Palimpsesto CD | Website Gustavo Corrales Romero

This is where I began recording my journey as a Latin American music specialist: With a tribute to my late teacher, the great inspiring force that was César López Zarragoitía.

I've been very careful about the selection and order of the pieces I wanted to interpret on this musical document, that became a successful journey on piano from the 19th to the 20th century. Being familiar with the concept of a palimpsest, the ideas for the title and design (also mine) were not far away.

Why Palimpsesto

The word “Palimpsesto” is derived from Greek: “palin” means “again” and “psestos” scraped, indicating a parchment used and re-used by medieval monks in a time when writing materials were scarce.

The monks would scrape the text off a document and record a new text on the parchment. Nowadays it is possible to see the older, underlying texts with the help of ultra-violet light. A palimpsest therefore is a document on which several eras are reflected.

The musical pieces on Palimpsesto are closely linked to the times in which they were composed, so piece by piece, Palimpsesto is really a musical reflection of Cuban history, featuring influences from Cuba's so richly varied popular music thanks to the mix of its African based rhythms and Spanish heritage.

This compact disc features two first time recordings: “6 sones” by Carlos Fariñas and “Won’t Blue” by Keyla Orozco.

Two of the composers (Fariñas and Gramatges) are both former teachers and colleagues of Gustavo Corrales Romero at the Instituto Superior de Arte (the Superior Institute for Art) in Havana, Cuba. They respectively passed away in 2002 and 2008.

A Cuban product

Interpreted by a Cuban, Palimpsesto features musical works from academic Cuban composers, while the commentary was written by celebrated Cuban musicologist Danilo Orozco:

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