GABRIELA MONTERO

Baroque

 

1. Sanz: Canarios

2. Vivaldi: “Autumn” from The Four Seasons

3. Pachelbel: Canon

4. Handel: Sarabande

5. Baroque And Me (original composition by Gabriela Montero)

6. Handel: “Hallelujah”

7. Albinoni: Adagio

8. Handel: Largo

9. Bach: Prelude

10. Vivaldi: “Winter” from The Four Seasons

11. Handel: Hornpipe

12. Scarlatti: Sonata

13. Vivaldi: “Spring” from The Four Seasons

14. Vivaldi: “Summer” and “Winter” from The Four Seasons

15. Continuum (original composition by Gabriela Montero)

 

Gabriela’s extraordinary ability as an improviser, rare in the classical world, is fast becoming her trademark. The passion, poetic musicality and sense of structure Gabriela brings to classical works translate to her classy improvisations. And no matter how complex the variations, the original melody always emerges triumphantly from a musical tapestry that might weave blues, jazz, tango, Bach or Debussy into a multihued framework. Such a skill for improvisation – to blend a vast range of styles – makes Gabriela an extremely rare talent.

 

In “Baroque” Gabriela takes some of the best known Baroque themes, including Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major, Albinoni’s Adagio, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Boccherini’s Minuet and Handel’s Water Music, and brings to her classy improvisations the same passion, poetic musicality and sense of structure that she brings to classical works.

 

Gabriela Montero was born in Caracas, Venezuela and performed in public for the first time at the age of five. Three years later, she made her concerto debut with the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra. She was subsequently awarded a scholarship from the Venezuelan government to study in the United States. Despite winning a number of competitions, including the Bronze Medal at the 13th International Chopin Piano Competition, Gabriela kept her improvisational skills under wraps until Martha Argerich heard her and was “ecstatic,” giving her a ringing endorsement: “I have rarely come across a talent like Gabriela’s. She is a unique artist” as well as personal encouragement. Montero says, “Martha persuaded me that it was possible to combine my career as a serious ‘classical’ artist with the side of me that is rather unique.”

 

Since then, Gabriela has performed extensively in North and South America, Europe and Asia, both in recital and as a concerto soloist. As encores, she began to invite audience members to suggest themes on which she improvised in a wide variety of styles, letting her musical imagination take over. “It is the most natural and spontaneous way I can express myself,” she says. “I connect with my audience in a completely unique way – and they connect with me.” Montero won the Echo Klassik 2006 award as “Keyboard Instrumentalist of the Year” for her EMI recital disc.

 

"…a ferocious young talent"

 BBC Music Magazine

 

“…Montero’s hybrid idiom succeeds because she mixes and matches styles with such quirky finesse... Montero recovers this lost art while adding her own funky sensibility”

Time Out, New York

 

“An extraordinarily beautiful sound”

Audiophile Audition

 

"I have rarely come across a talent like Gabriela’s. She is a unique artist"

Martha Argerich

 

EMI 5148382