 Le guitariste sud-coréen de 24 ans, Deion Cho, nous propose un voyage musical passionnant auprès de compositeurs latins du XXe siècle dans un programme particulièrement ambitieux, vu la difficulté des pièces présentées. Débutant la guitare dans son pays d’origine à 13 ans, il intègre à 18 ans le conservatoire royal de Madrid, travaillant avec des maîtres tels qu’Eduardo Fernandez et David Russel. Lauréat de nombreux concours dont celui de San Diego, il démontre lors de ce 1er enregistrement une maîtrise technique hors norme. Il en faut pour jouer la magnifique mais redoutable sonate du compositeur espagnol Martinez Palacio, pièce majeure du disque (le final est éblouissant), de même que les très virtuoses et expressives valses vénézueliennes de Lauro et la chatoyante suite colombienne de Montana. D’un accès musical complexe, la sonate de l’argentin Ginastera est une pièce à part, contemporaine et expérimentale. Il est surprenant de rencontrer une telle maturité et musicalité chez un aussi jeune soliste, les pièces jouées n’étant pas à la portée du premier venu. Malgré le risque pris, par son enthousiasme et son talent, Cho fait une entrée réussie parmi les grands avec ce disque fort et cette musique chaleureuse et exotique. Une réjouissante découverte ! (Philippe Zanoly) This young guitarist’s debut album is the perfect introduction to his artistry, showcasing as it does four leading 20thcentury composers of guitar music – Antonio José Palacios, Alberto Ginastera, Antonio Lauro and Julio Gentil Montaña – composers who in turn represent four different countries and four styles of music that differ widely both aesthetically and in terms of the traditions from which they spring. Among the most promising Spanish composers of his generation, Antonio José was acclaimed by Ravel and counted Lorca and Dali among his associates, but like Lorca, he was executed by a Falangist firing squad during the Spanish Civil War. Only 34 years of age, he had accumulated a catalogue of music impressive not only for its depth but its sophistication, exemplified by the substantial Guitar Sonata which is his best-known work. The Sonata by the Argentine Alberto Ginastera is no less imposing in structure, and harmonically much more adventurous than José’s bluesy neo-classicism. The four Venezuelan waltzes by Antonio Lauro are brief and charming early works, the first three dedicated to his daughter and two nieces, the last named Yacambú after an orchid-rich national park in the northern Andes. The first movement of the fourth Colombian Suite by Julio Gentil Montaña (1942-2011) is likewise named after that country’s capital, Bogotà, and it is followed by three interpretations of national dances, concluding with a snappy Porro. The 23-year-old Deion Cho is of South Korean origin, currently studying and working in Spain. He has given the album his signature with an arrangement of a popular Korean folksong, ‘About 500 Years’, clearly inflected by his years of work in Hispanic and Iberian music.
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