Emporium album by Aldo López-Gavilán Earns Strong Critical Acclaim

“A dizzying delight” and “A magnet of musical invention.”

Aldo López-Gavilán’s latest album, Emporium: Music of Aldo López-Gavilán, is receiving enthusiastic praise from the international classical music press, with critics highlighting the originality of his compositional voice, the vitality of his orchestral writing, and the natural way his music brings together classical tradition, jazz, improvisation, and Afro-Cuban rhythm.

Released by Reference Recordings in March 2026, the album features the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra under Music Director Michael Butterman, with López-Gavilán at the piano and Ricardo Morales as soloist in the Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra. The program includes world premiere recordings of the piano concerto Emporium, the Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, and the solo piano suite Hechizos.

Writing for Mundo Clásico, Juan Carlos Tellechea described López-Gavilán as a “fascinating Cuban composer and pianist” and praised the distinctive character of his music. The review observes that his musical voice brings together classical virtuosity, improvisational freedom, jazz inflections, and the passionate rhythmic vitality of Afro-Cuban music, all supported by technical brilliance.

Tellechea also highlights the album’s emotional and physical impact, describing its music as a collection of dazzlingly beautiful creations that stimulate both body and soul. Of Emporium itself, the review points to the work’s balance, structure, lyricism, rhythmic energy, and unmistakably personal style. It concludes by calling the complete album “a captivating and superbly executed achievement.”

ConcertoNet offered similarly enthusiastic praise. Reviewer Christie Grimstad invited listeners to expect “something novel, something rejuvenating, something otherworldly,” calling Emporium “a dizzying delight.” The review also described López-Gavilán as “a magnet of musical invention” and praised the album as a fascinating and accomplished presentation of his musical world.

At the center of the recording is Emporium, López-Gavilán’s three-movement concerto for piano and orchestra. The work moves from the rhythmic momentum of its opening movement through the reflective atmosphere of Liberamente and into a technically demanding final Presto. Throughout the concerto, the composer is also the soloist, giving listeners a direct encounter with the imagination behind the score.

The album expands that portrait through the Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, written in homage to López-Gavilán’s grandfather, the celebrated Cuban clarinetist Juan Jorge Junco, and through Hechizos, a three-part solo piano suite that explores contrasting worlds of mystery, movement, and dreamlike intensity.

The growing critical response to Emporium affirms López-Gavilán’s place not only as a formidable pianist, but as a composer with a distinctive and increasingly important orchestral voice.

Emporium: Music of Aldo López-Gavilán is available on Hybrid SACD and in standard and high-resolution digital formats through Reference Recordings.