Emiliana de Zubeldia’s musical legacy includes works for piano, guitar, harp, chamber ensembles; songs for two voices a cappella, voice and piano, voice, piano and woods; works and arrangements for choir for 4 and up to 8 equal and mixed voices; a choral mass, concerts, symphonies, and symphonic poems. Some of her works reflect her passage through practice of the impressionist and avant-garde music of Paris in the 1920s. Her respect for the traditional harmony in some works contrasts with a great freedom in the application of Novaro’s system in many others.

Soles & Brumas II contains the second and last part of all her compositions for voice and piano known up to now and that had mostly been stored away in the archives of the University of Sonora without being recorded or edited. Four blocks that give faith of Emilianas vast interest in diverse literary gender are presented, the first one approaches eight fables for children, six by Tomás de Iriarte and two by Félix María de Samaniego.

In these works the author captures the lyricism of the fable; its inherent playfulness and, sometimes supported by the flute, the intention of the text amongst which El burro flautista has to be present. The second block shows her taste for Latin American poetry and, in accordance with her character, highlights the works of female poets and not just the males. They are texts that evokes her religiousness -like in Padre Nuestro or Viaje eterno-, love – like in El buen día or Mi corazón fue una hoguera- or innocence – like in La manca-. Her music reinforces the ideas and sensations of the texts either with expanded harmonies, rhythmic simplicity or dissonances that, paradoxical as it sounds, sound sweet. In the third block Emiliana takes advantage of the metric of the Haiku that José Juan Tablada translated to Spanish to show her synthetic capability by musically recreating those minimalistic poems. Finally, two lullaby’s are included, the first one based on a basque text and the other in an english one. In both cases the accompaniment sustains the nostalgic and melancholic melodies in an adequate and simple manner.

Elena Rivera, Soprano
Jorge Robaina, Piano