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Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra has won acclaim for her orchestral leadership and for founding the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas. Her ESO debut includes Piazzolla's Tangazo, the Argentinian master's colourful blend of tango and classical tradition, and Márquez's evocative Danzon, music as exciting as it is appealing. Completing this unique and rich program is an arrangement of Bach's Harpsichord Concerto in D minor, performed on marimba by Pius Cheung.
Piazzolla: Tangazo
J.S. Bach: Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052
Márquez: Danzon No. 2
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
$65 Dress Circle (A)
$53 Terrace (B)
$39 Orchestra (C)
$25 Upper Circle (D)
$20 Orchestra Front (F)
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Tickets subject to applicable service charges.
Thank you to our concert sponsor: 
Thank you to our media sponsor: 
Alondra de la Parra is a Cultural Ambassador for Mexico Tourism: 
The next Sunday Showcase performance is May 30, 2010.
Program Information
Piazzolla: Tangazo (15')*
J.S. Bach: Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 (23')*
Pius Cheung, marimba
Intermission
Revueltas: Janitzio (8’)*
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending (13')*
Eric Buchmann, violin
Márquez: Danzon No. 2 (11')*
*Indicates approximate performance duration
Program Notes
Tangazo
Astor Piazzolla (b. Mar del Plata, Argentina, 1921 / d. Buenos Aires, 1992)
Like many other folk dances which have managed to find a place on the classical concert stage, the tango has very humble origins. Its influences are both Spanish and African, but it was born in the slums of Buenos Aires, home to a vast immigrant population. The crusade to make the tango a legitimate platform upon which to write concert music was almost entirely a cause taken up by one man – Astor Piazzolla.
Piazzolla toured the world constantly, and recorded many albums, all of which brought the tango to the world. His regular performing ensemble was not orchestral (it featured Piazzolla himself on the accordion-like bandoneón, the other instruments being violin, piano, electric guitar, and double bass), but he wrote many works for orchestra once he had established international popularity for his native country’s dance. Tangazo dates from 1970 (it premiered in Washington, D.C.), and was originally called Tangazo: Variaciones sobre Buenos Aires (“Variations About Buenos Aires”). It is one of Piazzolla’s most sophisticated orchestral scores, opening with the tango theme given a fugue-like presentation, the variations thereafter densely scored, though given a surprisingly quiet ending.
Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052
Johann Sebastian Bach (b. Eisenach, 1685 / d. Leipzig, 1750)
The keyboard for which Bach wrote his keyboard concertos was the harpsichord. Prior to his taking it on as a concertante instrument, the harpsichord was not thought of in that regard. So Bach’s first attempts at concertos for keyboard were arrangements of violin concertos, many of them by Vivaldi, whom Bach admired. But when he took over the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig beginning in 1729, the society’s weekly concerts gave Bach the chance to flex his creative muscles, and compose his own keyboard concertos.
Eventually, he would write seven concertos for solo harpsichord, three for two harpsichords, two for three harpsichords, and the “Italian” Concerto for harpsichord solo without orchestra. The D minor Concerto is perhaps the best-known of the solo harpsichord concertos. Its first two movements were arrangements of music Bach had written earlier for cantatas. This afternoon’s “keyboard” instrument for the concerto will be the marimba.
The concerto opens dramatically, and a little darkly, in the strings. The solo instrument, once it enters, exchanges thematic material with the orchestra, or joins in the orchestral texture. When given a chance to be highlighted, the marimba part is quite challenging, complete with a brief cadenza near the movement’s end. The slow movement, unsually for Bach, is also in a minor key (G minor). Like the opening movement, there is a dark drama here, the strings intoning a measured song, answered with a lovely plaint in the solo instrument. As the movement progresses, there is ever greater embellishment to the soloist’s melodic line. The final movement is in an energetic 3/4 time, again with the marimba woven into the orchestral line, but also given many moments to stand out from the ensemble, with passages almost toccata-like in their presentation.
Janitzio
Silvestre Revueltas (b. Santiago Papasquiaro, Mexico, 1899 / d. Mexico City, 1940)
Along with Carlos Chávez, Silvestre Revueltas is Mexico’s most famous composer. Yet he needed to be goaded by friends (Chávez among them) to try his hand at composition; he was already a successful violinist and conductor. His first ambitious orchestral work, Cuauhnáhuac, was written in 1931, and began a fruitful creative decade of work cut short by pneumonia brought on, in part, by alcoholism.
Cuauhnáhuac was a musical picture postcard of the tourist centre Cuernavaca, and was followed in 1933 with another, Janitzio. Named for a tourist spot on an island in Lake Patzcuaro, the work was revised in 1936. It is full of the dazzling primary colours and brash rhythms we have come to expect from Mexican orchestral music, largely thanks to the work of Revueltas and Chávez, who laid the foundation upon which composers such as Arturo Márquez (see below) have built. One interesting difference that those who understand Mexican music more completely will notice in Janitzio as opposed to Cuauhnáhuac is a subtle ironic streak. It is there amid the genial extroversion of the music, apparently, as Revueltas thought the resort of Janitzio overrated.
The Lark Ascending
Ralph Vaughan Williams (b. Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, 1872 / d. London, 1958)
Inspired by words from George Meredith’s Poems and Lyrics of the Joys of the Earth, Vaughan Williams’ work The Lark Ascending was referred to by its composer as a “romance,” akin to the violin and orchestra works by Beethoven. Vaughan Williams composed it for, and dedicated it to English violinist Marie Hall. Written in 1914, the work was not premiered until June 14, 1921, and it is generally believed the horrors of the First World War caused Vaughan Williams to withdraw its graceful charms until the times were more favourable.
The work is as much a celebration of life on a spring morning in an idealized English countryside as it is about a specific bird. The onomatopoeia of the birdsong is certainly one used often in music, and Vaughan Williams’ lark makes its entrance, wheeling and fluttering, amid indecisive harmonies. A brief animated section prior to the recapitulation suggests that a flock of larks has joined their solo companion. The lark, alone, appears once again, and after a brief, final twirl in the morning sky, is gone.
Danzón No. 2
Arturo Márquez (b. Alamos Sonora, Mexico, 1950)
The name of Arturo Márquez is not known widely outside his native Mexico, but there he is held in high regard. In fact, tonight’s work, the Danzón No. 2, is regarded by some as Mexico’s second national anthem. The dance begins quietly, on a clarinet (Julianne Scott) accompanied by percussive sticks and piano. Other woodwind instruments eventually join in, and the sound grows out broadly from there. A second section, one of of urgency and drive, turns into a vivacious orchestral dance, with strong brass accents. There is a more tender middle section recalling the opening, though featuring the strings much more prominently. After a brief pause, the passionate pace picks up once again, with a vibrant trumpet solo (Robin Doyon) ushering in a rousing finish.
Program Notes © 2010 D.T. Baker
Artist Info
Alondra de la Parra, conductor
Conductor Alondra de la Parra has gained widespread attention for her spellbinding and vibrant performances. Ms. de la Parra holds the distinction of being the first woman from Mexico to conduct in New York City, and holds the title of Cultural Ambassador for Mexican Tourism. Among her recent conducting highlights have been performances with the symphony orchestras of Houston, Phoenix, Columbus, San Antonio, and the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México. Additional concert highlights have included a gala concert with the Washington National Opera and Plácido Domingo; a return performance with the Russian National Orchestra at the Festival of the Arts Boca; conducting Venezuela’s Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra; as well as conducting to critical acclaim the Dallas Symphony, Mexico’s Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Miami’s New World Symphony, the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Aguascalentes, and Uruguay’s Montevideo Philharmonic.Ms. de la Parra’s upcoming engagements include concerts with the San Francisco and Chattanooga Symphony Orchestras, the Chicago Sinfonietta. Abroad she will conduct Mexico’s Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM, and Brazil’s Sao Paulo Symphony. Honoured by New York City for her contributions to the arts, Alondra de la Parra was recognized by Poder magazine as one of “20 under 40” and in Symphony magazine as one of six “Young Artists on the Rise.” In May 2008, she became the youngest member to join the board of trustees of the Latin Grammy Awards. In 2004 at the age of 23, Alondra de la Parra founded the New York-based Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas (POA) with the mission to promote the work of young soloists and composers of the American continent. Alondra de la Parra is represented worldwide by Tanja Dorn at IMG Artists. Please visit her website at www.alondradelaparra.com.
This is Ms. de la Parra’s debut with the ESO.
Pius Cheung, marimba
Chinese-Canadian marimbist Pius Cheung has already been recognized as a master soloist on his unusual instrument. His brilliant recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations elicited a feature story in The New York Times which praised not only his technical feat of performing the intricacies of this keyboard work with 4 mallets, but also his “deeply expressive interpretation.” After winning First Prize in the 2008 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Cheung made debuts in the Young Concert Artists Series at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. As a recipient of the Usedom Music Festival Prize, he also performed in Germany. This season, Mr. Cheung’s appearances include recitals at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. and at Ohio’s Oberlin College Conservatory. In 2003, Mr. Cheung appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Kimmel Center as winner of their annual concerto competition, and appeared as soloist with the British Columbia Chamber Orchestra and the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra. As a composer, Mr. Cheung’s Three Etudes won First Prize in the Classical Marimba League’s 2007 Composition Competition. Among his other compositions are a Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra. Mr. Cheung moved to Vancouver with his family at the age of 12. He received his Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, his Artist Diploma from The Boston Conservatory, and is currently pursuing his Doctorate at the University of Michigan. Mr. Cheung is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
This is Mr. Cheung’s debut with the ESO.
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