Three pieces in this set; the title translates to "Through the Streets of Seville". I like this music because it totally satisfies my desire to play Spanish music and also play really low notes! There are tons of them here!! Also a lot of lush and tropical five-note chords. Really, I'm ready to jump on a plane right now and fly to Spain.....

No. 1 translates to: "Reflections in the Tower" Turina - Por las Calles de Sevilla Op. 96, no. 1 "Reflejos en la Torre"

No. 2: "To the Virgin of Mercy" Turina - Por las Calles de Sevilla Op. 96, no. 2 "Ante la Virgen de la Merced"

No. 3: "Street of the Serpents" Turina - Por las Calles de Sevilla Op. 96, no. 3 "La Calle de las Sierpes"

Thank you to Chris for giving me the score.

Another composer who I knew of by name only! Some nice lush harmonies. These are attractive pieces and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing them. The last piece made a nice contrast with its predecessor. Thanks

I've always considered this one of Turina's finer sets. Here is a composer who is often dutifully churning out pretty picture
postcard miniatures like so much tap water. But when Turina gets going, like here and selected places elsewhere, he can whip up
considerable excitement and attain a steely, fiery brilliance, which should be played to the hilt. However I mostly miss that excitement
and proud Spanish strut here. The two outer movements should really be much faster and tauter, with more rhythmic snap, sharp
attacks, and dynamic contrast. The sun is burning, and tempers ought to get hot !
Technically not much wrong here, all the notes are there, but be wary of flabby rhythms and sudden cautious delays between jumps. Live dangerously ! Amor y muerte, ole

Some specifics.
1 - Hardly "Allegro vivo"
Penultimate page, at the start of the Moderato quasi allegretto, I think the low RH note should be E, not D, even if it's evidently printed a little too low.
Same page, 3rd bar from end, wrong RH rhythm in the 2nd half of the bar.
Last page, observe the Allegro vivo. Greate excitement should be building from here to the end.
12th bar from end, I have always played the LH low char on A flat. I believe the B flat to be a misprint. Could be wrong though.

2 -Overall a nice sonorous performance.
I'd personally observe the slurs in the first couple of bars, by leaving just a little air between the phrases.
Your tempo seems unsteady, more Largo than Andante, and as from bar 7 it suddenly gets much slower still.
In the Exaltado episode, the dotted figures need to more sharper rhythmically.
On the last page, the ff bars are rhythmically vague.
The ending could be softer and more quasi irreal. Easier said than done though.

3 - Much too slow and tame. Where are these serpents ? The blazing conclusion does not sweep all before it as it should.

Sorry to be a bit critical, but I feel strongly about this set (which I got to know from a splendid old LP played by Cristina Ortiz, who really goes hell for leather here).

Hello Monica,

Thank you for introducing me to these fantastic pieces. I think you are definitely on track to fully expressing the flavor of these pieces
and that with time these will be a bit more spontaneous sounding. In the first movement the dynamics are beautiful, your chords are so
evenly expressed and and times the melody comes through the chords so appropriately. I find it interesting that you want to explore the
possibilities of the lower register.

I do not know the dynamic markings in the second movement, but my guess is that with time there will be greater variation in shading of the
pianos and pianissimos and a greater legato. This movement reminds me of Debussy.

In the third movement "Streets of the Serpents", perhaps a bit more punctuation and a few more accented notes.

Monica, you have really done a good job and with time the expressiveness and feeling of on the spot musicality will undoubtedly mature.
Thank you so much for posting, please repost them in six months or so, they will be amazing I think.

Kaila

Thanks for listening, Andrew!

Thanks to you too, Kaila and Chris.

@Chris - I have never heard this set played by anyone before until just about a week ago when I was searching for it online. I found only one recording on Youtube by Antonio Soria so I tried to model my interpretation after him. I am within a few seconds compared to his recordings on each of these. I agree about my no. 3 sounding sluggish. I just re-recorded it tonight and think it's better now. I'm also happy with my interpretation/playing of nos. 1 and 2, although there are a couple points you brought up that I need to address.


I did play an E.


Oh, yes you're right about that. Oops...


Of course I did that. Can't you tell how much faster my beat is right there? I can!


not sure about that, either...

@Kaila - I'm laughing a little because six months to me might as well be six years. I have absolutely no patience (a major character flaw, I know). But I did sort of take your advice and re-recorded the 3rd piece six 'hours' after I read your comments. haha....
Seriously, I know what you're saying and I really wish I had the discipline to work on pieces for however long it takes to get them to be perfect. That's only happened with two pieces because I really really really loved them so much! But usually I just want to get onto something new and want to keep exploring more music before I die.

Monica,

Your technique is really developing and is quite impressive. You are able to do so many things. I admire your drive to constantly learn new pieces.
If you do return to some of them on a rotational basis without stopping everything else in your tracks, you will create a system for yourself where you redevelop and reinvest your musicianship.

These pieces were made for YOU. I think you will do an amazing job if you go back to them. Just instinct. I hope you do. I would love to hear them again in a few months.

Kaila

Thank you, Kaila. Returning to pieces on a rotational basis sounds like a good idea. I should do more of that. Although, I do that sometimes when I come across an older recording of mine that is pretty crappy and gets me so embarrassed, which motivates me to get it back onto my piano right away. My problem these days is that I now work full-time outside my home and don't have much free time to practice anymore. If only there were about 26 hours in the day....*sigh*

I was not familiar with these (or the music of Turina in general). These are lovely pieces and I enjoyed your performance.

Just a point of translation. The second mvt -- "Ante la Virgen de la Merced" more accurately translates to "before" or "in the presence of". The translation of "to" either indicates movement from somewhere to here or implies a prayer to the virgen. The translation of "in the presence of" indicates that music is about the composer's impression of what is remarkable about this virgen de merced (a church or a statue or an icon) and how it affects him. I bring this up simply because it could have a bearing on how you decide to interpret the movement.

If it is about a sense of awe inspired by this virgen then consider being very careful that no note enters even the slightest fraction of a beat before its time (which can be very difficult in a slow movement), otherwise it gives a slightly rushed feeling. Some of the spots that I noticed this were first at about 0:33 where the low detached bass notes occur. The second one seems just the slightest bit early if they are notes of the same length. Other places that I noticed the effect is at the beginning of several phrases where the initial note seems to want to wait just a little longer after the completion of the previous one. (I hope that this makes some sense and since I don't have the score I can't be more specific.)

Overall, I truly enjoyed your performance of these pieces and thank you for exposing me to Senor Turina.

Scott

Thank you for listening AND commenting, Scott. I'm not sure about the translation here. Your idea is certainly possible, or we could simply refer to what the title of the set reads, "through the streets of Seville"....Like you start out at the Tower, and then turn right to Go to the Virgen, and then turn left and you're at Serpents Street... I dunno...

Scott is correct regarding the translation of "Ante la virgen ..."

Ok, Mr.Know-it-all...

Now, now ... eets juss mi Cubano comeen oud

Way off subject but, it is interesting to me that in both English, German, Spanish and French, there exists a word that may be used to mean before in both space and time.

Not to be wondered at, really, as all these are Indo-European languages and we are talking of very basic words, which are obviously very ancient too. I discuss this sort of thing on one of my sites: www.italian-language-study.com I do not remember exacly where, but I do.