Bridging The Gap Between Folk, Popular Music and Classical Music

The classical music of Latin America has been given short shrift by North American performers and audiences, which is a pity. This new release offers just one interesting facet of this dynamic musical tradition that combines the best of 20th-century classicism with a distinct Latin tinge.

The composers on this record reflect the diversity of the Latin American countries and populations. Included are three Mexican composers: Joaquin Gutierrez-Heras (b. 1927), Manuel Maria Ponce (1882-1948), and Domingo Lobato (b. 1020). Gutierrez-Heras is a renaissance man who has worked in new music, film scores, and orchestral and chamber music. His Sonata simple brings together many aspects of the composer' s personality, including an avant-garde sensibility, an ingrained cynicism, and a purposeful simplicity.

Manuel Maria Ponce is Mexico's best-loved composer, bridging the gap between folk, popular, and classical music. While he traveled to Europe to gain knowledge of classical theory, he also combed Mexico's countryside in search of the "real McCoy'': traditional Mexican musical motifs. As a music educator he was interested in developing simple musical pieces that children would enjoy; Pastorcito alegre (Happy shepherd) and Pajarito (Little bird) come from his writings for children. The Scherzino, Prelude and Fugue for the Left Hand Alone, and Prelude and Fugue on a Theme of Handel show Ponce's more rigorous classical side.

Domingo Lobato is the most folk­rooted of the three Mexican composers on this recording. His two pieces recorded here feature the unusual rhythms, twists and turns, and haunting melodies of the native Guadalajara dance music that he loves.

The recording also features two composers from other Latin countries: Cuban Leo Brouwer (b. 1939) and Jack Delano (b. 1914), originally from Kiev in the Ukraine, now residing in Puerto Rico. Brouwer is a composer, conductor, and guitarist. He La region mas transparente (Where the air is clear), influenced by a Carlos Fuente novel, beautifully captures the feeling of pre-Columbian music.

Delano, raised and educated in Philadelphia, is a man of many talents, working as a filmmaker, photographer, and illustrator. His compositions in many mediums reflect a modern, international style that one would expect from this well­traveled composer.

It takes special musicians to capture the Latin American sound. The Duo Clasico (Suellen Hershman and David Witten) has taken the Latin American music cause to heart. Hershman is a faculty member at Tufts University and has toured extensively as a soloist, in chamber groups, and as a member of the Duo Clasico. Witten was awarded a 1990 Fulbright Scholarship to teach and perform 20th-century piano music in Brazil. He has performed in traditional and avant-garde ensembles in the greater Boston area.