Program Notes
Mobius Guitar Trio: Friday, February 21st, 2020 - 7:30 pm
French composer Maurice Ravel wrote his only string quartet in 1903 at the age of 28. The premiere in 1904 drew mixed reviews, with some calling it derivative of Debussy’s quartet of ten years previous. Others hailed its originality and craftsmanship. Debussy himself urged Ravel not to change a single note. Ravel submitted the work as an application for the Prix de Rome (a study grant for a year in Rome) but was rejected. He also was ejected from the very conservative Paris Conservatoire de Musique. By then Ravel was well on his way to a successful composing career and his quartet has become a staple of the repertoire. The second movement features a good deal of pizzicato so it transfers quite naturally to the guitar. It is in three-part form: a playful scherzo bracketing a lovely slow middle section. - Angela Carlson 2020
The great Brazilian guitarist, composer, and arranger Sergio Assad was our teacher for our Master's degree, so he knows all of us really well. He mentored us through our private lessons, and he coached us to develop as an ensemble. Sergio is one of the great composers and arrangers in the classical guitar world - his pieces and arrangements are performed constantly around the world in concerts and competitions - so, of course we hounded him relentlessly to write us a piece. In 2014, he finally did, and we were extra, extra thrilled that he really tailored the parts to each of us; instead of saying "Guitar I, Guitar II, Guitar III" for the parts, the score says "Rob, Matt, Mason". The one part that confuses us is that he called the piece Kindergarten, and we don't know why...
In 2010, noted guitarist, cellist, scholar, and composer Tilman Hoppstock discovered the previously unknown early 20th century English composer Allan Willcocks. Hoppstock began educating the world on this mysterious and obscure Impressionist composer - performing his Preludes and Etudes, publishing the scores along with biographical information, etc.. The sudden discovery of a previously unknown composer working in a style - Impressionism - that has historically been a bit of a 'blind spot' for the classical guitar was remarkable, but nothing compared to the reaction when Hoppstock revealed, a couple of years later, that Willcocks had never actually existed and was in fact just an elaborate nom de plume.
Robert Nance's Plexus serves as a soundtrack to the interconnectedness of personal relationships. The piece's relentless driving pattern forces each performer - or thread - on a journey causing the threads to move tightly in unison, weave, tangle, unwind, and repeat over and over until the becoming too tightly wound and then must be unraveled slowly, methodically, and deliberately. - Mobius Guitar Trio 2020
In 2010, noted guitarist, cellist, scholar, and composer Tilman Hoppstock discovered the previously unknown early 20th century English composer Allan Willcocks. Hoppstock began educating the world on this mysterious and obscure Impressionist composer - performing his Preludes and Etudes, publishing the scores along with biographical information, etc.. The sudden discovery of a previously unknown composer working in a style - Impressionism - that has historically been a bit of a 'blind spot' for the classical guitar was remarkable, but nothing compared to the reaction when Hoppstock revealed, a couple of years later, that Willcocks had never actually existed and was in fact just an elaborate nom de plume.
Robert Nance's Plexus serves as a soundtrack to the interconnectedness of personal relationships. The piece's relentless driving pattern forces each performer - or thread - on a journey causing the threads to move tightly in unison, weave, tangle, unwind, and repeat over and over until the becoming too tightly wound and then must be unraveled slowly, methodically, and deliberately. - Mobius Guitar Trio 2020
Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez (1939) is the most popular work for solo guitar and orchestra; this popularity is largely due to its beautiful second movement, Adagio. The work’s title comes from the city of Aranjuez, whose main tourist attraction is the Palacio Real (Royal Palace), an elegant and imposing work of French Empire, Rococo, and Moorish architecture. Though the Concierto was composed in Paris, it was the Palacio’s extravagant gardens which reportedly transported the young Rodrigo’s imagination to the world of the Spanish Renaissance which informs much of the work (and much else of Rodrigo’s music) . The Adagio, however, represents the devastation Rodrigo experienced when his wife Victoria suffered a near-fatal miscarriage. Musically, this is carried out through Rodrigo’s use of the flamenco cante jondo (“deep song”) style, whose mournful ornaments are reminiscent of the Muslim call to prayer which was heard throughout southern Spain for some 700 years following the conquest of the Moors in 711. Rodrigo stated that the end of movement, which features an ever-rising arpeggiation in harmonics, represented the unborn child’s soul ascending to Heaven.
In 1931, the poet and folklorist Federico Garcia Lorca described the cante jondo:
"The cante jondo approaches the rhythm of the birds and the natural music of the black poplar and the waves; it is simple in oldness and style. It is also a rare example of primitive song, the oldest of all Europe, where the ruins of history, the lyrical fragment eaten by the sand, appear live like the first morning of its life[...] it is the only song on our continent that has been conserved in its pure form, because of its composition and its style and the qualities it has in itself, the primitive songs of the oriental people." - Cameron O'Connor 2020
In 1931, the poet and folklorist Federico Garcia Lorca described the cante jondo:
"The cante jondo approaches the rhythm of the birds and the natural music of the black poplar and the waves; it is simple in oldness and style. It is also a rare example of primitive song, the oldest of all Europe, where the ruins of history, the lyrical fragment eaten by the sand, appear live like the first morning of its life[...] it is the only song on our continent that has been conserved in its pure form, because of its composition and its style and the qualities it has in itself, the primitive songs of the oriental people." - Cameron O'Connor 2020