Juana Zayas.
Thu, Jul 8 2010, 4:20PM
Hi, does anyone could let me know anything interesting about this pianist (attending to her concerts, recordings reviews, et al) ?. Thanks.
Thu, Jul 8 2010, 9:20PM
#2
RE: Juana Zayas.
Well, basically I meant personal opinions from the members of the forum regarding her playing or recordings. Thanks.
Fri, Jul 16 2010, 7:11PM
#3
RE: Juana Zayas.
I have her recording of Cuban miniatures (some less than a minute), which I play regularly. Some of those by Ignacio Cervantes are worth hearing and nicely done, a sort of Cuban answer to Chopin's mazurkas even if perhaps not quite in the same league!
I know a least two respected critics have praised her recording of the Chopin etudes as up with the great Chopin pianists but haven't heard it myself.
Mon, Sep 6 2010, 5:18PM
#4
RE: Juana Zayas.
Further to my earlier comment I was just looking at an old copy of International Piano Quarterly from over a decade ago (when it was a GRAMOPHONE publication) and I see that in a survey of almost 100 recordings of the Chopin etudes, Donald Manildi of International Piano Archives chose Zayas's recording as his favourite ahead of Cortot (second) and Ashkenazy (third).
Mon, Sep 6 2010, 8:05PM
#5
RE: Juana Zayas.
Just listened her Schubert D.960 piano sonata recording !!! Wow.
Sun, Dec 19 2010, 4:03PM
#6
RE: Juana Zayas.
Juana Zayas has a fresh new web site where you can read all about her, listen to recording samples, and see a live performance video. Other pages mentioned in this thread are obsolete so be sure to go to www.juanazayas.com directly.
Sun, Oct 30 2011, 3:15PM
#7
RE: Juana Zayas.
Well I've finally listened to Juana Zayas's Chopin Etudes since I discovered I could purchase it as one of the lossless downloads from the Chandos Classical Shop. So was Donald Manildi of the International Piano Archives correct to describe it in 1999 as "the etudes recording of the century"? I would say yes, I was bowled over by it and cannot do better than quote him "a fabulous amalgam of lyricism, wit, drama and sheer pianistic craft full of subtle and imaginitive detail, lustrous tone and impeccable technique. This is piano playing and more importantly Chopin playing on the highest level."
Since then the widely and rightly praised versions by Murray Perahia and Nelson Freire have appeared but Zayas, for me, pips them to the post. I'm not often given to superlatives these days but this must be one of the truly great Chopin recordings. Gramophone has obviously passed her by as type her name in the archive and nothing found comes up.
However, since this 1983 recording she has re-recorded the works, again for Music & Arts in 2005 but there doesn't seem much to choose between them. The sound on the first disc is marginally brighter on my equipment but both are well recorded.
Hi, does anyone could let me know anything interesting about this pianist (attending to her concerts, recordings reviews, et al) ?. Thanks.
Depends what you mean by "interesting", I suppose :-)
Should we assume you've already read stuff like http://www.juanazayas.com/Recordings.aspx and http://www.juanazayas.com/Reviews.aspx ?
"Louder! Louder! I can still hear the singers!"
- Richard Strauss to the orchestra, at a rehearsal.