DANCING FIDDLE - DANÇAS

I-Tunes:

Luís Pacheco Cunha - violin
Eurico Rosado - piano
José Diniz - guitar
Luís Gomes - clarinet

"DANCING FIDDLE is a long-scope project, which enhances its author\' association with dance, in several occasions. The recorded repertoire already integrated a homonymous performance assignment, in co-operation with nine young ballerinas, who lent a lot of grace and gestural dynamism to our musical inspiration — an endeavour of true scenic interplay in which the whole went certainly further than the sum of the parts.

It would be, in fact, redundant to insist in the privileged relationship that music and dance maintain from the proto-history of the art, arriving, in some cultures, to be designated by the same word..."

Luís Pacheco Cunha

Details:

"DANCING FIDDLE is a long-scope project, which enhances its authors' association with dance, in several occasions. The recorded repertoire already integrated a homonymous performance assignment, in co-operation with nine young ballerinas, who lent a lot of grace and gestural dynamism to our musical inspiration — an endeavour of true scenic interplay in which the whole went certainly further than the sum of the parts.

It would be, in fact, redundant to insist in the privileged relationship that music and dance maintain from the proto-history of the art, arriving, in some cultures, to be designated by the same word.

Let us, for a moment, consider the plasticity, the visual wealth in music performance, of which, helas!, the musician himself is not always aware. In our visual — not aural — culture, a live concert is, first of all, a pleasure for the eye. 

Take the violinist\'s example: — his posture, upright, dominating, is inseparable from his charm; the wavelike movement of the body, the cinematic relationship between the bow movement (amplitude) and the sound (dynamics), the choreography of the fingers rushing upon the strings. All these and many other irreplaceable elements of the musical event enhance its vicinity with dance, the sublimation of body and movement. 

The musical examples registered in this phonogram do not belong to the category of functional music. We may consider these works a stylisation of dances not being, however, written with the actual purpose of being danced. While mentioning a waltz, a rumba or a mazurka, we are, in fact referring to musical-instrumental genres that emancipated from its original function and are destined, essentially, to be heard.

Such purpose determines their elaborated construction, formal and harmonic complexity and aesthetic refinement, since music has the monopoly of the spectator's attention. These dances are, thus, a well-achieved synthesis of music and the choreographic movement that, remotely, brings it about. They should also — depending on the level of the listener / spectator’s information — wake up other complex contextual references — scenic involvement, historical / geographical / social background, programmatic contents. 

May these small pieces carry you to other microcosms of experiences, and our effort will have been thoroughly rewarded.

The three dances from the Trio Suite that Igor Stravinsky based on its scenic work The Soldier’s Tale (1917) — Tango, Waltz and Ragtime — operate a miraculous cure on the Princess of the story, a symbolism that associates music and movement with physical, mental and emotional fairness.

How Down is an arrangement for violin and piano accomplished in 1945 by Aaron Copland. The original homonymous dance integrates his ballet Rodeo, based on elements of American’s folk music.

Jamaican Rumba, a version for violin and piano extracted from the composer's original for two pianos, written in 1938, by William Primrose, is dedicated to Heifetz. Under its Latin rhythmical skeleton, allows for the stunning virtuosity characteristic of this interpreter. 

The Waltzes and German Dances (Deutscher) for piano, composed in great number in the course of Schubert\'s creative career and, certainly, very much in vogue, judging by the fact that they deserved publication during the composer’s lifespan, are simple and unpretentious works, in the brilliant context of his creation. The allocation of right and left hands in the piano score to different instruments accounts, in our understanding, for the more subtle display of their melodic, harmonic and rhythmic vivacity.

The Spanish Folk Suite presents three of the Seven Spanish Folk Songs by Falla (written in 1915), in Polish violinist Pawel Kochansky’s transcription. Falla derives innovative harmonic subtleties from the folk themes, enveloping these dances in an unmistakable Iberian mist. 

In Chopin’s footsteps, Henryk Wieniawsky composes a series of Mazurkas — evoking Polish folklore — for the instrument he mastered — the violin. Among them, the op.19, no. 1, known as Dudziarz, excels for the intrepidity and idiomatic instrumental writing.

Dithyramb - a classical Greek dance, is the last of the three pieces that composer Lopes-Graça, dedicated, in 1960, to violinist Blaise Calame. It serves as good example of this creator's mastery in polytonal and polyrhythmic techniques, suggesting the somewhat chaotic atmosphere of a much frequented popular festivity.

Bartók composed, in 1915, his Romanian Folk Dances for piano, given here in violinist Zoltán Székely’s transcription. They recover, in a naïf and dispossessed form, the Romanian popular tradition, evoking warlike quarrels and cavalcades, alongside with passages of great lyricism. They are called: Jocul cu Bâta, Brâul, Pe Loc, Buciumeana, Poarga Româneasca (Roumanian Polka), Manuntelul.

To close up this CD, an Adagio cantabile proceeded by a Rondoncino em tempo di polacca (indeed a Siciliana), the movements of the second Sonata from a set of six known as Centone. Featuring Paganini in its best melodic vein, exploring with dexterity the resources of instruments he so perfectly mastered.\"

Luís Pacheco Cunha 

Igor STRAVINSKY (1882-1971) 

1 The Soldier’s Tale (Tango, Waltz, Ragtime)

História do Soldado 06’57’’

Aaron COPLAND (1900-1990)

2 How Down (from Rodeo) 03’15’’

Arthur BENJAMIN (1893-1960)

3 Jamaican Rumba

Rumba Jamaicana 01’58’’

Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)

4/11 Waltzes op. 9a (I - VI)

Valsas op. 9a 05’05’’ 

Manuel de FALLA (1876-1946)

12/14 Spanish Folk Suite

Suite Popular Espanhola (Polo, Asturiana, Jota) 07’37’’

Henryk WIENIAWSKY (1835-1880)

15 Mazurka, op.19, no. 1 – “Dudziarz” 02’31’’

Fernando LOPES-GRAÇA (1906-1995)

16 Dithyramb (from Petit Triptyque)

Ditirambo de Pequeno Tríptico 02’10’’

Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)

17/21 German Dances, op. 33 (I –IV), and Ländler

Danças Alemãs, op. 33 e Ländler 03’24’’ 

Béla BARTÓK (1881-1945)

22/27 Roumanian Folk Dances (I - VI)

Danças Romenas 06’22’’

Niccolo PAGANINI (1782-1840)

28/29 Sonata II (from Centone di Sonate) 06’33’’

(Adagio, Tempo di Pollacca)

TOTAL 47’09’’

Ref.: NUM 1176