"On behalf of my father, the great Maestro of the guitar Celedonio Romero, I want to be grateful deeply to my dear disciple Vicente Coves Merino, for so wonderful homage that, with so much I respect for the Guitar and the composers here represented, he has interpreted, putting his big talent guitarrístico to the service of the Music. I wish and recording augured, with big happiness, a lot of success to this one and to Vicente in all his artistic career"
Pepe Romero
Vicente Coves is a young and already great guitarist of the rich Andalusian. From classic school, disciple of my great friend Pepe Romero, owns a magnificent technique that allows him to solve with facility the passages most difficult of type virtuoso or to create a wonderful atmosphere at the most lyrical or intimate moments. Like Andalusian who is, he does not surprise the style whereupon plays the passages and cadences of flamenco character. In spite of his youth it has the seriousness, the charm and the class of the professional already consecrated. All to these it on approval put them qualities in the premiere of my “Symphony to Granada” and were decisive factor for the great success that we were all that”
Lorenzo Palomo
"Vicente Coves, a great artist who dominates with depth the art to play the Spanish Guitar, is “the mozartian” Sor or a Soleás por Bulerías. Bravo”
Manuel Hernández Silva
"... Coves filled the recital with his big sensibility and prodigious skill, doing boasting of his musical talent and big sound potency
"... it raises the Music to unbeatable moments"
"... it provoked a sepulchral silence with his guitar without amlplificación
Ideal de Granada
"... the disc that presents Coves, it is a homage both to Romero and to the Guitar like instrument. In him registered compositions of proper Celedonio Romero appear along with works of Turina, Tárrega, Rodrigo or Gaspar Sanz in a style that tears the record guitarrístico looking for a few emaciated and very intense signs of identity of the proper instrument. Nothing of elegance of the average record, but the passion that touches with his hands part of the Flamenco and part of the history of this instrument
Moral Àlvarez
"...in the National Auditorium of Music has developing the Orchestra of the Community of Madrid... the collaboration soloist of the young guitarist of Linares Vicente Coves, which this way with works of responsibility (Fantasìa para un Gentilhombre-Joaquín Rodrigo) was presenting in Madrid, showed a clarity to all lights obtained and chased... It triumphed before public that him aclaimed and so filled with enthusiasm as to obtain one encore “ ABC, Antonio Iglesias.
"One of the best and most passionate guitarists"
Specttacolo Tascabile Classica
"Triumphal premiere"
Córdoba.
"Spanish guitar: The virtuoso Coves. Tall, black hair, indulgent eyes , disciple of Pepe Romero the most acclaimed guitarist of the world and virtuoso"
Il Giornale della Toscana
" The most important fact in the history for the delegation of Granada"
"The world premiere of the 'Symphony to Granada' he filled with enthusiasm the public, who dedicated the longest applause to this work
Ideal de Granada.
"... Acclaimed in America, Europe, South America and now in Italy..."
La Nazione
"... The strings explode and there arises the guitar of Juan Manuel Cañizares and the classic one of the native of Granada Vicente Coves. On the soleá tone for réquiem, Morente shouts a text of San Juàn de la Cruz... A silence and capture the relief the voice of The nightingale of the Alhambra, Estrella Morente..."
El País
"... The social song of the disc: a tango of Astor Piazzolla with letter of Horacio Ferrer who narrates the history of a child who sells roses.... Two guitars (again Cañizares and Coves and the Morente`s voice in a chill... “
El País
"In the Concert of Aranjuez, to be a piano"
La Repubblica
"... Pepe Romero, omnipresent: His disciple Vicente Coves plays in the Symphony to Granada. Coves it does it with impetus, and it has to do a lot of more work, in any case, that his Teacher in "Nocturnes of Andalusia". Vicente is a 26-year-old brilliant artist. His way of touching is very clear, very categorical, very vigorous and at the same time of way differentiated in dynamics and agógica. It has to fight clearly more "against" the Orchestra and Romero in Nocturnes. Palomo reduces in nocturnes the voices in the Orchestra to do that the instrument sounds alone. In the Symphony to Granada, he does not do it and guarantees with that often a dramatic clash of Tutti and guitar..."
4th fret, Alex Schmitz
The concert started with three pieces of Astor Piazzolla interpreted by the quintet Versus Ensemble that put the goose-flesh to me and did that me the heart was trembling. But the recital had not done any more that to start. There appeared in scene, then, Horacio Ferrer, for whom I have no words. Only thrill. This so deep and so Uruguayan voice reciting "Maria de Buenos Aires" - "now when it is the hour" - accompanied by the guitar of Vicente Coves, a poltergeist introduced in the room that slipped in in the hearts of all the assistants. I observed the public. The crystalline eyes. The grateful looks. The emotion did music and poetry to itself this night. Thank you
BarcelonaJazzFestival
"Classical guitarist Vicente Coves, who is also a composer, arranger, and the writer of the liner notes for this album, is a musical force to be reckoned with. A student of renowned Pepe Romero (himself one of the three guitarist sons of legendary Celedonio Romero), Coves is clearly an artist whose star is on the rise, as demonstrated by this 2011 release. From the first track, Preludio, with its playful rhythms to the tempo—and mood-changing Al Maestro, Coves is capable of playing everything with a keen sense of the spirit of the music. Coves excels at pieces like Canción de cuna, which is so poignant, ethereal, and heartbreakingly intimate that it is almost difficult to hear the piece begin. One highlight of the album is the ultra-modern Chelitango Coves himself wrote in 2004, which leaves the listener wishing for more works composed by the artist. There is no doubting Coves’ technique or his skilled musicianship that allows him to handle rubato gracefully and convey a variety of emotions...".
"... the passion in Alfonsina y el mar is so enjoyable that one wishes he would push the edge more as an artist and choose more pieces that require this type of energy..."
Allmusic.com, March 2011
The key to this recording is in the small phrase that ends the booklet: “Vicente Coves wishes to dedicate this recording to his mother and the memory of his father”. For me it made everything clear. For the most part, this is a disc of tender, caring, quiet music—very beautiful and played with ultimate sensitivity and compassion.
It starts with Ponce’s Preludio, which does not foretell what will follow. This piece, with the momentum of a Bach courante, stands apart from the rest, which is more relaxed, more melancholic, and more Latin. This is the short busy morning, which leads us into a long and quiet evening. There we hear another of Ponce’s creations, the beautiful, wistful Chanson from his Third Sonata; Coves sings every note.
There are two pieces by Celedonio (“Papa”) Romero. Guasa is like a big music-box: a mechanical melody spins over ostinatoarpeggios in the bass. This cheerful note-weaving resembles the music of Joaquín Rodrigo. Tango Angelita is a mainstream tango (not from the nuevo branch), in passionate purple hues.
From purple we move to the lightest blue in Brouwer’s charming lullaby. Its soft rocking motion is lit by a smile. Coves plays with care, as if sculpting the music out of thin air. Al Maestro by Morel, a tribute to Celedonio Romero, is the longest work on the disc. It is a nebula of static disjoint splashes, out of which emerge stormy or toccata-like episodes, only to dissolve back into the pensive mist. El reloj by Roberto Cantoral is a beautiful, calm song of the mood-fixing kind—that one that you can put on Repeat indefinitely.
La catedral by Agustín Barrios Mangoré is one of the most beautiful pieces written for guitar. Its first part, Saudade, has the fragile, plaintive ‘ting-a-ling’ of a Bach siciliana. The simplicity of design and the harmonic sequence reminds me of the C-Major Prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier but moved to a minor key. The middle part, Andante religioso, continues with a blend of Latin sadness and Bachian transparency. It is meditative and spacious, like the
interior of a cathedral. The work ends with tempestuous runs of Allegro solemne, the parallel of the C-minor Prelude from the WTC.
I don’t know what Iradier’s famous La Paloma is doing in a Latin-American collection. Maybe the guitarist or one of the disc’s dedicatees had a sentimental spot for it. Anyway, this sweet and sensual habanera fits there perfectly. The reading is rather slow and a bit “tipsy”, savoring the notes like good wine. It is long on good-feeling longueurs, those you don’t want to end.
Vicente Coves is a composer himself, and his Chelitango is proof of his composing prowess. It is a complex piece, with the mood ranging between melancholic and tragic. The first theme is tender and reflective, as in Piazzolla’s Adios Nonino. Then we move to more agitated episodes. Again, we meet some familiar Piazzolla strokes, when the music of wind and rain gives way to a sad smile, like a shy sunbeam. In his liner-note, Coves writes about Piazzolla and how difficult it is “to avoid, albeit partially, his influence and to find a new path after his work”. I think he did very well. This is beautiful music, and the composer himself plays it as no one else.
Barrios’s Saudades appear through the golden-threaded fabric in a structure that is tripartite. Chopinesque spinning in the outer parts frames a more reflective middle episode.
Alfonsina y el mar is a poignant, sad song made popular by Mercedes Sosa and Nana Mouskouri. Then it was taken up by virtually everybody from Plácido Domingo to Shakira. And this is understandable: it is hard to pass by such a touching and memorable melody, a true sister of Manhã de Carnaval. The arrangement by Coves is gentle and dreamy.
Vicente Coves was a student of Pepe Romero, and it shows. His technique is excellent, his command of the sound is absolute, and he plays just beautifully. The amount of extra-musical noise is minimal. The recording is faithful and spacious, and preserves well the aura of the guitar. All in all, this is a lovely recording…
