Music from Spain and Latin America

Let us start our musical journey 400 years ago in the backlands of Barcelona in the famous Montserrat monastery in Catalonia. This impressive building, situated on a steep hillside, was and still is the cradle of many of Spain's foremost composers. The monastery played a role not only in the musical history of the country—the Llibre vermell (red book) de Montserrat is a codex where, besides Latin and Catalonian Gregorian chants, the only written choreography of sacred dances are to be found—but as well in the intellectual resistance of the country during World War II. The Escolania de Montserrat is also home to a boys' choir of international reputation.

Juan (Joan) Cererols is the first known composer to use the theme that Bach employs about 50 years later in the initial chorus of his St. Matthew Passion. This polyphonic pattern was a common melody at the time. At age 18 Cererols was admitted to the Montserrat Monastery as a novice and he remained there until his death in 1676. Cererols was a disciple of Marques and received the appointment of Chapel Master of the abbey. Due to this fact, he composed numerous works of religious music. In ¡Ay, qué dolor!, we hear musical expressions that today's ears perceive as "typically" Spanish.

With (Josep) Ferran (Fernando) Sors (Sor), we find another offspring of Montserrat. As a chorister at the monastery, he received his education in church music, composition and orchestral playing. But Sors was a performer at heart, and chose not to become a monk. As a student of Manuel Garcia—who introduced the guitar to the Spanish aristocracy—he was "... known to be the most perfect guitarist in the world" (Ebers in London). It was common practice in those days for gifted musicians to travel to musical and political centres of the time (Moscow, Paris and London). We find proof of his journeys in works like Variations on a Theme, Op. 6, by Mozart. Before settling in Paris for the remainder of his life, Sors fought against Napoleon in the Spanish War of Independence in 1808. Sors wrote O Crux in Catalonia, but stylistically this piece could blend seamlessly with the œuvre of any German or Austrian contemporary.

Another part of the Spanish Peninsula, the Basque Country, is unfortunately more known for its politics than for its composers. The organization of the International Choral Competition in Tolosa has worked for several decades to counter this negative perception. By commissioning and featuring local composers in the Festival's activities, Basque names are now recognized world-wide. Xavier Busto would be the most prolific example, but Mocoroa and Garbizu are also worth mentioning. Padre José Antonio Donostia (Donostia being another name for the town of San Sebastian) was a Capuchin monk; only a small amount of his writing has become known outside of his hometown. He studied in Navarra and later in Paris and was a man of many talents: pianist, organist, writer and composer. Also a great advocate of Basque music, he compiled a catalogue of Spanish Instruments (Instrumentos de Música Popular Española) and collected Folk Songs. The piece O Jesu shows his appreciation for Gregorian chant with the returning Cantus Firmus embedded in a conservative harmonic progression. It is in the text, written by Padre Donostia himself, that we find the expression and the touching plea to God to reaffirm his faith.

Spain's most famous tourist area of Costa Blanca, with its beaches of Alicante, Valencia and Benidorm, is home to our next composer: Joaquín Rodrigo (Vidre). Born in 1901 on St. Cecilia's Day, Rodrigo's most known contribution to the concert repertoire is the Concerto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra. But his numerous and varied compositions include eleven concertos for various instruments, more than sixty songs, choral and instrumental works, and music for the theatre and the cinema. Like many contemporaries, he studied in Paris in the 1920s (with Paul Dukas) and socialized with the musical elite of the time—Honegger, Ravel, Milhaud and de Falla. The music of Joaquín Rodrigo is an homage to the rich and varied cultures of Spain. No other Spanish composer has drawn on so many different aspects of his country's spirit as sources of inspiration. The Sonata Giocosa written in 1960 is one of over 25 works for solo guitar. Rodrigo's devotion to this instrument—and the quality of his compositions—is reviewed in the citation of the Prince of Asturias Prize, awarded to a composer for the first time in 1996. The citation notes that Rodrigo's name had joined those of Falla, Granados and Albéniz among the classics of Spanish music, and drew particular attention to Rodrigo's definitive achievement of having given dignity and universality to the Spanish guitar as a concert instrument. All these facts inspire us even more when we learn that Joaquín Rodrigo was blind from the age of three and wrote all his works in Braille, dictating them subsequently to a copyist!

With Heitor (Hector) Villa-Lobos, we now cross the ocean to feature a South American composer. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Villa-Lobos earned his living already by age twelve by performing on the cello in coffeehouses. In 1905, Villa-Lobos made the first of his trips to Brazil's northeastern states to collect folk music. He made many such trips and spun a web of mystery around them. With the impressions of his journeys and eventually a proper musical education at the National Institute of Music, his compositions started to attract the attention of the audience and the government. A government grant allowed him to study in Paris during the 1920s, and there he was part of the same circle as Joaquín Rodrigo. Back in Brazil he composed the famous Bachianas Brasileiras, a set of nine pieces based on Baroque forms with Brazilian colour. Each movement in the series has a Brazilian title (Ponteieo, Martelo and Modinha) and a European one (Prelude, Fugue and Aria). Written in 1938 for Voice and 8 Cellos, No. 5 of Bachianas Brasileiras is clearly the most famous and popular of the whole series. Particularly, the Aria has a special place in the concertgoer's heart. It was famously described by Eero Tarasti (Villa-Lobos biographies) as a "black box":

There are works about which the researcher can only make this a posterior remark: The work is so evidently a classic that there remains only the task of analyzing on which factors the composition's position and reputation are based. Sometimes one can only confirm that the excellence of the classic cannot be indicated through analysis.

This concert's performance features the arrangement of Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 (Aria) for Voice and Guitar.

Back in Spain and Catalonia, we come to one of the most famous Spanish musicians of the 20th century, Pau Casals (Pau Carlos Salvador Defilló). In the Catalan language, the word "Pau" can stand for Paul or Peace. Casals started studying music very young and his progress as a cellist was nothing short of prodigious. He gave a solo recital in Barcelona at the age of 14 and graduated with honours at the age of 16. Later in life he earned an international reputation as a conductor. Pablo Casals was very active as a political figure and founded—besides the Orquesta Pau Casals—a concert society for union workers in the 1930s. Through his moral conviction, his name became synonymous with the resistance against the Franco regime. He decided to go into exile and settled in the French village of Prades where O Vos Omnes was written in 1942. One of his last compositions, in 1971, was the Himno a las Naciones Unidas (Hymn of the United Nations). He died in San Juan on the Island of Puerto Rico.

With Brazilian composer Ernani Aguiar, the first half of the performance is concluded. Still active as a composer, Aguiar has garnered impressive success, with regular performances, recordings and broadcasts of his work. Aguiar was a scholarship winner to the Argentine Mozarteum and studied with numerous eminent Brazilian musicians as well as at the "Cherubini" Conservatory in Firenze (Florence), Italy. He is currently a professor of music at the University of Rio de Janiero, a fellow of the Villa Lobos Institute and a member of the Academia Brasiliera de Musica. Most recently, he was nominated as the "Sixth World Symposium for Choral Music–Commissioned Composer" in 2002. Salmo 150, written in 1993 and therefore the most contemporary original composition in the concert, is very characteristic of Aguiar's musical style, relying heavily on rhythm and rapid articulations.

The Misa Criolla (1963) by Argentinean composer Ariel Ramírez is without doubt the best known choral work from South America, perhaps challenged only by Navidad Nuestra by the same composer. The first performance took place in 1965 in the city of Mercedes in Uruguay. Only two years later, the Misa Criolla was staged in the Liederhalle in Stuttgart and was recorded for German Television. Besides the composer, the famous folk singing group Los Fronterizos was part of this event. We find proof of this arrangement in the solo part of the score, which is a setting for two male voices. These initial concerts gave shape to the piece for all further performances: soloist (or a vocal duo), choir, harpsichord or piano, charango (a guitar with five double strings), quena (rustic flute), siku (Bolivian panpipes) and a selection of regional percussion instruments. The choral parts were eventually arranged by Padre Jesus Gabriel Segade, who also co-authored the Spanish liturgical text.

Quoted from the music score:

The opening Kyrie is in the rhythm of the Vidala-baguala. This music, characteristic of northern Argentina, depicts the feeling of loneliness one has living on a deserted high plateau. The Gloria rhythm, the carnavalito, is also from the same area but evokes the sense of rejoicing implicit in this part of the mass. The two sections of the Gloria are separated by a recitative, which makes the cadence of the carnavalito more brilliant when it returns with a full rhythmic accompaniment. The chacerera trunca, a folk theme of central Argentina, is the basis of the Credo. Its obsessive rhythm accentuates the profession of faith and the section ends with the final words of prayer, reaffirming the triumph of everlasting life. One of the most beautiful and unusual Bolivian folk rhythms, the carnaval cochambambino, is used for the Sanctus. It has a subdued but marked beat. The Agnus Dei is written in a typical style of the pampas. As in the Kyrie, a feeling of solitude and distance is created. A simple recitative expresses the universal longing for peace.

The idea of writing the Misa Criolla has its roots in the meetings and acquaintances in Europe and is reflected in the dedication of the score—a long list of European contemporaries of Ramírez. He has specialized in the folklore of his native country and has made extensive studies of its history and development. In 1959 he went to Europe to study the folklore of Central Europe at the Academy of Vienna. He received a fellowship to the Institute of Hispanic Culture in Madrid where he studied the origins of Argentine music. Ariel Ramírez was born in Santa Fé where he still lives as an active musician.

Our musical journey ends with some small folkloristic choral pieces from South America.

First on the list is a choral arrangement of La Muerte del Angel by Astor Piazzolla, probably the most popular musician that Argentina has to offer today. Even though traditionalists did not accept his music as tango, it is obvious that he put the Argentinean dance music on the highest international level. The song starts in a fiery character and leads into a calm, romantic middle part. The final section starts off with the original theme and evolves through some key changes into an exuberating end.

Te Quiero by Alberto Favero could easily be considered as a simple but beautiful love song. But the fact that this song was sung on the streets during the instable political times in Argentina gives a different meaning to the words

y en la calle codo a codo somos mucho más que dos

and in the street side by side we are so much more than two

As seen in many other countries throughout recent history, music can inspire a revolution!

Before coming to the exhilarating end of the performance, we listen a last time to our soloist Maria Knapik and her rendering of the beautiful lullaby Duerme Negrito. This cradle song is originally by Atahualpa Yupanqui, an important Argentinean folk musician of the 20th century. It is presented here in a setting by Emile Solé. Duerme Negrito is a study in contrasts: the little black child is given impossible promises and warned of dire consequences with the sad plight of the sick, hard-working mother depicted with compassion.

In Canción con Todos—A song for all people in the Americas—songwriter Cesar Isella invites us for a stroll across the plains, through the forests and over the hills of South America. It invites all of the Americas' people to sing together as one family. The hope is to develop a mutual understanding among Latin Americans, and for that matter ALL people, and invite them to sing together in one huge chorus. The musical journey of Nova Iberia ends with an exultant shout for humanity and friendship.

Michael Zaugg