Nearing the end of an entire season devoted to Music Beyond Our Borders, one local orchestra is gearing up for a south-of-the-border fiesta 鈥� and you鈥檙e invited.
The presents 隆Cinco de Mayo!, a concert of gems by Mexican composers and one U.S. composer inspired by Mexico, Sunday, May 5 at 5 p.m. in the Fritsche Theatre at Otterbein University鈥檚 Cowan Hall.
Westerville Symphony Music Director Peter Stafford Wilson will lead the orchestra and guitar soloist in works by Mexican composers Manuel Ponce, Arturo M谩rquez, Carlo Ch谩vez and Jos茅 Moncayo, and in U.S. composer Aaron Copland鈥檚 tone poem El Sal贸n M茅xico, inspired by a visit to a Mexico City dance hall.
鈥淵ou鈥檒l definitely be tapping your toes,鈥� Wilson said of the concert鈥檚 program in a recent phone interview.
隆Cinco de Mayo! marks the third and final performance on the orchestra鈥檚 2018-19 Ron Lykins Masterworks Series. The concert will also be the first time the Westerville Symphony has devoted an entire program to Mexican and Mexican-inspired music.
鈥淚t鈥檚 rare that I actually dedicate an entire program to a single genre or style or nationality, but Cinco de Mayo certainly presented itself as an opportunity to do so,鈥� Wilson said.
When Wilson started planning the program for the Westerville Symphony鈥檚 隆Cinco de Mayo! concert, he reached first for the work of a U.S. composer - Aaron Copland鈥檚 now iconic El Sal贸n M茅xico.
鈥�El Sal贸n M茅xico, of course, was one of the first pieces that I wrote down when I started the broad strokes of this program,鈥� Wilson said.
Copland鈥檚 tone poem gives what Wilson describes as a 鈥渇iendishly difficult,鈥� though vivid, musical depiction of a Mexican dance hall. But some of the Mexican composers on the program, Wilson says, more naturally go about evoking Mexico and 鈥淢exicanness鈥� in sound.
鈥淐opland worked very hard to create what we think of as a Mexican sound,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd yet the two primary composers on the program who were Mexican 鈥� Marquez and (Jos茅) Moncayo 鈥� both did it very naturally.鈥�
Arturo Marquez鈥檚 Danz贸n No. 2 is an orchestral fantasy that unfolds in increasingly fiery episodes over a sultry rhythm in the claves 鈥� wooden dowels traditionally used in Spanish and Latin music 鈥� reminiscent of bossa nova.
惭辞苍肠补测辞鈥檚 Huapango features a familiar Mexican tune and is full of rhythmic and harmonic interplay that give the piece an unmistakably Mexican feel.
鈥�Huapango is 鈥� a very versatile work that really does sort of create that atmosphere of Mexican music,鈥� Wilson said.
That work will stand in stark contrast to Carlos Ch谩vez鈥檚 First Symphony, Sinfonia de Ant铆gona, which Chavez composed in 1933 as music to accompany a production of Sophocles鈥� tragedy Antigone.
Chavez鈥檚 work relies less on traditional Mexican dance rhythms and modally inflected melodies, and more on the carrying out of a modernist musical language in intense, dramatic-sounding structures.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a short symphony, one movement, huge orchestration, but very emotionally charged,鈥� Wilson said. 鈥淚t also, I think, is probably the intellectual challenge of the program. And part of the reason is that it really does not sound 'Mexican,' like Huapango or El Sal贸n M茅xico.鈥�
It was actually guitarist Karl Wohlwend who suggested programming Manuel Ponce鈥檚 Concierto del Sur (Concerto of the South) on the Westerville Symphony鈥檚 隆Cinco de Mayo! concert.
Wohlwend, who performed Spanish composer Joaqu铆n Rodrigo鈥檚 Concierto de Aranjuez 鈥� arguably the most frequently performed guitar concerto 鈥� with the Westerville Symphony several years ago, first heard Ponce鈥檚 Concierto del Sur 25 or 30 years ago, when a friend played for him the Spanish guitarist Andr茅s Segovia鈥檚 recording of the work.
鈥淚 thought, this is wonderful. Why don鈥檛 people play this more often?鈥� Wohlwend said.
Wohlwend took the Cinco de Mayo theme for Sunday鈥檚 concert as an opportunity to perform a guitar concerto that, he says, deserves to be performed more often than it is, and that blends Spanish flamenco and Moorish rhythms, melodic influences and guitar techniques in a unique modern musical language.
Wilson says Sunday鈥檚 concert is intended to spotlight these and other influences that have given Mexican music its richness.
鈥淲e need to examine the very serious contributions that Mexican composers of several generations have made to music history,鈥� Wilson said. 鈥淚 think this program really is indicative of that wealth of great music.鈥�
