Program 87
"Latin-American Rhythms
by Latin-American Composers"

MUSIC: clip from the Orquesta de Instrumentos Andinos performing Andarelle, a traditional song [República del Ecuador Simbolos Patrios CD, track 8] [under the following]

Welcome to Compact Discoveries. I’m your guide, Fred Flaxman, and for the next hour we’re going to explore “Latin-American Music... by Latin-American Composers.” This title is to distinguish this hour from another that I did on “Latin-American Music by Jewish-American Composers.” That hour included the Cuban Overture by George Gershwin, the Latin-American Symphonette by Morton Gould, Aaron Copland’s El Salón México and his Danzón Cubano, and Leonard Bernstein’s Danzón from his ballet Fancy Free. This hour will feature music by composers you are much less likely to have heard of, but whose music is equally tuneful, rhythmic and appealing. They will be from Cuba, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and Argentina.

MUSIC: fades out

The theme for this program came to me on a visit to Guayaquil, Ecuador, where I met violinist Jorge Saade Scaff. He toured me around the beautiful Pacific coast city while playing some of his recordings on the CD player. The first piece he put on was this conga by Cuban composer Guido López Gavilán. I took to its infectious rhythms right away. I hope you will too.

MUSIC: López Gavilán: En Mi Menor, performed by violinist Jorge Saade Scaff and pianist Boris Cepeda [Danza Ecuatoriana, track 5]  [2:39]

En Mi Menor (In E Minor) by the Cuban composer Guido López Gavilán was recorded live at the Expo Hannover 2000. The violinist was Jorge Saade Scaff; the pianist was Boris Cepeda. Saade Scaff has performed quite frequently in the United States, mostly in Miami and Washington, D.C., where he was once the cultural and press attaché of the Ecuadorian Embassy, but also in New York City, where he made his Carnegie Hall début in 2005.

Next we’ll hear two versions of El Espantapajaros (The Scarecrow ) by Ecuadorian composer Gerardo Guevara. First it will be performed by pianist Marcelo Ortiz from a recording issued by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2002. Then we’ll hear violinist Jorge Saade Scaff once again, this time accompanied on the guitar by Julio Almeida.
 
MUSIC: Guevara: El Espantapajaros, performed by pianist Marcelo Ortiz [República del Ecuador Simbolos Patrios CD, track 10]

MUSIC: Guevara: El Espantapajaros, performed by violinist Jorge Saade Scaff and guitarist Julio Almeida [Amine Records CDA 46642, track 15]  [3:12]

Two versions of El Espantapajaros by Ecuadorian composer Gerardo Guevara. The pianist was Marcelo Ortiz in the first version. The second recording featured violinist Jorge Saade Scaff and guitarist Julio Almeida.

Two more pieces now from the Danza Ecuatoriana CD with Saade Scaff and Boris Cepeda — both by Ecuadorian composer Enrique Espin Yépez. The first is called Pasillo (Walkway). The second, Pasional (Passionate).

MUSIC: Yépez: Pasillo, Jorge Saade Scaff, violin; Boris Cepeda, piano [Danza Ecuatoriana, track 10]

MUSIC: Yépez: Pasional, Jorge Saade Scaff, violin; Boris Cepeda, piano [Danza Ecuatoriana, track 11]

Pasillo (Walkway) and Pasional (Passionate) -- two pieces by Ecuadorian composer Enrique Espin Yépez. Jorge Saade Scaff was the violinist; Boris Cepeda was at the piano.

One final piece by Espin Yépez now, although we’ll hear two versions of it. The work is called Danza Ecuatoriana. First we’ll hear it for violin and guitar with Jorge Saade Scaff once again, accompanied by guitarist Julio Almeida. Then we’ll hear Saade Scaff again, but this time with the Symphony Orchestra of Guayaquil, Ecuador.

MUSIC: Espin Yépez: Danza Ecuatoriana performed by Jorge Saade Scaff, violin; Julio Almeida, guitar [mine Records CDA46642, track 10]

MUSIC: Espin Yépez: Danza Ecuatoriana performed by Jorge Saade Scaff, violin; Orquesta Sinfónica de Guayaquil conducted by David Harutyunyan [Música Académica Ecuatoriana CD, track 4]

Two versions of Danza Ecuatoriana (Ecuadorian Dance) by the Ecuatorian composer Enrique Espin Yépez, who lived from 1926 until 1997. Both versions featured violinist Jorge Saade Scaff. The first was with guitarist Julio Almeida. The second was with the Symphony Orchestra of Guayaquil, Ecuador.

You are listening to “Latin-American Rhythms by Latin-American Composers” on Compact Discoveries. I’m your guide, Fred Flaxman

From Ecuador we go to Brazil, where we’ll also change from violin to flute solos. The flutist, Paula Robison, was born in Nashville and raised in California. She studied at the Julliard School of Music in New York City and was only twenty when Leonard Bernstein invited her to be a soloist with the New York Philharmonic.

This versatile musician has recorded classical and contemporary music. But, for the purposes of our theme this hour, we are going to listen to four cuts from a CD she did which featured the popular music of Brazil. Let’s begin with André de sapato novo (André with new shoes), a piece written in 1947 by André Victor Corréa, a professor of music who became director of a jazz band in 1936 and was better known as “André the Saxophonist.” He lived from 1888 until 1948.

MUSIC: Victor Corréa: André de sapato novo with Paula Robison, flute, and a Brazilian band [Omega OCD 3016, track 12]

André de sapato novo (André with new shoes), by André Victor Corréa. Paula Robison was the flutist in this Omega compact disc recording.

I have been devoting this hour of Compact Discoveries to “Latin-American Rhythms by Latin-American Composers.” This is designed to compliment another hour I devoted to “Latin-American Rhythms by Jewish-American Composers.”

Let’s hear three more Brazilian pieces as interpreted by American flutist Paula Robison with a Brazilian band. They are Ingénuo (Naive) by Pixinguinha and Lacerda, Manha da Carnaval (Morning of the Carnival) from the film “Black Orpheus,” music by Bonfa, and Tico-Tico no Fubá (Crazy Mess) by Abreu.

MUSIC: Pixinguinha and Lacerda: Ingénuo, with Paula Robison and a Brazilian band (Omega OCD 3016, track 13) [3:12]

MUSIC: Bonfa: Manha da Carnaval, with Paula Robison and a Brazilian band (Omega OCD 3016, track 16) [2:45]

MUSIC: Abreu: Tico-Tico no Fubá, with Paula Robison and a Brazilian band (Omega OCD 3016, track 19) [2:21]

Paula Robison on flute with a Brazilian band playing three pieces from her album called Brasileirinho (bra-zil-yer-EEN-yo). They were Ingénuo (Naive) by Pixinguinha and Lacerda, Manha da Carnaval (Morning of the Carnival) from the film “Black Orpheus,” music by Bonfa, and Tico-Tico no Fubá (Crazy Mess) by Abreu.

You are listening to “Latin-American Rhythms by Latin-American Composers” on Compact Discoveries. I’m your guide, Fred Flaxman.

[optional one-minute cutaway not included in the total timing of the program]

Our next Latin-American composer was actually born in Spain, but he did move to Cuba where he became a citizen in 1942. His name is Julian Orbón, and he lived from 1925 until 1991. We’ll listen to his piece called Xylophone from his Tres Versiones Sinfónicas (Three Symphonic Versions). I just had to include this movement in an hour devoted to Latin-American rhythms. If this doesn’t fit the theme, I don’t know what does!

MUSIC: Orbón: Tres Versiones Sinfónicas performed by the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela conducted by Eduardo Mata [Dorian DOR-90179, track 3] [2:51]

That was the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela conducted by Eduardo Mata on a Dorian compact disc in a performance of the xylophone movement from Cuban composer Julian Orbón’s Tres Versiones Sinfónicas (Three Symphonic Versions).

From a Cuban orchestral composition by a composer born in Spain, played by an orchestra from Venezuela, we turn to American guitarist David Burgess playing a folk song from Peru: El Condor Pasa (The Condor Passes).

MUSIC: Traditional: El Condor Pasa, played by guitarist David Burgess [Tritone MT006, track 13] [3:57]

Guitarist David Burgess performed El Condor Pasa (The Condor Passes) from his compact disc album called “Silver Nuggets and Fool’s Gold” on the Tritone label.

Our final stop on this Latin-American journey will be Argentina for two pieces by Alberto Ginastera. First pianist Barbara Nissman plays an Argentine dance from the composer’s Danzas Argentinas, Op. 2, from 1937. This is from a Pierian compact disc. Then we’ll conclude the program with excerpts from what is probably Ginastera’s most famous work, his Variaciones concertantes. That recording is by the Richmond Sinfonia conducted by George Manahan on an Élan compact disc.

MUSIC: Ginastera: Danzas Argentinas, Op. 2, No. 2 played by Barbara Nissman, pianist [Pierian 0005, track 10]

MUSIC: Ginastera: excerpts from Variaciones concertantes, performed by the Richmond Sinfonia conducted by George Manahan [Élan CD 2222]

Two works by Alberto Ginastera concluded this hour of Compact Discoveries devoted to “Latin-American Rhythms by Latin-American Composers.” First we heard one of the composer’s Argentine dances for piano with Barbara Nissman performing. Then he heard excerpts from Ginastera’s Variaciones concertantes for orchestra, with the Richmond Sinfonia conducted by George Manahan.

MUSIC: clip from the Orquesta de Instrumentos Andinos performing Andarelle, a traditional song [República del Ecuador Simbolos Patrios CD, track 8] [under the following]

I hope you enjoyed these selections as much as I did and that some of them were Compact Discoveries for you.

Your comments on this program or the series in general are most welcome at our website: www.compactdiscoveries.com. There you’ll find descriptions of the programs, complete scripts with information on all the music played, a list of radio stations carrying the program, listener comments, Compact Discoveries articles, even a page on how your company or foundation can help underwrite the costs of producing and distributing the series.

Compact Discoveries is a registered trademark and production of Compact Discoveries, Inc. This program is made possible in part by the members of WXEL-FM, West Palm Beach, Florida.

MUSIC: up and fade out at 56:55

WFMT Announcer: This program is distributed by the WFMT Radio Network. [5 seconds]

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