Carlos Alberto Castro, guitar  Website: http://www.carloscastro.cc

0:10 I. Registro “Registro” is composed like an improvisation of a guitar player, who is trying to get in contact with an instrument to warm up or to explore it, like when we are playing an unknown guitar for the first time: playing arpeggios, testing different sonorities and looking for colourful chords. Harmonically speaking, this is the most traditional movement of this suite, maybe aiming to make a tribute to the ancient Italian “ricercare” of the late Renaissance and early Baroque, which where pieces with a preludial function to “search out” the key or mode of the following pieces.

2:27 II. Danza Negra “Danza Negra” is a captivating Afro-Venezuelan dance originated from the folksong “San Pedro” —which is quoted by the composer in this movement (starting from measure 15)—, chanted during a religious and popular celebration from the colonial times. Every June 29th the people from Guatire and Guarenas celebrate the parade “La Parranda de San Pedro”, painting their faces with black bitumen. The percussion and the accompaniment of cuatro venezolano are clearly distinguishable in the very first measures of Danza Negra. The rich harmonic texture of this dance is due to a polimodality, i.e. the simultaneous use of two or more modes (it is not really tonal music) to expand the palette of sonority colours. The composer makes an alternation of this background accompaniment and the sudden singing or shouting of short musical phrases, as occurs during a procession. The constant basses and the vivid syncopation keeps the attention until the very last measure, with a fascinating development through modulations to distant harmonic regions and the exuberant harmonization with dissonant intervals everywhere and all kinds of tetrachords.

6:17 III. Canción “Canción” is the emotional core of the “Suite Venezolana” because of its moving melody with a tender and discrete accompaniment. The romantic singing in this slow movement recalls a “canción de serenata”, which are sung at the night by enamored young man in front of his beloved woman’s window, trying to conquer her heart. The popular Venezuelan tune “La Tumba” is quoted here and in the coming last movement (Vals).

9:26 IV. Vals This “Vals” is a very rhythmical and danceable movement, with powerful chords but also very intimate moments. In this case, Lauro composes a kind of waltz nearer to the Viennese tradition but with a sometimes very bizarre harmony. As in the preceding movement, we can hear a quote of the popular Venezuelan tune “La Tumba” in the beginning of the second section after the repetition of the first part. --------------------- This 4 videos were recorded between September and December 2017 as one-take home recordings on my Luigi Locatto guitar with Savarez Alliance strings using a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge and a Zoom Q4n (audio XY).