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SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
A JACOBS MASTERWORKS CONCERT
November 20 and 22, 2015
ALBERTO GINASTERA Four Dances from Estancia, Op. 8a
Los trabajadores agricola
Danza del trigo
Los peones de haciendas
Danza final
GABRIELA ORTIZ
Conciérto Voltaje for Timpani and Orchestra (U.S. Premiere)
Quantum Mechanics
Campo Magnético
Dual Forces
Gabriela Jimenez, percussion
INTERMISSION
MANUEL DE FALLA
El sombrero de tres picos (Three-Cornered Hat)
Monica Abrégo, soprano
Introduction
Part I
Afternoon
Dance of the Miller’s Wife
The Grapes
Part II
The Neighbors’ Dance
The Miller’s Dance
The Corregidor’s Dance
Final Dance
Four Dances from Estancia, Op. 8a
ALBERTO GINASTERA
Born April 11, 1916, Buenos Aires
Died June 25, 1983, Geneva
Alberto Ginastera achieved success at a very early age. His ballet Panambi, composed
when he was twenty, brought him international attention, and in 1941 Lincoln Kirstein asked the
young composer to write a score for his American Ballet Caravan, specifying only that it should
have its setting in rural Argentina. Ginastera set to work immediately and completed the score
for Estancia (“Cattle Ranch”) by the end of that year. Set in the countryside of the Argentinian
ranchos, Estancia is full of gauchos and beautiful girls, and Ginastera incorporated the local
folk-music idiom and dance rhythms into the score, which alternates evocative slow movements
with blazing dances. The story is simple but timeless: a young gaucho meets a girl, but she is
uninterested; only when he proves his skills as a horseman is she won over.
The American Ballet Caravan disbanded before they could perform Estancia, and the
ballet had to wait a decade for its premiere in August 1952 in Buenos Aires. But as soon as he
had completed the ballet score, Ginastera drew a suite of four dances from it, and this suite –
premiered by the orchestra of the Teatro Colón on May 12, 1943 – has always been one of his
most popular works.
Los trabajadores agricolas, a dance of the farm laborers, is full of pulsing energy that
takes distinctive shape in a wild trumpet tune before driving to an energetic climax. Danza del
trigo (“Wheat Dance”) is a wistful interlude: over pizzicato accompaniment, solo flute sings the
evocative main theme, and the melodic line passes to the brass, the violins and finally to a solo
violin before the quiet close. Los peones de haciendas is another workers’ dance, similar to the
opening movement. This is red-blooded music, built on asymmetric phrases and full of the
powerful sound of timpani, brass and lower strings. The Danza final has become the most
famous part of Estancia. In the form of a malambo, it has been described as “a demonstration of
masculinity” by the triumphant young gaucho. Ginastera begins with a shower of sparkling
sounds, and soon the dance – built on very short phrases and rushing along above a busy
accompaniment – gathers energy and begins to pick up speed. That energy continues without
pause as this strident dance drives the suite to its fiery close.
INTERESTING SIDELIGHT: In the fall of 1941, Aaron Copland made a goodwill tour of Latin
America for the State Department, and in November of that year in Buenos Aires he met the
25-year-old Ginastera, who had just completed the score to Estancia. Ginastera played the music
through on the piano to Copland, who was very impressed. (The two would remain lifelong
friends.) The following year, Copland composed one his most famous works, the ballet Rodeo,
also set on a cattle ranch, full of characteristic frontier dances, and based on the boy-meets-girl
plot. Rodeo was of course commissioned by Agnes de Mille, who suggested the idea of a
cowboy ballet to Copland. Is it possible, though, that Rodeo had its real beginning in November
of 1941, when Copland listened to a young Argentinian composer play through the score of his
gaucho ballet on the piano?
Conciérto Voltaje for Timpani and Orchestra
GABRIELA ORTIZ
Born December 20, 1964, Mexico City
In October 1993 the Concierto Candela for Percussion and Orchestra by Gabriela Ortiz
premiered at the XXI International Cervantino Festival in Guanajuato. 20 years later, the
composer has written her Concierto Voltaje for Timpani and Orchestra, a work which can be
seen as a kind of daughter to the Candela concerto, mainly because the new work takes up some
elements of the previous one, though distilled through Ms. Ortiz’s subsequent years of
experience in the field of composition for percussion. Concierto Voltaje is a reassessment and a
re-reading of various ideas created by the composer in the Concierto Candela, but appearing
here in a new light.
Regarding the title of the new work, Gabriela Ortiz says that the concept of “voltage”
does not necessarily refer to Electroacoustics (the musical field of another well-known
composer), but rather reflects more on the energy with which the work moves and develops.
Moreover, individual titles of the movements are related to the musical content of each and to
the general assembly of the work. In the words of Gabriela Ortiz:
“Quantum Mechanics is a kind of perpetual bicycle that begins with a brief solo timpani
followed by an orchestral introduction (as in Candela) that opens onto the material, almost
mechanical constant pulse, which generates all other ideas in the movement. For the contrasting
slow and expressive movement of Campo Magnético (Magnetic Field), I needed something extra
in terms of sound color to complement the specificity of the bell cymbals, so I added a set of
eight tuned bells and bowls placed on timbales patches, producing a wide range of sounds. I also
use here rattlesnake rattles on timbales. In this movement, the timpani are sometimes the
instrument that pulls the orchestra to its noise level, and in others, the orchestra does the pulling;
hence the title Campo Magnético. In the third movement, the title Dual Forces implies something
more like a concerto grosso, with distinct episodes for solo timpani and orchestra, in the manner
of alternating dialogue. While the first movement of the concerto is more of a steady pulse, the
third is more thematic, and the interesting thing is that the timpani and the orchestra offer here
two different readings of the same thematic material. I placed the cadenza of the concerto in the
third movement; at this moment the cadenza is specifically written out, but I do not rule out
freedom of improvisation (in the traditional manner) for the soloist!”
Gabriela Ortiz also mentions that orchestration played an important role in the
development of the Concierto Voltaje, particularly in the last movement. Moreover, because of
the impracticality of using four mallets (two in each hand, as one would for the marimba) for
solo timpani, she deferred to the traditional alternative of using only two mallets, but demanding
enough agility from the soloist so that complex chords on the timbales could simultaneously be
achieved. In working with the timpanist and percussionist Gabriela Jimenez (our soloist for these
concerts, to whom the work is dedicated), Gabriela Ortiz further refined some of the instrumental
aspects of the work, particularly the logistical placement of the drums, bells, bowls and
rattlesnake rattles.
Concierto Voltaje was commissioned from Gabriela Ortiz by the Orquesta Sinfónica de
Mineria to celebrate the orchestra’s 35th anniversary.
El sombrero de tres picos (Three-Cornered Hat)
MANUEL DE FALLA
Born November 23, 1876, Cadiz
Died November 14, 1947, Alta Grazia, Argentina
In 1916 the great Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev approached Spanish composer
Manuel de Falla with a proposal. Diaghilev had just heard Falla’s haunting Nights in the
Gardens of Spain and suggested using it as the basis for a new ballet by the Ballets Russes, then
presenting a season in Madrid. But Falla had a different suggestion: he wanted to write a new
work based on Pedro de Alarcón’s novel El corregidor y la molinera – “The Magistrate [or
governor or mayor] and the Miller’s Wife.” Diaghilev agreed to let Falla try this idea out as a
pantomime, and Falla composed a score for small orchestra, which was produced in Madrid in
April 1917. Diaghilev liked the pantomime, but suggested some revision for its use as a ballet,
including new scenes and an expanded orchestra. The result was the ballet El sombrero de tres
picos (“The Three-Cornered Hat”), first produced in London on July 22, 1919. That premiere
brought a spectacular collaboration: Diaghilev oversaw the production, Leonid Massine designed
the choreography and danced the part of the miller, while Tamara Karsavina danced the part of
his wife; Pablo Picasso painted the decor, and Ernst Ansermet conducted the orchestra. It was a
great success then, and it has remained one of Falla’s most popular works.
The reasons for that popularity are not hard to discover. El sombrero de tres picos
breathes the warm atmosphere of Andalusia, it tells a tale of young lovers, flirtations and
intrigue, and after all the escapades (comic and otherwise) everything works out very
satisfactorily. The plot revolves around three main characters: the handsome miller, his beautiful
young wife, and a Corregidor who schemes to seduce the wife. Falla depicts each of these
characters with distinctive music and surrounds them with colorful townspeople who share in the
excitement of the intrigues and who eventually celebrate the happy ending. The present
performances are unusual because they offer Falla’s score to the complete ballet rather than just
the customary two orchestral suites he drew from it. Listeners will hear many unfamiliar
sequences as well as two brief soprano solos that are not part of those suites.
SYNOPSIS: The ballet divides into two parts, but even before the first part Falla offers an
Introduction that bursts to life on a salvo of timpani and a stirring trumpet solo that calls matters
to order. Twice in the ballet a distant solo soprano will sing briefly, both times with matrimonial
warnings. Now, over the sound of clicking castanets, she warns: “Little wife, bolt your door, for
even if the devil is asleep he can awaken when least expected.” Part I begins as whirring strings
draw us into the Afternoon, which depicts a relaxed moment in a village in the sultry Andalusian
countryside of southern Spain. (In the original production, this introduction also gave the
audience a chance to admire Picasso’s curtain before it was raised.) We are quickly introduced to
the miller and his wife, who are passionately in love but prone to jealousies and flirtations with
others. A dandy (solo flute) enters, followed by a grand procession and the arrival of the
Corregidor on a droll little solo for bassoon. This magistrate quickly develops an eye for the
miller’s wife. The Dance of the Miller’s Wife, which shows her in all her beauty and sexual
energy, takes the form of a fandango, a dance of accelerating tempo. The Corregidor is now very
interested, and The Grapes is the music that accompanies the miller’s wife as she tempts him
with a bunch of grapes, always leading him on and always staying just out of reach of his kisses.
The Corregidor stumbles and falls, the miller returns and drives off him off, and the miller and
his wife resume her dance.
Part II is set that same evening, which is also St. John’s Night. The Neighbors’ Dance is a
seguidilla, a dance of Andalusian origin, and those neighbors gather at the miller’s house on this
warm summer evening to drink and dance. The miller enters, and now comes one of the most
famous moments in the ballet. The Miller’s Dance is a farucca, an ancient dance of gypsy origin.
This one is full of rhythmic energy, and the miller dances it to demonstrate his strength and
masculinity to his wife. It opens with solos for French and English horns, but then the music
turns rough on the sound of gritty ponticello strings. Full of hard-edged strength, this dance
grows more forceful as it proceeds, finishing with a great flourish of energy. Meanwhile, the
Corregidor has plotted to remove the miller so as to clear his path to the wife: his aides show up,
arrest the miller and take him away. Left alone in the quiet night, the miller’s wife hears a distant
song as the soprano offers another warning: “Through the night the cuckoo sings, warning
husbands to fix the bolts firmly, for the devil is awake!” The Corregidor enters, but his plans go
badly awry: The Corregidor’s Dance depicts his falling into a stream, collapsing with fear, and
spreading his clothes out to dry. Meanwhile, the miller has escaped, and now he returns, finds
the Corregidor’s clothes, and suspects the worst. He puts on those clothes and departs. The
Corregidor’s aides show up, find the magistrate in borrowed clothes of his own, and arrest him,
thinking him the miller. The miller and his wife sort out their jealousies and are reconciled, and
the townspeople gather to celebrate. This Final Dance is a jota, a lively dance from northern
Spain, often accompanied by guitar and castanets. Here it is danced to celebrate the humiliation
of the Corregidor, who is tossed in a blanket. Falla draws themes from the Dance of the Miller’s
Wife in the first scene and drives the ballet to its close in a blaze of energy.
-Program note by Eric Bromberger
Performance History by Dr. Melvin G. Goldzband, Symphony Archivist
The Four Dances from Ginastera's ballet Estancia were first performed by the San Diego
Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Zoltan Rozsnyai during the 1968-69 season, and were
repeated under Charles Ketcham during the summer season of 1975. Their most recent
performance here was under the leadership of guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero during the
2002-03 season.
Music from de Falla's great Spanish ballet, El sombrero de tres picos, has been played
with relative frequency by this orchestra, but never before this program has the entire ballet score
been presented. (Perhaps in this audience there may be fortunate listeners, aside from myself,
who attended its performance by the brilliant Spanish National Ballet at the Civic Theatre here
during that hall's 1965-66 opening season.) Most often, though, the Second Suite of three dances
from the ballet, prepared by the composer, was the choice of 15 conductors leading this orchestra
in that music, beginning with Earl Bernard Murray, in the 1960-61 season. Most recently, Jahja
Ling led that music in the 2014-15 season, and it was repeated during the just-completed
Summer Pops 2015 season, when Matthew Garbutt led it.
Concierto Voltaje, by Gabriela Ortiz, is being given its United States premiere at these
concerts, and these performances mark the first time that any music by this composer has been
played by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.