Crossroads of Traditions Concert
| Shojoshin-in chants | Glenn Gass (born 1956, USA) |
| Río de las Mariposas | Gabriela Ortiz (born 1964, México) |
| Líneas de piedra y piedad | Marc Satterwhite (born 1954, USA) |
| Bongó-0 | Roberto Sierra (born 1953, Puerto Rico) |
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. | |
| ******************************************** | |
| Ford Hall Wednesday Evening July 10 Eight-Thirty p.m. | |
Program Notes
Sonata for Piano (1994)
Luis Diego Herra
In my current musical production, of 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
Shojoshin-in Chants (1991)
(Five Movements for Solo Cello)
Glenn Gass
I - sempre rubato, express.
II - legato, tranquilly
III - intensely
IV - rubato, broadly
V - lightly, dolce
The Shojoshin-in Temple is one of many atop Mt. Koya, one of Japan's sacred mountains and the center of the Shingon sect of Buddhism. While the music is not linked in any direct way to Koyasan, the meditative, stream-of-consciousness feel of Shojoshin-in Chants does attempt to reflect the sounds experienced and feelings evoked during the composer's stay in Shojoshin-in Temple in 1991.
The five brief movements of Shojoshin-in Chants are formally centered around a fast, furious middle movement. The pair of quiet movements, II and V, played mostly in natural harmonics, form the emotional pillars of the work. The opening and fourth movements are similarly paired in spirit, though the unfolding and rather hopeful motion of the opening is replaced in the fourth movement by a sense of bittersweet resignation. (Note by the composer)
Bongo-0 (1982)
Roberto Sierra
Percussion instruments have been used by many contemporary composers almost exclusively as a medium to convey certain coloristic effects. When listening to Afro-Caribbean folk music, one becomes aware that in this genre, rhythm is the most important factor. The articulations and modes of their functions are mainly to help in the shaping of the rhythmic figures. Bongo-0 follows the same line of Afro-Caribbean music, in the sense that rhythm is the foremost parameter. The bongos are used in the traditional manner, with the exception of several unorthodox striking techniques, such as scratching heads with fingernails. As in Caribbean folk music, the articulations and modes of attack form an integral part of the rhythmic patterns. Rhythm and other parameters are treated in such a way that the form of the piece is in continuous transformation. During this process of change, the voice of the percussionist is utilized as a quasi-percussive element. (Note by the composer)
Río de las Mariposas (1995)
Gabriela Ortiz
For some time now, I have been very interested in writing different pieces that would involve two contrasting sides of my own musical background. As a composer working with computers and electronics, I have experienced a considerable change in the way I approach musical creation. On the other hand, the fact of being born in a country with an enormous cultural heritage of popular and ethnic music has motivated me to try to be fair to the different worlds existing inside myself.
The title of this work is an evocation of the legendary Papaloapan or "Río de las Mariposas" (River of the Butterflies), whose margins reach the sea port of Tlacotalpan, Veracruz, and where as a child and teenager I discovered the local sounds, besides having heard them many other times with musicians such as Los Folkloristas and Salvador "El Negro Ojeda."
Images and memories of those times are what stimulates me to explore and play in a personal and simple manner with all the melodic, rhythmic, and contrapuntal elements that happen naturally in a music so rich and full of tradition. On the other hand, I have also tried to treat the harp not exclusively within the context of Western-European music, but rather as an instrument that has always been linked to our roots. Its rhythmic and melodic possibilities can lead to new articulations of language, always within new contexts and reconstructing paths. As Venezuelan composer Paul Desenne indicates, these paths could be layers of an imaginary musical archeology representing what we can refer to as the history of the musical miscegenation of our lands.
This work was commissioned by the National University of Mexico to be premiered during the Second Latin-American Harp Festival by the Venezuelan harpists Annette Léon and Isabel Santos, and the Mexican percussionist Ricardo Gallardo. (Note by the composer)
Notes preapared by Luiz Lopes
Please email questions or consultations
to |
Please email sugestions or comments
to |