

Sef Albertz
Suite Venezolana
Duration: 11'
Solos:
piano
Suite Venezolana
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Audio preview
Work introduction
Para Anna, cuando...desde su ventana!
One early autumn night in Leipzig 2005, I had a clear feeling that my Venezuelan Suite spoke and she flirted with the sonority of a piano, and I listened to how Anna-Maria could delicately interpret those notes. Well, why not keep the possibility open to enjoy such a sensitive interpretation, connected to the ‘aroma of the keys’?
¡Qué está y qué no está? (...what it is and what it isn’t...?) uses a children’s melody Palomita blanca (The white little Dove), which appears and disappears like a riddle or a memory from the childhood.
Merenguito extraviao (Lost little Merengue) is the typical 5/8 rhythm of the Venezuelan dance ‘merengue’, dislocated to allow for combinations of 3+2 and 2+3 in melodic lines that mix together to create an illusory melody playing to its own rhythm and breaking up the beat.
Los Pilones, para dormir (The pilons go to sleep) is a very well-known melody sung by the women of the field during the task of crushing the harvested corn, although here it is sung by the pylons themselves in the darkening evening as they begin drift off to sleep after a long day of work.
In Tumbaito atolondrao (Careless Tumbaito), the characteristic dance rhythm from the western Venezuelan region serves as pretext to draw the image of the typical town drunk: funny and harmless, he strolls for the streets looking for his house.
Tonada negra, con luna (Black tune, with the moon) is a piece in the style of a ‘negroid’ melody, sung in a broad landscape, beneath the moon and the starlit sky.
Arrechito, pero…! (Stubborn but...!) is a variant of the Joropo known as the ‘quirpa’, which flows with an exchange and simultaneity of rhythms, 3/4 with 6/8 is found throughout the bass line, the melody and in the internal accompaniment. It is a festival of rhythms that, supported in scattered melodies, describe a kid who has a difficult, even stubborn temperament, but who always makes others smile despite himself. Arrechito, pero…chévere! - Stubborn…but likeable!
Premiered by pianist Anna-Maria Maak on October 18th, 2012 as part of her multimedia recital "Infancia" (Childhood) | Mediencampus ‘Villa Ida’ Leipzig.
Recorded on Anna-Maria Maak’s concept album "Infancia"