Argentina Durán: Rapsodia Mexicana
Bravo Music

Say the words “Mexican music” and many a listener will think of “La Cucaracha.” Yet while it does surface within the titular travelogue concluding pianist Argentina Durán's release, Rapsodia Mexicana otherwise eschews too-familiar terrain and instead focuses on fresh original material. In featuring works by Manuel M. Ponce, Felipe Villanueva, Alejandro Corona, José Rolón, Luis G. Jordá, Alfredo Carrasco, Sergio Cárdenas, Mario Ruiz Armengol, and Jesús Corona, the second solo album by Durán presents an enlightening portrait of Mexican composers from different eras and styles. Lyrical themes, enticing rhythms, and evocative atmospheres are prominent regardless of the composers' differences.

Recorded in Mexico City and featuring Durán playing a Yamaha CFX grand piano, the album is noteworthy for its performances but also for being the first classical piano album produced in Mexico using Dolby Atmos audio technology. That enhancement casts her playing in the best possible light as well as the Mexican compositions on the release, which arrives two years after her debut collection El sonido de la plata. Durán comes to the project armed with impressive credentials: she's a graduate of the the Universidad Veracruzana and the National Conservatory of Music of Mexico and is also the principal pianist of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional.

All but two of the nine works are standalones. The album begins with Ponce's four-part Cuatro Danzas Mexicanas, its first movement establishing a radiant tone and its second sounding in places not entirely unlike material Ravel might have composed. The passionate third receives an equally impassioned treatment from Durán, while the rapturous fourth is a roller-coaster of exuberant expression. Each of the movements is a model of brevity yet long enough to impart a substantial impression, and Ponce's writing is never less than adventurous in its chromatic daring. Unfolding languorously by comparison is Villanueva's wistful Amar... (Nocturno), which blossoms with a fragile, nostalgic beauty.

Even though the lyrical dimension of Mexican classical composition resonates vividly throughout Rolón's delicate Berceuse, Op. 12 No 3, no setting is prettier or more poignant than Alejandro Corona's Padre, whose tenderness Durán gives beautiful voice to. Carrasco's Romanza sin palabras comes close to matching it when its melancholy tone is affecting and its melodic arc seductive. Based on a melody attributed to Antonio Zúñiga, Cárdenas's Marchita el alma calls Rachmaninoff to mind in its dramatic outpouring of emotion.

The set's other multi-movement work, Jordá's Danzas Nocturnas begins with the tango-like allure of its “Moderato,” holds the attention with the coyly teasing “Con tristeza,” and concludes with the twilight sparkle of “Mesto – Poco più.” Ending the album is Jesús Corona's Rapsodia Mexicana, which, as mentioned, includes a snippet of “La Cucaracha” but otherwise ventures into adventurous territory, some parts majestic and others, as promised, rhapsodic.

August 2024