Ritmo De Congas De Oriente
Rapsodia de Cuba Vol. II
Orquesta de Camara de Madrid
Conducted by Felix Guerrero
Orchestral arrangements by Guerrero
Montilla FM 80
Somehow the peppy track, Ritmo De Congas De Oriente (featured above) managed to make its way onto this set of generally more subdued "mood" music.
From the back cover: Felix Guerrero Diaz, the son of the famous guitar virtuosos, Felix Guerrero Reyna, was born in Havana on January 13, 1917. Still in his youth, Guerrero is one of the most firmly established talents in the Cuban musical scene. He began his studies under the direction of his father and with Isidro Laguna, in the Municipal Conservatory of Havana. Thereafter he studied harmony and counterpoint with the renowned Amadeo Rodin, and finally, composition with the Spanish composer and conductor, Pedro Sanjuan.
Eager to perfect his studies, Guerrero journeyed to the United States in 1947 to enroll at the Julliard School. Ultimately, he went to Europe where he took summer courses at the School Of American Art with Nadia Boulanger and Marcel Dupre. The Paris Conservatory followed where he completed his studies in composition with Nadia Boulanger and in conducting with Eugene Bigot. These extended years of study brought as accumulation of prized to Guerrero. They were First prize for harmony and composition in the Academy of Maestro Pedro Sanjuan; Award for Composition in Paris; Honor prizes in Marianao of the Province of Pinar del Rio for his work in Cuban music, and, in 1955, he was singled out as the most distinguished director by the Radio and Television Chronicle.
He was as composer, begun in 1937 followed an uninterrupted line of diversity and prolific achievement. He has tried all aspects of the music field with the same good fortune. He has composed music for the theatre, the motion pictures, symphonic, chamber, vocal, and instrumental; thus embracing every aspect of the music. Among his important works, the following should be mentioned: "Chopiniana," an interesting bitonal experiment composed in 1953, "Cinco dances cabanas," "Sonatina for Viola and Piano," "Guajiras for Guitars," "Cuarteto para cured en re," the ballet "El rumbero maravilloso," "Rapsodia cubana," and innumerable nocturnes for orchestra, songs, etc.
The musical ingenuity of Guerrero is definitely reflective of modern times in its harmonic structure; however, over-adventurous stridencies are absent and the music is invariably nationalistic in accent. In his work as orchestrator, he has a profound knowledge of orchestral timbre which he handles with great ease, and of impressionistic tonalities which he manages to blend with the native rhythms and strains of his country.
Montilla engaged this notable Cuban musician, who is the director of Channel 4 of "Television National de Cuba," in order to record and conduct and anthology of Cuban instrumental works as well as some of the principal works of Ernesto Lecuona. Under Guerrero's direction, with the "Orquesta de Camara de Madrid" and a group of renowned Spanish artists, these recordings came to life in Madrid.
La Bella Cubana
Se Fue
Suavecito
Siempre En Mi Corazon
Aquellos Ojos Verdes
Para Vigo Me Voy
Serenata Cubana
Noche Azul
El Que Siembra Su Maiz
Tu
Marta
Ritmo De Congas De Oriente
Ahi Viene El Chino
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