Gottschalk CD reflects the best of Cecile Licad

MANILA, Philippines - There’s a renewed interest in the music of American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk as Cecile Licad plays it live in the world premiere of the Dan Pritzker film, Louis, where the Filipino pianist shares the limelight with Wynton Marsalis at the Symphony Center in Chicago on Aug. 25.

Louis Moreau Gottschalk is considered in some quarters as the first American piano virtuoso and quite a traveler. His journeys to Europe, the Caribbean, Africa and South America combined with a French flavor derived from his mother’s side and a Creole influence from his New Orleans background ensured a wide variety of compositional styles.

In emotional content, most of Gottschalk’s music is described as upbeat and invigorating. It reflects a young and adventurous country hungry for more territory, more respect… more of everything. But in the end, the heart of Gottschalk’s music is unmistakingly pure “Americana.”

Most CD critics describe the Licad Gottschalk recording as “sensational” and the best of the composer.

Wrote a critic: “Cecile Licad may have been groomed under Rudolf Serkin’s exacting tutelage, but her visceral, exuberant Gottschalk playing evokes Vladimir Horowitz’s diabolical art. It’s not just speed and accuracy that Licad brings to the impossible repeated notes in Le banjo or Tremolo, but also impulsive dynamic surges and fustian drama. Her nimble, skywritten runs in La Jota Aragonesa simply take your breath away, as do her exquisitely shaped soft chords. For all of Licad’s affetuoso teasing in The Dying Poet, somehow the work’s surface treacle never turns maudlin.

She summons up every inch of blood and thunder in virtuosic nationalist works such as the Souvenirs d’Andalousie, Souvenir de Porto and the Union. Her rhythm is infectious as well as galvanizing: Listen to La Gallina’s tango-influenced underpinnings and you’ll be dancing within seconds.”

Licad got an ovation at the Philamlife Theater when she played Gottschalk’s Pasquinade as an encore. It is likely she will have more Gottschalk pieces in store for Manilans when she debuts with Gerard Salonga’s FILharmoniKA orchestra on July 2 and 3 at the Philamlife Theater.

Limited CDs of Licad-interpreted Gottschalk music and all-Ravel recording are still available in Manila. For details, call 748-4152 or 0906-5104270.