Lalo Schifrin - Concierto Caribeno, Guitar Concerto, Tropicos (1996) {Urtext JBCC 040 rel 2000}

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Lalo Schifrin - Concierto Caribeno, Guitar Concerto, Tropicos (1996) {Urtext JBCC 040 rel 2000}

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Lalo Schifrin - Concierto Caribeño, Guitar Concerto, Trópicos (1996) {Urtext JBCC 040 rel 2000}
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© 1996, 2000 Urtext | JBCC 040
Classical / Concerto / Orchestral / World / Latin / Jazz / Flute / Guitar

CONCERTO CARIBENO FOR FLUTE AND ORCHESTRA

Schifrin’s Concierto Caribeno for flute, was commissioned by and is dedicated to the Mexican flautist Marisa Canales. Its first movement opens with a busy orchestral phrase, which immediately gives us a taste of the tropical percussion of the Caribbean. The solo flute sings the syncopated first theme that will be developed in a classical sonata form without losing the spontaneity and freshness of this music. Orchestral dialogues unfold a virtuoso elaboration on the theme where the rhythmic flexibility and the rich ornamentation give the development an improvised feeling. The second theme is broad and lyrical without losing any warmth or passion. The score visits all the musical ports of call of the Caribbean, without marrying any specific musical genre. An appalling section, performed by the soloist and accompanied by percussion and trombones reminds us of the magic trances of certain Afro-American ceremonies. A trill from the flute leads to a dark, sweet song from the soloist followed by an ample cadence where technical wizardry and a luminous palette of colors are welded to the dances and songs of these shores. A short coda brings back the opening theme at the end.

The second movement starts with the lonely voice of the bass clarinet. We go back to the elegant dances of Cervantes and Saumell, the early Cuban masters of the 19th century. The solo flute and the cello, with an impressive economy of instrumental means develop this theme; Schifrin conjures up all the colors of the guajira and the slow sensuality of this music which breaks down language barriers with its murmur. The full orchestra is displayed in interludes that build urgency and nostalgia; the recapitulation mirrors the beginning and ends with a quiet, dark refrain of the bass clarinet.

The third movement, takes on a fast pace: rhythms from Colombia and Venezuela, from Puerto Rico and Havana, parade in a transparent orchestration where the soloist takes turns to dance with all kinds of different partners: strings and brass, woodwinds and percussion alternate with the agile turns and the extrovert swirls of the flute. A Sonata-Rondo structure is masterfully employed to bring out all the richness and expressive diversity of the flute, and proves once and for all that this is the ideal instrument to voice the rich musical legacy of these latitudes.

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Lalo Schifrin - Concierto Caribeno, Guitar Concerto, Tropicos (1996) {Urtext JBCC 040 rel 2000}

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GUITAR CONCERTO

In the sixteenth century, the Spanish conquerors brought the guitar to the American continent. They also brought a number of composers who represented the main stream of Renaissance music in Europe, and especially in the Iberian Peninsula. They wrote and performed sacred and secular music, working for the church as well as the now class or rulers of the growing colonial empire. Undoubtedly, for many of them the encounter with the Indo-American and African scales and rhythms must have been a cultural shock, a musical mirror of the vast landscapes, the -exuberant jungles, the forbidding mountains and waterfalls. The guitar is the living witness of their sense of wonder. This concerto is a tribute to those composers.

The form of the first movement is theme and variations. The introduction features the brass, woodwinds, and percussion in short sections that end with different cadences and sharp string answers in unrelated keys. Then the theme is stated by the double reeds accompanied by harp, based on a ground bass of the Spanish Renaissance "Guardame las Vacas". After two orchestral variations, the guitar solo enters, taking up the challenge of the opening fanfare. Occasionally the variations are interrupted by orchestral interludes that borrow from elements of the introduction. Gradually those interludes coalesce with the main theme to transform it into a lyrical second theme. The third section is a development and the principal motifs (including a canon between guitar and harp) and the recapitulation precedes the cadenza, which is -also based on the same material. Finally the coda disguises its symmetry with the introduction, although it is unable to avoid the last statement by the strings, once more in an unrelated key.

The second movement, "Andante Lontano", opens with very soft percussion and strings col legno. A guitar figure becomes the accompaniment to the first theme by the oboe, distant and evocative, which leads to a contrasting section of rhythmic energy (percussion, strings pizzicato), juxtaposed with bird calls by the woodwinds. The guitar states the introspective second theme, but during the responses accompanies the orchestra with full sharp strumming, reminiscent of Latin and Afro-American folk music. In the middle section the orchestra builds the first theme from violas, open trumpet and oboe to the full string section which is accompanied by the woodwinds and brass like a gigantic guitar using the same figure of the previous strumming. The last section of the movement brings us the guitar against a descending line by solo woodwinds. The cellos and basses provide a somber pedal point as a preparation of restatement of the introduction. A calm figure by the harp, flutes and violins, "Flageolet" pleads to the solo guitar for the final response.

The third movement starts with antiphonal brass resonances, "the echoes of history". A tambourine figure announces the recurrent motif of the rondo, allegro con brio. The guitar establishes the theme, and from there on engages in a dramatic dialogue with the orchestra. The nature of this conversation is the exploration of a vast range of moods, which converge in a real tour de force for both (including a second cadenza.) The coda "molto vivace" is a moto perpetuo based on syncopated rhythms building relentlessly to the very end.

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Lalo Schifrin - Concierto Caribeno, Guitar Concerto, Tropicos (1996) {Urtext JBCC 040 rel 2000}

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TROPICOS

A work in five movements written in 1981.

Behind the folk-like tunes and dances, there is another reality in this tropical landscape, sometimes cruel, sometimes ironic.

The piece is written for woodwind quintet and strings, and despite its title, I carefully avoided the use of percussion instruments. Nevertheless, in certain passages the bows hit the strings with the wood or the woodwinds depress the keys without blowing. The common denominator in these five segments is the fragmentation of binary and ternary rhythms into their smaller components while the harmonic and melodic material expands from simple scales to more complex density and textures. Tropicos is a true etude, which encourages a vigorous dialogue between the soloist and the ensemble.

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Lalo Schifrin - Concierto Caribeno, Guitar Concerto, Tropicos (1996) {Urtext JBCC 040 rel 2000}

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Lalo Schifrin - Concierto Caribeno, Guitar Concerto, Tropicos (1996) {Urtext JBCC 040 rel 2000}

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Lalo Schifrin - Concierto Caribeno, Guitar Concerto, Tropicos (1996) {Urtext JBCC 040 rel 2000}

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