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music link between Spain and Latin America.

La Mar Nuestra (Our Sea)

In this piece, I wanted to depict the innerenergy I was feeling during the time pre-vious to beginning to compose, when Iwas still working on making transcrip-tions of other composers’ music fortwo pianos, yet subconsciously gravi-tating to the day I wrote my firstbars. Looking back, I was not awareat all of the meaning of thatenergy, but now I clearly knowthat this piece represents whatI was transitioning to as italternates tranquil andbucolic early music stylesegments with tumultuousones.

El EnigmaBonaerense(The Enigma fromBuenos Aires)

As its title depictsvery accurately, inthis piece I wantedto recreatemoments of a storywhere detectivesfrom Buenos Airesinvestigate andreconstruct an enig-ma. I had a greatdeal of fun develop-

ing the different scenes, all based on Argentinianflavors and belonging to different characters, suchas the detectives, the dancers, the taxi driver, thewoman looking out of the window.... These have

been images which, not in any necessary order,or reason to be, have inspired this mysterious

story. Elena Martín

Bougainvilleas of the SoulTwo-Piano Music by Elena MartínElena Martín and José Melitón, duo-piano CRC 3228

1 La Tempestad (The Tempest) 6:05 2 La Segunda Inocencia (The Second Innocence) 4:11 3 Vals (Waltz) 5:25 4 Mi Tarde Flamenquita (My Andalusian Evening) 4:52 5 Variaciones Sobre Un Tema Romántico (Variations on a Romantic Theme)

6:28 6 Pasodoble Argentino (Argentinian Pasodoble) 4:12 7 El Laberinto (The Labyrinth) 4:18 8 Romance Entre Luz y Tinieblas (Romance between Light and Shadow) 6:03 9 Summer Swing 2:49 10 La Mar Nuestra (Our Sea) 4:16 11 El Enigma Bonaerense (The Enigma from Buenos Aires) 5:05

Total Time: 53:49

Recorded Spring 2011 at Brendle Recital Hall, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NorthCarolina. Engineered by Frank Martin. Piano Technician: John D. Chapman. Front cover andinside booklet photos by Felix Semper. Picture of Bougainvilleas by Hector J. Famin Priano. Theartists would like to thank the following institutions for their generous support: North CarolinaArts Council and the partnering arts councils of the Central Piedmont Regional Artists HubProgram. Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and UnitedStates Universities.

�� 2012 Centaur Records, Inc. www.centaurrecords.com

Bougainvilleas of the SoulTwo-Piano Music by Elena Martín

Elena Martín and José Melitón, duo-piano

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composing one very romantic theme, in E FlatMajor, then using it to make several short varia-tions, with a thread of emotional intensity andlight among all of them. This light which I feltwhile composing it prevented me from exploring aminor key. I feel like this piece needs to stay in asunny mood, while it also has a certain melan-cholic nuance to it.

Pasodoble Argentino (Argentinian Pasodoble)

This was supposed to be a gift to my husband andtwo other dear childhood friends of ours who loveSpanish music. I envisioned writing a Pasodoble, aquintessential Spanish music form, which is festiveand very rhythmic. I had planned that they wouldlisten to it at the end of one of our endless dinners,which we religiously have each time we visitSpain. As I wrote the first rhythmic structures,simultaneously I became bombarded byArgentinian harmonies, which at the beginningbecame a nuisance, but which, after a few days,made me give up on the purely Spanish Pasodobleper se, and I decided to let them in and make thempart of the rhythmic entrails since they had alreadyintruded without my permission. The result, whichended up captivating me and making me enjoyreally happy days and feel great mischievousnessand desires to dance anywhere I was, is a fun work,which can be danced as well as a Pasodoble, thusthe form ABA, so that a few old couples I knowcan take their time dancing it. But of course I stillowe my friends a real Pasodoble!

El Laberinto (The Labyrinth)

At the beginning of the piece, a young girl enters a

world of enchantment in which nature shows itsmost beautiful attributes. The lush vegetation, softair, and spring afternoon’s sun attract her into thelabyrinth formed by the vegetation. As the pieceprogresses, she slowly begins feeling the anxietyand suspense which come with the realization thatas she walks deeper into the labyrinth she will onlybecome more entrapped in it. Yet she maintainssuch feelings of wonder and contentment in whatsurrounds her that she embraces this state of fearand uncertainty with pleasure. This could be ametaphor of how suffering does not need to beeradicated by the person experiencing it, but ratherembraced, as one gathers inner resources whicheventually bring joy to that experience. It is aprism of different views, just as many as can beobserved during the stroll through the labyrinth.

Romance Entre Luz y Tinieblas (Romance between Light and Shadow)

In this romantic piece, I wanted to describe theluminosity of love as opposed to the passionatemoments of love as they alternate in any relation-ship. I believe this piece has become of quite aclassic nature; it would seem to have been com-posed in the Nineteenth Century, composed inclassic simplicity and structural solidness.

Summer Swing

This is a fun moment of summer thoughts of diver-sion, playing in the water, resting in a hammock, ashort piece with a very simple premise! I am payingtribute to Brazil in this Brazilian samba and toArgentina in The Enigma from Buenos Aires andArgentinian Pasodoble, as there is an inexorable

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Preface

Duo pianists Elena Martín and José Melitón havealready captured the essence of Spain in their pre-vious compact discs Duende and Jaleo. Primal ener-gy, longing, and flamenco rhythms seethe out oftheir performances of Soler, Albéniz, Granados,Falla, Infante, and Rodrigo. Tellingly, several ofthese classic works from the Spanish repertoire,such as Falla’s Dance No. 1 from La Vida Breve andAlbéniz’s “El Albaicín” from Iberia, are, as recordedby Martín and Melitón, in original duet arrange-ments by Elena Martín. She knows the Iberian lan-guage and how to make it flow from two pianos. So it isn’t terribly surprising that she is also a giftedcomposer in this medium and style, demonstratedby the present piano duets. Andalusia is close athand as is the evocation of a late-Romantic sensi-bility. In Mi Tarde Flamenquita, perhaps emblematicof the entire disc, the two pianists breathe as one;there is passion in the air. There are castanets, alively bulerías is playing, but the tension is eroticas well as musical. I imagine myself on a balcony inGranada, circa 1926, a tablao off the patio below,sangría and paella on the table, gazing at theemerging stars but also at my loved one whosehand I clasp.

Similarly, in La Tempestad, one senses that the tem-pest in question is as much amorous as meteorolog-ical. Rain may be whirling about but so are emo-tions. A swirling arpeggio figure underlies theplaintive melody. “Will you still love me whenstorms pass above?” could be the lyrics, were it asong. As I listen to each of this CD’s pieces, thetitle Bougainvilleas of the Soul, as in colors of the

soul, seems appropriate. This wonderful recordingnot only has soul, but also poetry, fantasy, andmelody.

I am struck by the pianists’ musical bond. Theyseem to play off each other’s touches, anticipateeach other’s rubato. They understand the affectivecenter of this music and they understand eachother. They play with precise coordination but alsoemotional authenticity. Ms. Martín reveals a truecompositional voice, plays with subtlety and con-viction, and has found a pianistic partner with thesame attributes. Together, they carry me to anothertime and place—beautiful, exotic, intense, andsensual.

John Salmon

Buganvillas del Alma (Bougainvilleas of the Soul)

The Mediterranean Sea inspires the beauty of theBougainvillea plant, or is it the other way around? I admire the Bougainvillea plant profoundly. Itrequires just a little bit of water every once in awhile, and lots of sun. A proud plant, it does notdo well if uprooted and transplanted. This plantexplodes with color wherever it grows and gracesAndalusian walls with oranges, purples, reds, pinks,whites.... It seems to feel so much gratitude forhaving been given the chance to exist, andhumans pin it on walls knowing these walls willburst with color in time. This plant is, to me, sym-bolic of the choice we can all make to stay gratefuland be generous with the Earth, with each other,while requiring little in order to thrive in our jour-ney through life.

As musicians playing on two pianos together, Joséand I have inspired each other in the same way.When I wrote this CD’s music, I had in mindspecifically José’s hands, tastes, technical andexpressive strengths, and mine, in combinationwith his. He in turn graced this CD with his mostbeautiful playing, understanding perfectly what itwas that I needed to express in each of thesepieces; after all we have been together practicallyall our lives. As a couple, it is hard for me to imag-ine a more meaningful way to talk to each other;music gave us the chance to communicate at adeeper level. They say we are what we do, and inmaking music together, we are, as a couple, whatwe do together, among other things, feeling happyplaying music, and serving the art. I am very proudto introduce to you a varied palette of colors with-in my soul, thus the title of this CD, the colors, thebougainvilleas of my soul. We hope you enjoy lis-tening as much as we did playing!

La Tempestad (The Tempest)

It felt like a tempest, or like boiling water surging,an idea became a force of such power over me, thatonce I started writing, I felt compelled to continueuntil I finished. I have been fortunate to witnessthe intensity of a tempest, with all its majesticbeauty and power. I had the pleasurable experienceof finding accurate technical devices to describethe shapes and movements the waves take undersuch powerful forces, while conveying the awe thatwitnessing such a magical Earth phenomenon pro-vokes in me. I enjoyed maintaining a high degreeof tension to convey how the ocean water’s poweris generated by even stronger forces.

La Segunda Inocencia (The Second Innocence)

This piece celebrates the willingness we adults canchoose to have to preserve a sense of innocence inour daily lives. Our first innocence is our innateone, the innocence we are born with and have aschildren; the second innocence is the one wechoose to be a part of our lives, and the one I referto in this piece. This piece is dedicated to all thosewho choose that spiritual path.

Vals (Waltz)

In this piece, I try to convey the fun and the pleas-ure dancing a Waltz brings, thanks to its delicaterhythmic balance. I use a great deal of chromati-cism to give it a sense of elegance and lightness tomake the two people involved in dancing it feellighter and lighter.

Mi Tarde Flamenquita (My Andalusian Evening)

I had been meaning to write a piece with Spain’squintessential folk music idiom, which wouldreflect the essence of Spain’s character. This hasbeen a very intimate search within me to reach formy childhood’s presence in Spanish life, for what Iwas hearing, for what surrounded me as a childmusically. In this piece, I combine severalAndalusian forms, and I wrote it so that it could bedanced by Flamenco dancers.

Variaciones Sobre Un Tema Romántico (Variations on a Romantic Theme)

In this piece, I immerse myself in the delight of