

Sef Albertz
Danza, Escena & Joropo
Duration: 25'
Solos:
piano
Danza, Escena & Joropo
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Sef Albertz
Danza, Escena & JoropoOrchestration: Für Klavier
Type: Noten
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Work introduction
For Anna, who provokes all these sonorous images.
DANZA, ESCENA & JOROPO (Dance, Scene & Joropo) was a request of the pianist Anna-Maria Maak and is dedicated to her, because her way of playing, interpreting and perceiving music is what has guided me in the conception of the work. Somehow, it's her musical portrait...! The composition exists also as Piano Concerto N° 1 in the version for piano and string orchestra.
After writing 'my Bach Ciaccona' this work came very organically to complete the dramaturgy of a concert evening.
Baroque formulas are allied to Ibero-American musical structures. Patterns of urban culture coexist with folk elements. Harmonic developments, including textures of jazz, world music and classical music enter into a symbiosis being adapted to a new context: my own language as a composer.
The first movement of the work is structurally very linked to the Ciaccona: a harmonic sequence and a thematic motif of 6 notes have helped me to create two musical subjects with evident Ibero-American influences (according to the German musicologist Curt Sachs the Chaconne has a novohispanic origin!).
But also my admiration for the sound universe of Robert Schumann had to be present in this musical reunion, which is this work. In the second movement we hear an echo of his 'Childhood scenes', which is preceded by a G major chord, just as my first son, at 5 years old, usually played it at the piano. Musical symbolism in the manner of the Grand Kantor also occupies me frequently in my creative process.
The last movement is a kind of summary of the two previous parts, not so much musical but more in its mood. This movement, in my artistic perception, is the clear presence of the 'dedicatee'. And that is the reason why I gave space for a cadenza, which has been created beautifully by the pianist herself…!
At the end of this third movement appears a quote from the famous German folk song 'Die Gedanken sind frei' (Thoughts are free) varied rhythmically as a Joropo (the national Venezuelan Dance). The insertion of this melodic quotation is - for who can guess it! - the confirmation of my artistic credo: Ich denke, was ich will und was mich beglücket... (I think what I want, and what delights me...).
Premiere: Sef Albertz Portrait Concert | Steinway Klavierhaus Leipzig| October 29, 2015 | Pianist Anna-Maria Maak
Recorded on Anna-Maria Maak's concept album "Resplendences around Bach" | Label Florentyn Music (catalogue number: FM-CD 1801)