Tuesday, May 14, 2024
7:00 PM — 9:00 PM
Cordiner Hall (map)
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“Embark on a journey through the rich and diverse sounds of Argentina's urban tango and the mesmerizing landscapes of the pampas, to the Bohemian lands of the Czech Republic. Three composers, each passionately devoted to their countries, depict the sounds of their people, emotions, and life events through the universal language of music. Experience three unique works, each with its own individual sound signature, by Piazzolla, Figueiras, and Dvorak.”
– Fernanda Lastra
Astor Piazzolla - Tangazo
Juan Carlos Figueiras - Viento y llanura, for solo marimba and orchestra
Kana Funayama, marimba
Antonín Dvořák - Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op.70, B.141
Kana Funayama's appearance is made possible by the WW Symphony Guest Composer/Artist Fund - Underrepresented Voices
Fernanda Lastra's appearance is made possible by the Katherine and Walter Weingart Guest Artist Endowment
WINE SPONSOR
Wine from our wine sponsor will be available before the concert and during intermission for $5/glass (all proceeds benefit the Walla Walla Symphony).
About the Guest Artist
Kana Funayama, marimba
Kana Funayama is a Japanese percussionist, marimbist, and arranger whose performance career sees her in a wide range of engagements as soloist, ensemble player, and collaborative artist.
Funayama has presented solo recitals in major venues including in Tokyo, Sendai, and Fukushima in Japan, as well as Rochester, New York, and Los Angeles, California. She has been featured as a soloist at numerous concerts including at La Folle Journée TOKYO, "Geisai" in Tokyo, Chosen Vale International Percussion Seminar, Eastman Percussion Ensemble, the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan, and Cairo Opera Orchestra in Egypt.
As an ensemble player, Funayama has performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Tokyo Geidai Philharmonia, LA's Film Studio Orchestras, and many more. She actively runs commission projects with composers and is dedicated to expanding and diversifying marimba repertoire in a variety of music styles and genres, leading to the promotion and popularization of the instrument.
Funayama holds her Bachelor of Music from Tokyo University of the Arts, and her Master of Music from Eastman School of Music with the esteemed Performance Certificate and Milton Schlesinger Percussion Prize. She is a candidate for Artist Diploma at the USC Thornton School of Music.
Program Notes
© John David Earnest, 2024
Astor Piazolla
Tangazo
Date of Composition: 1970
Last WWS performance: First performance at this concert
Approximate length: 15 minutes
The Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla is one of South America’s most renowned and popular composers. When he was a child, his father, a professional tango band player, gave Astor a bandoneón, a small button-accordian which is the traditional instrument used in tango bands. "The first bandoneón that I had my Papa gave me when I was eight years old. He brought it wrapped in a box, and I was happy, believing that it was the skates that I had asked for many times. That was deceptive, however. In place of the skates I encountered an apparatus that I had never seen in my life. Papa sat himself on a chair, placed the thing between my arms, and said to me: 'Astor, this is the instrument of the tango, I want you to learn to play it.' My first reaction was to complain. The tango was the music that he listened to almost every night when he returned from work, and which I did not like." But the bandoneón changed Piazzolla’s life. As a teenager he started playing in tango bands, but eventually formed his own orchestra to play his original tango compositions; these works were unique because they included elements of both jazz and classical music, as well as some instruments not used in the traditional tango. This novel approach was called Tango nuevo and Piazzolla (and some of his composer colleagues like Gustavo Naveira and Carlos Gardel), were severely criticized by the traditionalists. Nevertheless, Piazzolla’s vision prevailed, and his music is known and performed world-wide.
Tangazo opens with an expressively somber melody in the low strings that is gradually taken up by the violas, and then by the violins. The strings intensify this melancholy tune, bringing it to a searing climax which slowly dissipates. A short transition leads to a jauntily rhythmic, tango-inflected dance introduced by an oboe solo, garnished with responses from the flute and percussion; soon the strings join, and the dance becomes more impassioned before giving way to a splendid horn solo. The beauty of the passage is then enriched by the strings singing the soaringly beautiful melody, a Piazzolla trademark. The jaunty dance returns, even more vigorously, decorated with clever percussive sounds made by string players gently tapping on their instruments with their knuckles, using the wooden part of the bow on the strings (a performance technique called col legno), and playing short teasing glissandi. The dance begins to fade and then slips away quietly, with only a little giggle at the end.
Juan Carlos Figueiras
Viento y llanura, for solo marimba and orchestra
Date of Composition: 2014
Last WWS performance: First performance at this concert
Approximate length: 15 minutes
Juan Carlos Figueiras is a distinguished Argentinean who has a vibrant career as a composer, pianist, and teacher. His symphonic, chamber ensemble, and electronic pieces have been performed in Argentina and abroad by prestigious institutions and soloists and have been recorded by various record labels and artists. Included in the National Arts Fund Panorama of Music in Argentina, Figueiras has been the resident composer at the Conservatory of the City of Buenos Aires ‘Astor Piazzolla,’ performing pieces for orchestra and different ensembles.
His awards include First Prize for his piece Al Sur for the best chamber music work in the SADAIC Tribute to Alberto Ginastera Competition and the CABA Municipal Award in the category Symphonic-Choral for his piece Leyendas. Figueiras has received many commissions, among them the Nueva Música Group, Encuentros Foundation, Music and Technology Foundation, Tsunami + 1 Project, and others. Currently a member of the Suite Quintet as a pianist, Figueiras is also a professor of Piano at the University of Buenos Aires, Faculty of Law (Extension University). In his own studio he teaches harmony, composition, and digital media. He also hosts the radio program Concierto Derecho for the Radio of the University of Buenos Aires and coordinates the Cycle of Great Concerts of the Faculty of Law.
The composer has provided the following note:
Wind and Plain is a work for marimba and symphony orchestra composed by the Argentine composer Juan Carlos Figueiras in 2014. It is a piece that has been designed to highlight an instrument rarely used as a soloist with orchestra. The piece is conceived from a traditional, tonal formal organization, which is immersed in rhythms and melodic turns of a strongly popular nature, typical of the Pampas region. Even without having a descriptive intention, there is in the work a search for sounds that evoke the extension of the plain with its constant wind, typical of the center of the province of Buenos Aires. As a kind of continuous movement, a milonga [an Argentine ballroom dance that preceded the tango early in the 20th century] accompanies us throughout almost the entire length of the piece, constantly evolving within the framework of the dialogue maintained by the orchestra and the marimba.
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70, B. 141
Date of Composition: 1885
Last WWS performance: First performance at this concert
Approximate length: 40 minutes
Europe in the 19th century was a cauldron of political and ideological movements, stirred to life by the rise of nationalism and setting in motion a trajectory of catastrophe in World War I. But many of these nationalistic movements also resulted in positive cultural benefits, especially in literature, art, and music. Antonín Dvořák’s devotion to the heritage of his beloved Bohemia (the present Czech Republic and Slovakia) was reflected in his music by his use of folk songs and dances; he delighted in the melodies and rhythms of his native country and his identification as a Bohemian composer was a source of pride. However, in the early 1880s, the composer was in distress: his mother died in 1882, and his friend, Bedřich Smetana was in decline. In addition, the pressure of being a successful composer brought on unexpectedly stressful consequences. It was in this emotional state that Dvořák wrote his D Minor Symphony, a brooding work that is the “most dramatic and austere of his nine symphonies.” Aware that he needed to compose a major work, Dvořák wrote to a friend in 1884, “My new symphony must be such as to make a stir in the world.” The composer created an abundance of thematic material for the symphony, a wealth of melodic ideas that are transformed throughout.
Each of the four movements seems to have a weighty burden to bear, even in the liveliest moments. The opening movement Allegro is marked by a darkly rising theme, answered by a lyrical idea; both are embedded in a structure that erupts, then subsides, then erupts and subsides again. The second movement Adagio is dense and melancholy. The fast-paced third movement Scherzo is a clear nod to Bohemian folk dancing with its tricky rhythmic interplay. The Finale is again replete with themes which are richly developed before arriving at the conclusion of this passionately stern work in a brightly triumphant D major.