"This recording is one of the most important musical projects of my career to date. Spanish and Latin American music has long been part of my repertoire plans, with Manuel Ponce an iconic figure within that musical landscape. Although I was familiar with his works for guitar, I knew little of Ponce’s keyboard music until Maestro Paolo Mello encouraged me to explore his vast catalogue of piano works. It is a great honour to have been able to record these eight volumes for Grand Piano."

–Álvaro Cendoya

Listen to:

Manuel Ponce was the founder of Mexican musical nationalism, often incorporating the melodies of harmonised folk–songs into his music. Widely travelled – he studied in Europe, at first in Bologna and then, between 1925 and 1933, as a pupil of Dukas in Paris – Ponce assimilated a wide range of styles and influences, including European–influenced Romanticism, indigenous idioms and a more advanced harmonic language. This is the first of eight volumes devoted to Ponce’s complete piano music.

1  Estrellita ‘Metamorfosis de concierto’ (03:42)
2  Preludio mexicano ‘Cielito lindo’ (00:57)
3  A la orilla de un palmar (03:43)
4  Serenata mexicana ‘Alevántate’ (02:35)
5  Valentina (01:13)
6  Ven, ¡Oh luna! (02:40)
7  Preludio mexicano ‘Cuiden su vida’ (03:52)
8  Arrulladora mexicana ‘La Rancherita’ (02:28)
9  Barcarola mexicana ‘Xochimilco’ (02:40)
10  Mañanitas (00:41)
11  Scherzino mexicano (01:31)
12  Scherzino maya (00:50)
13  Intermezzo (No.1) (02:56)
14  Mazurka de salón in A flat Major * (01:56)
15  Mazurka in D minor * (02:32)
16  Mazurka a la espaÑola (03:16)
17  Preludio Romántico (01:50)

DEUX ÉTUDES POUR PIANO (À ARTUR RUBINSTEIN) (03:31)
18  I. Allegretto mosso ma espressivo (02:13)
19  II. Allegro non troppo (01:18)

SONATINE (10:26)
20  I. Semplice, in tempo d’Allegretto (05:40)
21  II. Andante, alla maniera d’un Notturno (02:22)
22  III. Allegro (02:24)

CUATRO DANZAS MEXICANAS (07:14)
23  No. 1: Vivo – Meno mosso, espressivo (02:12)
24  No. 2: Vivo – Più lento (01:21)
25  No. 3: Vivo – Meno mosso (01:39)
26  No. 4: Vivo – Poco meno (02:02)

* World Première Recordings

TOTAL TIME: 59:33

The son of a Basque father and an Iranian mother, Álvaro Cendoya was born in San Sebastián in 1960. He first studied at the local Conservatories and then in Madrid. Subsequently he moved to Buenos Aires, where he studied the piano for three years with Bruno Leonardo Gelber and later continued his piano studies in London with Noretta Conci and Peter Feuchtwanger. In 1989 he won the prize for the best interpretation of Spanish music at the international Premio Jaén competition. In 1993 he appeared as soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 at the Santander Palacio de Festivales, winning critical praise. He made his début in Geneva in 1995 with the orchestra of that city in the Victoria Hall and a year later made his London début at the Wignore Hall. He went on to give recitals at St Martin–in–the–Fields, St John’s Smith Square and again at the Wigmore Hall in 1998. Álvaro Cendoya has also appeared in South America and different European countries, and from 2001 to 2003 appeared annually in Iran, giving recitals and classes. Under the auspices of the Instituto Cervantes he gave first performances in the United States in 1999 at the University of Connecticut of works by César Cano and Tomás Garbizu. In May 2000, under the same auspices, he played at the American University of Beirut, and in 2001 at the Conservatories of Shanghai and Beijing. In the same year he recorded a CD of Latin–American Hispanic Music, and for Naxos two CDs of music by the Basque composer Garbizu. He is a professor at the Basque Conservatory of Music.