Popol Vuh (Ginastera)

Last updated

Popol Vuh: The Creation of the Mayan World, Op. 44, is a symphonic poem in seven movements by the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. The work, which remains unfinished, was composed between 1975 and 1983. It was first performed by the St. Louis Symphony under the direction of Leonard Slatkin at Powell Hall in St. Louis on April 7, 1989. [1] [2]

Contents

Composition

Background

Popol Vuh was originally commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the conductor Eugene Ormandy in 1975. Ginastera based the music on the eponymous Mayan creation myth of the Popol Vuh. Though Ginastera had intended to write a total of eight movements for the piece, the composer died suddenly in June 1983, having completed only seven sections of the work. The Philadelphia Orchestra thus declined to premiere the unfinished composition. Ormandy himself died in 1985 and the score remained nearly forgotten among Ginastera's papers until his friend the pianist Barbara Nissman brought it to the attention of Leonard Slatkin, then director of the St. Louis Symphony. Popol Vuh was thus given its world premiere on April 7, 1989—nearly six years after Ginastera's death. Although it is generally agreed that the unwritten movement would have been a percussion-only finale, [3] [4] Slatkin speculated before the premiere that it might have been the penultimate movement and that the current finale is indeed how Ginastera intended to conclude the piece. [5]

Structure

Popol Vuh has a duration of approximately 25 minutes and is cast in seven short movements:

  1. La Noche de los Tiempos
  2. El Nacimiento de la Tierra
  3. El Despertar de la Naturaleza
  4. El Grito de la Creacion
  5. La Gran Lluvia
  6. La Ceremonia Magica del Maiz
  7. El Sol, la Luna y las Estrellas

Instrumentation

The work is scored for a large orchestra consisting of three flutes (2nd and 3rd doubling piccolo), three oboes (3rd doubling cor anglais), three clarinets (2nd doubling E-flat clarinet; 3rd doubling bass clarinet), three bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon), four horns, four trumpets, four trombones, tuba, timpani, four percussionists, two harps, piano (doubling celesta), and strings. [1]

Reception

Reviewing the world premiere, Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times gave Popol Vuh modest praise, remarking, "The piece offered enough coloristic charm, at least in this boisterous rendition, to sustain a listener's attention through the nearly 30-minute duration." [5] Andrew Clements of The Guardian observed, "As a torso it is still impressively coherent, though, in a style that leans heavily on the 'primitivism' of Stravinsky and Bartók, with textures dominated by a huge range of exotic percussion." [4] Elise Seifert of WHQR similarly praised it: "Popol Vuh stands out in the spectrum of twentieth century music." [6]

However, Michael Oliver of Gramophone described it as "a disappointing piece." Despite noting its "vivid, subtle or mysterious sonorities," Oliver wrote, "Its six [ sic ] mostly brief movements are spasmodic rather than cumulative, the overall effect being of unrelated events that might just as well be played in a different order; my guess would be that Ginastera simply got bogged down in the piece." [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Popol Vuh</i> Text recounting Maya mythology and history

Popol Vuh is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit Guatemala and the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo, as well as areas of Belize and Honduras.

Violin Concerto (Berg)

Alban Berg's Violin Concerto was written in 1935. It is probably Berg's best-known and most frequently performed instrumental piece, in which the composer sought to reconcile diatonicism and dodecaphony. Berg composed it on a commission from Louis Krasner, and it became the last work that he completed. Krasner performed the solo part in the premiere at the Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona, on 19 April 1936, after the composer's death.

Alberto Ginastera

Alberto Evaristo Ginastera was an Argentinian composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important 20th-century classical composers of the Americas.

The Piano Concerto, Op. 38, by Samuel Barber was commissioned by the music publishing company G. Schirmer Inc. in honor of the centenary of their founding. The premiere was on September 24, 1962, in the opening festivities of Philharmonic Hall, now David Geffen Hall, the first hall built at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan, with John Browning as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.

<i>Feu dartifice</i> A composition by Igor Stravinsky

Feu d'artifice, Op. 4 is a composition by Igor Stravinsky, written in 1908 and described by the composer as a "short orchestral fantasy". It usually takes less than four minutes to perform.

<i>Lemminkäinen Suite</i>

The Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22, is a four-movement symphonic poem for orchestra completed in 1895 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece was originally conceived as Veneen luominen, an opera with a mythological setting, before the work took form as a suite. Its story is based on the heroic character Lemminkäinen from the Kalevala, a collection of Finnish folklore and mythology epic poetry. The second movement, The Swan of Tuonela, is the most popular of the four movements and is often performed on its own.

<i>Symphonic Dances</i> (Rachmaninoff)

The Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, is an orchestral suite in three movements. Completed in 1940, it is Sergei Rachmaninoff's last major composition.

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Sz. 95, BB 101 of Béla Bartók is a musical composition for piano and orchestra. The work which was composed between 1930 and 1931, is notorious for being one of the most difficult pieces in the repertoire.

The Symphonies of Wind Instruments is a concert work written by Igor Stravinsky in 1920, for an ensemble of woodwind and brass instruments. The piece is in one movement, lasting about 9 minutes. It is dedicated to the memory of Claude Debussy, who died in 1918, and was premiered in London on 10 June 1921, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky.

Gisele Ben-Dor

Gisèle Ben-Dor is an American Israeli orchestra conductor of Uruguayan origin.

The Second Concerto for Orchestra is a concerto for orchestra by the American composer Steven Stucky. The work was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic while Stucky was their composer-in-residence for the inaugural season of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It was completed in 2003 and was first performed on March 12, 2004, with the conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The piece was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Ollantay: Tres movimientos sinfónicos, Op. 17, is an orchestral triptych by Alberto Ginastera written in 1947. It is one of the last compositions of his first period, objective nationalism (1934–48). It was premiered on October 29, 1949 in Buenos Aires by the Regular Orchestra of the Teatro Colón conducted by Erich Kleiber.

The Violin Concerto is a concerto for violin and orchestra by the American composer Mason Bates. The work was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. It was premiered December 7, 2012, with Meyers and the Pittsburgh Symphony performing under conductor Leonard Slatkin.

Alternative Energy is a symphony for electronica and orchestra in four movements by the American composer Mason Bates. The work was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for whom Bates was then composer-in-residence. It was premiered by the orchestra under conductor Riccardo Muti at Symphony Center in Chicago, February 2, 2012.

Silver Ladders is an orchestral composition by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was jointly commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony and Meet the Composer while Tower was composer-in-residence with the St. Louis Symphony. It was first performed in St. Louis on January 9, 1987, by the St. Louis Symphony under the conductor Leonard Slatkin. The piece is dedicated to Slatkin with "admiration for his unswerving musical integrity and confidence in presenting the music of his own time."

D'Om le Vrai Sens is a clarinet concerto by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. The work was jointly commissioned by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BBC, the Fundação Casa da Musica, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Radio France. It was given its world premiere by the clarinetist Kari Kriikku and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Sakari Oramo in Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, on September 8, 2010. The concerto is dedicated to Kari Kriikku.

The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is a piano concerto by the American composer John Corigliano. The work was commissioned by the San Antonio Symphony and was first performed on April 7, 1968 by the pianist Hilde Somer and the San Antonio Symphony under the direction of Victor Alessandro. The piece is dedicated to John Atkins.

The Violin Concerto is a composition for solo violin and chamber orchestra by the American composer Ned Rorem. The work was commissioned by the Springfield Symphony Orchestra for the violinist Jaime Laredo and composed in 1984. It was first performed by Laredo and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Gutter in the Symphony Hall, Springfield, on March 30, 1985.

The Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 39, is the second piano concerto by the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera. The work was commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for the pianist Hilde Somer, to whom the concerto is dedicated. It was first performed by Somer and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Izler Solomon on March 22, 1973.

The Short Symphony or Symphony No. 2 by the American composer Aaron Copland is a symphony written from 1931 to 1933. Its short length of only 15 minutes led to its name. The work is dedicated to Copland's friend, the Mexican composer and conductor Carlos Chávez. The symphony's first movement is in sonata-allegro form, and its slow second movement follows an adapted ternary form. The third movement resembles the sonata-allegro but has indications of cyclic form. The composition contains complex rhythms and polyharmonies, and it incorporates the composer's emerging interest in serialism as well as influences from Mexican music and German cinema. The symphony includes scoring for a heckelphone and a piano while omitting trombones and a percussion section. Copland later arranged the symphony as a sextet.

References

  1. 1 2 Ginastera, Alberto (1983). "Popol Vuh". Boosey & Hawkes . Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  2. ↑ Wierzbicki, James (April 10, 1989). "Symphony Presents Ginastera Piece". St. Louis Post-Dispatch . p. 52.
  3. ↑ Culot, Hubert (September 10, 2010). "GINASTERA - Popul Vuh: The Mayan Creation". MusicWeb-International. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  4. 1 2 Clements, Andrew (15 April 2010). "Ginastera: Popul Vuh; Cantata para América Mágica". The Guardian . Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  5. 1 2 Kimmelman, Michael (April 29, 1989). "Reviews/Music; A Mayan Creation Legend, for Orchestra". The New York Times . Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  6. ↑ Seifert, Elise (September 20, 2012). "Music Review: Ginastera portrays the energetic Argentinian in Popol Vuh". WHQR . Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  7. ↑ Oliver, Michael (May 1993). "Haydn/Ginastera/Stravinsky Orchestral Works". Gramophone . Retrieved April 27, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.