Manuel Maria Ponce (1882-1948)
Sonata Romantica (1929)
Sonata Classica (1928)
Sonata No. 3 (1927)
Sonata Mexicana (1923)
Maria Esther Guzman (guitar)
rec. 2022, Agustinos Church, Granada, Spain
IBS Classical IBS122024 [72]
During his early 1940 tour of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico, Andrés Segovia stayed at the home of Mexican composer Manuel Ponce. For several years Ponce had been procrastinating the writing of a concerto for guitar, and on this occasion both gave a renewed commitment for its completion. On Oct 5th a large brown envelope was delivered to Segovia at his home in Montevideo. It contained the long-awaited first pages of the Concierto del Sur; it was written on fine air mail paper, and was the first of several consignments which Segovia would receive before the score was completed. Each he played, accompanied by his wife Paquita Madriguera, after which recommended changes and amendments were conveyed to the composer. This was not a new procedure, but one which Segovia had also employed with Ponce, a decade earlier, during composition of the music on this CD.
Segovia had a very special relationship with Ponce, initiated after the considerable praise the composer had given a Segovia concert. Ponce was not only Professor of Harmony at the National Conservatory of Mexico, but also an active music critic. He wrote much fine music for the guitar, including pastiches which Segovia performed, under the name of composers such as S.L. Weiss and Alessandro Scarlatti. Federico Moreno Torroba noted that one needed to be an expert to recognize if indeed the music was written by the assigned, or from the pen of Ponce. Well into the 20th century, concert programmes and record liner notes were still attributing these pastiches to composers other than Ponce.
This CD presents music exclusively by Manuel Ponce, and exclusively the music he wrote for the guitar in Sonata form. Composed at the request of Segovia, and dedicated to him, they were all written during the period 1923-29. In total there are four Sonatas; on this programme they are presented in reverse chronological order. Segovia also noted that much of the music written for guitar by composers who did not play the instrument, ‘made him laugh,’ and ’to write music for the guitar you have to play it, and play it well’. The fact that Ponce was a pianist probably justified Segovia’s significant changes and amendments to the original scores Ponces sent him for editorial purposes. It is apparent from the liner notes that Maria Guzman is generally averse to these changes and considers them essentially idiomatic. In preparing her renditions, she had been guided by the 2000 edition of Miguel Alcazar’s Complete Works of Ponce according to original manuscripts.
Aside from her impressive academic and performance CV, Maria Esther Guzman is a rather interesting, versatile musician with an extensive discography A quick review of her recordings and performances reveals a musician who not only excels in Western Art Music, but is also active on the ‘lighter’ music genres, including composers such as Ennio Morricone and Scott Joplin. These excellent arrangements by Guzman are obtainable through her self-published sources. She prefers a more limited tonal palette by playing closer to the bridge, and a highly developed sense of rhythm is particularly evident in her excellent performance of Natalia by Antonio Lauro.
These Sonatas are musically and technically demanding to execute, and certainly more so than the two Sonatinas Ponce also composed for guitar. After listening to these performance of the Sonatas by Guzman, and being aware of her acknowledged admiration for the works, one feels justified having initial impressions of such performer sentiment. All are very well performed with a clear understanding of the music which Guzman describes as ‘of very advanced language for their time, supported by a solid structure which gives them personality, not to mention their undeniable quality’
The liner note by Guzman are comprehensive, and give much detailed information on the composer and his relationship with Segovia, They also include a particularly pleasing photograph of Manuel Maria Ponce and his canine friend Kiki.
As a group, this music has been recorded infrequently and was completely omitted from the 1978 recording by John Williams of Ponce’s compositions. The opportunity to hear it played well, with musical empathy, and technical prowess, bodes well for the future appreciation and enjoyment of this recording.
Zane Turner
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