Distance Learning: Archive

Viola Sonata, Op. 11, no. 4

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

One of the leading German composers of the 20th century, Paul Hindemith wrote pieces for almost every instrument. What is
remarkable is that he was also able to play nearly all of them. His music reflected the realities of the challenging years
after the First World War. In 1919 Paul Hindemith composed the first sonata for viola and piano, which is in a romantic style.
As a professional viola player himself, he endeavored to demonstrate the graceful and expressive sound of the viola.

Shur makam

Turkar Gasimzade (b. 1988)

In Shur makam, the music techniques of makam—the traditional classical music of Azerbaijan—are explored through traditional
prelude and fugue form. Turkar Gasimzade’s music makes extensive use of makam modes and its features.

一杯美酒 A Cup of Good Wine

Xinjiang folk song

Arr. Dogyong Ji

This traditional folk song expresses a young woman’s love. She regards her adoration of her lover as a cup of good wine.
If the man she loves drinks the wine, he will be completely immersed in the sweetness of love. This song’s melody and rhythm
display typical Chinese features and always make people want to dance.

Meteorite

Su Jin Kang (b. 1994)

I was inspired to write Meteorite after visiting my old friend, Hayley Smith, in the summer of 2016 after she had surgery
to remove a brain tumor. After her surgery, she found out the tumor had been cancerous. Thankfully the surgery went well
and my friends and I were able to spend time with Hayley to celebrate her health and support her in her life-altering experience.
It was amazing to see Hayley stay positive in the face of uncertainty and pain. Meteorite was specifically inspired by my
experience star-gazing with Hayley and some friends at a cabin in Maine. Lying down on a deck on a pitch-black night gazing
at the sky, we saw shooting stars and were amazed by the beauty before our eyes. What joy it is to experience beauty with
friends who love and care for each other: This piece commemorates the beauty that was displayed in the starry sky and the
joy and love I experienced with Hayley and friends.

Sevilla (Sevillana), Suite Española, Op. 47

Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909)

In the works constituting the Suite Española, the first title, Sevilla, refers to the region that the piece represents and
the subtitle, Sevillanas, indicates the musical form of the dance of the region. In describing his Suite Española, Albéniz
wrote This music is a bit infantile, plain, spirited; but in the end, the people, our Spanish people, are something of all
that… there is less musical science, less of the grand idea, but more color, sunlight, flavor of olives…It appears to me
like the carvings in the Alhambra, those peculiar arabesques that say nothing with their turns and shapes, but which are
like the air, like the sun, like the blackbirds or like the nightingales of its garden.

El Espantapajaros

Despedida

Gerardo Guevara (b. 1930)

Gerardo Guevara was born in 1930 in Quito, Ecuador. In 1959 he traveled to Paris, where he studied composition with Nadia
Boulanger at the École Normale de Musique on a scholarship from UNESCO. He also studied musicology at the Sorbonne. After
twelve years in Paris, Guevara decided to go back to Ecuador. Back in his home country he served as conductor of the National
Symphony Orchestra and director of the National Conservatory of Music, where he taught. Considered the link between generations
of nationalist musicians and contemporary musical proponents, Guevara is one of the most relevant and important composers
in Ecuador. Both of these pieces were composed by Guevara with a pasillo rhythm, one of the most popular in Ecuadorian folk
music. Pasillo in Spanish literally means “little step.” At first this rhythm was conceived as a fast instrumental dance
written in a ¾ measure. Over time it acquired a slower tempo and poetic lyrics, giving it a melancholic and nostalgic feeling
instead of a festive dance spirit. El Espantapájaros was originally written for solo piano, while Despedida was written for
piano and soprano. The arrangements for solo guitar and guitar soprano duo at this performance were made by David Vázquez.

Madaling Araw

Francisco Santiago (1889-1947)

Madaling Araw is among the immortal kundiman (songs expressing intense love) in the Philippine repertoire, composed by Philippine
National Artist for Music Francisco Santiago. Although the topic of the kundiman is often unrequited love, Santiago’s kundiman
tend to convey a more hopeful message. Madaling Araw is a desperate call to a lover to return and once again be the light
of the poet’s life.

Nahan

Ernani Cuenco(1936-1988)

Nahan is one of the popular compositions of Philippine National Artist for Music, Ernani Cuenco, with a text by another
Philippine artist, Levi Celerio. The song is about two lovers, one who refuses to express love openly and the other who tries
sweetly to draw it out. The song is representative of Philippine lambing (tenderness).

Mutya ng Pasig

Nicanor Abelardo (1893-1934)

Mutya ng Pasig is another kundiman love song from the Philippines, this one based on a folktale. It is about the tragic
fate of a beautiful maiden.

Annanolli’s Sky (USA Premiere)

Ananda Sukarlan (b. 1968)

Indonesian pianist-composer Ananda Sukarlan received the Nadia Boulanger Prize at the International Piano Competition of
Orleans, France. His celebrated works include more than 150 songs for voice and piano; five operas; two cantatas; theater,
chamber and choral works; and many works for piano solo (a series of rhapsodies based on Indonesian folk melodies, a series
of virtuosic etudes, and hundreds of easy piano pieces compiled as Alicia’s Piano Book). Mr. Sukarlan’s compositions are
a synergy of Western and Eastern traditions, implementing Western forms and techniques while imitating sounds of Indonesian
traditional instruments such as the gamelan, and incorporating elements of Indonesian traditional folk tunes, dance rhythms,
and the Indonesian language. He has also composed a series of musical works written for disabled musicians, commissioned
by Fundacion Musica Abierta of Spain. Annanolli’s Sky, a piano quintet commissioned by the International Chamber Music Competition
of Arnuero, was inspired by the paintings of Tero Annanolli, a Finnish artist. The sky had always had romantic implications
for Mr. Sukarlan and he was struck by how unromantic Annanolli’s sky was. To him, silence in a composition parallels space
in a painter’s canvas. Fascinated by the space, he has written a work that is unlike his earlier music. It has no significant
melody in order to bring forward that space, that sky which distinguishes Annanolli’s paintings from others.

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