2/2: Tenor Alfredo Kraus
Born in the Canary Islands in 1927, Alfredo Kraus Trujillo was widely regarded as the greatest tenor of his generation. Candice Agree presents Alfredo Kraus in selections from zarzuelas by Bretón and Fernández, plus a litte-known song cycle by Joaquín Turina.
2/9: Love, Iberian Style
Love songs, nothing but love songs! Spanish love songs for El Día de los enamorados – Valentine’s Day – from Sephardic romances from the Middle Ages to love songs by Granados and Falla.
2/16: Enfoque: Manuel Ponce
Manuel María Ponce was one of the great geniuses of Mexican music. An avid musicologist, Ponce used his vast collection of traditional Mexican folksongs in his romantic works, a synthesis he thought crucial for his country’s cultural evolution. Featured are the 24 guitar preludes, romantic pieces for piano, and the Concierto del Sur, perhaps his best-known work.
2/23: Enfoque: Xavier Montsalvatge
One of the so-called "Lost Generation" of Spanish composers, first gaining wide-spread recognition in the 1940s, pianist, critic, and composer Xavier Montsalvatge was influenced by antillanismo, neo-Romanticism, and French impressionism, especially Ravel. This edition of The Spanish Hour with Candice Agree features his most famous work, 5 canciones negras, plus works for string quartet, piano, as well asselections from the opera El gat amb botes/El gato con botas (Puss in Boots.)
