MusicaNova concerts are supported by generous grants or donations from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, Hannah’s Oboes, Molly Blank Fund, Twiford Foundation, John & Elizabeth McKinnon, Ed and Cynthia DuBrow, W. David Connell, Robert Dixon, Meineke Car Care Centers, the Teets Family, and many more.

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The eclectic use of folk tunes in classical music

Program notes by Warren Cohen

 

Germaine Tailleferre: Piano Concerto (original version)

 

Germaine Tailleferre is better remembered today as the only woman in the group of French composers known as “les six” than she is for any music she wrote, despite recent attempts to resurrect her music. Though this group of composers were not united by any musical attributes, there was some cross-pollination of styles and ideas that can be heard in the music of Tailleferre and Poulenc, for instance. Yet each composer had distinctive qualities of their own. In Tailleferre’s music, classicism in form and structure is more pronounced, the dissonances are somewhat muted, and humor is very much on the surface.

 

Her piano concerto was written in 1924, apparently for Alfred Cortot, in a version for twelve instruments.  She later expanded the orchestration, using full string sections and changing some instrumentation. A part originally conceived for saxophone, then written for clarinet (in the version we are doing), was finally rescored for oboe -- all without changing more than a few of the notes!

 

The chamber like character of the work is apparent from the start with riffs on ideas from J.S. Bach’s Third Brandenburg Concerto. The quasi-baroque nature is maintained by the way the piano at times functions almost as a continuo instrument.  Unlike most romantic concertos, the piano and orchestra are not pitted against other. They form a cohesive and coherent unit, and, until the cadenza at the end of the last movement, both piano and the orchestra play continuously. The effect is one of co-operation rather than dialogue. The piano part is free of histrionics and the wind instruments are featured as individual players.

 

The second movement has a lovely tune that is expanded and played out in various guises. The lively finale is the most substantial movement, with an extended solo for the piano shortly before the end that brings the work to a brilliant and satisfying close.

 

Lou Harrison: Suite for Violin, Piano and Small Orchestra

 

Lou Harrison is among the most individual voices the world of music has ever had, an extreme nonconformist in lifestyle, personality and taste in music. Even in childhood he sought out music from all the world's traditions and incorporated these interests from his earliest compositions. The result is both eclectic and individual. Sounds derived from Chinese music sit side by side with Persian scales, Indonesian gamelan sounds and the most conventional of Western orchestral sonorities. The effect is so individual yet coherent that the only thing it sounds like is Lou Harrison.

 

The dominant influence in the Suite for Violin, Piano and Small Orchestra is Indonesian gamelan music. In some of his later music, Harrison incorporated gamelan instruments, but here he was simply influenced by the gamelan sound world. It is reflected in the unusual instrumentation he uses: two flutes, oboe, celesta, tack piano (an upright piano with tacks inserted into the felts, sometimes called a “honky-tonk” piano), gong, two cellos and a bass in addition to the soloists.

 

The first movement is traditionally 20th century in some parts of its musical expression, but the evocation of the Indonesian sound world disguises that. The lyrical second, fourth and sixth movements are framed by two movements called “gamelan,” in which the sound of Indonesian music is more clearly heard. The overall effect is music of extraordinary color and beauty, expressed in both an idiom and a sound world unique to this wonderful composer.

 

Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring (complete ballet)

 

Copland's Appalachian Spring is the iconic work of his American style that he developed during the Depression as a populist expression of his musical vision. He connected it with the need for a music that reflected a true American spirit at a time of great internal stress. Ironically, the title and identity of this work came from choreographer Martha Graham, who suggested the ballet to Copland, came up with the story line and the title. Copland composed the music to fit the story as Graham had conceived it, and a year after the premiere adapted material from the ballet to create a work for orchestra called Appalachian Spring Suite. This is the version most people are familiar with.

 

The changes from the ballet are significant. Using a full orchestra instead of the original 13 instruments creates a different sound world. The story arc of the ballet was abandoned for a different structure that cuts eight minutes of music. Most of the cut comes from a section of the ballet that Graham called “Fear, Wrath, and Conflict” that occurs after the variations on the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts. In the suite, one variation is cut, the order of the others is rearranged, and the last variation is simply a statement of the theme in octaves. The music then moves directly to the quiet ending.

 

In the ballet, the statement of the theme in octaves comes after the “Fear, Wrath and Conflict” music. The effect is like the emergence of light after darkness – something missing in the suite. Copland probably cut that section because it is musically rather mundane, but it serves an important function in the musical drama, and for those who have only heard the suite, hearing the ballet can be a revelation. The complete ballet music is rarely performed, and we are proud to be able to offer it today.

 

Manel Burgos de la Rosa: Habana Vieja (notes by the composer)

 

Habana Vieja is a suite of movements that describes the history of a city whose musical life has been so intense and so influential in the world.

 

The Opening is an echo of the military bugle tune from the Fort of Morro that has awakened the city since the 16th century and that Cuban musicians like to use at the beginning of their improvisations, for example in the well-known tune El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor). This gives way to a danzón, a mellow rhythm that began to be performed by dance orchestras at the beginning of the 20th century.

 

Next, we introduce a habanera, whose contagious rhythmic cell of African origin seduced Europe in the 19th century; that same cell is was the inspiration for the tango in Argentina. From north to south, the African footprint is present in so much of the music of the New World. The well-known habanera from Bizet's Carmen is a scandalous plagiarism of Iradier's El arreglito!

 

In the 1940s, the mambo style brought with it an extension of the orchestral family: brass, piano, violins and the congas were introduced, and with the instruments came sophisticated arrangements. Great names such as Machito, Pérez Prado, AND the Catalan born Xavier Cugat brought the mambo into the music scene in the United States  and then to the entire world.

 

Finally, we arrive at the güiro (it also gives its name to a percussion instrument), a frenetic polyrhythm in 6/8 time that returns us in its purest form to the African past of Cuban music.

 

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MusicaNova Orchestra

 

Violin I

Julian Nguyen, concertmaster

   John and Elizabeth McKinnon Chair

Danny Yang

 

Violin II

Dasom Jeon, principal

   Robert Dixon Chair

Grace Wills

 

Viola

Janet Quiroz, principal

   Dominque van de Stadt and Octavio Pajaro chair

Graham Cohen

 

Cello

   Ed & Cynthia DuBrow section

Maria Simiz, principal

Jennifer Cox

 

Bass

Nathan Benitez

 

Flute

Lisa Tharp Friedeman, principal

   Carolyn Whitaker chair

Nancy Sowers

 

Oboe

Curtis Sellers

     Nina Gurin memorial chair

 

Clarinet

Kristin Fray

     Robert & Cindy Leger chair

 

Bassoon

Kristilyn Woods

 

French horn

Martha Edwards, principal

Mike Lee

 

Trumpet

Chris Albrecht

 

Harp

David Ice

 

Percussion

Sonja Branch

 

Celesta/piano

Mary Pendleton

 

Tack piano

Graham Cohen

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Personnel manager: Liz McKinnon

Assistant personnel manager: Jamilyn Richardson

Librarian: Spencer Ekenes

Video recording: David Ice

Audio recording: Vault Classical

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