This unique collection includes 40 tuneful, vivacious dance pieces from the Caribbean and South America. Chosen by editor Joseph Smith from a vast musical literature that remains largely unavailable in North America, all date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and appear in their original versions for solo piano.
Featured composers include the legendary Ignacio Cervantes, who brought new sophistication and refinement to the Cuban danza; Carlos Gomes, whose piano dance "A cayumba" evokes the African influence on Brazilian music; Puerto Rican Juan Morel Campos, a prolific composer of danzas that range from the capricious to the smolderingly passionate; self-taught Ernesto Nazareth, characterized by Heitor Villa-Lobos as "the true incarnation of the Brazilian soul"; Mexican Manuel Ponce, who favored the piano but is best known for his guitar works, which were popularized by Segovia; José Quintón, who brought a new textural richness to the Puerto Rican danza; Manuel Saumell, father of the Cuban contradanza; and Alberto Williams, a student of César Franck and founder of the Buenos Aires Conservatory, who brought a new seriousness and professionalism to the musical life of Argentina.