Harmonia Classics HC 0004 · 2021
Manuel G. Tavárez
Sixteen danzas by Manuel Gregorio Tavárez (1843–1883), the father of Puerto Rican classical music and the danza tradition. Performed by students of the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music under the direction of Emanuel Olivieri, this first volume inaugurates a project to record all surviving Tavárez danzas.
The discography of Manuel Gregorio Tavárez is regrettably scant. Prior to this project, only two recordings had been devoted to his music: the first performed by his daughter Elisa Tavárez (1957), and the second by Jesús María Sanromá (1984). A number of danzas were also recorded by pianists José Enrique Pedreira, Elías López Sobá, and Irma Isern, though only Margarita has a substantial catalog, with more than nine versions in various instrumentations.
This production contains sixteen danzas, fifteen of which are first recordings. A second volume will include the remaining seventeen that are available to us (we are aware of eight additional titles whose whereabouts are unknown). Alongside the recordings, we will publish the scores of all extant danzas in two volumes.
Tavárez elevated the danza to the level of a Creole song without words: he crystallized its form, established the elastic tresillo as the preferred accompanying rhythm, refined the melody, and imbued it with a melancholic air. Subsequent composers of the genre would respond to this model—either by developing it further, as Quintón and Pedreira did, or by steering it in new directions, as his disciple Morel Campos would do.
We wish to thank the students of the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico for their enthusiasm in this project. It is heartening to see new generations discover and appreciate the pillars of Puerto Rico’s musical heritage.
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