{"id":6142,"date":"2017-02-15T11:56:04","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T19:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=6142"},"modified":"2017-02-15T15:12:47","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T23:12:47","slug":"iberian-magic-pepe-romero-live-in-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/iberian-magic-pepe-romero-live-in-san-francisco\/","title":{"rendered":"Iberian Magic: Pepe Romero Live in San Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"

Review by Blair Jackson<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Pepe Romero<\/strong>
\nHerbst Theatre, San Francisco<\/strong>
\nFebruary 4, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s in a name? Well, if it happens to be \u201cPepe Romero,\u201d it means you can sell out San Francisco\u2019s gorgeous, refurbished 900-seat Herbst Theatre on a cold, damp February night, even though you don\u2019t have a new CD to promote nor are you part of a larger festival. \u201cLegendary\u201d is a hopelessly overused adjective these days, but in the case of the Romero family it is apt, as three generations of the guitar-playing family have been filling concert halls around the U.S. for more than five decades, and 72-year old Pepe is still at the top of his game, as he showed on this evening.<\/p>\n

Decked out in a tuxedo\u2014common in the past for male classical guitarists, but increasingly rare\u2014Romero was all smiles as walked out from backstage to rapturous applause. He would flash his famously infectious grin after every number, but once he launched into a piece, it was serious business until the last notes rang out, and he was bathed again in the crowd\u2019s adoration. This is a man who clearly loves what he does; you can feel it in his playing, too, with the care he puts into every passage of every piece, whether\u00a0 he\u2019s squeezing out little vibrato accents, eliciting bell-like harmonics, or mellifluously rolling through fast, complex, left-hand fingerings with grace, fluidity and what looks like a reflexive ease.<\/p>\n

Rather than a regular recital mixing works from many different eras\u2014say, Bach and Alb\u00e9niz and Villa-Lobos and Brouwer, and so forth\u2014Romero put together a themed program called \u201cLos Espa\u00f1oles de Ravel\u201d in which, as he wrote in the concert notes, \u201cI pay tribute to one of my favorite composers, Ravel, and through music express the personal and musical relationship between Ravel and his Spanish circle of friends\u2014 Alb\u00e9niz, Granados, Falla, Malats, [Angel] Barrios, T\u00e1rrega, Turina, Rodrigo, Torroba, and Vi\u00f1es. I have always been fascinated by the political and historical rivalry between France and Spain juxtaposed with the mutual love affair between Ravel and his compatriots and this group of Spanish composers.\u201d And so, the concert started off (somewhat somberly) with Romero\u2019s own transcription of Ravel\u2019s Pavane pour une infant d\u00e9funte <\/em>(a tribute to a deceased infant), followed by another memorial piece, Manuel de Falla\u2019s\u00a0 famous Homenaje pour le Tombeau de Claude Debussy<\/em> (Debussy, of course, being one of Ravel\u2019s friends and musical compatriots).<\/p>\n

From there it was a voyage through all sorts of different overtly Spanish textures. After Granados\u2019 Danza Espa\u00f1ola No. 5: \u201cAnadaluza,\u201d<\/em> Romero explained the theme of the evening and asked the audience to imagine being at a salon in Ravel\u2019s home where these pieces were being played; easy to do, because even in the large, architecturally impressive hall, the warmth of the unamplified guitar made the place feel intimate, like it was a gathering of friends. Joaqu\u00edn Malats\u2019 Serenata Espa\u00f1ola<\/em> provided the loveliest moments of the concert\u2019s first half, while the most exciting piece was the concluding Fantasia Sevillana <\/em>by Joaqu\u00edn Turina, which has so many interesting layers, from the opening strums on open strings, to some more traditional Spanish motifs, rhythmic variations, and lyrical passages; it\u2019s a wonderful work.<\/p>\n

That Turina piece has some undeniably \u201cmodern\u201d elements, and so does the piece that kicked off the second half of the concert, Joaqu\u00edn Rodrigo\u2019s En tierras de Jerez<\/em>, written in 1960, making it the newest piece in the program. It\u2019s easy to forget that for all his nationalist tendencies, as exemplified by the famous Concierto de Aranjuez<\/em>, Rodrigo was definitely a 20th century composer with inclinations that went beyond traditional Spanish flavors. Still, En tierras de Jerez<\/em> is certainly part of Rodrigo\u2019s overtly Spanish oeuvre, discordant elements and all.<\/p>\n

\"Pepe
\nBackstage before the concert. Photo by Pepe Romero Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n

Then Romero launched into a succession of well-known Spanish pieces, including Torroba\u2019s Sonatina<\/em> (with its sublime \u201cAndante,\u201d which Romero calls \u201ca journey into Torroba\u2019s soul, profound in its gentleness\u201d); T\u00e1rrega\u2019s Capricho \u00e1rabe<\/em>; and three of Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s most popular works: Asturias<\/em>, the transcendently beautiful Granada<\/em>, and Sevilla<\/em>. Undoubtedly there was some curmudgeon in the audience quietly seething about having to endure yet another Asturias<\/em>, but it\u2019s truly a great piece (famous for a reason!) and it almost goes without saying that Romero artfully brought out the vibrancy of all of its many colors\u2014and, of course, it was thematically perfect for this particular program. (In the midst of this succession of \u201chits\u201d was a lovely piece that was new to me, Menuet spectral (\u00e0 la memoire de Maurice Ravel)<\/em> by Ricardo Vi\u00f1es, another Spanish pianist and composer who was close to Ravel; the guitar transcription was by Romero.)<\/p>\n

Before the encore, Romero saluted his son, luthier Pepe Jr., for building the guitar he played during the concert (it sounded warm and true), and also gave a shout-out to Pepe Jr.\u2019s young children, who were also there at Herbst. And the encore selection kept the family vibe going: a dazzling piece written by Pepe\u2019s late father (and founder of the Romero Quartet), Celedonio, called Fantas\u00eda Cubana<\/em>, also perfectly in keeping with the Iberian magic that preceded it.<\/p>\n

Also worth noting is that before the concert, in the marble lobby outside the theater entrance, a quartet of very talented young players who are private students of San Francisco Conservatory of the Arts guitar professor Scott Cmiel, performed a number of pieces for a couple of hundred early arrivers. It was a wonderful way to kick off an exceptional evening of music\u2014another unforgettable winner in the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts’ \u00a0“Dynamite Guitars” series.<\/p>\n

\"pepe
\nPre-concert quartet and more (L to R): Nicholas Padmanabhan, SFCA’s Scott Cmiel, Dilip Kumar, Pepe Romero, Chase Onodera, Morgan Vallat<\/em><\/p>\n

And because we can’t resist including a video (though this not from the SF concert), here Romero plays Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s <\/em>Asturias last year on one of Pepe Jr.’s guitars :<\/em>
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