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- Robert Xavier Rodríguez
Bachanale: Concertino for Orchestra (1999)
- G Schirmer Inc (World)
Commissioned by the San Antonio Symphony
- 2+pic.2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4331/timp.3perc/2kbd/hp/str
- 20 min
Programme Note
Rodríguez’ Bachanale: Concertino for Orchestra (1999) was commissioned by the San Antonio Symphony, Christopher Wilkens, Conductor, and premiered in May, 1999. The work is scored for large orchestra: piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contra bassoon, brass, timpani, three percussion, two keyboards, harp and strings.
Rodríguez’ use of the title, Concertino, rather than the more formal Concerto for Orchestra, denotes a shorter and more playful work than the weightier 20th-Century essays in the genre by Bartok, Lutoslawski, Carter, Piston, Hindemith and others. Like Bartok and Lutoslawski, Rodríguez has cast his work in five movements. Each has a fanciful descriptive title:
I. Die Bruke uber dem Bach (The Bridges over the Brook) is a modern musical ‘bridge” over the music of J.S. Bach (“Bach” meaning “brook” in German). The “Bridge” consists of a dance-like, syncopated phrase in 7/8 time for harp, piano and pizzicato strings, which is repeated, with variations, in a rhythmic ostinato throughout the movement. Under the Bridge flows a quotation of the entire first movement of Bach’s Suite in G Major BWV 1007 for solo cello, played in 4/4 time on the harpsichord. Each bar of the Bach is played twice: in its original register, then repeated up an octave in what the composer calls “an instant musical xerox copy.” Thus creating an echo effect. The resultant fusion of rhythms and styles recalls Rodríguez earlier Les Niais Amoureux (1987) and particularly, his Sinfonia a la Mariachi (1997), in which mariachi and 18th-Century classical sounds clash and eventually unite.
II. Die Brucke geschmuckl (The Decorated Bridge) is a series of virtuoso variations on the opening Bridge music played, in turn, by each instrument of the orchestra. The variations are continuous and are arranged in traditional score order, from highest to the lowest-pitched members of each instrumental family: woodwinds, brass, percussion and strings. Occasional splashes of Bach’s Brook music also appear from time to time, as each instrument passes in review to place its musical Decorations on the Bridge.
III. In Noch einmal uber die Brucke (Once More over the Bridge), the opening movement is repeated in a different orchestration. This time Bach’s Brook music is heard, finally, in its original cello timbre, echoed by violas. There is also more traffic over the Bridge, as the chamber instrumentation of the first movement is expanded to include the entire symphony orchestra, playing, for the first time, all together.
IV. A brief interlude follows, based on a repeated motif of rising and falling fifths reminiscent of string tunings. Over the fifths, solo bassoons, oboe, violin and cello answer back and forth in quiet, lyrical phrases. As in the first and third movements, there is extensive imitation at the octave, hence the title, Ecco l’Eco (There’s an Echo). At the end, the Bridge reappears quietly.
V. Samba da Gamba is built upon another Bach sting work, his Sonata in G-Major BWV 1027 for viola da gamba and harpsichord. Bach’s sonata is transformed into a rollicking samba in a modern marriage of the Afro-Caribbean dance form and the festive textures of Bach’s brilliant orchestral suites. Like the last movement of Rodríguez' Estampie (1981) and Sinfonia a la Mariachi and Bach’s Golberg Variations, Samba da Gambaa quodlibet in which all of the world’s principal themes are played simultaneously. At the end, there is one last pensive look at the Decorations on the Bridge before the Bachanale roars to a close.
Related works:
Bachanale for piano duo
Rodríguez’ use of the title, Concertino, rather than the more formal Concerto for Orchestra, denotes a shorter and more playful work than the weightier 20th-Century essays in the genre by Bartok, Lutoslawski, Carter, Piston, Hindemith and others. Like Bartok and Lutoslawski, Rodríguez has cast his work in five movements. Each has a fanciful descriptive title:
I. Die Bruke uber dem Bach (The Bridges over the Brook) is a modern musical ‘bridge” over the music of J.S. Bach (“Bach” meaning “brook” in German). The “Bridge” consists of a dance-like, syncopated phrase in 7/8 time for harp, piano and pizzicato strings, which is repeated, with variations, in a rhythmic ostinato throughout the movement. Under the Bridge flows a quotation of the entire first movement of Bach’s Suite in G Major BWV 1007 for solo cello, played in 4/4 time on the harpsichord. Each bar of the Bach is played twice: in its original register, then repeated up an octave in what the composer calls “an instant musical xerox copy.” Thus creating an echo effect. The resultant fusion of rhythms and styles recalls Rodríguez earlier Les Niais Amoureux (1987) and particularly, his Sinfonia a la Mariachi (1997), in which mariachi and 18th-Century classical sounds clash and eventually unite.
II. Die Brucke geschmuckl (The Decorated Bridge) is a series of virtuoso variations on the opening Bridge music played, in turn, by each instrument of the orchestra. The variations are continuous and are arranged in traditional score order, from highest to the lowest-pitched members of each instrumental family: woodwinds, brass, percussion and strings. Occasional splashes of Bach’s Brook music also appear from time to time, as each instrument passes in review to place its musical Decorations on the Bridge.
III. In Noch einmal uber die Brucke (Once More over the Bridge), the opening movement is repeated in a different orchestration. This time Bach’s Brook music is heard, finally, in its original cello timbre, echoed by violas. There is also more traffic over the Bridge, as the chamber instrumentation of the first movement is expanded to include the entire symphony orchestra, playing, for the first time, all together.
IV. A brief interlude follows, based on a repeated motif of rising and falling fifths reminiscent of string tunings. Over the fifths, solo bassoons, oboe, violin and cello answer back and forth in quiet, lyrical phrases. As in the first and third movements, there is extensive imitation at the octave, hence the title, Ecco l’Eco (There’s an Echo). At the end, the Bridge reappears quietly.
V. Samba da Gamba is built upon another Bach sting work, his Sonata in G-Major BWV 1027 for viola da gamba and harpsichord. Bach’s sonata is transformed into a rollicking samba in a modern marriage of the Afro-Caribbean dance form and the festive textures of Bach’s brilliant orchestral suites. Like the last movement of Rodríguez' Estampie (1981) and Sinfonia a la Mariachi and Bach’s Golberg Variations, Samba da Gambaa quodlibet in which all of the world’s principal themes are played simultaneously. At the end, there is one last pensive look at the Decorations on the Bridge before the Bachanale roars to a close.
Related works:
Bachanale for piano duo
