Cecile Licad’s latest recording—“Anthology of American Piano Music, Vol. 2: Music of the Night/ American Nocturnes”—has yet to be officially launched but some of its entries are now on Spotify and getting good feedbacks.
A Licad fan named Hadeza Cabaddu on Facebook singles out her interpretation of Gottschalk’s “La Chûte des Feuilles” as “truly amazing.”
Cabaddu posted on Facebook: “The rest of the pieces are exquisitely played, like the works of George Crumb, which I found very profound and ‘nakakakilabot’ (hair-raising). Thank you, Cecile Licad, for the exalting and mystical experience.”
The latest recording under Danacord label features works by Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, George Crumb, Amy Beach, Charles Griffes, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Daniel Gregory Mason, Ernest Bloch, Leo Ornstein.
The latest CD is a follow-up to Licad’s previous recording also focused on rarely heard American composers. Volume 2 guides the listeners to the rarely explored landscape of American classical music.
An American blogger who identifies himself as Fully Half Baked (FHB) said the new record “exudes—once again—not only (Licad’s) maturity and integrity or her mastery of the piano, but also the divide between the ranks of skillful and talented pianists, with her belonging in the latter. Licad makes them all glittering, lush and sexy.
Her pristine sensitivity, tender touch and virtuosic competence are all over in place, drawing out nothing, but exalting nuances and picturesque landscapes of sound. She particularly excels in executing those delicate keyboard runs naturally, without the cheap and unnecessary sentimentality most of the famous pianists today heavily rely on.”
The latest CD was recorded at the auditorium of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Licad said on FB that she spent a day with American
composer George Crumb, whom she found “fantastic and so inspiring.”
“I sure am proud to have done this recording project,” Licad said. She is scheduled to play two Chopin concertos in Manila in October.—CONTRIBUTED