Baja California Composer

Collection Contents

#		Title	Length
1		BAROQUE CONCERTO: 1. Toccata	5:20	Play
2		2. Tango-Gigue	4:59	Play
3		3. Fandango	5:56	Play
4		MUSIC FOR COOKING: 1. Breakfast	3:25	Play
5		2. Lunch	4:14	Play
6		3. Dinner	3:19	Play
7		THE FOUR IMAGINARY SEASONS (3 selections): 1. Summer	3:11	Play
8		2. Autumn	4:09	Play
9		3. Winter	3:03	Play
10		SEVEN POEMINIMOS: 1. Mansa Hiprbole (Tame Hyperbole)	2:02	Play
11		2. Accin! (Action!)	1:21	Play
12		3. El cinturn (The Belt)	1:09	Play
13		4. Plagio XVII (Plagiarism XVII)	2:26	Play
14		5. Cuas! (Crash!)	1:09	Play
15		6. Planes (Plans)	1:43	Play
16		7. Mercadotecnia (Marketing Technique)	1:17	Play
17		NINE WAYS TO CARESS A WOMAN (4 selections): 1. The Gardener	3:38	Play
18		2. The Farmer	2:34	Play
19		3. The Dancer	3:30	Play
20		4. The Husband	3:51	Play

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Description

Originally from Tijuana, Baja California (Mexico), Enrique Gonzalez-Medina has presented new works with soloists, ensembles and orchestras from Mexico, the United States and Colombia.

In 2001, Euterpe Opera Theatre and Tijuana Opera premiered "Serafina y Arcngela" ("Serafina and Arcangela"), his first opera. He was also commissioned by Pacific Serenades to compose the harpsichord quartet "Concierto barroco" ("Baroque Concerto").

In 2002, the guitarist Felix Bullock premiered his guitar concerto "Concierto de Medelln" ("Medellin Concerto") in Colombia. The Mexican duo of soprano Claudia Montiel and guitarist Carlos Bernal also recorded his song cycle "Los versos de la maestra" ("The Teacher's Verses") for their CD "La Cuerda del Tiempo" ("The String of Time") on the Quindecim Recordings label (Mexico).

In 2003 he composed the children's opera "How Nanita Learned to Make Flan", a commission from Cincinnati Opera. The opera was recently premiered in January 2004 and has had many performances by Cincinnati Opera Education touring ensemble. He was also a recipient of a grant by the Baja California Cultural Institute, for the "Baja California Songbook" ("El cancionero bajacaliforniano"), a song collection project of twenty-five settings of poems by Baja California poets.

Enrique Gonzalez-Medina studied composition in Mexico attending the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and in the United States, he graduated from The Mannes College of Music (B.M.) and CSLA (M.M.). Since 1997, he is a member of the piano faculty of the Pasadena Conservatory of Music.

about the music:

Some years ago, I felt that, in spite of having studied with wonderful and inspiring teachers, the compositional processes that I had learned were too restrictive. I needed to change direction and compose a different kind of music.

I was, and still am, very much attracted to Latin American dance rhythms, and I decided that I would try my hand at composing music by incorporating these wonderful rhythms. The compositons on this CD present examples of this new practice.

All the music heard here originated with my improvisation at the piano, and involves combining traditional structures, modern Latin American dances, functional tonality, as well as non-traditional chord sequences.

BAROQUE CONCERTO

I had the opportunity to read the novel "Concierto barroco" written in 1974 by the brilliant Cuban writer
Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980). The novel mentions a chance encounter in the city of Venice at the beginning of the 18th Century between three great musicians of the time: Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1980), George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) and Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). In an amusing passage, it tells how they get together and play their favorite instruments, Scarlatti at the harpsichord, Handel at the organ and Vivaldi at the violin, and perform an exceptional jam session.

I did borrow the novel's title for my quartet but, in spite of my great admiration for the music of Scarlatti, Handel and Vivaldi, my intention in "Concierto barroco" ("Baroque Concerto") was not to imitate these or other great composers of the 18th Century, but rather, to create an original baroque musical style of my own. My objective was not unlike that of the Mexican composer Manuel M. Ponce (1882-1948) in his baroque compositions for guitar, or the Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) in his Bachianas Brasileiras cycle. The composition of the pieces involved combining traditional forms of the baroque period, of the Spanish baroque as well as modern Latin American dances.

The live recording is from the performance of the composition's premiere, during Pacific Serenades 16th Season in Los Angeles. The concerto's performers were Clayton Haslop, violin, Mark Carlson, flute, David Speltz, cello, and Patricia Mabee, harpsichord.

MUSIC FOR COOKING

Written shortly after finishing my first opera, the three piano dance pieces that make up the suite "Msica para cocinar" ("Music for Cooking") were composed in the Autumn of 2001 and are here performed by my good friend, the pianist Elizabeth Babor.

THE FOUR IMAGINARY SEASONS & NINE WAYS TO CARESS A WOMAN

Not being a guitarist myself, I've had the luck of meeting many fine guitarists willing to help me understand this extraordinary instrument. The guitarist Felix Bullock has been an excellent collaborator and friend, and with his help, I've been able to compose and record several works for the guitar. In this CD there are two examples of this: in a duet with the cellist Daniel Pereira, three of the four movements from the guitar and cello suite "Las cuatro estaciones imaginarias" ("The Four Imaginary Seasons"), and performing as a soloist, four of the nine pieces from the guitar suite "Nueve maneras de acariciar a una mujer" ("Nine Ways to Caress a Woman").

SEVEN POEMINIMOS

Now and then, I find myself composing in a more humorous vein. A while back, while reading a newspaper on a bus on my way to the University in Mexico City, I discovered Efran Huerta's "poemnimos" (minimal-poems). I was delighted to read a few of them that were printed and I thought that they would make fine lyrics for songs. Many years later after that bus ride, I finally set seven of Huerta's poemnimos to make this orchestral cycle. The songs are scored for tenor and chamber orchestra, and are sung in the original Spanish. The Mexican Efran Huerta (1914-1982) wrote throughout his lifetime about 150 humorous poems which he titled "poemnimos". They make fun of sex, unrequited love, politicians, international corporations, and of course, himself as well as other poets.

In the recording, we hear the tenor Gabriel Reoyo-Pazos, with the Baja California Orchestra, under Eduardo Garca Barrios.

The poems from "Siete poemnimos" ("Seven Poeminimos"):

1. MANSA HIPRBOLE

Los lunes, mircoles y viernes
soy un indigente sexual;
Lo mismo que los martes,
Los jueves y los sbados.

Los domingos descanso.

1. TAME HYPERBOLE

Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays
I'm a sexual beggar;
The same on Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Saturdays.

On Sundays I rest.


2. ACCION!

Voy
A poner
Manos
A la obra
Comenzar
Por el
Muslo derecho

2. ACTION!

I'm going
To get
My hands
On the job
I'll begin
With the
Right thigh


3. EL CINTURON

Lo compr
Como tres meses
Antes de
Conocerla
Pero ya sabia
Que iba
A gustarle

3. THE BELT

I got it
Three months
Before
I met her
But I knew
That she
Would love it


4. PLAGIO XVI

La que
Quiera
Azul
Celeste
Que
Se
Acueste

4. PLAGIARISM XVI

If you
Want a
Blue
Heaven
You
Gotta
Get laid


5. CUAS!

No fu
Una separacin
Ni siquiera
Un desgarramiento

Simplemente me dijo
Que me fuera
Mucho
Pero muchsimo
Hacia
Los confines
De ninguna
Parte

5. CRASH!

It wasn't
A seperation
Not even
A tearing apart

Quite simply I was told
To get my butt
Very much
But very muchsimo
To
The confines
Of
Nowhere


6. PLANES

Todos
Los hacen
Para un
Borroso futuro

Yo los hago
Para un
Siniestro
Pero clarsimo
Pasado

6. PLANS

Everyone
Makes them
For a
Sketchy future

I make them
For a
Sinister
But very clear
Past


7. MERCADOTECNIA

Salido
El poema
No se
Admite
Reclamacin

7. MARKETING TECHNIQUE

Poems
Purchased
Are
Non-
Refundable