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Homage to Sarasate (1975)
Homage to Sarasate and its companion piece Homage to Casals (1975) won the City of Barcelona prize for orchestral composition, and were premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1976.
Leonardo Balada:
"This composition uses Zapateado, op. 23 (1880), a composition of the 19th-century Spanish violinist and composer Pablo de Sarasate, as its main idea. This came to [the composer's] mind after seeing the painting by [Pablo] Picasso called Las Meninas (1957). Everybody knows Las Meninas as being by [Diego] Velázquez, but Picasso gave his own intrepretation so that one can see the Velázquez and the Picasso in the same modern painting.
"The opening moments of Homage to Sarasate present little more than rhythmic fragments suggesting the rapid triple meter of a zapateado, the traditional Spanish dance. To this are gradually added brief snatches of melody alluding to Sarasate's composition. They emerge in a variety of tonal and rhythmic dislocations and quickly dissolve as other figures come to the fore. Sharp interjections from the winds or percussion occasionally punctuate the proceedings, and the Zapateado music is surrounded by rich, colorful, orchestral sonorities. The work grows more and more dense with bits of melody, becoming a big collage."
Leonardo Balada's (b. 1933) early music is abstract and dramatic, inspired by modern art and characterized by experimentation with dense textures, tone clusters, and aleatoric techniques. Some of his best-known works were written in this style, including the orchestral pieces Guernica (1966) and Steel Symphony (1972). From 1975 he incorporated these techniques into a style more reflective of the music of his native Spain as well as folk traditions from the US and elsewhere. Balada's large catalog of works includes many symphonic, chamber, and vocal works, two chamber operas, and three full-length ones: Zapata (1982-1984), Cristóbal Colón (1989), and Death of Columbus (1996).
Balada was born in Barcelona, Spain and studied at the Conservatorio del Liceu; he later studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, where his teachers were Aaron Copland, Igor Markevitch, and Vincent Persichetti. He taught at the United Nations International School, and since 1970 has been on faculty at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Balada's works have been performed by orchestras throughout the United States and Europe as well as in Israel, Mexico, and Russia. He has been commissioned by organizations including the Aspen Music Festival, Benedum Center for the Performing Arts, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, National Endowment for the Arts, National Orchestra of Spain, Radio TV Orchestra of Madrid, San Diego Opera, and Millennium of Catalonia, Sociedad Estatal del V Centenario. He has composed works for Alicia de Larrocha, American Brass Quintet, Angel Romero, Andres Segovia, Lucero Tena, and Narciso Yepes, and has collaborated with writer Camilo José Cela and artist Salvador Dalí.
A large number of Balada's compositions are recorded on the Naxos label; others may be found on Albany, Deutsche Grammophon, and New World. Current projects include Guernica 21, a new opera for the Teatro Real in Madrid, and three chamber concertos for members of the Pittsburgh Symphony.
related websites
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/balada/index.htm
The Louisville Orchestra in Kentucky was founded by conductor Robert Whitney in 1937 as the Louisville Philharmonic Society. It has since premiered and recorded works by over 250 composers including Benjamin Britten, Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, John Corigliano, Alberto Ginastera, Jacques Ibert, Charles Ives, Ulysses Kay, Walter Piston, Joan Tower, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. Its performances can be found on the Albany, Centaur, CRI, Crystal, First Edition, Koch International Classics, and New World labels. Jorge Mester was the orchestra's second music director, a post he held from 1967 to 1969; its most recent director was Uriel Segal.
related websites
http://www.louisvilleorchestra.org
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