Recovering the "Spanish Chopin": For Benjamín G. Rosado

Mario Prisuelos pianist devotes a special memory of Marcial del Adalid, considered one of the greatest exponents of musical romanticism in Spain.

 

Mario Prisuelos wanted to test the effectiveness of Shazam with their latest album, 'The romantic piano' (Universal). That sounds like Chopin's Preludes and reminds Mendelssohn Songs without words, although the 21 miniatures of the recording we should actually a Galician composer, Marcial del Adalid (1826-1881), a contemporary of the above, while much less known. As one of the most worthy representatives of the Spanish piano romantic life goodbye knowing a stranger to the world, watching the world go by from a window of his lonely manor of Lóngora.

 

The first time I heard of Prisuelos "Spanish Chopin" was mouth and hands of his master, the Uruguayan Humberto Quagliata, who introduced him to the world of this forgotten classic. "I could not believe that a composer who produced so big could have gone unnoticed for the history of music," says the Spaniard interpreter. "So every time it gives me the opportunity I did not hesitate to include some of his works in the programs of my concerts". He did during his debut at New York's Carnegie Hall, three years ago, and will continue reivindicándolo during the tour to promote the album, linked to Galicia and the centenary of the Philharmonic Society of Vigo.

Leader was born in La Coruña, but studied in London with the famous Moscheles, who was himself a student of Beethoven and Mendelssohn's close friend. "From him he learned all the Central European tradition and soaked up the musical trends of the time." Adalid music is indebted to all of them (also Liszt and Schumann), but his style no greater aspiration than the sheer pleasure of composing. "It was a composer of salon, in the best sense of the word. Almost all literature is collected and suffered economic hardship of many of his contemporaries. So on his return from Europe was devoted to putting music to the poems of his wife, writer Fanny Garrido, and enliven the literary soirees of Emilia Pardo Bazán ".

 

Adalid He enjoyed a quiet life, but was unable to fulfill the dream of personally knowing Chopin. His death touched him deeply and inspired the beautiful pages of the 'Great Improvisation', also contained in the disc. Although biographical evidence Prisuelos can not help fantasizing about a meeting between Leader and Chopin in Paris, as did others with Mozart and Beethoven in Vienna that uncertain 1787. "I do not know why I can imagine at night in the apartment Chopin, gathered around a piano, without a word, leaving everything to the expression and feelings, the language best handled ".

 

Recognizes Prisuelos (omnivorous musician as they come, whose repertoire ranges from baroque to the avant-garde) have obeyed intuition for the selection of the 21 pieces of collections, a total of twelve romances, a scherzo, a ballad, an improvisation six waltzes . "The legacy of Leader is of variable quality," he says. "It goes from what we could describe as mere studies for piano practice authentic monuments of intimate expression, where you can hear that voice of hers as influenced by Europe but at the same time very special."

 

The third disc of the Madrid pianist is a waste of sensitivity and technical ingenuity, plus an example of musicological rigor, as evidenced by the inclusion of the first ever recording of an unpublished score containing six romances without words, too small format, the Prisuelos own manuscripts found between José Ramón Guelbenzu in one of his many visits to the National Library. "Further proof that sometimes beauty be forgotten in a drawer."