Miguel Llobet Mini Challenge

Eric Phillips very nicely done. Beautiful little pieceI and you give it such delicate and moving feel.

I don’t know much about the specific music of the region of Leon.. It seems there was a contemporary composer who edited a set of those pieces. I found this on the Delcamp Forum <The original composition comes from a collection of piano pieces called "Canciones Leonesas", by Rogelio Villar. This particular piece is the first piece in the collection (there are 25 pieces total in the collection). The title of the piece is "Berceuse" … > I don’t know if there were lyrics, couldn’t find any reference.

joosje Thanks for the information, Joosje. It still seems a little murky, but the music is straightforward, and definitely sounds like a lullaby.

Steve Pederson Thanks, Steve. Join in!

Michael Shirk Thanks, Michael. I’m not familiar with the saying, but the only thing that will get me to stop playing is a bunch of technique exercises. Those are my kryptonite!

Steve Pederson  I agree with David Krupka these Catalan folk songs are such inspiring pieces, full of  harmonic beauty and colour, so well arranged by Llobet, but none of them are easy, they demand good preparation, and thinking… where does the melody go, how to bring out the different harmonies … Eric Phillips did a great job with Leonesa, also not an easy piece. (though he makes it sound easy)

I would say the words “mini challenge” and “Llobet“ are a a bit of a contradiction in terms ….

but it inspired me to work on two pieces: El Mestre and Canco del Lladre. I started to learn them a few years back, but never really mastered. Antigoni’s live stream and video were so inspiring. Don’t know if I will have time to practice enough and record anything decent… there’s also the other challenge… 

Eric Phillips I just struck a little gold in figuring out where this music comes from. Apparently it is not from a song, but from a piece for piano by Rogelio Villar. Below is a video of it being played by a YT friend of mine named Tate Harmann. If you go to the video in YT, you can read what he writes about the piece.

I have also included a video with a recording of the piece played by Llobet himself! What he plays does not match the arrangement I have, so either I have an arrangement by someone else, or Llobet changed his arrangement over time. He also plays it quite a bit faster than I did (not surprisingly, as I play almost everything very slowly).

Enjoy!

David Krupka Thanks so much, David, for listening and for the background info on this piece. Musically, it is a bit odd, and I'm not sure I am effectively communicating what Llobet had intended. I do love the dissonances in it.

Yes, I do seem to be the only one posting Llobet here. I'd love to have you jump in! The water is great.

Eric Phillips great work on these Eric! Llobet transcriptions are well done but at the same time filled with tricky passages  For sure doing a bit of colors and dynamics helps communicate musical ideas, you're doing great! 

Blaise Laflamme Thanks, Blaise! You should try El Mestre.

Eric Phillips haha... you want to break me! Just read through the piece and... ... so much work in that little piece!! You want a simple work with an easy legato... Welcome to El Mestre! 

Blaise Laflamme I am certain you would solve all the problems and play it beautifully. On YT, there is a masterclass on the piece, with Lily Afshar playing it for Segovia. Segovia called it the best piece Llobet had written.

Vladimir Gorbach has an outstanding performance of it on YT, but I bet you could do even better!

Eric Phillips Thank you for trusting me!  It's not out of reach but it would requires a lot of work to make it sound legato as I hear it. I think Segovia is right by saying it's the best, or at least one of the best, Llobet arranged. The harmony and voicing are refined and all done in an orchestral approach, very well constructed... simply beautiful. I'll take a look at the masterclass, should be interesting.