have the most long-lasting power. Elogio de la Danza is probably Brouwer's best-known and most-performed piece and, to my mind, La Espiral eterna is the most original.
Here is the last movement of El Decameron negro in my recording (which was the premiere recording):
I did an analysis of Fuga No. 1 years ago. It's kind of a shame that, to my knowledge, we never got a set of fugues for solo guitar by Brouwer, but there's still time, right? :)
ReplyDeletehttps://wenatcheethehatchet.blogspot.com/2018/07/leo-brouwer-fuga-no-1-for-guitar.html
I don't listen to much guitar music so didn't know Brouwer until this article. That movement of El Decameron Negro is nice music, and played very fine! A pleasure to hear! Thanks Bryan!
ReplyDeleteThanks to you both. I will have a look at your analysis, Wenatchee.
ReplyDeleteLeo Brouwer was the first really modernist guitar composer. He was also a spectacular performer until a right hand injury slowed him down.
Well played, well done Bryan; I've always been skeptical of guitarists who take a cello bow to the guitar and Brower has been in that group. I'm also at sea with his relationship to Castro's Cuba. If Manuel Barrueco can flee despotism so can Leo. Your performance might be bringing me around ... Bravo!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dex, I always appreciate your comments. I went through a rather "modernist" phase myself as a performer and I played in the Canadian premiere of Hans Werner Henze's El Cimmaron, which features the use of a cello bow on guitar. But I did move past that phase though I think that some of Brouwer's modernist pieces, like Elogio de la Danza and La Espiral eternal are really fine pieces. But yeah, the political associations with Cuba are unfortunate. The irony is that some communist societies seem to produce a lot of interesting music: Soviet Russia with Shostakovich and Prokofiev and Casto's Cuba with Leo Brouwer (and a lot of more popular music).
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