To finish off 2017 let's greet the new year with some waltzes, all arranged or composed by musicians born 100 years ago.
- Canadian trumpeter, conductor, composer and arranger of light music Robert Farnon (1917-2005) composed the popular Westminster Waltz (1956). It was used as a theme in the radio program themes In Town Tonight.
- Dutch accordionist, bandleader, composer and arranger Jan Gorissen (1917-1988) wanted to become a musician, but his father said no. He then tried working in a beer brewery but returned to music in the 1930s. After World War II he worked for the radio and appeared as soloist, accompanist and in the accordion duo Malgori in concert and on the radio. He played and led various dance orchestras.
Here is Koekoekwals, a 1969 arrangement by Gorissen of Gökvalsen (Cuckoo Waltz) (1918) by Swedish composer Emanuel Jonasson (1886-1956).
- We listened to a dance for piano and orchestra by Azerbaijani composer Tofig Guliyev (1917-2000) in my previous post. Here is his truly beautiful Vals (Waltz).
- Venezuelan guitarist and composer Antonio Lauro (1917-1986) is considered one of the foremost South American composers for guitar of the twentieth century. He learned guitar from his Italian
In 1932 a concert by Agustín Barrios (1885-1944) convinced him to give up piano and violin in favor of the guitar. The following year he studied with Raúl Borges (1882-1967). Borges' students would later introduce Barrios' works to an international audience and performers.
Lauro championed Venezuelan national music, a.o. from 1935 to 1943 as a member of Trio Cantores del Trópico in which he sang bass and played guitar and cuatro. He liked the nineteenth century salon valses venezolanos (Venezuelan waltzes) with their syncopated rhythm and wrote some for guitar.
Lauro wrote most of his works for guitar, but there are also some works for orchestra, choir, piano and voice. Most of his works remain on the Calle Real or "main street," with only a few experiments with modern techniques.
In 1948 he was imprisoned by the military junta for his belief in democracy, an event that apparently 'was a normal part of life for the Venezuelan man of his generation.'(1) Lauro didn't make too much of it, and continued to compose even in prison. After his release he played in the new guitar Trio Raúl Borges.
Lauro taught guitar at several schools and became president of the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra where he played the horn. Later in life he went on a solo concert tour, starting in Venezuela and ending in 1980 at London's Wigmore Hall.
Let's listen to a Venezuelan waltz, Natalia (between 1938-1940). The waltz became instantly popular.
- Brazilian composer, pianist and teacher Clarisse Leite (1917-2003) wrote orchestra, chamber, piano and vocal works often with Brazilian folk elements. Here is her Valsa Etérea (Ethereal
Waltz)
- In a previous post we heard the Swiss composer and jazz pianist Julien-François Zbinden (b. 1917) play Ain't She Sweet one day before his 100th birthday!
Here we have a somewhat more serious sounding little waltz, the second movement II. Valse (Waltz) from Op. 1: Suite brève en do majeur (Short Suite in C major).
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(1)Antonio Lauro." Wikipedia entry. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Lauro (12/30/2017))
- Canadian trumpeter, conductor, composer and arranger of light music Robert Farnon (1917-2005) composed the popular Westminster Waltz (1956). It was used as a theme in the radio program themes In Town Tonight.
Here is Koekoekwals, a 1969 arrangement by Gorissen of Gökvalsen (Cuckoo Waltz) (1918) by Swedish composer Emanuel Jonasson (1886-1956).
- We listened to a dance for piano and orchestra by Azerbaijani composer Tofig Guliyev (1917-2000) in my previous post. Here is his truly beautiful Vals (Waltz).
- Venezuelan guitarist and composer Antonio Lauro (1917-1986) is considered one of the foremost South American composers for guitar of the twentieth century. He learned guitar from his Italian
In 1932 a concert by Agustín Barrios (1885-1944) convinced him to give up piano and violin in favor of the guitar. The following year he studied with Raúl Borges (1882-1967). Borges' students would later introduce Barrios' works to an international audience and performers.
Lauro championed Venezuelan national music, a.o. from 1935 to 1943 as a member of Trio Cantores del Trópico in which he sang bass and played guitar and cuatro. He liked the nineteenth century salon valses venezolanos (Venezuelan waltzes) with their syncopated rhythm and wrote some for guitar.
Lauro wrote most of his works for guitar, but there are also some works for orchestra, choir, piano and voice. Most of his works remain on the Calle Real or "main street," with only a few experiments with modern techniques.
In 1948 he was imprisoned by the military junta for his belief in democracy, an event that apparently 'was a normal part of life for the Venezuelan man of his generation.'(1) Lauro didn't make too much of it, and continued to compose even in prison. After his release he played in the new guitar Trio Raúl Borges.
Lauro taught guitar at several schools and became president of the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra where he played the horn. Later in life he went on a solo concert tour, starting in Venezuela and ending in 1980 at London's Wigmore Hall.
Let's listen to a Venezuelan waltz, Natalia (between 1938-1940). The waltz became instantly popular.
Waltz)
Here we have a somewhat more serious sounding little waltz, the second movement II. Valse (Waltz) from Op. 1: Suite brève en do majeur (Short Suite in C major).
(1)Antonio Lauro." Wikipedia entry. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Lauro (12/30/2017))