viernes, 15 de enero de 2016

New acquisition by FoLa

Juan is proud to announce that FoLa (Fototeca Latinoamericana) has incorporated a piece of work by him to their permanent collection. Concreto #8 (Sydney 2013, 110X110cmts) is now part of this brand new all-photography museum based in Buenos Aires that promises to be the Latin American Photography Center and a reference worldwide. Gastón Deleau is the talented director.

miércoles, 18 de noviembre de 2015

Wabash Canada

Diego Sefercheglou from Craft CG hired Juan for a brand new kind of project: to photograph models to be inserted in computer generated interior shots for the Canadian real state project Wabash. He had done this kind of job for Faena Experience in Miami some years ago, but the style was still in embryonic state. Nowadays the techniques are fully developed and the skills needed to replicate the light conditions are challenging. These are the results. 

lunes, 26 de octubre de 2015

What's on the SACD player this week: Kathryn Stott's Solitaires (BIS)

Kathryn Stott: Solitaires (BIS SACD 2148, also available as 24/96 hi-res download from eclassical.com)

    I like recital recordings. Some people don’t. Some prefer an album to be devoted to a sole composer. Though I understand this approach and have enjoyed hundreds of solo piano recordings dedicated to explore the works of a certain composer, I find it refreshing to listen in a different way. Therefore, I think it is interesting to be exposed  to a concept instead, to be invited to underpin various works that might share some connections not immediately evident at first hearing. This album is such a recording. The title refers to the “solitaire”, a singly mounted diamond, especially on a ring, as Jean-Pascal Vachon explains in the liner notes. This metaphor is used in this case to represent the radiance and elegance of French piano music and also the fact that this music is isolated from the history of music in general and unique in the context of each composer’s oeuvre.
    I would like to say that this recording does not come as a surprise for me as the artist, Kathryn Stott, has been always extremely curious and courageous regarding the music she likes to investigate and record. A glance at her discography shows a very diverse selection of composers: Gabriel Faure, John Foulds, Erwin Schulhoff’s, Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Nyman, Delius, Graham Fitkin, besides her duos with Yo-Yo Ma exploring diverse repertoire and with Christian Poltera on specifically Swiss composers such as Martin and Honneger. Her interest in obscure and intriguing pieces is a rare quality we music lovers should be grateful for. So this is not her fisrt recording I enjoy and will certainly won’t be her last.
    To the music now. Jehan Alain’s short “Prélude et fugue” open the disc. The first one is a brilliant sounding piece reminiscent in a way of Rachmaninov for the first bars. Then it suggests Messiaen’s slow, contemplative works like the one that closes the recital. This grand sounding composition pays debt to the fact that the composer’s main output is for organ. We may easily have the feeling of listening to an organ in the soft, rumbling, slow notes present along this piece. The Fugue is a whole different kind of animal: hectic, impulsive, it brings contrast to the previous one and opens up the sonorities of the piano, ending in a question.
    Dutilleux’s “Piano sonata” is the latest piece from a chronological point of view. This  three-movement composition is from his transitional period but shows the hand of an accomplished composer and we may listen already to his original voice. His music pays debt to previous composers like Faure, Debussy and Ravel in its sonorities but has a particular character. I feel, like in his cello concerto and symphonies, a sensual, dreamlike atmosphere pulsated by lyrical moments not far from Poulenc’s concerto for two pianos and again Messiaen. The second movement (lent) is exemplary in this sense. Stott plays these three movements with amazing dexterity and expression, taking full advantage of the sound of this rich Steinway D in the context of the beautifully sounding recording venue that is Hallé St Peters.
    Stott takes us then into more familiar territory with the beautiful “Le Tombeau de Couperin” by Maurice Ravel, a sort of hommage to the 18th century French music in general. This tour de force of delicacy and radiance was the last work he composed for solo piano and as usual with Ravel shows a complete command of the piano resources, with varied metrics, always inventive ideas and surprising changes. Though we are more familiar with the orchestrated version, I find this one (just like happens with Moussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”) to be the most powerful. Stott’s performance is outstanding, with the transparency and liveliness needed to bring this pieces alive. Used as I was for years with the Gramophone-Awarded set by Jean-Yves Thibaudet I had no trouble at all in getting acquainted with this new performance which I find crystalline, rhythmically alert and gracefully played.
    Finally, “Le Baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus” is Messiaen at his most contemplative and mystic. Just as with the Alain’s “Prelude”, Messiaen’s slow piece could also be played on the organ and reminds me of the un-worldly strings of, say, his “Eclairs sur l’Au-Delà” for orchestra. This extremely slow movement with floating harmonies proves to be a proper way to close this exploratory recital.
    I wish to mention the natural sound of the piano captured in Manchester by Hans Kipfer (Take 5 Music Production). The extended dynamic range added by the high resolution recording (either in the SACD release as in the high-res download) makes this release a highly recommended one.
©Juan Hitters, 2015


martes, 25 de agosto de 2015

New photo shoot for Bonsai3

Juan has been working again with the Bonsai3 team in Miami, along with the creatives from the Republica advertising agency. This time they did a photo-session for the LA based Shuterfly company. The session went very well and were able to complete the shooting in spite of the unpredicatable Florida summer weather. 



martes, 28 de julio de 2015

Montpellier lab for CH2M

Juan has spent several days shooting the newly finished laboratory of the Montpellier chemical firm in Buenos Aires. This amazing building provided scenarios that might have well been in Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey film. The work was ordered by the argentinian arm of the huge international engineering and construction company CH2M.






jueves, 11 de junio de 2015

New exhibition at fCH: Rupestres

Federico Churba has invited Juan, once again, to open a photo exhibition at his amazing showroom. Yesterday Juan presented his last series, "Rupestres". Twelve large format pictures (110X110cmts) shot in Mendoza, NYC and Miami Beach between 2010 and 2015. The opening was a complete success, with the space packed-up with friends, artists, critics and journalists. Rupestres will be open until the end of August, and may be visited Monday to Friday from 10AM to 7PM and Saturdays from 10AM to 1PM. Tienda Federico Churba, Paraná 1172, Buenos Aires.






lunes, 1 de junio de 2015

Horacio Lavandera at The Blue Whale

Tonight Horacio Lavandera will be plain Beethoven's Emperor piano concerto at the opening of the brand new concert hall in Buenos Aires, called The Blue Whale. This amazing venue has been acoustically designed and provides a crystal clear presentation of instruments very suitable for medium and small ensembles. Though world famous and a classic, the main hall at Teatro Colón was never intended for baroque music and chamber ensembles, as was designed with opera and symphonic orchestras in mind. So this new venue is very welcome. And to open it the prestigious Horacio Lavandera has been selected. He hired me to portray him in this space which, to be honest, was still being under constructions when these pictures were taken. Therefore, I could not make full use of the location and had to shoot under very low light conditions. He was very satisfied with the results, anyway. Good! I had met him during the recording sessions of Dino Saluzzi's piano music for ECM, at the Rainbow Studio in Oslo.

jueves, 21 de mayo de 2015

Vijay Iyer Trio: Break Stuff for ECM records

While visiting NYC Juan did a photo-shoot of the acclaimed Vijay Iyer Trio in Harlem for the legendary ECM label. The pictures turned out so good that they were immediately included in the booklet of the new album, Break Stuff. Another picture made by Juan was selected by Manfred Eicher for the cover.  The recording has been a complete hit, being heralded by the public and critics alike. It has got five stars from Downbeat magazine and the musicians  have been considered Jazz Artist and Jazz Group of the year by the same publication.



miércoles, 20 de mayo de 2015

Dino Saluzzi: Imágenes (Music for piano)

ECM Records has recently released Dino Saluzzi's last album: "Imágenes", to celebrate the artist's 80th birthday today. This is a seldom seen aspect of Dino's oeuvre, forgetting about his beloved bandoneon. The complex, ambitious and profound pieces were written in Salta, Stuttgart and on the road between 1960 and 2002. Expertly played by the young Horacio Lavandera, this album was recorded at the Rainbow Studio in Oslo in October 2013. Juan was lucky to be present there and documented the session with photos that have been used in the booklet as well as the concert posters. 



jueves, 2 de abril de 2015

Photo-Shoot for Sofia Dumaine Apparel in Miami

Sofia Dumaine is a young, argentinian talented designer based in Miami. Juan has recently shot for Bonsai3 the beautiful Dashil wearing her collection in an wonderful location: a huge warehouse of a prop company. Great team, as always. Sofia has been invited to participate in Colombia Moda, in Medellin, next July.


lunes, 2 de marzo de 2015

Newly published book about legendary pizzeria Güerrin

Juan has participated in a quite distinct project, that took him out of his comfort zone. He was called by Graphic Designer and editor Silvina Simondet to shoot the inner life of an extremely famous 80 year old pizzeria. Güerrin is simply legendary in Buenos Aires, being a mandatory stop at Corrientes Avenue. The shooting was unique from many points of view. Technically difficult, it was necessary to shoot under very poor light conditions, to work among hundreds of clients, sometimes during the middle of the night and standing on top of the counter in order to immerse into the action of this ultra-busy restaurant. It was really fun and the results made him proud. A 500+ page book testifies for this hard work and shows the true 24 hour life of this mythic place. They can only be bought at Güerrin (Corrientes 1368, microcentro, Buenos Aires) but it is worth visiting the place to get the book and to try the super muzzarela pizza. 





lunes, 2 de febrero de 2015

Video shoot for Fendi Chateau

Fendi Chateau, a premium real state project in Miami, hired Bonsai3 and Juan as director of a video shoot in Bal Harbor and Miami Beach. Diego Sefercheglou of Craft CG did the art direction. The schedule was very tight but everything went as expected and the various locations were completed in just one day.

domingo, 1 de febrero de 2015

martes, 16 de diciembre de 2014

Chacra 11 for Kallos/Turin architects

Juan was hired by the prestigious architects Stephania Kallos and Aby Turin to photograph Chacra 11 in Punta del Este, Uruguay. The place is stunning and the weather was simply perfect. These pictures have been already published in many international interior design magazines.








viernes, 14 de noviembre de 2014

El Ojo y el Diamante for Sans Parapluie

Juan has recently been shooting artist Lucas Rise's new project, El Ojo y el Diamante, in Valeria del Mar, a small town near the sea 400 km south of Buenos Aires. This amazing artist, creator of Sans Parapluie and RiseMod, has founded an art gallery together with his family.

David Virelles in Brooklyn Heights

While in NYC Juan made a photo shoot in Brooklyn Heights of the Cuban musician David Virelles. These pictures were included in the booklet of his recently released solo album on ECM Records, Mbókò, which has received wonderful reviews already.