El Rio · Massimo Delle Cese

En El río de noche, Huizenga se sumerge en las profundidades de la consciencia a través de las vicisitudes y digresiones de su protagonista, Glenn Ganges.

This recording has selected almost all of the piano-voice songs by Ángel Barja, based on ancient Galician folklore, where the melody tames a very accomplished popular style, slenderised in a subtle and coloristic piano accompaniment that scrupulously observes the conventions of popular roots voice writing. Barja preserves the syllabic nature of the melodies and insists on maintaining the accentuations against the verse. He alternates in them the strophic song, with turns and repetitions, with the simplicity of the popular tune, in many cases with medieval roots, as happens in the Cantiga “Those who know how to love” («Cuantas savedes amar») with a 13th century melody.

With big guitars and sly hooks, Ballard’s third album is filled with gritty country rock. The fact that El Rio was recorded in Texas comes through in the swaggering charm of “Southern Side” or “El Camino,” and the bluesy acoustic slide of “Little Bit of Both.” But Ballard’s gift for storytelling shines brightest on the sweetly sentimental lead-off single, “It All Started with a Beer.”

Born in Granada in 1934, Antonio Ruiz-Pipó learnt the guitar in his youth but trained as a pianist in Barcelona, where he was taught by Frank Marshall, doyen of the Spanish piano school made famous by Alicia de Larrocha. Further study in Paris refined Ruiz-Pipó’s compositional technique, and he taught at the École Normale from 1977 until his death in 1997.