Diverse Peruvian Musical Landscape explored with Caminos del INKA

By -

Miguel Harth-Bedoya is a fast rising star in the conducting world, hopping about the United States conducting everywhere from Atlanta to the Hollywood Bowl. With his Peruvian roots, his interest in bringing to the forefront some of the great classical music from his homeland is understandable. His latest CD release, Caminos del Inka is the first in an on-going project to do just that. With the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Miguel Harth-Bedoya leads us on a journey of Peruvian music spanning three centuries. Not only is this rarely heard music - most of this CD is world premiere recordings. This is a real treat where so often new classical music CD’s are re-interpretations of well known pieces.

The music ranges from a baroque style piece written by cleric Baltazar Martínez de Compañón, a Spaniard of the 1700’s who claimed Peru as his home, to Fiesta!, a piece by composer Jimmy López who created it to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Lima Philharmonic Society in 2007. Like the diverse Peruvian landscape, the music covers a broad spectrum of musical styles, soaring to the skies like the Andes, traipsing through the thickest jungles or just relaxing on the beach with a glass of wine.

Sinfonía Junín y. Ayacucho by Enrique Iturriaga begins the journey – a commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the battles of Junín and Ayacucho eventually establishing Peruvian independence. This is my second exposure to this piece and I must say it fares better on CD than it did in performance. It was nice performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in July 2009, but it has much more heart and life in this recorded version (oddly enough).

From here we journey back in time with a collection of three pieces by Baltazar Martínez de Compañón. They do not quite have the flare of Vivaldi or J.S. Bach, but they are delightful pieces of music.

I previous reviewed Gabriel Frank’s Elegia Andina from A Composer’s Voice and was again thrilled to hear this piece. It is highly rhythmic, melodic and intriguing in all the right ways. If this is an example of what is to come from Peruvian composers we are all in for a treat!

Vilcanota by Armando Guevara Ochoa is an mid 20th century piece. Rather than the atonal experimental music much of Europe was exploring Sr. Ochoa harkens to the tonal world Ralph Vaughan-Williams, a much more recognized 20th century composer. Vilcanota is a short piece but rich in the way it explores the sacred river of the same name.

Fiesta! is just that a romp of music and frivolity. But make no mistake, this is not a fluff piece. It has intensity, excitement and rhythmic interest throughout the journey – rather like trying to take in all three weeks of Carnival in 10 minutes. According to Jimmy López, he wanted to incorporate European classical music traditions, with Latin American music and flashes of Afro-Peruvian and pop music. I think he also included some local spices into the mix, because the flavor of the music has all the above elements and something as yet un-tasted. It’s spicy yet without the burn, slightly sweet and strong while not overpowering.

The album ends with another piece by Enrique Iturriaga, Obertura para una comedia. It is ostensibly a satire on the type of polka dance in Lima since the 19th century, so the music is filled with quick dance steps and mocking rhythmic changes - a fun romp for the orchestra and listener both. At just over 3 minutes it is a delightful encore for a wonderful performance.

Overall the CD holds together well with some exceptionally strong pieces by Frank and López. By the nature of the collection, it is varied and pleasantly so. The performance by the Fort Worth Symphony is superb, with a sense of control even with the huge disparity in musical styles. They commanded the intense rhythms when necessary, while still relaxing into the regular rhythms of the earlier styles of music. Kudos go to Miguel Harth-Bedoya for bringing to light and life these unknown Peruvian pieces. If this is any example of what is to come, the project to convey Peruvian music to a wider audience will undoubtedly succeed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more