I hope you’ve got the taste for rum and plantains. This week on “The Lost Chord,” we pack our bags and strike out for the Caribbean.
We’ll have music by two composers with Puerto Rican connections: Ernesto Cordero (b. 1946), though born in New York, was raised there; Roberto Sierra (b. 1953) was born there and now teaches at Cornell.
Cordero studied at the Conservatory of Music in Puerto Rico and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid. He did post graduate work in composition in Rome and New York (with Julián Orbón). He also studied guitar under the legendary Regino Sáinz de la Maza (who gave the premiere of Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”) and Alirio Díaz.
Cordero’s music is distinguished by its Caribbean flavor. He has written at least eight concertos to date. We’ll be listening to his “Concierto Festivo” (2003), dedicated to Pepe Romero.
Sierra studied composition in Hamburg with György Ligeti. In 1986, his opera, “El mensajero de plata” (“The Silver Messenger”), was given its premiere at the Interamerican Festival in San Juan. In 1985, Zdenek Macal conducted the first performance of Sierra’s first major orchestral composition, “Jubilo,” with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. Macal took the work to Carnegie Hall in 1987, with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, effectively kickstarting Sierra’s international career.
Sierra spent three seasons as Milwaukee’s composer-in-residence, from 1989 to 1992. The culmination of his residency was the world premiere of “Tropicalia” (1991). The work falls into three movements: “Foliage” is evocative of a rainforest; “Nocturne” conjures childhood memories of fireflies and “coqui,” Puerto Rican tree frogs; and “Celebration” is full of upbeat, indigenous rhythms.
I hope you’ll join me for “Port of Riches,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX Classical Oregon!
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Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
https://kwax.uoregon.edu/
Tag: Guitar
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Jeff Beck’s Classical Guitar Legacy
As the world mourns the passing of rock guitarist Jeff Beck, whose influential career spanned an eventful 60 years, it’s to be remembered that he also recognized beauty in the music of other genres, often consolidating it with his own style.
Among his 16 Grammy nominations (and eight wins) was a cover of “Nessun dorma,” the standout aria from Puccini’s “Turandot,” recognized as Best Pop Instrumental Performance of 2010. Here it is in concert.
Beck also recorded an arrangement of the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.
Thanks to “The Guv’nor” for helping to get the word out. Good music is good music. R.I.P.
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Paul McCartney at 80 & Brouwer’s Beatles
80 is the new 64. Happy birthday, Sir Paul McCartney.
Leo Brouwer’s suite for guitar and string orchestra after Lennon & McCartney classics, “From Yesterday to Penny Lane”
From Brouwer’s “Beatlerianas” for guitar duo: “Fool on the Hill”
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Julian Bream Guitar Legend Dies at 87
The classical music world is left unstrung. One of the foremost guitarists of his generation, Julian Bream, has died.
Bream, who was essentially self-taught on his instrument, was an acknowledged master of over 400 years of repertoire. Not content to live in the past, he also commissioned new works from – or had them written for him by – Sir Malcolm Arnold, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Leo Brouwer, Hans Werner Henze, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Toru Takemitsu, Sir Michael Tippett, and Sir William Walton, to name but a few.
He set up his own consort, with which he revived music of the Tudor era and made many recordings on the lute. His services as a lutenist were employed for the premiere of Benjamin Britten’s “Gloriana,” written to celebrate the coronation of Elizabeth II. Bream subsequently arranged the opera’s courtly dances for the instrument, which he then recorded. In turn, Britten composed several other works for Bream, including at least one milestone of the 20th century classical guitar repertoire, his “Nocturnal, after John Dowland.”
In a valedictory comment, quoted by the BBC, Bream offered, “I devoted my life to music for a reason, and the reason wasn’t because I wanted to get on or make money, but to try to fulfil myself and also to give people pleasure. That’s been my credo.”
Julian Bream was 87 years-old.
Twin titans of the guitar, Bream and John Williams (not to be confused with the film composer), in concert:
Bream attempts to woo Stravinsky with the lute:
“Nocturnal, after John Dowland”:
Charming documentary, “Julian Bream: My Life in Music”:
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Glen Campbell William Tell Overture Guitar
The late Glen Campbell plays the “William Tell Overture.”
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