Maximo Diego Pujol Recital

For our last concert of 2018 we were very honoured and privileged to welcome the very much revered Argentinian guitarist,prolific composer and teacher Maximo Pujol to our stage. This was his first visit to our club and we were very grateful that he could fit us in to his very busy schedule. For the past month he had been touring Europe – Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. On his final Saturday evening he gave a concert in Cambridge. We had our concert on the Sunday evening and then he had to be up very early Monday morning to catch a flight from Gatwick to Madrid and then later that same day he flew to Buenos Aires. What a busy hectic life he leads!

Maximo studied the guitar from the age of eight and gave his first concert at the age of just nine years. He later studied composition. He has strived for an ever-closer fusion of traditional Argentine Tango and formal academic concepts. Today Maximo’s compositions are performed and recorded throughout the world. He is currently professor of guitar at the Conservatorio de Musica Manuel de Falla in Buenos Aires.

We were very pleased to welcome to this concert Phil Woodall, the Deputy Mayor of Bognor Regis and his consort Steve Hearn.

Maximo’s concert was quite unique. He began his performance with three pieces by Argentine composers – Atahualpa Yupanqui (a folk musician), Astor Piazzolla and Luis Spinetta (a rock musician!). From the very first piece we were all mesmerised by the beautiful mellow tone that Maximo elicited from his wonderful guitar made by the Argentinian Luthier Fernando Rubin. Notes seemed to pour from the guitar like luscious thick creamy chocolate.

Maximo then apologised for the fact that the rest of the concert would feature all compositions that he has written. In fact there was no need to apologise since we were treated to an array of the most wonderful tangos, milongas and romantic music which were quite new to the majority of the audience. The applause showed how much the audience enjoyed his compositions. A romantic piece dedicated to his wife was a particular favourite. We were treated to an encore which Maximo said he wrote when he was 19 years old. This was the well known and much loved Preludio Triston (the second of a set of Five Preludes). We were so fortunate to hear the pieces played by the composer as he intended them to be played. We sincerely hope that this unassuming and brilliant musician will return to us in the not too distant future.

Terry Woodgate