Poster Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No 2; Gabriela Montero
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No 2 / Gabriela Montero
Orchid Classics
New Classical Tracks®

New Classical Tracks: Gabriela Montero

New Classical Tracks: Gabriela Montero - Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2/Montero: Ex Patria/3 Improvisations (Orchid)

Gabriela Montero - Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2/Montero: Ex Patria/3 Improvisations (Orchid)

Gabriela Montero is a Venezuelan performer, composer and improviser. "They're not separated and there's no need to separate them," she explains. "And that's why I wanted to make a recording that really conveyed that message, that I do the three things, as did the artists of the 18th and 19th century. This was what classical artists did, this kind of creative inventiveness and this daringness to live in those three spheres of creativity."

Gabriela's first orchestral recording features Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, a beloved work she's always wanted to record. You'll also here her first original composition, Ex Patria, an homage to her homeland; and she closes out the recording with three improvisations.

"I've always improvised, since I was a little girl," Gabriela says. "It was always the first thing I would do when I would sit down at the piano. I would tell stories with my improvisation. I would very much express who I was at that moment with my improvisation. And I've always, of course, been a performer and recently began composing — although improvisation is really spontaneous composition, so you could say I've been composing all my life."

What brought Gabriela to the composing table was her strong desire to speak out against the human rights violations she's witnessed in her homeland. "Ex Patria I wrote in 2011 to honor the 19,336 victims of homicide that year in Venezuela," she says. "Now, to put it in perspective, that number — 19,336 — that was in 2011. Last year, there were 25,000 murders in Venezuela. So, Ex Patria was meant to be a vehicle to express all of this. I wanted people to feel what we feel as a society, a collapsed society. There is no law, there is no justice. Ninety-five percent of crimes go unresolved or unpunished. And I not only wanted to speak of numbers with my audiences but also to write a piece that would emotionally convey the message that they would be attached to. So when they left the concert hall or listened to the recording, it would be in them, it would be an experience that they could identify with. It's very violent but also very beautiful. And it's really a photograph of Venezuela in the last 16 years."

Gabriela Montero
Pianist, composer and improviser Gabriela Montero.
Shelley Mosman

As a composer, Gabriela says her goal is to capture the images of the people and places she encounters. Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff was very much the same way. That's one reason his second piano concerto was the perfect companion piece. "I just thought about it, very long and hard, about what would be a good balance in the recording," Gabriela says, "and I thought his concerto would bring that element of humanity, but at the same time the identification of the things that connect us — you know, the performer and composer. And also talking about your country and about things that are very important to you.

"I think that the beauty and the power of this concerto comes from his suffering, having come out of those years of … creative … let's say, 'desert.' And desolate years … I think that it's such a raw and such a real and such an honest portrayal of who he was at the time or what he wanted to express that I can't help but to cry every time I play it, every time I hear it — it's music that goes directly to the heart. It's very stoic, it's very noble. And it's a piece about rebirth as well. So I found it … I found this juxtaposition of the beauty of the music and at the same time the beauty of the suffering, to some degree, incredibly moving."

After the emotional impact of Rachmaninoff, the powerful images of Venezuela, Gabriela leaves you with a palate cleanse: three beautiful improvisations, each one with its own personal appeal. "These three recordings are a way of saying goodbye," Gabriela explains. "The first one is very Baroque, the second one is very à la Rachmaninoff, as a sort of homage to him, and the last one has very much a Venezuelan tinge to it. So it was meant to send the listener into another mood after having said so many things in the recording."


Gabriela Montero is a classical artist who lives in three creative spheres as performer, composer and improviser. Her latest creative endeavor expands her role even further, to raise awareness of human rights through her new role as an honorary Consul for Amnesty International.

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