Gustavo Diaz-Jerez – Gustavo Díaz-Jerez: Metaludios, Books 1-3 (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:05:29 minutes | 583 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © IBS Classical

Of his new release pianist Gustavo Díaz Jerez writes: “The Metaludios are relatively short works grouped in books of six pieces. In this release I present the first three, totaling eighteen pieces. This project started in 2013 but does not end here; the fourth book is almost finished and a fifth is on its way. The word Metaludio is derived from the prefix meta-, “beyond” and the suffix -ludio, from the Latin ludere, “to play”, “to exercise”. When coining this word, I tried to encompass these pieces beyond the usual preludes, interludes, etc. I have tried to give each Metaludio its own character, with distinguishing features that define its identity and differentiate it from the next. The titles give them away, sometimes because of the underlying scientific process, sometimes because of a mythological story behind, a tribute to a specific artist, or simply because of a sound resource that develops and grows in complexity.”

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Gustavo Díaz-jerez – Metaludios Ii (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:36 minutes | 967 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © IBS Classical

These two new books of metaludios, which continue the three already recorded on a CD released in 2018, explore new sound territories through the piano. Science is once again the main pillar underlying the compositional process of these twelve new pieces. Multiple scientific disciplines serve as generators of musical raw material: biology (L-system, Mice music), psychoacoustics (Eigengrau), astronomy (Bo”otes void, Cassini’s dream), artificial intelligence and machine learning (Hidden states), as well as pure mathematics (Belphegor’s prime). As in the previous three books, Gustavo D’iaz-Jerez have also found inspiration in mythological figures (Melussyne, Stribog), and have paid tribute to artists I admire (Omaggio a Carlo Gesualdo, La spiral del viento, Pavana triste). Many of the metaludios use electronics and inside-the-piano extended techniques, not as mere effects but as a necessary and integrating part of the musical discourse. It is important to Gustavo, as performer as well as composer, that the pianistic writing is as comfortable and ergonomic as possible, but without distorting the original idea or sacrificing brilliant and virtuosic writing. Since the composition of the first metaludios, back in 2013, D’iaz-Jerez demonstrates that the sound possibilities of the piano have only one limit: our own imagination.

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