Event Title
Dances at the Border
Performer / Ensemble
Daniel Perlongo (Piano), Susan Wheatley (Piano)
Date of Publication
3-26-2021
Document Type
Composition
Abstract / Program Notes
Dances at the Border is a four-hand piano suite that celebrates the rich cultural fusion from the music and dance traditions of so many immigrants migrating through the Americas from around the world. In Columbia, for example, the popular cumbia and jorupa dances are of Afro-Colombian origin. The small quick steps of cumbia were danced in chains by immigrants stowed away from their native lands on slave ships. Columbian local stories and baladas are found in their old vallenato melodies, and there is also an influx of traditions from many nations bringing salsa, merengue tangos, reggae, romantic bachata, and many more Afro-Caribbean musical styles. The work unfolds in 7 sections, each relating to a Columbian dance. 1 - Cumbia Groove sets the stage with its driving rhythmic gestures and arpeggios over a descending chromatic scale bass line. This is followed by a contrast in two parts, 2 - Dream Balada and 3 - Vallenato Waltz. Further developing the initial themes with augmentation, sequence and harmonic modulation, is 4 - Jorupa Jive. The music then returns with variation to the contrast, 5 - Bachata Tryst and 6 - Merengue Swing. After that comes a piu mosso finale with rousing chordal interruptions, 7 - Cumbia Carnaval. We hope you enjoy this potpourri of dance-like rhythms in Dances at the Border – from chains rattling in the first movement, Cumbia Groove to the culminating liberation and cultural fusion celebrated in the Cumbia Carnaval finale. (Notes created by composer and performer.)
Biography
Daniel Perlongo, emeritus professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he taught Theory and Composition, received his musical education at the University of Michigan, studying with George Balch Wilson, Leslie Bassett and Ross Lee Finney. With a Fulbright Fellowship, he continued his studies for two years in Rome at the Academy of Santa Cecilia with Gofreddo Petrassi. Mr. Perlongo’s compositions have received numerous awards, including the American Prix de Rome, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the American Academy-National Institute of Arts and Letters, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has been resident composer at the Rockefeller Foundation's Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, Italy. A CD of his Concerto for piano and orchestra is released on Master Musicians Recordings (MMC), with pianist, Donna Coleman and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra of Bratislava, Slovakia. Also on MMC is Mr. Perlongo's Sunburst for clarinet and orchestra, commissioned by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and recorded by clarinetist, Richard Stoltzman and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. Windhover for piano duo is recorded on Ravello Records by Sang-Hie Lee and Martha Thomas. His Symphony No.1, Millennium Voyage, was premiered by the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, En Shao, conductor. Mr. Perlongo has had works performed at College Music Society (CMS) International Conferences in Spain-2005, Gallery Set; Croatia-2009, Thai Souvenir; South Korea-2011, Five Pieces on Korean Zen Poems; Argentina-2013, Tango Around Cape Horn; Helsinki-2015, Earth Soundprints; Belgium-2019, Safari Game Drive. His works are available through American Composers Alliance. (BMI) http://www.composers.com/daniel-perlongo
Susan Wheatley, pianist, has been invited as performer and music educator throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Dr. Wheatley has an active interest in research about women in music and received a Fulbright to transcribe Gunild Keetman's dance pieces at the Orff Institute in Salzburg. She co-founded Indiana University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Festival of Women Composers, performing the music of Libby Larsen, Judith Zaimont, Katherine Hoover, Cecile Chaminade, Lili Boulanger, Louise Talma, Germaine Tailleferre, Amy Beach, Ruth Crawford, and Marian McPartland, among others. Dr. Wheatley holds a Ph.D. in music from the University of Michigan and has served on the faculties of Oakland University in Michigan and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She has received grants from the American Association of University Women, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts to sponsor her performances and research on the music of women composers. Internationally, her piano performances include premieres of Daniel Perlongo's piano works in Salzburg, Madrid, Zagreb, South Korea, Buenos Aries, Helsinki, and Baku, Azerbaijan; as well as her performances of works by Germaine Tailleferre in Beijing, and Lili Boulanger and Marian McPartland in Vancouver. wheatleyse@gmail.com. http://www.windoverpianomusic.com
Keywords
Piano suite, Migration, Columbian dance
Description
Duration: 7:30. Instrumentation: Piano four hands. Date of Composition: 2020.
Dances at the Border
Dances at the Border is a four-hand piano suite that celebrates the rich cultural fusion from the music and dance traditions of so many immigrants migrating through the Americas from around the world. In Columbia, for example, the popular cumbia and jorupa dances are of Afro-Colombian origin. The small quick steps of cumbia were danced in chains by immigrants stowed away from their native lands on slave ships. Columbian local stories and baladas are found in their old vallenato melodies, and there is also an influx of traditions from many nations bringing salsa, merengue tangos, reggae, romantic bachata, and many more Afro-Caribbean musical styles. The work unfolds in 7 sections, each relating to a Columbian dance. 1 - Cumbia Groove sets the stage with its driving rhythmic gestures and arpeggios over a descending chromatic scale bass line. This is followed by a contrast in two parts, 2 - Dream Balada and 3 - Vallenato Waltz. Further developing the initial themes with augmentation, sequence and harmonic modulation, is 4 - Jorupa Jive. The music then returns with variation to the contrast, 5 - Bachata Tryst and 6 - Merengue Swing. After that comes a piu mosso finale with rousing chordal interruptions, 7 - Cumbia Carnaval. We hope you enjoy this potpourri of dance-like rhythms in Dances at the Border – from chains rattling in the first movement, Cumbia Groove to the culminating liberation and cultural fusion celebrated in the Cumbia Carnaval finale. (Notes created by composer and performer.)