Javier Marías,berta Isla

Eudora Records is thrilled to welcome Javier Laso to the label. As the great pianist Josep Colom states in the accompanying liner notes, “Javier Laso is inspired”, for “he connects directly with the music, a music which shows us a mysterious place which extends beyond the vicissitudes of life and only a performer who sees that place can reveal it to us.” The programme is a marvelous musical coupling: Schubert’s overwhelmingly moving last Piano Sonata D.960, written just a few weeks before his premature death, and Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze op. 6, a Romantic and contrasting struggle between the two sides of the composer’s own musical and personal nature. Javier Laso’s rare and inspiring talent is in display in those passionate and insightful performances.

On his second Pentatone album Sogno, tenor Javier Camarena pays tribute to Francesco Paolo Tosti, together with pianist Ángel Rodríguez. Camarena and Rodríguez have curated a collection of Tosti’s songs that not only include some of his greatest hits but also highlight lesser-known works, including songs in French and English.

During his all-too-brief life, the Andalusian composer Manuel Blasco de Nebra (1750-1784) left behind a handful of keyboard works that evoke Scarlatti's concise forms and extraordinary powers of invention. Each of the sonatas consists of two movements: an adagio followed by a fast finale. The adagios are stark and full of gut-wrenching, slowly resolving dissonant moments, while unpredictable twists and turns characterize the almost Haydn-esque Allegros and Prestos, as well as the E minor Pastorela Minuet's discursive melodic trajectory. At times Blasco de Nebra foreshadows future soulmates; you might mistake the Op. 1 C minor sonata finale's persistent dotted rhythms for Schumann's. Javier Perianes understands what makes de Nebra tick, borne out by his varied articulations, wide dynamic spectrum, and shapely embellishments.