Crossing borders artists play
By SARAH NESTOR
News Writer
Presenting the third Window on Music at Saint Mary's College, "Crossing Borders: Mexican and American Women Composers" Daniel Velga-Albela presented two solos and the string quartet, La Catrina, played one piece.
"Permutaciones" by Hilda Paredes was performed first. The piece is based upon a novel Rayuela by Julio Cortázar. The piece, like the novel, has several places where musicians can choose which phrase to play next, or as in the novel which chapter to read next. Therefore the piece can be played several different ways.
"It seems to me that she was thinking of the novel while she wrote this," Vega-Albela said. "This piece is pretty out there and the variations are based on the tone collection she is using."
Vega-Albela then performed Platinum Spirals by Joan Tower. The idea of the piece came from her father who was an engineer and worked with a lot of metals. The piece is based on the fact that an ounce of platinum can be stretched into a mile long strip.
"I am particular to the Tower piece. It plays a lot with tri tones, stretching a fourth into a fifth," Vega-Albela said.
Finally, Vega-Albela and the other members of La Catrina, Alfredo Hernández-Cadena, Jorge Martínez-Ríos and Alan Daowz-Méndez performed Maetro Chabacano by Javier Alvarez.
"Metro Chabacano is a subway station in Mexico City," Vega-Albela said. "I used to live right by the station and there used to be this man who would stand outside and play this melody over and over again on a violin, this is Javier's way of making sense of the melody."
Vega-Albela also spoke about the importance of contemporary music and why he chooses to focus on contemporary composers, stating that he really did not always enjoy contemporary music but that he has come to appreciate and listen to the music that is being composed today.
Velga-Albela is a Mexican born violinist and began studying the violin at the age of nine and by the age of 16 traveled to New York where he received his bachelor of music degree in violin performance at the Mannes College of Music.
All News Stories for Tuesday, April 16, 2002
