[#271] September 30, 2024
1972 | Wind Ensemble | Grade 5 | 15’- 20’ | Theme and Variations
Soleriana, by Spanish composer and conductor Carlos Surinach is our Composition of the Week.
Soleriana is a set of seven variations based on a Fandango for harpsichord by Antonio Francisco Javier José Soler Ramos, usually known as Padre Antonio Soler (1729 – 1783), who was a Spanish religious man and a composer.
Soleriana was finished in 1972, it was scored for standard wind band setting and has a duration of around 15 minutes.
“In Soleriana, I have divided the work into an Introduction and seven Differentias (variations) to make the form of the fandango more intelligible, seeking contrast through key changes, some of which have independent conclusions. Dissonances, set down with apparent hesitancy by Soler, have been strengthened, and missing tempi and dynamics added according to my personal conception of the music. My decision to use the concert band as a vehicle to expand the work is not casual. The Fandango is full of Scarlattian arpeggios requiring force and foreground importance, a feature less comfortable for the orchestral strings when speed and articulation are demanded.”
Program notes by Carlos Surinach
Carlos Surinach Studies studied composition at the Barcelona Conservatory, the Düsseldorf Conservatory, the Cologne Hochschule, and Berlin's Prussian Academy as well as at lecture-seminars under Richard Strauss.
He was the conductor of the Barcelona Philharmonic and the orchestra of the Gran Teatro del Liceo, before moving to the United States in 1951, where he gained renown as, both, composer and conductor.
Surinach taught at Carnegie Mellon University and received commissions and grants from the Louisville Orchestra, Ricordi, the Rothschild Foundation, Martha Graham, MGM Records, and many other institutions. He was awarded England's Bax Society Medal for Non-Commonwealth Composers in 1966 and the Spanish title of Knight Commander of the Order of Isabella I of Castille in 1972.
The BMI Foundation sponsors The Carlos Surinach Awards and Commissioning Programs, which recognizes talented emerging young musicians for their service to American music and funds the creation of new works by former winners of the BMI Student Composer Awards.
Carlos Surinach was among the 20th century's premier composers for the dance. His works combined the fiery imagery of his native Spain with the technical sophistication of his German musical education.
Other works for winds include:
Sinfonietta Flamenca (1953) version for wind ensemble by the composer.
Paeans and Dances of Heathen Iberia (1959)
Celebraciones Medievales, for wind ensemble and choir (1977)
Jota (1977)
Ritmo Jondo (1967)
Memories of an Old Zarzuela (1987)
A conversation with Bruce Duffie
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