Program Fantasia Btica Manuel de Falla 1879 1947

Program Fantasia Bética Manuel de Falla (1879 -1947) From Danzas Españolas Enrique Granados Oriental, No. 2 (1867 -1919) Andaluza, No. 5 From Los Cantos the España Isaac Albéniz Córdoba (1860 -1909) Leyenda Rita Triana, castanet improvisation Intermission From the Concierto de Aranjuez por guitarra y orquesta Joaquín Rodrigo Adagio (1901 -1999) Spain (Based on the Concierto de Aranjuez) Chick Corea (b. 1941) Ruben Gutierrez, piano From El Amor Brujo Introdúcion (Pantomima) Danza del terror Romance del Pescador Danza ritual del Fuego Manuel de Falla Felipa Triana, dance Antonio Triana, choreography

The Soul of Spain Sunday, August 28 th 2005 Fox Fine Arts Recital Hall 2: 30 p. m. Program Notes

Program Notes Music can be an aural representation of some of the most intricate aspects of a culture: history, language and social movements of a people. No where, perhaps, can this be heard as evidently than in the nationalistic movement of music in Spain from 1840 -1950. It was the end of the 19 th century, and Spain was no longer a European Superpower as it had been in previous centuries. France, Germany and Italy had all superceded Spain politically, economically, and in some people’s minds, culturally. It was with the pamphlet written by composer Felipe Pedrell, Por Nuestra Música (For Our Music), that the Spanish Nationalistic Movement began. In this pamphlet, Pedrell explained that Spanish music was unique in that it: 1) used music from Spain’s Golden Era in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 2) used music from the numerous different regions of Spain and 3) used contemporary compositional trends as the main means of communication. Pedrell never achieved fame as a composer, but his philosophies are rendered as innovative and the stepping stones to what would become “Spanish Nationalistic Music. ” His main success can be found in the music of his students – some pieces which are on this program and incorporate these important beliefs. The works on this afternoon’s performance depict the southern-most region of the peninsula: Andalucía. It is in this region of Spain where one finds the song, dance and cultural influences of several peoples, including the Andalucía Moors (who reigned from 711 -1230), the gitano (gypsy) inhabitants and the numerous provincial community members. Each with its own distinct customs—food, dance, instruments, maneras de ser—if ever these things could find their way into expression through music, they can be heard through this music of the national composers of Spain Three of the Spanish composers represented on today’s program are considered to be the forefathers of the Spanish nationalist movement in music: Isaac Albéniz (1860 -1909), Enrique Granados (1867 -1919) and Manuel de Falla (1879 -1947). All studied composition under the tutelage of Pedrell, as well as studying composition in France. Two other composers join their company: Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo (1901 -1999) and American jazz composer and pianist, Chick Corea (b. 1941), both of whom were influenced by the great Spanish masters. Another important element finds its way into today’s program – an element that, when exploring the nationalism of Spanish music from this time period, cannot be dismissed: Spanish dance. The music and dance go “hand foot, ” if you will, and in true concept, could not have existed one without the other. The choreography of one of Spain’s most influential dancers and teachers from the nationalistic movement is seen here today – work by world-renowned Antonio Triana.

Written in 1919 for concert pianist Artur Rubenstein, Manuel de Falla’s Fantasia Bética is marked with vivid musical depictions of Andalucía through extreme virtuosic measures. The name offers a historical reference, as Bética was the name for Andalucía in the days of the Roman rule over this part of the country. Falla’s fantasy, however, is set in a completely contemporary manner, combining folkloric melodic elements with dissonant harmonies, complex rhythms and angular and disjunct phrasing. Highly sectionalized, the piece offers guitar-like effects through repeated pitches on the piano, impressionistic use of the instrumental colors and dynamic range, and even contains a completely contrasting lullaby—perhaps sung to the young Falla by his nanny, La Morilla, who was of Moorish decent. Cante jondo, or deep song, is thought to be the essence of gypsy flamenco music and is captured magnificently in this dramatic and at times, quite rough, art of expression. The next set of pieces on the program represents an interesting trend in regard to the piano literature from Spain during this time—that of the collection or cuaderno of pieces. Often times composers incorporated dance into piano music and grouped these works into collections. Multi-movement in nature, pianists today often chose to perform a few, select pieces on a program, and rarely are the entire collections heard in their entirety. The soloist today has selected what may be the most adored movements from two very important collections in the twentieth century piano repertoire: Isaac Albéniz’s Songs from Spain (Cantos de España) and Enrique Granados’ Twelve Spanish Dances (Danzas Españolas). Beginning with the Granados, the second dance entitled Oriental, depicts images not of Asia but rather of Moorish Andalucía. Hauntingly nostalgic, the music conjures the subtle flavors of Andalucia’s exotic music, art, poetry and architecture. Dance number five, Andaluza, is the most famous of the entire collection and again offers a musical portrait of the warm, dreamy Andalucian nights but this time within the more active rhythmical pulses of a quicker Spanish dance. Both dances have been set to innumerable arrangements for various instruments. Córdoba, which is one of the most important port cities of Spain, is located on the Guadalquivir River and was home to the Romans, the Moor Caliphates (or Kings) and the final conquering Christian regime of the Hapsburg Dynasty and rule of Carlos V (or Charles I). The city now houses both the Great Mosque of Córdoba, with a renovated Christian Cathedral in the very center of the same building. In this city, Muslims, Christians and Jews all worked and lived harmoniously, and it is this wonderful mix of cultures that finds its way into the piece Córdoba by Albéniz. At the top of the score, Albéniz included the following poem, written by Enrique Morera, and it is these words’ image that he tries to portray through music: In the silence of the night, which is broken by the whispers of the breezes fragrant of jasmine, one dreams of the Moorish guitar accompanying the serenades, and there spreads in the air, passionate melodies and notes so sweet like the swinging of the palm trees in the high skies.

The piece primarily contains two ideas: one of a sacred character, set in a homorhythmic and chorale-like texture. The other idea is more “Spanish” in nature: a yearning melody with guitar (or in this case, Moorish guitar) influenced, rhythmical punctuations. Perhaps the most famous of all is Albeniz’ Leyenda, or Legend, also from the Songs of Spain. The portrayal here is alarmingly obvious: Albéniz is capturing the delicate and intricate capabilities of the Spanish guitar, except originally composed for solo piano. Dispersed among the webbing of repeated pitches Albéniz incorporates the strong and violent strums that flamenco guitarists are so easily and successfully able to execute powerfully. This is not the case on the piano, however, as these violent strums are represented with huge, crashing chords found in the extreme opposite registers of the instrument. The middle of the work possesses the contrasting slow, copla section, with a grita or cry so often found in cante jondo of Andalucian folk music. Rita Triana performs a castanet improvisation with this work, highlighting even further the subtle yet complex rhythms available in one’s inner ear and soul. The mastery of castanet performance is imperative in the true study of Spanish Classical dance and flamenco interpretation. The castanets are a centuries-old, percussion instrument whose earliest recorded history dates to over 1000 B. C. and whose origin is attributed to the Phoenicians. However, over the course of history, it has been Spain that has conserved and developed their use and as such, the castanets are considered the cultural patrimony of Spain (along with the guitar, they are considered the national instrument of the country). Albéniz and Granados did not live long enough to embrace the difficulties surrounding the Spanish Civil War (1936 -1939), although they too experienced governmental unrest in the country during their lives. However, both Manuel de Falla and perhaps the main Spanish composer from the next generation of musicians, Joaquín Rodrigo, would be exiled from their homeland during this turbulent time. Falla would return only after his death to be buried in his native city of Cádiz, while Rodrigo did return to find success as a composer in Spain—despite the numerous challenges that confronted him. Blind as a result from a diphtheria outbreak when he was only three years old, Rodrigo overcame many obstacles to win numerous awards allowing him continued study of music and composition. It was during his travels abroad, studying in France and Germany, that he found himself with his wife unable to return home. At the end of the war in 1939, the Rodrigos did return to Madrid and in 1940, solo guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza along with the Barcelona Orchestra premiered the work. It was a resounded success whose heart-tugging melodies and quintessential Spanish atmosphere, miraculously composed by a man rendered virtually blind as a toddler, continue to serve as moving testimony to the transcendent power of music. As one can imagine, the Spanish population was starving for a piece of this nature.

Originally written in three movements, the second movement found on today’s program, the Adagio, was written while the Rodrigos were in Paris. Rodrigo’s wife, Victoria, had fallen ill, pregnant with their first child. It has been said that Rodrigo wrote the work’s heart-breaking melodies out of his despair while visiting Victoria in the hospital. Though Rodrigo seldom spoke of it, his friend Pepe Romero later revealed that this passionate movement -- the longest of the Concierto-- was an emotional response to the death of Rodrigo's infant son that Victoria miscarried. Despite this sadness, Rodrigo continued to compose a guitar concerto that has won the hearts of millions of audience members. Rodrigo wrote that the work, Aranjuez ". . . takes its name from the famous royal residence on the banks of the Tajo, not far from Madrid and the Andalucian highway, and in its notes one may fancy seeing the ghost of Goya, held in thrall by melancholy in its themes there lingers the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds, and the gushing of fountains. ” He and his wife Victoria spent many afternoons in Aranjuez, walking through the gardens. They did have a child, Cecilia, shortly thereafter who now runs the publishing house, Editorial Joaquín Rodrigo. American jazz composer and performer Chick Corea’s four decade career is the stuff of jazz tradition, an merger of influential, limit-stretching musical experiences which have filled many a page in 20 th century music history encyclopedias. Born Armando Anthony Corea in Chelsea, Massachusetts on June 12, 1941, Chick was studying piano by age four and enjoyed a childhood home filled with the sounds of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Lester Young and Horace Silver - not to mention the likes of Beethoven and Mozart, who inspired Chick's compositional instincts. In 1971, Chick found perhaps what would become his own “voice” – the voice that so many now recognize as the Chick Corea sound. Jazz has never been quite the same since the birth of his band in 1971, Return To Forever. The early edition of that group (which featured the young Stanley Clarke on bass) was a softer, samba-flavored ensemble featuring Flora Purim on vocals, her husband Airto on drums and reedman Joe Farrell. After two albums with this lineup and a few solo piano released on the side, Chick plugged in and went the electronic fusion route, incorporating into RTF the firepower of drummer Lenny White and guitarist Bill Connors. It was also during this year that Chick wrote the popular arrangement, Spain, which borrows musical content from Joaquín Rodrigo. Of Spain, Corea said, "If there is any one song that listeners seem to know me best by, I guess that song is "Spain, " as I get the most requests for it and hear it mentioned more than any of the others. I wrote the song in 1971 and played it frequently with RTF and many other bands of mine. I reharmonized theme and made a brand new arrangement of it for the Akoustic Band trio in 1988, and have generally turned the song inside out through the years. With Spain, I tip my hat to the art cultures of Spain, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina and New York. " (Taken from the official Chick Corea website).

El Amor Brujo, which does not translate easily but can be thought of as the “Love, Bewitched” or “Love, the Magician” was composed as a sort of “opera-ballet, ” written in particular for the famous gypsy dancer and singer, Pastora Imperio’s mother conjured up for the composer the fiery, sensuous mood of Andalucian gypsy music by singing him authentic songs and telling folk tales. All the music in El Amor Brujo is de Falla’s own, yet it reveals how thoroughly he assimilated the lessons imparted by Pastora and her mother. The first performance in Madrid took place on April 15, 1915. It was not a success, so the following year de Falla thoroughly revised the work, reducing its two scenes to one, omitting some of the vocal and recitative passages, rearranging the order, and enlarging the chamber ensemble to full orchestra. It is in this form that we usually hear El Amor Brujo. Today’s performance is even further reduced and for solo piano (Taken from the program notes of the Decker/G’froerer/Tena June 3 -4, 2004 program at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada, http: //www. nac-cna. ca). The plot is disarmingly simple – a gypsy woman, Candela, is possessed by the ghost of her faithless former lover, José, until her new suitor, Carmélo, enlists a beautiful friend, Lucia, to entice it away. Every one of the thirteen scenes evokes a diverse mood that is seamlessly integrated into a moving tapestry of enthralling but restrained human feeling. Today’s performance offers four selections from the entire work: I The Introdución/Pantomima, which is a dream-like meeting between Candela and Carmélo. This love scene is interrupted by the II Danza del Terror (the Dance of Terror), as Candela repetitively sees the ghost of her former lover, José, which prohibits her new relationship with Carmélo. III In the Romance del Pescador, (Romance of the Fisherman), sentiment of true love are felt and heard as the couple search for ways out of their predicament. It is with the plan to exorcise the ghost that the striking of the twelve bells of midnight can be heard and the IV Danza ritual del fuego (Ritual Fire Dance) places Candela within a magic circle of fire, surrounded by her community of gypsy friends and family. Calling upon Jose’s ghost, he appears but is enticed by the beautiful friend Lucía and diverted long enough for Candela and Carmélo to finally succeed in undertaking “the kiss of perfect love” in private, thus breaking the magic spell. This colorful music is full of fire and rhythms influenced by folk music, but original with Falla. The choreography seen danced today by Felipa Solis is that originally by her father. Antonio Triana performed the roles of both Carmélo and José, working with the great Spanish composer Manuel de Falla throughout Spain and in the U. S.

Biographies Dena Kay Jones has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and in Spain and Mexico. Solo performances include recitals at the Centro Municipal de Los Artes (Juárez), the Tuscola Fine Arts Center (Illinois) and the For the Love of Music Series in Bisbee (Arizona), an appearance as soloist with the University of Arizona Symphony, and performances for worldrenowned pianists Leon Fleisher at the Aspen Summer Music Festival and Russell Shermann at the Summer Courses in Santander, Spain. She offered her New York Debut at Merkin Hall in March 2003 and also performed with cellists Zuill Bailey and Dennis Brott at the Fourteenth El Paso Pro-Musica Chamber Festival in January 2004. In addition to maintaining a widely varied repertoire from the standard piano literature, Ms. Jones has focused her energies in performance and research of the Spanish piano repertoire. In particular, her interest in this music has led her to focus on lesser-known Spanish piano works written from 1900 -1950. She has offered a lecture-recital entitled, "The Piano Works of Joaquín Rodrigo (1901 -1999): An Evaluation of Social Influences and Compositional Style, " as well as other lectures on Spanish music at several academic and music venues. She recently was awarded a grant from the Spanish Embassy in conjunction with U. S. universities for a Spanish music CD recording project to begin in the summer of 2006. Dena Kay Jones joined the music faculty at UTEP in August, 2002. The intensity of Rita Triana's dancing and choreography has established her as one of the most gifted exponents of the art. She formed a dynamic partnership with her late husband, the world-renowned Antonio Triana, earning critical acclaim in the New York City Center's historic production of the Falla masterpiece "El Amor Brujo, " and for their own Company, the Triana Ballet Espanol. Her book, "Antonio Triana and the Spanish Dance, " which traces the cultural roots of flamenco, is part of the permanent collection of the University of Seville, Cádiz, and the Archive Manuel de Falla in Granada, Spain. A frequent guest artist in the opera "Carmen, " Rita has been a featured soloist with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. She created the innovative Spanish/Flamenco dances for the original "Viva El Paso, " and currently teaches Spanish Dance and related subjects at UTEP and at the El Paso Community College. Dedicated to the preservation of the deep and proud Triana tradition, she directs her own school as well as performing around the United States as choreographer and lecturer. Ruben Gutierrez received his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance in 1992 and his Master of Music degree in Theory and Composition in 1994. He studied piano with Dr. Neil Stannard, composition with Dr. Joseph Packales and jazz improvisation with Mr. Curt Warren. Mr. Gutierrez joined the music faculty of the University of Texas at El Paso in 1995 as director of Commercial Music, Composition and Music Technology. He teaches students on equipment used in commercial music, such as digital audio recording formats, MIDI keyboards, controllers and tone modules, computer sequencing and notation, computer software and hardware on both Windows and Macintosh operating platforms. He has taught varying levels of music theory courses, sight singing and jazz piano and has also directed the University Jazz Singers and Jazz to Rock courses in his tenure at UTEP.

Mr. Gutierrez's professional career includes several levels of music production in El Paso recording studios and studios in Los Angeles, Chicago and Mexico City. He is a MIDI keyboard and tone module consultant and has performed, recorded and transcribed music for the Telarc International recording label. He has done production, sequencing, transcription, and performance/recording for local and regional companies including Miss Texas USA, Pepsi Cola, El Paso Natural Gas, El Paso Brass Quintet, Women's Missionary Union in Birmingham Alabama, the El Paso Symphony Orchestra, and the El Paso Brass Quintet. He also served for two years on the board of directors of the American Federation of Musicians, Local 466. In order to promote his efforts in commercial music, music technology and jazz piano as part of the UTEP music faculty, Mr. Gutierrez released a collection of his works in a C. D. entitled "Beveled Facets" with the Shade Records recording label featuring his Latin/Jazz piano style. The C. D. is being distributed nationally through Bayside Distribution and is available at Tower Records, Best Buy and Barnes and Noble stores all over the United States. He recently returned from a West Coast tour, lecturing on Latin jazz piano styles at University of Arizona in Tucson, Latin jazz history at Embry Riddle Academy and numerous radio interviews and performances, including the famed Los Angeles jazz club "The Baked Potato. " An East Coast performance/lecture series is being scheduled for the spring semester. Dancing since she could walk, Felipa Solis made her professional debut at the age of 10 in a program starring Placido Domingo. Her only teacher was her father, the legendary Spanish dancer and choreographer, Antonio Triana. Felipa has performed as soloist with the Triana Ballet Espanol in concert, and as guest artist with the FJ Paso Symphony Orchestra. The 2004 production of "Carmen, " marked her second appearance with the El Paso Opera in the role of the fiery gypsy dancer. Felipa cherishes her legacy and has created a unique dance style that reflects her energy, passion and heritage. A graduate of UTEP, she is an accomplished journalist and a well-known television news personality at KTSM-Newschannel 9. Married to Attorney Miguel Solis, she devotes much of her time to raising their 15 year-old son, Gabriel Antonio Triana was a dancer of mature artistry, dignity and power. His physical and technical dominion went far beyond what is known about Spanish Dance. His dance presented the summary of a national character, and in his choreography, he used his traditional Andalucian background for his brilliant inventions. He partnered the legendary La Argentina, Pilar Lopez and Carmen Amaya with spirit and gallantry. Over the years, he developed a very distinct method of teaching. Triana was the foremost Spanish-Flamenco dancer of his time. His wife, Rita, and their children, Antonio II and Felipa, are proud to have shared his genius. This recital is sponsored by Ivories on the Border and The University of Texas at El Paso Department of Music