José F Vásquez: The Complete Impresiones for Piano
TOCC0693 (Toccata Classics, CD)
FIRST RELEASE (2 June 2023)
Playing time: 64'12"
Tracks: 15
Booklet pages: 12
℗ 2023 Toccata Classics
© 2023 Toccata Classics
Main country of recording: Mexico
Reviewer: John Dante Prevedini
Review of José F Vásquez: The Complete Impresiones for Piano published on 26 August 2023
Vladimir Curiel, piano
José F Vásquez (1896-1961):
Impresiones (c1922-27)
First Series
1 Romanza
2 Barcarola
3 Melodía
Second Series
4 Nocturno
5 La oración de la tarde
6 Elegía
Third Series
7 Reverie
8 Impromptu
9 Berceuse
Fourth Series
10 Preludio
11 Hoja de álbum
12 Plegaria
Fifth Series
13 Madrigal
14 Serenata
15 Intermezzo
José F Vásquez (1896‒1961) - composer, pianist, conductor and educationalist - was one of the leading figures in Mexican classical music from the 1910s to the 1950s, but since many of his scores were lost after his death, his star soon sank from the sky. Four decades of research by his son, the writer Jose Jesús Vásquez Torres, have recovered much of the missing music, allowing a re-assessment of his father's standing. These five books of Impresiones for piano (from c1922‒27) - fifteen predominantly slow, introspective miniatures - reveal a debt to French Impressionism, Debussy in particular, with occasional nods to Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, and some harmonies that suggest Wagner. Vásquez was a fine pianist himself, but the textures here have a surprising simplicity, throwing the emphasis on tonal colour.
Recorded 17 August, 26 October and 8 December 2022 in Estudio 13, Mexico City, Mexico.