To Barcelona this week for a recital by Spanish pianist/composer Eleuterio Dominguez featuring the music of Franz Liszt. The concert begins with an improvisation by Dominguez based on themes of Liszt.
And then a deep dive to Three Etudes de concert S. 144 – Transcendental Etudes S. 139, Harmonies poétiques et religiuses S. 173 and selections from Années de pèlerinage – Year 2: Italy.
A little background on Eleuterio Dominguez via his biography (translated to English):
From the beginning of his career, Eleuterio Domínguez dedicated himself intensively to improvisation and composition. He executed his first piece at the age of 16 for the public television of Spain. He has performed his “Cinco Preludios» (5 Preludes for piano) at various concerts and festivals, and it has been broadcast on many radio and TV channels. His opus “Sensaciones de un camino. Homenaje a Jordi Roch” (Sensations of a path. Homage to Jordi Roch), which he introduced to an audience for the first time in 2006, has also earned wide acclaim. For his performance as a soloist with orchestra at the Auditorio Nacional of Madrid in 2010, he composed the cadences of the Concert for Piano N° 21 by W. A. Mozart (1st mov., 2nd mov., 3rd mov.).
In 2006, Eleuterio established an improvisation class at the Escuela Municipal de Música «Maestro Gombau» in Getafe (Madrid), where he has been teaching since 1995. There he has also developed his own technique of improvisation for instrumental ensembles (IMPROWAY).
In an emotive homage to the pianist Almudena Cano at the Auditorio Nacional of Madrid (2007), he dedicated to her an improvisation, which positions itself between original works of Schumann. Following the success of this performance, he is continuously invited to give improvisation concerts and courses.
At the Belgrade Jazz Festival in 2008, he performed for the first time his solo concert “…from Black to White…”. In this act he breaks established norms by improvising in complete darkness without interruption and sound amplification. His music embodies the tragedy and terror of the war. Gradually he transforms the stage into a sonorous appeal to happiness and hope, which is acclaimed by the audience.
Motivated by the success of this project, Eleuterio has embarked on new formats of improvisation. Between 2009 and 2011, he realised diverse cycles of improvisation concerts in homage to great composers like Albéniz, Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt. Currently he is creating a stage performance piece for piano and dance.
Also, he has contributed music to and performes in a documentary film about the painter Guillermo Oyágüez Montero by the director and producer Antonio Gómez-Olea (Mare Films). The recording with the aforementioned music «Musa en Mi» is currently available.
On to the concert:
