{"id":1260,"date":"2015-03-18T06:00:04","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T13:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=1260"},"modified":"2015-03-18T10:04:13","modified_gmt":"2015-03-18T17:04:13","slug":"the-romeros-celebrate-55-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/the-romeros-celebrate-55-years\/","title":{"rendered":"A Family Affair: The Romeros Celebrate 55 Years as a Preeminent Musical Force"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Jeffrey Kaliss<\/em><\/p>\n

\"romeros\"<\/p>\n

Can it be that a family that plays together more securely stays together?<\/p>\n

The Romeros began in 1960 when Celedonio Romero, a student of Spanish composer Joaqu\u00edn Turina, emigrated from Madrid to San Diego County and decided to form a unique ensemble of four guitars: his three sons Celin, Pepe, and Angel, and himself. The quartet\u00a0rearranged pieces from the Spanish and western classical repertoire, attracted commissions from Joaquin Rodrigo, Morton Gould, and others, and\u00a0composed some of their own. To date, and with personnel changes, the\u00a0Romeros have toured and recorded together, and stayed that way through 55 years and three generations.<\/p>\n

The lineup heard on December 6, 2014 at the acoustically friendly Miner Auditorium of the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco included Celin and Pepe from the original quartet; Angel\u2019s son Lito, who replaced his late grandfather, Celedonio; and Celin\u2019s son Celino, who replaced Angel, now concertizing as a soloist.<\/p>\n

The evening\u2019s first piece, drawn from \u201cLa revoltosa\u201d, a turn-of-the century zarzuela by Ruperto Chap\u00ed, invoked the dance-based joy of much Spanish-guitar music and showcased the Romeros\u2019 deployment of harmonization and trading of solo statements. In an interview later, Pepe told me, \u201cIf you compare us to a string quartet, I would be the first violin, Celino would be the second violin, my nephew Lito would be the viola, and Celin would be the cello.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pepe, for whom the current tour is billed as a celebration of his 70th birthday, then took the stage on his own. His performance of his father\u2019s \u201cLos Maestros\u201d showcased the marvelously clean, dry sound of his instrument, manufactured by his son, Pepe, Jr. (Pepe Sr.\u2019s guitar is Junior\u2019s No. 230; Lito and Celino play their cousin\u2019s Nos. 31 and 202,\u00a0respectively; and Celin plays a Miguel Rodriguez \u201cCentenario.\u201d) Pepe\u2019s virtuosity in tremolos and rapid runs, apparent on recordings, was all the more stunning in live performance. Both he and the rest of the ensemble seemed less interested in wide-ranging dynamics. But on \u201cFantasia Sevillana,\u201d written by his father\u2019s teacher Turina, the contemplative approach worked well, articulated through altered chords and exploration of both high and low ends of the instrument\u2019s range.<\/p>\n

Pepe\u2019s virtuosity in tremolos and rapid runs,
\napparent on recordings, was all the more stunning in live performance.<\/h1>\n

Pepe was joined by Celino on his slightly smaller instrument for Rodrigo\u2019s \u201cTonadilla,\u201d originally written for the mid century guitar duo of Ida Presti and Alexadre Lagoya. Uncle and nephew shared the fascinating close intervals that begin the piece, flowing into\u00a0impressionistic takes on a variety of Iberian modes. In the chamber-music like exchanges, the pair\u2019s synchronization was impressive, and their pleasure in the process was apparent on their faces.<\/p>\n

As the other half of the quartet returned to the stage, Celino, as genial spokesman, professed, \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be back in San Francisco, even though we\u2019re from San Diego and you took Bruce Bochy\u201d (in reference to baseball World Series-winning manager of the San Francisco\u2019s Giants, formerly assigned to San Diego\u2019s Padres team). In two sections from Boccherini\u2019s Guitar Quintet No. 4 (arranged for quartet by Pepe), there was yet more evidence of tight timing, although the Romeros do not choose to cleave to anything like Baroque rigidity of tempo, either separately or in ensemble. The Iberian influence on the 18th century Italian composer was evident, and the ensemble made ample use of castanet-like percussion on various parts of their instruments.<\/p>\n

Two Manuel de Falla pieces by the full quartet followed intermission, an excerpt from The Three Cornered Hat ballet and an adapted zarzuela, \u201cLa Vida Breve,\u201d both deliciously arranged by Pepe. The flamenco dynamics from the first were affecting, if not always completely defined. On the second, Pepe\u2019s playing was particularly lyrical, and he got to interject a bit of palmas (flamenco clapping). Introducing his solo performance of \u201cLa Paloma,\u201d as arranged by Francisco T\u00e1rrega, Celino recalled how he and his seven cousins had stayed as children at Celedonio\u2019s home in San Diego County, where he\u2019d learned to play the song\u2014a favorite of his grandfather\u2014 to serenade the old man into sleep. Celino\u2019s sound evoked this scene, warm and honeyed, and his pacing was engagingly varied, encouraging the rest of us to hear the familiar piece anew. He then set himself to Celedonio\u2019s \u201cFantasia Cubana,\u201d a wonderful cantabile tune evoking the composer\u2019s expatriate childhood. Celino got to demonstrate his own dynamic range and rapid arpeggios, as well as an affecting strumming on the fingerboard. He\u2019d tuned his sixth string to D for both these numbers.<\/p>\n

He was followed by his 78-year-old father Celin, in two preludios by Brazilian master Heitor Villa-Lobos. Both evoked Bach in harmonic structure, but with some amount of soul and swing added by the composer and the player. Celin, never as prominently featured as his younger brother, displayed an airy and empathetic approach, and with nice phrasing. His son and nephew followed him with an arrangement by his brother of the \u201cDanza No. 5\u201d by Enrique Granados. Lito provided symbiotic support to his cousin\u2019s affecting, delicate intonation, conveying the rather unusual voicings set by Pepe.<\/p>\n

Pepe then introduced the full quartet\u2019s versions of a couple of his own compositions. He recalled how T\u00e1rrega\u2019s \u201cRecuredos de la Alhambra\u201d had come to life for him as a child when he\u2019d spent time in Granada across from the storied palace, and how this memory had inspired his \u201cEn el Sacromonte,\u201d\u00a0a modernistic etude with altered\u00a0intervals but evoking flamenco roots. Pepe\u2019s \u201cColombianas\u201d offered\u00a0bouqueted harmonies from the four guitars, and its blithe good-naturedness somehow evoked Hawaiian slack-key and visible family fun, eliciting shouts, whistles, and a standing ovation from the audience.<\/p>\n

This was a hard act to follow, but Jer\u00f3nimo Gimenez\u2019s \u201cLa boda de Luis Alonso\u201d showcased the quartet in perhaps a more traditional, sophisticated mode, with elegantly stacked harmonies and an elongated presto outing by Pepe. Lito worked his instrument\u2019s percussive potential with powerful strumming and pull-offs.<\/p>\n

For their first encore, the Romeros used their founder\u2019s \u201cLa noche en Malaga,\u201d described by Pepe as \u201cthe first guitar quartet we ever played, and the first composition my father wrote for my mother\u2014when he was 15.\u201d Celin and Celino shared an affecting melody line in a familiar Malague\u00f1an\u00a0progression. Pepe displayed the magic of left-hand pizzicatti, effectively mimicked, but with canny alteration (to the amusement of the audience), by his nephew Lito. The departing\u00a0ensemble was brought back for a stunning set of improvisations, perhaps the Miner Auditorium\u2019s closest approach to the feeling of a Spanish flamenco bar, with Pepe capoed high up on the fingerboard, Celino strumming passionately, and everyone extending their instruments to their acoustic extremes, including much tapping of the wood.<\/p>\n

The Romeros managed once again to make family values sound stirring, hugging each other as they left the stage and tossing kisses to their grateful fans.<\/p>\n

\n

This article was originally published in the Spring 2015 issue of Classical Guitar<\/em> magazine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"CG_377\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The issue also features Sharon Isbin, Frantz Casseus, a special focus on guitar festivals & competitions, and much more. Click here for more information on the issue.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Jeffrey Kaliss Can it be that a family that plays together more securely stays together? The Romeros began in 1960 when Celedonio Romero, a student of Spanish composer Joaqu\u00edn Turina, emigrated from Madrid to San Diego County and decided to form a unique ensemble of four guitars: his three sons Celin, Pepe, and Angel, and himself. The quartet\u00a0rearranged pieces from the Spanish and western classical repertoire, attracted commissions from Joaquin Rodrigo, Morton Gould, and others, and\u00a0composed some of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/romeros.jpg?fit=746%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}