Judith Jáuregui released her new album “HOMELAND” in April 2024, which she recorded in January 2024 with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León and conductor Kaspar Zehnder at the Auditorio Valladolid ( Valladolid, Castilla y León) for the label Eudora Records.
The Spanish pianist has combined two of the greatest works by Edvard Grieg and Manuel de Falla on her seventh album entitled “Homeland”. Together with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León and conductor Kaspar Zehnder, she recorded Grieg’s Piano Concerto Opus 16 and de Falla’s Noches en los Jardines de España. “You have to listen to this CD as it gets darker, preferably twice, as I did,” says Hans Jakob Zehnder, the conductor’s brother.
HOMELAND
Edvard Grieg: Piano concerto a minor
Manuel de Falla: Noches en los Jardines de España
Judith Jáuregui, Klavier
Orquesta sinfónica Castilla y León
Kaspar Zehnder, conductor
Label: Eudora Records
Hans Jakob Zehnder on the new CD:
The musicality of the reproduction is above all else
“You have to listen to this CD as it gets darker, preferably twice, as I did. The musicality of the performance is above all else. The Grieg concerto does not, as is so often the case, degenerate into a pianistic bravura piece, peppered with contrasting tempi and designed for effect. If you listen carefully, the quality comes from the fact that the whole is large and yet subtle in every detail, the paintings of north and south only emerge when you listen carefully, the images of the sea, the sky with its birds and its colors of the day, the evening, the twilight and also the night, in the garden of this night, emerge and do not allow the great romantic dream to be taken away by forced impetuosity that cannot fit in.
The greatness only emerges through the precise transitions
The greatness is only created by the precise transitions, the passages between the orchestra and the soloist that are not rushed and therefore understood. Such sensations can only be discussed with one another to a limited extent; you have to carry them within you, but also consciously transfer them to the whole group of musicians. However, they must also understand what is meant; Judith Jáuregui’s text in the booklet is a single plea to understand this comprehension in words and is therefore not too long or excessive.
The fact that the conductor Kaspar Zehnder, “son of the Swiss Alps”, has understood this in precisely this way is fortunate for everyone, and fortunate also for the listener, who can hear and see this painting, both at the same time. How Spanish or Norwegian this painting looks is interesting, but what is more important is what it triggers when you hear and see it: a longing that goes beyond national borders and yet remains typical of the places, the scents and colors that you feel in the garden, on cliffs, in the wind and in the mystery of the balmy air. This is what home means wherever you get involved with an environment and its charisma.”
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
