Brano: [...]Menuet Band 7. IV. Allegro
Produced by Israel Horowitz
From the early 18th century until after World War I, the concert music of Mexico was a mixture of various European influences with little character of ita own. The first Mexican opera, in 1711, by Manuel Zumaya, even had an Italian libretto. Therefore it is not surprising that Manuel Ponce (18821948), after completing his studies at the ItalianGerman dominated Conservatorio Nacional in Mexico City, departed for Europe in 1905 to study composition with organistcomposer Enrico Bossi, counterpoint with Luigi Tbrchi at the Liceo Rossini in Bologna, and piano with Martin Krause at Stern’s Conservatory in Berlin.
Home again the following year, Ponce faced a musi
cal scene whose highest cultivated expression could only be termed “salon music,” the efforts of Mexican composero being but poor imitations of Chopin and Schumann. Impatient with this light, insipid vein, he began to prepare a concert of his own works. July 7, 1912, the date of this notable occasion, marks a tuming point in Me[...]
[...]oven of the guitar,” was born in Barcelona but lived out his mature years in Paris and London during the time of Napoleon. Sor’s minuets, while miniature in size, offer a formidable challenge to the guitarist, stretching the instrument’s harmonic vocabulary and expressive abilities to their naturai limit within the style.
The composition Sevillana was composed for Andrés Segovia in 1923 by Joaquin Tlirina, three years before Manuel Ponce left Mexico City to study with Paul Dukas. Born in Seville, Tlirina also went to Paris for instruction (under Vincent d’Indy), and thereafter dedicated himself, with several of his contemporaries, to founding a school of national music for Spain. In Sevillana, he evokes the hot colora and sultry rhythms of his birthplace, while combining delightful improvisational gestures which stem from flamenco sources.
Carl S. Miller
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: R673679
MCA RzCORDS MCA Record*. Ine . M»dr and Oitinbuted in Haly by Wn italiana SpA Milano Q A Warner Commonication» Company
