Pinturas de Tamayo

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Pinturas de Tamayo (Pictures of Tamayo) is an orchestral composition in five movements by the American composer Steven Stucky. The work was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who premiered the work on March 28, 1996, under the conductor Michael Gielen in Symphony Center, Chicago. The piece is inspired by the paintings of the Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo. [1] [2]

Orchestra large instrumental ensemble

An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families, including bowed string instruments such as the violin, viola, cello, and double bass, brass instruments such as the horn, trumpet, trombone and tuba, woodwinds such as the flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, and percussion instruments such as the timpani, bass drum, triangle, snare drum and cymbals, each grouped in sections. Other instruments such as the piano and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments.

Steven Stucky American composer

Steven Edward Stucky was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra American symphony orchestra in Chicago, IL

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure in 2010. The CSO is one of five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five".

Contents

Composition

Inspiration

Stucky recalled his first encounter with the works of the painter Rufino Tamayo in the score program notes, writing:

Rufino Tamayo Mexican painter, printmaker, and sculptor

Rufino del Carmen Arellanes Tamayo was a Mexican painter of Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico. Tamayo was active in the mid-20th century in Mexico and New York, painting figurative abstraction with surrealist influences.

In April 1991 I visited the Rufino Tamayo Museum in Mexico City. I had never heard of Tamayo, but immediately I found myself drawn to his work, and I stood for a long while, transfixed by his painting La gran galaxia (The Great Galaxy). Indeed, that first encounter with his vibrant, mysterious, deeply human paintings is indelibly fixed in my memory as one of the great artistic experiences of my life.

He continued:

[Tamayo] died in June 1991, only two months after I first saw his work. Since then I have studied as many of his paintings and learned as much about him as I could, and when the Chicago Symphony invited me to write a new work for them, I decided to use the opportunity to pay homage to him in the only way I could, by making my own work of art. [1]

Structure

The work has a duration of roughly 22 minutes and is composed in five movements named after Tamayo paintings: [1]

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession. A movement is a section, "a major structural unit perceived as the result of the coincidence of relatively large numbers of structural phenomena".

A unit of a larger work that may stand by itself as a complete composition. Such divisions are usually self-contained. Most often the sequence of movements is arranged fast-slow-fast or in some other order that provides contrast.

  1. Amigas de los pájaros (Friends of the Birds): Vivo
  2. Anochecer (Sunset): Calmo
  3. Mujeres alcanzando la luna (Women Reaching for the Moon): Moderato
  4. Músicas dormidas (Sleeping Musicians): Adagio
  5. La gran galaxia (The Great Galaxy): Tranquillo

Reception

Reviewing the world premiere, John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune felt that the work did not live up to Tamayo's art and wrote:

<i>Chicago Tribune</i> major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Chicago Tribune is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", it remains the most-read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It is the eighth-largest newspaper in the United States by circulation.

To translate visual into aural art is always a tricky business. Gunther Schuller managed it rather well with his Paul Klee studies but I can't say Stucky's work is anywhere near as compelling. Color reproductions of the five Tamayo paintings are on display in the Grainger Ballroom and, even though poorly reproduced, the comparisons are odious. [2]

Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times received the piece in a more positive light, however, writing, "Tamayo makes a visual splash, and Stucky responds with a colorful orchestral equivalent." [3] Richard Whitehouse of Gramophone similarly remarked, "Pinturas de Tamayo (1995) draws on the more tangible imagery of Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo, but the music for the most part is hardly less understated – witness the luminous poise of 'Sunset' or the rapt introspection of 'The Great Galaxy' which makes for an unusually thoughtful apotheosis." [4]

<i>Los Angeles Times</i> Daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper which has been published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It has the fourth-largest circulation among United States newspapers, and is the largest U.S. newspaper not headquartered on the East Coast. The paper is known for its coverage of issues particularly salient to the U.S. West Coast, such as immigration trends and natural disasters. It has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of these and other issues. As of June 18, 2018, ownership of the paper is controlled by Patrick Soon-Shiong, and the executive editor is Norman Pearlstine.

<i>Gramophone</i> (magazine) UK monthly magazine published in London devoted to classical music, particularly to reviews of recordings

Gramophone is a magazine published monthly in London devoted to classical music, particularly to reviews of recordings. It was founded in 1923 by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie. It was acquired by Haymarket in 1999. In 2013 the Mark Allen Group became the publisher.

Discography

A recording of Pinturas de Tamayo, performed by Evelyn Glennie and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Lan Shui, was released April 27, 2010 through BIS Records and features Stucky's other orchestral works Spirit Voices and the Concerto for Orchestra No. 2. [4] [5]

Evelyn Glennie Scott percussionist

Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, is a Scottish virtuoso multi-percussionist. She has been profoundly deaf since the age of 12 and has taught herself to hear with parts of her body other than her ears.

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Singapore. Its principal concert venue is the Esplanade Concert Hall. The orchestra also gives concerts at the Victoria Concert Hall, and overall performs about 100 concerts per year. The orchestra's current music director is Shui Lan, since 1997.

Lan Shui is a Chinese-American conductor. He was the Music Director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra from 1997 to 2019. He retire as Music Director on January 26 2019, and was given the title of Conductor Laureate by chairman of the SSO Mr Goh Yew Lin.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Stucky, Steven. Pinturas de Tamayo (Paintings of Tamayo, 1995) for orchestra: Program Note by the Composer. Retrieved July 11, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Rhein, John von (March 30, 1996). "Gielen Leads Cso In Beethoven, Steven Stucky's World Premiere". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved July 11, 2015.
  3. ↑ Swed, Mark (October 25, 1997). "Color the Philharmonic Inspired by Tamayo". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved July 11, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Whitehouse, Richard (October 2010). "Stucky Pinturas de Tamayo: Stucky's attractive yet challenging orchestral works are worth investigating". Gramophone . Retrieved July 11, 2015.
  5. ↑ Stucky – Pinturas de Tamayo (CD liner). BIS Records. 2010. Retrieved July 11, 2015.
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