Crossroads of Traditions Concert
| Sonata for Piano * | Luis Diego Herra (born 1952, Costa Rica) |
| Músico en la nada | Marc Satterwhite (born 1954, USA) |
Roots II
|
David Baker (born 1931, USA) |
| Black fugatos | Eugene O'Brien (born 1945, USA) |
Presented by The Latin American Music Center with the support of the School of Music and the Office of Creative Arts Exchange Program of the United States Information Agency. | |
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| * World premiere | Ford Hall Saturday Afternoon July 6 Four O'clock |
Program Notes
Sonata for Piano (1994)
Luis Diego Herra
In my current musical production, from which Sonata for Piano is representative, I seek an equilibrium between tradition-usual forms and tonality-and renovation. I attempt this balance by introducing elements of Latin American popular music and by creating a modular work based on the development of cells and rhythmic patterns, motives and melodic lines, and harmonic progressions. (Note by the composer)
Músico en la Nada (1992)
Marc Satterwhite
Meditations on a Photograph by Flor Garduño
In April of 1992 I attended the Houston Foto-Fest. I was especially interested in a large and varied selection of photos from Latin America, since I lived for six years in El Salvador and Mexico. Perhaps the most impressive part of the exhibit was a selection of wonderfully lyric photos of indigenous life by Mexican photographer Flor Garduño. Músico en la nada (Musician in the nowhere) shows a barren, foggy mountainside in Bolivia. Standing on a muddy roadside is an itinerant musician, flanked by bundles of his belongings. He has a beat-up bass drum and, lying on it, an old trumpet. The picture is absolutely haunting-no words of mine can possibly do it justice. I was perhaps especially moved because of the years I spent as a musician wandering around Latin America, occasionally lonely and homesick. Although I was a symphony musician and I was never poor, as this man so obviously was, still I felt a kinship with him as he stood there alone. Perhaps he was waiting for the bus to take him to the next town and the next "hueso" (the Spanish term for "gig" is almost too appropriate-the literal meaning is "bone"). Perhaps he was just standing there. (Note by the composer)
Roots II (1992)
David Baker
The music of David Baker, faculty member of the School of Music of Indiana University, represents a wide range of Afro-American and classical traditions. Composed for the Beaux Arts Trio, Roots II is an outgrowth of Roots, a piano trio composed for the same ensemble in 1978. Roots II comprises a wide variety of styles which Baker describes: "Work songs, field hollers, blues, ragtime, boogie woogie, rhythm & blues, spirituals, gospel songs, calypso, rock & roll, rap and of course jazz . . . In composing this work, I made use of some of the musical features common to these varied styles, among them rhythmic preeminence, the spirit and attitude of the blues call and response, the ostinato, and certain musical forms, harmonic and melodic materials."
Black Fugatos (1983)
Eugene O'Brien
Black Fugatos, a brief work lasting about ten minutes, was commissioned for the Cleveland Orchestra Chamber Music Series, and was given its premiere by members of the orchestra on May 6, 1983. This is an austere piece, comprised of a deliberately limited range of melodic material, a narrow tesitura, and an even more restricted dynamic compass: most of the work is quite soft. Within these confines, however, the performers are asked to play expressively and often with great intensity. The music is busy, intricate and darkly colored. The imagery of two lines from a poem by Wallace Stevens both inspired the piece and provided its title: "The black fugatos are strumming the blacknesses of black. . ./The thick strings stutter the finial gutturals." (Note by the composer)
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