Lifchitz, Max. 2014. Ars Nostra Plays Max Lifchitz. The Ars Nostra Ensemble. North/South Consonance N/S R 1058, CD. (original) (raw)
marcelotoledomusic.com
I would like to thank my parents, Inés and Jorge Stratta, for their encouragement and support throughout my entire education and their immense generosity in letting me pursue my dreams in spite of the distance. For that, I will be forever grateful. I also extend an immense amount of gratitude to those who accompanied me during the years of my graduate studies. My family-in-law became the main source of encouragement while pursuing my doctoral education. They have witnessed and assisted me through hectic times from the comprehensive exams to researching and so much more that it would not be possible to describe everything in the frame of this note. I am deeply grateful to all of them. Lastly, but most importantly, I would like to dedicate all the effort, gray hair, and time this work has taken to my dear husband, Claudio. He, more than anyone, has suffered the preparation of this project during countless days, nights and weekends of work and voluntary confinement. You believed in me at every moment and helped me through every step. Your rallying and optimistic spirit showed me there is a lot for us to enjoy and live upon, and I look forward to the future more than ever before, because you
This dissertation is in two parts. The first one is an original composition, Latin Rhapsody for Clarinet and Orchestra. The second is a musical analysis, Magical Realism in Alejandro Cardona's String Quartet No. 4. Latin Rhapsody for Clarinet and Orchestra uses Costa Rican ideas combined with classical contemporary sonorities, such as clusters and small pitch-class sets. The first movement, Tambito, is based on a Latin American dance rhythm in six-eight meter. The name of this dance is particular to Costa Rica, but it is a widely used rhythmic pattern used in other Latin American countries under other names. This movement is fast and explosive, showing off the technical versatility of the clarinet. Its form is through composed using different variants from the main theme. The second movement is called La Fortuna at Night, describing a place in the countryside in Costa Rica where I used to go when I was a child. A lyrical clarinet melody is accompanied by transparent sonorities. The form of the movement is A-B-A1, where B serves as an interlude to the melody of the soloist. The third movement, Carnival, is based on the annual carnival from the province of Limón, mainly influenced by black culture. A catchy and playful melody is presented in the clarinet, serving as the developing material throughout. The timbales (a traditional Afro-Caribbean instrument) set the carnival mood. Sonorities from the previous movements are combined with the main theme to create overall unity. The novel Pedro Páramo by the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo (1917-1986) inspired the composition of the String Quartet No. 4. Every section in the quartet is marked by a quotation from the book. My analysis involves the following stages: First, I discuss vi Cardona's musical approach to the style of the novel, called magical realism. Through the analysis of the main themes and sonorities used in the quartet, I relate the worlds of music and literature. Second, I talk about the harmonic highlights in the work and explain how they create overall unity throughout.
University of Texas at Austin, 2015
Contemporary music for flute that employs extended techniques refers to particular performance techniques that need to be utilized to produce non-conventional sonorities on the flute. This study provides an examination of the technical development of extended techniques in the flute repertoire by Argentine composers. A supplementary anthology of these works has been compiled and included to provide a reference point for further academic research. Furthermore, two pieces were selected from these works to illustrate the technical evolution encompassed by the utilization of new instrumental techniques in the last five decades. An exhaustive analysis of these compositions intends to provide readers and contemporary music performers with valuable ideas that may enrich their capacity to understand the specialized repertoire and to conceive further development and musical application of new instrumental resources.
Cuban Flute Style: Interpretation and Improvisation
Ethnomusicology Forum, 2015
Lanham, MD, Scarecrow Press, 2014 xxix + 324pp., ISBN 978-0-8108-8441-0 (£44.95, hardback) Sue Miller's monograph on Cuban flute style will be of interest to ethnomusicologists and flautists alike. It is a clearly written, highly musical book that serves as both a guide to performance practice and an academic text. Miller brings together performance as a research technique, interviews with musicians, lessons with renowned flautists, and detailed and extensive transcription and analysis of recordings to create a 'musical
BLAS EMILIO ATEHORTUA: ROMANZA FROM FIVE ROMANTIC PIECES FOR VIOLA AND PIANO
2024
This paper examines key aspects of the life and work of the prominent Colombian composer Blas Emilio Atehortua, set against the complex political and economic backdrop of 20th-century Latin America. It focuses specifically on his piece Cinco piezas románticas for viola and piano, with a particular emphasis on the first movement, "Romanza." The study analyzes its composition, stylistic elements, and significance within Atehortúa's broader oeuvre.
DISCOVERING THE FLUTE MUSIC OF MIECZYSŁAW WEINBERG
Composer Mieczysław Weinberg (1919–1996) was a Polish Jew who emigrated to Soviet Russia in an effort to escape Nazi aggression during World War II. Also known as Moisei Samuilovich Vainberg, he became a close friend and colleague of the famous Soviet composer Dimitri Shostakovich. His prolific compositional output includes four works for flute soloist: Twelve Miniatures (1945), Five Pieces (1947), Flute Concerto No. 1, Op. 75 (1961), and Flute Concerto No. 2, Op. 148 (1987). The two flute concerti were written for and dedicated to the famous Russian flutist Alexander Korneyev (1930–2010). These four works for flute are experiencing a resurgence in interest in recent years as Weinberg’s music becomes more well-known. This document examines how these pieces fit into Weinberg’s compositional canon and how they were influenced by flute playing in the Soviet Union at the time. It analyzes the works from a theoretical perspective, explores why they have been so seldom played, and assesses how they fit into the modern flute repertoire. This document also examines the Russian school of flute playing, focusing on the Moscow Conservatory, where Korneyev both studied and taught. The Russian school is then compared to American and French traditions. The purpose of this document is to illuminate the contributions of Weinberg and Korneyev, and to introduce this literature to new audiences.
Max Lifchitz: A Transmodern Composer in American Music
Journal of the Society for American Music, 2022
Abstract Latin American and Latinx composers continue to contribute to music by bringing a subtle universe of sounds shaped by their agency and cultural history. Composer Max Lifchitz (b. 1948) bridges his artistic output with entrepreneurship and pedagogy. Since migrating from Mexico to the United States, Lifchitz has constructed a multifaceted persona as a cultural broker. As a composer, Lifchitz’s self-defined eclecticism forms the basis of his musical voice, which reconciles opposites and flows between contrasting compositional aesthetics, cultures, and techniques. In 1980, he created the North/South Consonance organization, which has been an open and anti-canonical space for composers from different aesthetics, traditions, and ethnic and gender identities to share their works with new music audiences. In Lifchitz’s role as a pedagogue, he positions music as a pluriversal tool to generate epistemological equity and inclusion and a more intercultural educational experience. Despite his contributions to contemporary Western art music, his impact on new music has not yet been studied. Therefore, the article’s purpose is to examine Lifchitz’s extensive and complex contributions from a transmodern theoretical perspective as postulated by philosopher Enrique Dussel (b. 1934) to demonstrate how the composer’s music and persona represent qualities of this philosophical theory and promote the redefinition of art music and the musician’s role in the twenty-first century.
This performance-led thesis, comprising a performance folio, dissertation and published edition, explores folk-inspired flute music and transcriptions that evoke Spain. The focus is on the Spanish dances of the internationally-renowned violinist and composer Pablo Sarasate . The dissertation presents an introduction to Sarasate and the context in which he created the Spanish Dances, incorporating discussion of the works' musical styles and sources that informed their composition. The second part of the dissertation refers to the longstanding importance of transcription to the flute repertoire and assesses the suitability of transcribing Sarasate's Spanish Dances. This section also describes the processes of transcription that were undertaken in order to produce the final scores. The discussion is followed by an annotated new edition of eight scores for flute(s) and piano (which were published by Dasí Flauta Editorial-Edición Sonata in Spain in April 2018): ▪ Op. 21 no. 1 Malagueña (S-N 25) 1 , for flute and piano ▪ Op. 21 no. 2 Habanera no. 1 (S-N 26), for flute and piano ▪ Op. 22 no. 1 Romanza andaluza (S-N 27), for flute and piano ▪ Op. 22 no. 2 Jota navarra (S-N 28), for two flutes and piano ▪ Op. 23 no. 1 Playera (S-N 29), for flute and piano ▪ Op. 23 no. 2 Zapateado (S-N 30), for flute and piano ▪ Op. 26 no. 1 Vito (S-N 33), for flute and piano ▪ Op. 26 no. 2 Habanera no. 2 (S-N 34), for flute and piano The performance folio comprises twenty-one recordings centering on the eight transcribed Spanish Dances for flute, performed on 20 September 2017 in Palacio del Condestable, Pamplona, Spain. Drawing upon music from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the remaining recordings in the folio highlight the importance of Spanish folk and popular music for Sarasate as well as other Spanish and non-Spanish composers with links to Sarasate.