Five stars: A beautiful recording of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s epic solo guitar work, Platero y Yo
CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO Platero y Yo, op. 190  Niklas Johansen (gtr)  OUR 8.226930-31 (2 CDs: 109:00 )
Platero y Yo (Platero and I), by the Nobel Prize-winning Spanish author Juan Ramón Jiménez, is a collection of 138 prose poems. Published in 1914, Platero y Yo documents the narrator’s friendship with a gentle, playful donkey, and their experiences throughout Jiménez’s birthplace, the Andalusian town of Moguer. Platero y Yo is both a memoir of the author’s affection for his four-legged friend, and a nostalgic tribute to Jiménez’s beloved home. It is the literary and spiritual ancestor of another treasurable book, John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley (1962). The Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco greatly admired Jiménez’s Platero and I. In 1960, Castelnuovo-Tedesco set 28 of the Jiménez poems, for performance by narrator and guitar. Castelnuovo-Tedesco also gave permission for the work to be performed as a guitar solo, sans recitation of the Jiménez prose poems. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s credentials as a composer both of music for guitar, and narrative pieces, are well known. His Platero y Yo is a charming, affecting piece that celebrates the melodies and rhythms of Jiménez’s homeland. On occasion, Castelnuovo-Tedesco evokes Platero’s braying, the ringing of bells, rustling wing, bird sounds, etc. But for the greater part, the composer’s focus is on the narrator’s emotional state, as he interacts with Platero, fellow Moguerans, and nature. To be sure, Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s beautiful score can be enjoyed without any association to Jiménez’s narrative. But thanks to Our Recordings, listeners can also fully enjoy the symbiosis of Jiménez’s poetry and Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s music. The CD booklet provides a complete English translation of the 28 poems. Each poem is complemented by a lovely black and white illustration, the creation of visual artist Halfdan Pisket.
Danish guitarist Niklas Johansen has engaged in an intense study both of Jiménez’s poetry and Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s score. Johansen’s rendition embodies technical mastery, a beautiful and varied tonal palette, keen sensitivity to the Jiménez/Castelnuovo-Tedesco narrative, and a heartfelt, idiomatic embrace of the work’s Spanish elements. The recording, made in Fredensborg Palace Chapel, achieves an intimate, warm, and detailed acoustic. Superb. Ken Meltzer