L.M. Gottschalk - Souvenirs d'Andalousie, Op.22 - Ivan Davis Piano

Description by Jeremy Grimshaw [-]
Louis Moreau Gottschalk's notoriety as a virtuoso pianist took him on tours throughout the world, which in turn inspired him to compose music in honor of his various destinations. In fact, his catalogue of piano works can be seen as a virtual travelogue -- especially the numerous musical "souvenirs" he composed in honor of various places, including Puerto Rico, Havana, Lima, and his native Louisiana. Within this series is a brief but vibrant work Gottschalk composed (by some sensational accounts, on the spot) for a concert in Madrid in 1851; the work, Souvenirs D'Andalousie (Souvenirs of D'Andalucia), is named after the famed region of Southern Spain and draws much of its character and melodic materials from Spanish sources. The piece, which was part of reworked material from Gottschalk's Capricho español (performed during the same tour), also appeared in print as "Caprice de concert sur la cana, le fandango, et le jaleo de Jerez." The title indicates the three Spanish dance styles that are used in the work. Some of these sounds had been integrated into concert piano music before -- Glinka, for example, used some of the same source material in his Capriccio brillante on the Jota Aragonesa, but Gottschalk's Creole background seems to have granted him special insight into some of the Spanish rhythms as they filtered through the Caribbean and north across the gulf. The pungent modal inflections that lend the melodic lines their distinctively Spanish gravity combine with syncopated rhythms that, in Gottschalk's hands, hardly shy away from extended hemiolas and polymetric figurations. In this manner, Gottschalk provides the bridge between Glinka's earlier musical excursions and the brassy twentieth century fandango realizations of Ernesto Lecuona's famous Malagueña (also based on one of the tunes that inspired Gottschalk's piece). Gottschalk's evocations of the chosen dances are remarkable, due in no small part to the physical gestures unconsciously associated with his physically challenging musical gestures. He even evokes castanets with a figure that alternates with rapid syncopations across octaves in the keyboard's upper range. While the late nineteenth century would soon betray an obsession with the Exotic, or Other, Gottschalk's pianistic rendering of Spanish dances appears to have met with the approval of the locals, as well -- though some might argue that Gottschalk's exquisite pianism would flatter virtually any borrowed subject.

Description taken from:

https://www.allmusic.com/composition/...



Sheet Music: https://imslp.org/wiki/Souvenirs_d'An...)


Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_M...

Ivan Davis (1932-2018): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Davis