I was really scratching my head on this one. How to construct a unified light music program with such seemingly disparate pieces?
This morning on “Sweetness and Light,” marvel at how gracefully I meet the challenge of marking the birthday anniversaries of composers Romeo Cascarino and Florent Schmitt and also including music from a too-long-deferred pleasure: a recent release of “Latin American Piano Gems” (Centaur 4083) performed by pianist Gila Goldstein.
The unifying theme is sonatinas, or “little” sonatas.
Philadelphia composer Romeo Cascarino’s Bassoon Sonata was written after World War II for his Army buddy Sol Schoenbach, who would go on to become principal bassoonist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. “Sonatina” may not be in the title, but the character is light, and the sonata is only seven minutes long!
Florent Schmitt’s “Sonatine en Trio” is a very happy discovery indeed. There’s a certain neoclassic quality to the music, which we’ll hear in a version for flute, cello and piano, by a French composer whose orchestral works can be quite opulent. The title itself seems to harken back to an earlier time. In fact, the keyboard part was originally conceived for harpsichord. It’s cheering music, and I think you’ll agree, a great start to the day!
“Latin American Piano Gems” is a transporting collection of works by Ernesto Lecuona, Astor Piazzolla, Manuel Ponce, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. We’ll enjoy a piece by Argentine composer Carlos Guastavino, who is largely remembered for his songs. Guastavino wrote his Sonatina while visiting Manuel de Falla, who spent his final years in self-imposed exile in Cordoba, Argentina, following the Spanish Civil War. All in all, a very enjoyable album. We’ll be dipping into it again soon!
This morning’s program will also include delights by Federico Moreno Torroba, Eugène Bozza, Erik Satie, and Ludwig van Beethoven.
I hope you’ll join me for “Small Pleasures” – an hour of sonatinas for varied instruments and instrumental combinations – on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Stream it wherever you are at the link:
Think a sonatina for mandolin and piano is a bit far-fetched? Tune in to hear what Beethoven made of it.
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