{"id":311,"date":"2019-10-08T14:25:01","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T14:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/program_note\/elegia-andina\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T17:10:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T17:10:46","slug":"elegia-andina","status":"publish","type":"program_note","link":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/program_note\/elegia-andina\/","title":{"rendered":"Eleg\u00eda Andina"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> Possessed of a remarkably reflective, practical, and articulate <em>persona,<\/em> Frank is one of American\u2019s most praised and respected young composers.&nbsp; Born forty-six years ago in Berkeley, California to a Lithuanian-Jewish father and a Peruvian-Spanish mother, (her grandfather was Chinese) she enjoys and thrives upon her multicultural heritage.&nbsp; She recounts that her early days were \u201cfilled with Oriental stir-fry cuisine, Andean nursery songs, and frequent visits from our New York bred Jewish cousins.\u201d&nbsp; Her musical training was diverse, enjoying and mastering Mozart, Beethoven&#8211;and Scott Joplin.&nbsp; Visits to her mother\u2019s large family in Peru were crucial to her musical development, but she takes pains to not be categorized too narrowly.&nbsp; She points to compositions that seem likely to reflect her \u201clatina\u201d side, as well as those that reflect what she cheerfully calls her \u201cgringa\u201d self.&nbsp; She is equally inspired by the works of both the Hungarian B\u00e9la Bart\u00f3k and the Argentine Alberto Ginastera.&nbsp; Deeply interested in literature, she studies Latin American poetry, mythology, and folklore.&nbsp; In a time when multiculturalism is often an assumed political construct for some artists, it is refreshing to see one whose vision and voice is a joyful amalgam of deep personal experience and natural affinities.<\/p>\n<p> Her almost four dozen acclaimed compositions have brought her near the top of the \u201cyoung American composers\u2019 heap.\u201d&nbsp; She is represented exclusively by the prestigious music publisher, G. Shirmer, works with the top orchestras of the world, and is the recipient of numerous important awards for music composition.<\/p>\n<p> Written in 2000, <em>Eleg\u00eda Andina<\/em> (Andean Elegy) is a modest tone poem that evokes the majesty and strength of the towering Andes Mountains.&nbsp; Native Peruvian sounds are alluded to in the wood blocks, as well as sonic imagery of the traditional <em>zampo\u00f1a <\/em>panpipes\u2014and so, the flute plays an important part.&nbsp; Frank has dedicated the work to her older brother, Marcos Gabriel Frank.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> The powerful opening begins with stentorian, ascending clusters that aptly conjure the eponymous craggy mountains.&nbsp; They are soon joined by aphoristic interjections from the woodblocks, clarinets, and flutes.&nbsp;&nbsp; Gradually, after ominous low moans in the strings, a steady pulse is established, driven by rhythmic woodblocks.&nbsp; During this throbbing allegro a variety of gestures are contributed from every section of the orchestra.&nbsp; It doesn\u2019t last long, leading to silence and a lengthy, cadenza-like passage for the two flutes.&nbsp; The virtuosic interchange between them contrasts significantly with the muscular beginning, but gradually leads back to the abbreviated intimation of the opening craggy, dissonant landscape.&nbsp; Finally, two solo clarinets eerily take us to the quiet conclusion.&nbsp; It\u2019s clearly program music, but the details are for the listener to provide&#8211;artfully suggested by the composer\u2019s masterful orchestration and stimulating, but abstract, ideas.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Wm. E. Runyan<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2018 William E. Runyan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"program_note_tax":[123],"class_list":["post-311","program_note","type-program_note","status-publish","hentry","program_note_tax-gabrielafrank"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note\/311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/program_note"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"program_note_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note_tax?post=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}