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GrantParkMusicFestival
Seventy-seventh Season
Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus
Carlos Kalmar, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor
Christopher Bell, Chorus Director
Friday, June 24, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 25, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Latin Works for Orchestra
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
GRANT PARK ORCHESTRA
Carlos Kalmar, Conductor
BARILARI
CARREÑO
VILLA-LOBOS
CHÁVEZ
Canyengue
Margariteña, Symphonic Variations
Uirapurú, Symphonic Poem
Suite de Caballos de Vapor, Ballet Symphony
Dance of the Man: Allegro —
Boat to the Tropics: Danza Agil (Vivo) —
Tango (Molto lento) — Interludio —
The Tropics: Tempo di Huapango — Tempo di Sandunga
GINASTERA
Glosses sobre temes de Pau Casals, Op. 48
lntroducció
Romanç
Sardanes
Cant
Conclusió delirant
Played without pause
2011 Program Notes, Book 1 A35
Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25, 2011
GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL
CARLOS KALMAR’s biography can be found on page 10.
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Canyengue (2005, 2006)
Elbio Rodríguez Barilari (born in 1953)
Canyengue, composed for chamber ensemble in 2005 and arranged for orchestra in 2006, is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two
clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets,
three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano and strings. Performance time is approximately 6 minutes. The chamber version was premiered
on October 6, 2005 at the Hamilton Park Cultural Center in Chicago by the
MAVerick Ensemble led by Jason Raynovich; the orchestral version was premiered on June 21, 2006 by the Grant Park Orchestra, conducted by Carlos Kalmar.
Elbio Rodríguez Barilari is a musician of rich and varied talents. Barilari was born in 1953
in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he studied at the Conservatório Universitario and with Coriún
Aharonián, Graciela Paraskevaídis and Héctor Tosar before continuing his education in Brazil.He
subsequently studied in Germany, on an invitation from the Deutscher Musikrat, with Milko Kelemen, Helmut Lachenmann and Dieter Schnebel; he was also mentored while in Europe by Luciano
Berio, Konrad Boehmer, Otto Donner and Misha Mengelberg. As a clarinetist and saxophonist,
from 1994 to 1997 Barilari led the Barilari Quinteto and organized Planeta Blues, the first Uruguayan blues band to tour Europe and to record a compact disc; during the 1990s, he also led the
fourteen-piece La Banda Oriental.
Since settling in the United States in 1998, Barilari has lectured at the University of Chicago
and the Instituto Cervantes and given workshops in Chile and Paraguay; he is currently on the
faculty of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Composer-in-Residence at the Jacobs School
of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington. He has collaborated annually with the Grant Park
Music Festival since helping to organize a tribute concert to Astor Piazzolla in 2002, for which he
was also commissioned to write his Bandoneón Concerto. In June 2006, the Grant Park Orchestra,
conducted by Carlos Kalmar, premiered his Canyengue at Millennium Park; that same season at
Grant Park he also recruited and prepared the orchestra of native South American instruments for
the performance of Ariel Ramírez’s Misa Criolla.
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The composer wrote of Canyengue, “When I was ten years old, I heard [bandoneón virtuoso
and tango composer] Astor Piazzolla playing live on TV. Right away I knew I was going to compose
that kind of music. Since that time I have written and performed many other kinds of music, but
chamber and symphonic tango pieces have been a permanent trait in my production.
“Tango belongs to the two sister cities of the Rio de la Plata: Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
We Uruguayans, as the Argentines, are sons of the bandoneón because of our strong African heritage, and we are sons of the drum as well. In Canyengue, I recall the flavor of tango together with
milonga, milongón and candombe, the Afro-Uruguayan rhythms that form the sonorous landscape
of my hometown.
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“Canyengue is a word of African origin. In Lunfardo — the tango slang — it means ‘something
with a lot of rhythm.’ Even more, canyengue comes from kaniengue, a verb that in the Ki-Kongo
language spoken by many of the slaves who arrived in colonial times means ‘to melt into the music.’
“In fulfilling a request by the Chicago Composers Forum and the Chicago Park District for
their ‘Fresh Ink Series’ I first composed Canyengue in 2005 as a sextet (violin, flute, clarinet, cello,
piano and percussion). After the premiere, James Palermo, former Artistic and General Director of
Grant Park Festival, asked me to expand the piece for full orchestra. This is my second work for the
Grant Park Orchestra, which in 2002 premiered my Bandoneón Concerto.”
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2011 Program Notes, Book 1 A37
GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL
Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25, 2011
Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25, 2011
GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL
Margariteña, Symphonic Variations (1954)
Uirapurú, Symphonic Poem (1917)
Margariteña is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two
clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp and strings. The performance time is approximately
14 minutes. This is the work’s first performance by the Grant Park Orchestra.
Uirapurú is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, soprano saxophone, four horns,
three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, two harps, piano,
celesta, violinophone and strings. The performance time is approximately 18
minutes. This is the work’s first performance by the Grant Park Orchestra.
Inocente Carreño (born in 1919)
Inocente Carreño, one of Venezuela’s most gifted and influential musicians, was born at Porlamar on the Caribbean island of Margarita in December 1919 and immersed in the culture and music of his homeland by his grandmother and older
brother Francis, who became a noted folklorist. Carreño began studying guitar when he was nine,
and played with local bands and started composing waltzes, joropos, merengues, boleros, tangos,
rumbas and other pieces in traditional popular styles after the family moved to Caracas in 1932.
In 1940, he entered the Escuela de Música y Declamación (later the José Angel Lamas School of
Music) to study with composer, conductor, ethnomusicologist and founder two years before of the
Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, Vicente Emilio Sojo. During his six years at the school, Carreño
also became a skilled singer and trumpet and French horn player, began conducting, and established
his reputation as a teacher when he was appointed to the faculty in 1945. Following his graduation
in 1946, he became a force in the country’s musical life, performing traditional Venezuelan and
Latin music on guitar with the Trío Caribe, playing horn in the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra,
singing and arranging for the choir Orfeón Lamas, teaching at the José Angel Lamas School and
several other Caracas institutions, guest conducting most of Venezuela’s major orchestras and choruses, winning many composition prizes, and composing in both popular and classical idioms.
Carreño has also been founding director of the Prudencio Esáa School of Music in Caracas in 1970,
Counselor Minister of the permanent delegation of Venezuela to UNESCO in Paris, advisor to the
Venezuelan Ministry of Culture, and director of the José Angel Lamas School. He has remained active as a composer and conductor. On January 14, 2011 in Caracas, Carreño led the Simón Bolívar
Youth Orchestra, which has featured his music on their world-wide tours, in the premieres of two
new works as part of a concert of his compositions celebrating his 91st birthday.
Carreño composed Margariteña in 1954 and premiered the work at the First Latin American
Music Festival in Caracas in December that year. The title refers both to the island of Margarita,
Carreño’s birthplace, and to the Venezuelan song that it takes as its principal subject — Margarita
es una lagrima (“Margarita is a Tear”). The theme is introduced by the solo horn and given a deftly
scored working-out by the full orchestra. (The piece is subtitled “Symphonic Variations.”) Episodes
follow using two other traditional melodies — a muscular treatment of Canto de Pulon (“Song of
Pulon”) and a vibrantly rhythmic version of Canto de Velorio (“Song of Velorio”) — punctuated
by echoes of the opening measures in the horns. A brief pause leads to a playful treatment of the
children’s song Tiguitiguitos before a sonorous coda based on Margarita es una lagrima closes this
landmark work of Venezuelan musical nationalism.
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazil’s greatest composer, had little formal training. He learned the cello from his father and earned a living as a young man playing with popular
bands, from which he derived much of his musical background. From his earliest years, Villa-Lobos
was enthralled with the indigenous songs and dances of his native land, and he made several trips
into the Brazilian interior to study the native music and ceremonies. Beginning with his earliest
works, around 1910, his music shows the influence of the melodies, rhythms and sonorities that he
discovered. He began to compose prolifically, and, though often ridiculed for his daring new style
by other Brazilian musicians, he attracted the attention of the pianist Artur Rubinstein, who helped
him receive a Brazilian government grant in 1923 that enabled him to spend several years in Paris,
where his international reputation was established. Upon his permanent return to Rio de Janeiro in
1930, Villa-Lobos became an important figure in public musical education, urging the cultivation
of Brazilian songs and dances in the schools. He made his first visit to the United States in 1944,
and spent the remaining years of his life traveling in America and Europe to conduct and promote
his own works and those of other Brazilian composers. Villa-Lobos summarized his creative philosophy in an interview with New York Times critic Olin Downes by saying that he did not think
of music as “culture, or education, or even as a device for quieting the nerves, but as something
more potent, mystical and profound in its effect. Music has the power to communicate, to heal, to
ennoble, when it is made part of man’s life and consciousness.”
Among the earliest of Villa-Lobos’ works to capture the mystery and legend and musical traits
of the Brazilian interior is Uirapurú, composed originally as a symphonic poem in 1917, but given
form (and its first performance) as a ballet by Serge Lifar in 1935. The score incorporates rhythmic
and melodic fragments that the composer collected on his trips into the Amazonian rain forest, and
uses a number of native percussion instruments to help create its mood. The story of the composition, original with Villa-Lobos, was inspired by the bird of the Amazon known as the Uirapurú,
which is valued for its beautiful song; a stuffed specimen is said to bring its owner good luck.
The composer prefaced the score with the following account: “This is the story of Uirapurú — a
legendary Enchanted Bird. Fetish worshipers considered it the ‘King of Love.’ Its nightly song lured
the Indians into the woods in search of the enchanting singer.
“In such a search, a merry group of young natives comes upon an ancient and ugly Indian seated
in the forest playing upon his nose-flute. Resenting the invasion of their forest by this unsightly old
man, the natives beat him mercilessly and drive him out. The continued search for the elusive Uirapurú by the natives is witnessed by all the members of the nocturnal animal and insect kingdoms
— glow worms — crickets — owls — enchanted toads and bats — and crawling things.
“A beautiful maiden appears — also lured by the sweet song of Uirapurú. Armed with bow and
arrow, she catches up with the Enchanted Bird, piercing its heart, whereupon the singing Bird is
immediately transformed into a handsome youth.
“The Happy Huntress, who has thoroughly captivated the handsome youth, is about to leave
the forest followed by the amazed natives when they are halted by the shrill, unpleasant notes of a
distant nose-flute. Suspecting the arrival of the ugly Indian seeking revenge for the merciless beating
they had administered, the natives hide in the dense woods. The unsuspecting youth boldly confronts the ugly Indian, who slays him with a perfectly placed arrow. As the Indian maidens tenderly
carry the body to a nearby fountain, it is suddenly transformed into a beautiful Bird which flies, its
sweet song diminishing, into the silence of the forest.”
A38 2011 Program Notes, Book 1
2011 Program Notes, Book 1 A39
Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25, 2011
GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL
Suite de Caballos de Vapor (“Horse-Power Suite”),
Ballet Symphony (1926-1930)
Carlos Chávez (1899-1978)
© 2011 JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The Horse-Power Suite is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English
horn, E-flat clarinet, two clarinets, bass clarinet, soprano and tenor saxophones, four horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion and strings. The performance time is approximately 25 minutes. The
Grant Park Orchestra first performed the Suite on August 29, 1964, with
Carlos Chávez conducting.
Chávez studied all aspects of Mexican music, but he was especially drawn to that of the preconquest era. “Among the Aztecs,” he wrote, “music achieved the marks of a true artistic culture.
It filled a role of real social importance in government, religion and war. It was a true state institution, and was the object of special study and cultivation.” It was to this lofty plateau that Chávez
sought to return modern Mexican music. In his compositions, this meant combining the ethos and
characteristics of native music with the techniques and craftsmanship of the European tradition to
produce something specifically Mexican. While he seldom quoted existing folk songs in his works,
their component rhythms, textures and melodic leadings are integral to his style. Aaron Copland,
deeply respectful of Chávez’s achievement, wrote, “Here and there perhaps a recognizably native
turn of phrase can be discerned, but as a whole the folk element has been replaced by a more subtle
sense of national characteristics…. I feel that no other composer — not even Béla Bartók or Falla
— has succeeded so well in using folk material in its pure form while also solving the problem of its
complete amalgamation into an art form.”
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Carlos Chávez, the most important and influential figure in modern Mexican music, devoted
his life to raising the educational, concert and creative activities of his native land to the standards
of the other great musical nations. His career included an enormous list of achievements that would
have staggered a man of lesser energy and enthusiasm: between 1928 and 1949, he founded and
conducted Mexico’s first permanent professional orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica de México; he
was director of the National Conservatory of Music, where he revolutionized the curriculum by
including the study of native music (1928-1935); he was head of the Mexican Department of Fine
Arts (1946-1952); he initiated government-sponsored research into folklore and ancient instruments that led to the formation of a small ensemble of archaic Aztec and Nahua instruments; he
championed the works not only of contemporary Mexican composers, but also those from throughout the country’s history; he was Charles Eliot Norton Lecturer at Harvard University in 19581959; he guest conducted many of the major orchestras in the western hemisphere; and he was one
of the great composers of the modern era.
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Chávez, like many artists and intellectuals, was much under the sway of socialist thinking during the years between the world wars. After living in New York City from September 1926 to
June 1928, where he formed close ties with Copland, Cowell and Varèse and became active in the
International Composers’ Guild and its successor, the Pan American Association of Composers,
he returned to his native land to head the Orquesta Sinfónica de México, which was then being
organized by the musicians’ union. Among the ensemble’s goals was the performance of concerts for
workers, and Chávez conducted the orchestra throughout the country and contributed a number of
folk song settings and a Sinfonia Proletaria based on Mexican revolutionary ballads to the repertory
for that purpose. Chávez’s most powerful blending of his socialist concerns with music that reflects
the ethos and idioms of Mexico is the ballet Horse-Power, composed between 1926 and 1930 (the
orchestration was revised in 1954), which treats the relations between the two Americas in terms
of supplier of raw materials (the tropics) and manufacturer of finished products (the north). The
ballet’s ideological focus was further sharpened by enlisting the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera to
design the scenery and costumes. Rivera, well known for his paintings of peasants and laborers,
said that the relevance of Horse-Power was in “the unfolding of plastic and musical deeds, whose
connotations are in accord with the rhythm of the aspiration, interests and necessities of our social
existence.”
2011 Program Notes, Book 1 A41
2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 2
Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25, 2011
S E A S O N
Julie Kent in Giselle. Photo by Fabrizio Ferri.
© American Ballet Theatre. All rights reserved.
RASTA THOMAS’
BAD BOYS OF DANCE
November 5 & 6, 2011
AXIS DANCE COMPANY
November 19 & 20, 2011
BATSHEVA DANCE COMPANY
March 17 & 18, 2012
AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE
GISELLE
dancemusic
&
March 22 – 25, 2012
ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN
DANCE THEATER
April 11 – 15, 2012
HALLELUJAH BROADWAY
September 17, 2011
ON STAGE WITH…
SUSAN WERNER
September 24, 2011
DRUMLINE LIVE
October 29 & 30, 2011
BOSTON POPS
ESPLANADE ORCHESTRA
WITH ROCKAPELLA
November 30, 2011
GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL
Robert Lawrence, in his classic reference guide, The Victor Book of Ballets, summarized the plot
of Horse-Power : “In presenting the relationship of the tropics — producer of raw materials — with
the northern regions, which use these products to manufacture various commodities, the ballet tries
to establish one region’s dependence on the other, arguing — in terms of dance — that the North
requires the lifeblood of the tropics just as the tropics seek the finished goods of the North.
“Scene One. Modern Man, personified by the name H.P. (significant not only of horsepower
but of that dynamic energy which controls whole worlds), is at the height of his strength and
inventiveness. He expresses the boundless potentialities contained within himself, his eagerness to
conquer the unknown forces that surround him.
“Scene Two. A cargo ship is seen at sea, symbolizing the commerce between North and South. A
dance of the sailors on board denotes activity and physical force. Mermaids of the tropical seas come
over the side of the ships, conveying their special brand of sensuality. An all-embracing rhythm joins
the forces of the two regions — sailors and mermaids — in a syncopated bacchanal.
“Scene Three. Here the abundance of the tropical earth is seen. The fruit trees sway in the
breeze, the fruits themselves grow animated as the natives pass by, peddling their merchandise.
Sailors from the northern ship come ashore to gather cargo, and the scene takes on increasing life as
the men load the produce on board.
“Scene Four. In contrast to the serenity of the tropics, the northern city of industry is seen,
with its skyscrapers and great machines. The raw materials of the world are assembled here to be
manufactured for the needs of civilization. Economic forces keep the pattern going, but Man revolts
against material values and returns to his longings for the products of earth. Human beings and raw
materials then join in a final jubilant dance.”
The orchestral suite includes the first three scenes of the ballet. The opening scene/movement
(Dance of the Man) portrays the bold ambitions of Modern Man through several continuous sections of energetic music reminiscent of various Mexican dances. After an episode of jagged rhythms
and disjunct melodic lines at the center of the movement, the earlier themes return in transformation. The second scene/movement (Boat to the Tropics) opens with a quick-tempo waltz (labeled
Danza Agil [“agile” or “nimble”]) which exploits the metric ambiguity found in much Spanish and
Mexican music. The movement’s second section is an alluring Tango, used in the ballet to depict
the seductive mermaids, which achieves a state of sardonic wit that recalls Kurt Weill’s stage works.
(The Three-Penny Opera of 1928 is exactly contemporary with Horse-Power.) The movement culminates with freely whirling figurations for the winds and a sedate Interludio which serves as a bridge
to the last movement. The finale (The Tropics) begins with a huapango, a lively Mexican dance of
Spanish origin especially popular in the lands along the Gulf of Mexico, which is characterized by
a complex rhythmic structure superimposing duple and triple meters. Horse-Power, one of Chávez’s
most masterful creations, closes with a brilliant sandunga, a swaying dance in fast triple meter from
Tehuantepec.
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2011 Program Notes, Book 1 A43
GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL
Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25, 2011
Glosses sobre Temes de Pau Casals (“Commentaries on
Themes of Pablo Casals”), Op. 48 (1976-1977)
Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)
The Glosses is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, E-flat
clarinet, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns,
piccolo trumpet, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion,
harp, piano, celesta, harmonium and strings. The performance time is approximately 18 minutes. This is the work’s first performance by the Grant Park
Orchestra.
Alberto Ginastera, Argentina’s most famous and widely performed composer, was the outstanding creative figure in South American music following the death of Villa-Lobos in 1959. Ginastera’s
career was divided between composition and education, and in this latter capacity he held posts at
leading conservatories and universities in Argentina and at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
His musical works, many written on American commissions, include three operas, two ballets, six
concertos, eleven film scores, eight orchestral works, various vocal and choral compositions, and
much music for chamber ensembles and piano. Ginastera traveled extensively to oversee the presentation of his scores and to adjudicate major musical competitions. For his contributions to music,
he was honored with many awards, including memberships in the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Ginastera divided his works into two stylistic categories. The first (“Nationalism”) includes
his music before the mid-1950s, which displays overt influences of Argentine musical traits and
themes. He modeled the rhythms and melodies of these works on the folksongs and dances known
as musica criolla, though he seldom used literal quotations. This nationalistic music is imbued
with the symbolism of the pampas and the “gauchesco” tradition, for which Ginastera became the
leading musical spokesperson. Ginastera’s second style (“Neo-Expressionism”) began around 1958,
and encompassed most of his later compositions, works characterized by such modernist devices
as polytonality, serial writing, use of quarter-tones and other micro intervals, and an extension of
instrumental resources. All of this technical jargon sounds rather imposing, but these techniques
lend to the music a power of expression reinforced by expert craftsmanship that is always tantalizing
to the ear. Ginastera’s later works bear a strong affinity with the expressionism of Schoenberg and
Berg, which was itself an extension of the great European Classical-Romantic tradition. Ginastera’s
compositions mark him as one of the most important members of the international community
of composers, and demonstrate the manner in which he was able to combine the melodic and
rhythmic resources of the folk music of his native Argentina with the compositional idioms of the
great modern masters.
Cellist and composer Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was one of the greatest musical figures of the
20th century, a virtuoso of peerless musicality who was not only acclaimed throughout the world
and who brought Bach’s incomparable solo suites into the modern repertory, but who was also
widely admired for his passionate stand on world affairs. When Francisco Franco assumed authoritarian rule of Casals’ native Spain in 1939, the cellist not only moved to France but also refused to
play in his homeland or in any country that supported its fascist regime. Casals became a symbol of
the stand against tyrannical governments, and when he played at the White House on November
13, 1961, his first appearance in America since 1939, President Kennedy said, “The work of all
artists stands as a symbol of human freedom and no one has enriched that freedom more signally
than Pablo Casals.”
Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25, 2011
GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL
quintet ‘in lontano’ (‘in the distance’), which was premiered on June 14th under the direction of
Alexander Schneider.
“While composing this work for string orchestra, I couldn’t help hearing the resonances of the
full symphony orchestra, and when Mstislav Rostropovich [the famed Russian cellist and then music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.] asked me for a new composition, I proposed to him the working up of a full orchestra version of Glosses, in which one could
listen to the themes of his illustrious colleague. He welcomed my suggestion and I thus developed
the structure of the string version by amplifying its form and adapting it to the new symphonic
conception. This venture, carried out during 1977, was considerable and took the same proportions
as the composing of a new work.
“It was with great emotion that I composed Glosses to the memory of Pablo Casals. Many things
drew me to Casals: his personality; his great qualities as an artist and as a man for whom freedom
was the essential element in all of life; the long friendship that existed between him and my wife,
[cellist] Aurora [Nátola-Ginastera], one of his most devoted disciples; the enthusiasm he showed for
my works; his interest in keeping abreast of events everywhere in the world of music; and, finally,
my own Catalan origin — the ‘ginesta’ (‘broom flower’) being one of the symbols of [Casals’ native]
Catalonia.
“I still have in my mind a very clear, almost photographic, recollection of Casals sitting on
the beach of San Juan with his inseparable umbrella, looking at the sea beyond the horizon as if
trying to reach with his eyes the ocean’s opposite shore. A distant smile — at once enigmatic and
mischievous, somewhat poetic, somewhat bitter — lighted his face from time to time, and I knew
that his thoughts were over there in his native Catalonia. And I have kept from that time certain
mental images of Casals that I have tried to bring back to life with love and friendship through his
own musical themes.
“1. lntroducció: The watchman’s song ... fireworks [Ginastera quoted Stravinsky’s brilliant 1908
orchestral miniature, Fireworks] ... choruses of praise to the Virgin of Montserrat. [This movement
refers to Casals’ sacred choral work Oració a la verge de Montserrat (‘Prayer to the Virgin of Montserrat’) of 1959.]
“2. Romanç: Idyllic, serene landscape, with evocations of the Tres Estrofas de amor [‘Three Verses
of Love,’ Casals’ 1958 setting of poetry by the Spanish writer Tomás Blanco].
“3. Sardanes: From far away, the sounds of an infinite number of sardanas (the national dance
of Catalonia) drawing near and passing by ...
“4. Cant: In a nocturnal, magical atmosphere, filled with the songs of fabulous birds, one can
hear the theme Cant dell Ocells [‘Song of the Birds’], immortalized by Casals. [Casals became closely
identified with this old Catalan Christmas song, which he called his ‘song of exile’ and played
widely.]
“5. Conclusió delirant: Suddenly everything is illuminated with the colors of blood and gold —
the colors of the Catalan flag — and a wild sardana bursts forth and rushes onward to a frenetic
conclusion.”
©2011 Dr. Richard E. Rodda
Ginastera wrote of his Glosses sobre Temes de Pau Casals (“Commentaries on Themes of Pablo
Casals”) in a preface to the published score of the work: “The first version of this composition
was written in Geneva during the spring of 1976 on commission from both the Festival Casals of
Puerto Rico and the Committee for the American Bicentennial to be premiered in June 1976 by
the Interamerican Youth Orchestra at the Festival in San Juan celebrating Casals’ centenary. For
that occasion and at the request of the Festival, I composed Glosses for string orchestra and string
A44 2011 Program Notes, Book 1
2011 Program Notes, Book 1 A45
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