Sep 2024
Unanimous applause from international critics for ‘Homeland’
Last April saw the publication of Judith's latest album ‘Homeland’ (Eudora Records), with Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Nights in the Gardens of Spain by Manuel de Falla, recorded with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León and maestro Kaspar Zehnder.
Since its launch, the album has received widespread acclaim from international critics. For UK’s Music Web International “Grieg’s concerto is just as sunny and warm-hearted. Spanish pianist Judith Jáuregui clearly finds herself at home in its pages… Jáuregui plays magnificently, with a sure technique, silky legato and a keen sense of the dance elements. The performances, especially in the de Falla, are outstanding, as is the range of color and rhythmic vitality summoned by Jáuregui and her collaborators. They are recorded in startlingly vivid and clear sound, with a magnificent balance of timbre. Eudora and Jáuregui should be commended on a disc that I have returned to again and again over the past few weeks and will continue to do so.”
Belgian medium Crescendo Magazine agrees, giving the interpretation of the Nights in the Gardens of Spain a 10 out of 10 score, highlighting “her sure touch and perfect control of the dynamics and nuances. The discography of these two works is abundant, but Judith Jáuregui, particularly in de Falla, makes this album one of those that counts.”
The French medium Concertonet highlights the Jáuregui’s “delicate touch, rich in suggestiveness, of a pianist who is no longer a bright hope of the piano, but rather an incontestable reality showing the signs of an early maturity. A certainty of the future. Her Grieg is amongst the most beautiful references” of this piece. On Falla, it continues, “the nuances too, the diminuendo, the command of the pianissimi… all this is present in the Jáuregui’s extremely beautiful version of Nights in the Gardens of Spain.”
In Spain, Scherzo Magazine affirms that “Judith Jáuregui owns a thousand interpretative resources, in a proportionate mix of intuition and wisdom, to transmit a number of colours that are always relevant and expressive. Her Grieg is incisive, direct and frank; sincere and with absence of fatuity; with some tempi of the best naturalness… But if every corner of the Concerto has the beauty of a fresh and profound Romanticism, with de Falla’s Nights Judith Jáuregui certifies a reference recording… Spain here sounds like European sophistication in the closest approach the author made to Impressionism.”
According to Swiss magazine Kulturtipp, Judith's interpretation is “fervent”, whilst for the German publication Orchestergraben “lyrical intimacy bathes the interpretation of Judith Jáuregui with brilliant colors… above all, the sophisticated use of the tempos and the agogic immediately makes clear that what we thought was familiar in these so-well-known works was only apparently so. But [in this recording] we are always awaiting for new aspects – perhaps unknown until now – to be discovered, and it is precisely there were the art of making a work your own occurs.” And it continues: “the brilliance of Jáuregui and her impulsive temperament are revealed in the virtuous cadences of Grieg, particularly in the danse twists of the third movement, which conquers space with ease and precision. In Nights in the Gardens of Spain, Jáuregui demonstrates real bravura and that she is a superior force of empathy, with numerous delicate and scintillating changes, and passionate outbursts, in which emotional profoundness and virtuous brilliance coexist.”
Also from Germany, Klassik Heute considers that Homeland contains “extremely solid and cultivated interpretations of these works. Jáuregui particularly emphasizes the lyricism of these pieces, her interpretation is never forced, but rather well nuanced and well-articulated.”
In the US, Atlanta Audio Club Magazine underscores that “In performances characterized by eloquence and refinement and infused with her own personality, she presents the best-known works for piano and orchestra by Spain’s Manuel de Falla and Norway’s Edvard Grieg”, highlighting from her interpretations the “rugged energy and exquisite beauty, two elements that play very well against each other in the present recording.”
Ritmo Magazine gives Homeland a 5-star review and highlights that “A recording of Grieg's Piano Concerto and Nights in the Gardens of Spain by de Falla is not an unexpected choice for a pianist looking to make a big impression, however Spanish pianist Judith Jáuregui has achieved precisely this. Between the romanticism of the first and the impressionism of the second, both works - with influences of folkloric dances - find in the pianist rigor and interpretative subtlety. With great enthusiasm, she takes care to maintain a lyrical and passionate atmosphere in Grieg, and a light and impressionistic, impressive and memorable one in Falla… Another gem in the discography of the Judith Jáuregui, whose live performances are just as worthy to listen to.”